MY BEST ANALOG FOUR DEMOS // + Discussing how to finish your music
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- Today I show you what is on my Analog Four Mk2 and continue discussing finishing music and struggles relating to it. Drop a comment letting us know about you struggles and ways you handle them.
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Nice video Bo. If anyone is interested, I'd suggest:
Figure out which labels are releasing your style of music. Usually you'll already know the labels because you probably purchase from them. Send them a couple of tracks (not a whole album) and ask them to get back to you. Contact them on Facebook messenger. Send one track that they can instantly listen to. Set yourself up wth a soundcloud account. Follow all the artists and the labels you like. Hopefully they will follow you back and notice when you upload a new track. Set up a Facebook page for yourself as an artist and follow all those labels, artists and fans who are into the same music as your are. Also set yourself up with a bandcamp account. Release your music yourself. Make limited editions of anything from 10 to 50 units of a CD or a cassette. Do the artwork yourself. Make something that you yourself would purchase.
Oh and fuck the begrudgers. Some people will hate what you do. Either take their advice as useful criticism or just ignore it and do what makes you happy. Make music for yourself. If its anywhere half decent, someone else will also like it too.
Spread the word that you'd like to do a live gig and eventually someone will ask you to support another act. Do it a few times and you'll be asked to headline. I'll play anywhere I'm asked if I don't lose any money on it.
Oh and leave comments on the UA-cam pages of BoBeats and Co ;-) lol and don't forget to leave a link so other people can check you out.
lecliche.bandcamp.com
soundcloud.com/le-cliche
In regards to finishing music.
I’ve realized lately, that the whole idea of song structure/song making has been kept to the same formula by the big record labels.
We are now at the age of the digital era, with endless streams of information. We have got the means to take back the way we enjoy, create and listen to music.
So if I enjoy a 4 bar loop, why not release it? Why does it have to fit into this old structure?
I’m not saying that we should forgo music theory (it’s infact extremly important) I’m merely asking the question. What is a song?
Thanks for sharing this, it's right up my alley. This is the same way I make songs, only with a Digitakt instead of an A4.
I'm still learning how to actually finish songs, but what works best for me so far is: Work horizontally first, then vertically. In other words, sketch out the shape of a song from beginning to end, then fill in the other instruments and tweak the sound. Usually I do the sketch on an OP-1 first, sometimes even just humming into the mic, then sequence it.
Here is an example. My process was:
- I started by making a bassline which spanned 10 patterns. Then I recorded that twice, onto an OP-1 track.
- Added a quick simple drum part underneath to keep time.
- A bit of noodling to get accustomed to the key and scale.
- Then I hit 'record' and did whatever came to mind for a melody.
- While it was still fresh, I repeated the previous step, recording a second melody in parallel.
This got me up to four tracks, forming an extremely rough sketch. After that, it was a matter of sequencing everything onto a Digitakt, cleaning up the melodies, completely redoing the drums, adjusting levels, and adding extra details.
This is how it turned out: ua-cam.com/video/9uHgZqewFFE/v-deo.html
As another example, I have one in progress now... The process so far has been:
- Hum in the shower.
- Hum the same thing into the OP-1 mic.
- Sequence the melody into a Digitakt.
- Make the drums a little more interesting.
This got me to a first draft: toykeeper.net/tmp/music/tales-of-troperia.draft1.mp3
Then I started to build vertically, which resulted in a second draft with more melodic parts: toykeeper.net/tmp/music/tales-of-troperia.draft2.mp3
I haven't even tried to choose instruments yet, or refine any details. I just used a simple square wave. So, at this point, it sounds like a Nintendo game. I like it as-is with the NES vibe, but I still intend to develop it further when I have time. It may be only a minute long, but at least I've gotten past the 4-bar-loop stage.
There is a distinction between releasing music on the Internet, and going out from the studio after you've finished a couple of tracks to play them to real people. The Reward/Feedback you'll get is so much more meaningful.
I also think that electronic musicians get easily into 4 bar loops. I liked your words on your workflow a lot and would like to see what that is all about in another video! Thanks for your Content, I really enjoyed a lot of your videos lately! Herzliche Grüße from Germany. :)
Hey Bo, thanks for releasing another video on the A4mkii! Beautiful music , I absolutely loved the section at 3:43
Cool track Bo! That's how you answer people who go "where's your music, bro?" :)
Putting your music online to the sound of crickets is something we all deal with I guess. There's so much music out there, how are you possibly going to stand out?
I took a lot of comfort from Jeremy's (Red Means Recording) video when he hit his last subscriber milestone. He talked about the video that blew up for him and how long it had been online before it suddenly got a massive spike in views. He didn't know what happened but that track had been sitting on UA-cam for ages just waiting for it's time. So if someone as talented as Jeremy can be overlooked for so long, I'm not going to sweat it if I don't get a load of views or likes on anything I put up online. The fact that I had something I felt worthy of putting online is a good start for me.
I thought about entering a couple of remix contests in the past as a way to complete tracks but although I tried a couple of times it just didn't feel like it was happening for me. I really wasn't that interested in reworking someone elses music I guess. But contests are one good way to push you to complete a track as they give you a goal and a deadline. Especially if completing something and sharing it online is the goal as opposed to winning (or getting loads of love back, which is probably unlikely in a competition scenario).
For a less competitive option, there are online courses (even free) for music production, DAWs etc. I mentioned in a comment on your previous video about an online course I did for Ableton Live where I completed a few tracks as part of the coursework. I got nice feedback from the other "students" as we were all trying to do our best. That course was on Coursera (through Berklee College of Music) and they used blend.io to host the projects. It's a site focused on collaborating and remixing etc. I haven't checked it out lately but they often ran remix contests.
For people who don't have any desire to write hit songs or albums another outlet could be content creation. Like sample packs, loops or even library music.
Don't forget about allihoopa from Propellerheads.
The biggest challenge for me is being a perfectionist, one side of it is to work till it's good enough, while the other side is to never get it good enough. However, that's nothing new and it actually makes me work harder to reach my goal. The goals can differ from anything between getting the song done or just do the patchwork. I work best in a hybrid environment where I can use what's around me as tools to make music, both digital/analogue and hardware/software orientated. When I get stuck I try to do something else to get inspiration. Like to take a long walk or read a book. It's good and healthy to change/break the focus. I also try to not limit myself to think "more gears will make music", it's rather the opposite, actually. Limitations can reverse the process and broad your mind due you have to be more determined. Then there's this part when inspiration come to play. Really something of importance and can sometimes be forgotten. You don't want to copy someone else, but hey never do. Let it flow instead of get stuck. You'll be amazed how things can change if you just allow yourself to change :)
Second day. Second video. Still no people around. How many days you need to walk to meet another human being? =)
I remembered what Cenk aka Mr. Dataline said about his approach to learning new devices. The point was: If you got new device, put everything away, take only this new device , plug in your headphones and spend few days or even weeks with this device, learn it good enough to feel free with it , then you will be able to think about music and sound design itself. I also love making beats and sounds on the go, it helps to learn basic patterns and acts like a small training. Sticking with synths and just making sounds, simple melodies, rhythms gives experience and a lot of disoveries. The more autonomic you are, the more authentic sound you will have. These are my non-consecutive thoughts.
I actually avoid shooting video outside with too many people around. I feel it is slightly rude to film them. So people are actually passing by all the time but I just point the camera away from them :-)
Excellent music! The Analog 4 (and Analog Keys) is such a powerful synthesizer. Being able to create such rich and interesting music with just four tracks is a surprisingly liberating experience. Awesome job as always!
Great video, Bo! Edit: I really like the way you arrange different parts on the A4 and how they all come together. I'll try that out for loops as well!
My problem with releasing music is the mixdown aspect of making music. With EDM-related genres the mixdown is just as important as the vibe and content of the track. I feel I am getting better with every song I make, but sometimes great ideas or concepts don't make any progress because of mixdown issues like lacking treble/bass, punch or ironically "analogue vibes."
While the solution could just be as simple as "LOL, EQ/compress with settings X and Y", it's sometimes just very hard finding out that solution for a problem. A lot of times problems are very situation-specific, which makes solving even harder. Solutions like getting a certain plug-in to solve a certain problem (like a lot of the new wave EDM producers do) just doesn't cut it, because you'll never find the true solution for your problem. And of course there are engineers that do magic with their skill and knowledge on mixing and it's no use to compare to those mixes. However, getting just a little bit closer to that improves my motivation a lot.
It's a very long post and I know this is a very complex problem to give an answer to, but perhaps you ran into similar situations and found ways to bypass them.
Anyway, I hope this is an interesting topic to discuss in that video as well!
I recently found music communities like Allihoopa, Splice and Metapop (I love Metapop) which are platform for musicians to collaborate, part take in competitions and chat about music in general. But for me, the best driving force was when I decided I want to be a Game Music Composer and get real comissioned work. For that to happen, I needed a portfolio. Music for different styles of games they all have to impress my future potential leads - I was dreaming at this point, but it was nevertheless enough for me to do 10 songs with some kind of a context and end goal. Before that all my song were titled "whatever1", "loop34", "score12" etc. and they were all more of an exercise type things, with no reason. Which can be a good thing, too if you think in the long run :) But yeah, it's hard.
It sounds great. I had the mk1 for a little while but I was in love with the monomachine while I owned the a4 and it was neglected. Ideas came very easily but I found myself trying the same ideas on the mono. The performance controls looks to be a giant advantage to perform live.
I’d like to get both mk2’s but I’m having a hard time justifying buying any new gear as I feel like I’m always “learning” my current setup. I don’t have any creative blocks, so I can make snippets of awesome sounding sequences. My problem is having the time to get from point A to a finished product in the time I have. And when I do get back to making music I get sidetracked with something else that I started working on.
I have found that recording what little bits I do help for future sessions as I can go back to those and elaborate on them. I am just doing this for hobby but I’d love to play in public someday. I think with what I currently do I could improvise a live set for a few days straight lol!
Very good video as always. As much as I loved hearing what’s on your mkii machines (I use as well) , I thoroughly loved what you had to say on these videos about music production and music making woes.
I really relate to what your saying here.
Helps me a lot my friend ! Keep putting out excellent videos. !
Thanks mate!
thanks for posting to the hardware jams fb group!!
Love the jam/vlog hybrid. awesome tune!
Great vid as always Bo! It is always a pleasure to hear your opinion on that matter.
When Bo uses the glitch transition effect he does it right!!! 😎
Next video: ggggggllliiitcchhsssss
Wow... I enjoyed listening to that a lot! That was truly awesome and just lovely music to listen too! I hope you finish it, would like to hear the full track.Yes, I’ve been a perfectionist with music, sometimes spent *way* to much time just on one track. Need to change that. I still need to get them finished/uploaded. nice one BO, classy vidJYo :)
Great video and topic. I personally try my hardest to avoid beginning to mix a track in the early stages. Obviously, get your sounds to a point that you like, but then focus on getting your song structure down first before going down the rabbit hole.
Love it!
PS, thanks for your advice on quickly copying initial loops over 8 or so slots - I reckon that way of thinking is going to help me immensly!
Your approach to music is so inspiring!
Hi Bo. My main workflow consists of filling up my DAW with building blocks controlling all my hardware. A lot of time goes into programming and setting up sounds, samples, routings and audio processing. All of it must be accessible with several controllers for the actual jamming and jumping around. Mostly I use an existing track (mainly EDM from the 90’s) as a template and work from that. I can capture a max of 40 tracks back into my DAW for mixing and production, but only when the object is to actually create a finished song or remix (which is very rare). As a working family man the hours I can spent on music are very limited. My main problems are “wasting” hours jamming on old building blocks instead of building new blocks or learning new things about my gear, and actually wasting time endlessly noodling on that synth line that just doesn’t work. I don’t feel any pressure about releasing stuff, because everyone is free to jump along, but I do feel obligated to properly learn and use new gear that I needed to buy.
Very interesting perspective!
Your mastery of the arcane Elektron work flow is a miracle to me Bo. :)
Hello :) Again a super video. THX BO !!! I´m a sort of both types"jam-" & "struggles sometimes with finish BUT wants to finsish"-guy. Non-electronic-music isn´t to bad to finish for me ... for example if you make a song with voice & guitar ... it´s somewhat clear that you need a Phrase/Refrain/Phrase/Bridge/Refrain OR something like that. You have a certain plan to follow (and there is only 1 guitar & 1 voice). To have no certain plan to follow FOR ME PERSONALLY is one of the things that make me struggle sometimes when i try to produce elctronic music & finsish it. So it can be very helpfull to plan a track & write ideas down (+ track-structure!!). The second thing is that there are days where you try to get creative ideas BUT this day it will not happen - so simply stop & comeback to it another day :) I wish everyone good succeed & many fun making music
Sometimes you have to accept that a track is in fact finished. If you do an analogy with food (this is, after all, Bob Eats), you can see a track as a recipe. Do you really need to add more cheese? Aren’t there enough vegetables in that salad? If it’s good, it’s good! Fade it out or do an outro and it’s done, eat your sandwich!
This stuff is cool. I prefer it to the RYTM stuff (though that was cool too!). I think I just prefer those gorgeous analogue synth sounds. Nice vid again, Bo!
Mixing is the most time consuming thing for me, and it can easily go wrong. I take lots of breaks and I work on it until it's near perfect.
Beautiful scenery... can I come live with you.. LOL... great topic and jam session.. makes you wonder just how many gems are hiding away in forgotten saved sessions?
Very cool jams with loads of great movement.
Hi. I am a real beginner. I am learning. From your videos I always get something useful. Question. More that how to finish your song I have a more silly one. When the song is "complete"?
Love ur chat at the end. I really want to produce music but at this stage it seems like too much effort for me. One side of me is like ok it’s easy just buy some plugins and find the sounds I want and off I go, but I have just gotten into eurorack and enjoy making my own sounds and I enjoy learning about synthesis, fming oscillators and learning all the ins and outs. As I’m a drummer of 15 years who would practice coordinations exercises all the day etc I think my strength is in me wanting to master a limited toolbox. I get instantly frozen when I open up Cubase and try to start something, too many options that I weirdly think that I have to use all the functionality...yep I’m weird.. anyway I’m hoping to build my modular up and then multitrack all parts for a song from that. Love ur work bo! :) my mate who produces music used to bug me about “where’s my music” “that better be a new song you’re working on” and it really made me annoying and sad/depressed. I told him that I may never release a track (even though I want to one day) and that I just enjoy learning about synthesis, and that’s quietened him for him. All the best bo 👌
Sounds really good - I like the lead melody, but it would ad so much depth if it was a vocal. I often get stuck at this point as a songs sometimes needs a singer ;)
Excellent Jam Bo!
This is a superb demo Bo! Reminds me of the melodic spacey electro of microlith (rip) and wouldnt be out of place on the label CPU. Im interested in entering the realm of dawless production and the elektron ecosystem, do you think the analog four mkii is a good place to start?
analog four mk2 is not a bad choice, but I always advice getting a good sequencer for external gear first. Or a unit like Digitone or Digitakt with dedicated midi tracks.
@@BoBeats thanks for the tips, ill have a look into those!
Great stuff man!
It would be interesting to make a video of the A4 as a drum machine/perc synth/ kind of digital controlled DFAM ;)
You dont need a drum machine if you have an A4, unless you need to free up the voices😊. Love my A4.
I often run in problems to continue a music piece. Good start , good rhythm, ...all is grooving, but how to continue before you get uuuaaah with the same loops?
Get it down while it's fresh and if you have an Idea do it within 24hours
Very cool really dig the Jams sir keep it up. Is that all recorded into the sequencer from midi keyboard? Digging the playback ability of this. I get stuck about halfway in the initial idea is quick once I start building it more and more becomes work as it transports into the DAW.
Bo sounds very Depeche Mode ☺👍
Good jam, Bo!
Sounds good➕
I love most of the elektron devices but I sold my A4mk2 because of it's boring and cold sounds.
It doesn't have that warm analog sound like a prophet rev2 for example.
Even the novation Peak , which isn't analog, sounds better.
Nice one! 👍
Nice Jam!
More than a 4-bar loop? Is that even possible with an elektron machine?
Nice one Bo.
I like how you say Rytm ; )
Is this also possible with the A4 MK1? I ask this, because most of the MK 1 Presets are unusable?
Lengendary!!!
I get stuck at the end when listening to other music that i like.
this question is unrelated to this video but a video you did before about the hobbytronics midi usb to din converter. is there a battery powered version of that? and also i got the se02. i was thinking of getting the artiphon instrument 1 to control it with for fun. i realized it doesnt have regular midi out which is annoying. just usb. would it work if i got the hobbytronics thing? and i was asking about the battery powered because i want to be able to walk around which means id have to probably tape the converter to the instrument 1 if i have a long enough midi cable or wireless midi. but if i have to plug it into a wall (the converter) to use it thats kind of annoying. walking around with a long midi cable is ok but add a power cable that might not be that long would just seem awkward i think. any solutions?
I always struggled with finishing a song. I now found a solution! I just make shorter tracks ; ) not every song has to last 3 or 5 min. I found that in most cases a song can be really repetitive. So I am now experimenting by making track with a lot of shifts. Not easy but really fun to do. I don't want to advertise but here is an example of one of my tracks on soundcloud "project 606": soundcloud.com/synthpimp-1
Is there a drum machine integrated into it?
Well, yes. You have 4 tracks and you can setp sequence different drum sounds onto one track by parameter/sound locking. So 1 track for the drum groove and 3 for synth sounds. And all sounds are generated by the analog engine
Thanks for the info, and sorry to focus on the gear more than the creativity part, I will post another comment later about that as a few ideas come up to mind, but I'm at work!
so basically you have only one song on the A4
My words keep coming back to me in shades of mediocrity.
That was an interesting reference!
@@BoBeats My songs collect dust because I can't put together words for them.