Advice on keeping production notes

krd

I do not keep production notes on what I do. And as a result - things don't get finished or I come back to them weeks or months later and can't remember how I got a particular sound or how I actually did something in the first place.

Or I discover things I have absolutely no recollection of doing in the first place.

Any advice on keeping production notes?

On using a production methodology ?

Also some way of documenting my own tricks (Because I keep forgetting them)

I'm going to have to start or go insane

Bluebirdstudios

Hi ,
-Try dating all your tracks instead of default DAW names.
- Name regions eg : GTR take 2 guitarist liked 11 02 09
( sometimes clients will ask for the good take !! that may be 3 months ago so this system helps avoid confusion over which is the killer take.)
- Every availeable interval do rough mixs of a song -again date it ( so when listen back with clients & you can map out the journey of the song )
This can help decide on the direction of the song sometimes we over track songs and listen back to different versions getting fuller it may indicate that eg : version 3 without keys OD had the best groove.

-Log clients remarks in your DAW (Pro tools has a comments below tracks in mix window) for this. This can remind you of ideas or views on certain tracks the band have.

-Save different version of the song in sub folders Eg (Dry mix Kick Snare up front) , (wet mix verse 2 no gtr bridge) etc....
- import stereo mix's of comerciall material that your trying to achieve the sound of (or close too) - helps to keep production in focus!!
Hope this helps
-Declan

dav nagle

Notes have nothing to do with a good track. If things dont get finished then you are not dedicated to seeing a piece from start to end, thats your problem not the notes you write.

madtheory

Yes, I agree with dav, it's a composition/ creative problem, not a technical one. Both John Lennon and Paul Simon have given the same advice- always finish a song when you have the idea.

I assume you're using a computer, surely all your settings are saved automatically as part of the project? It's a good idea also to put a text file in the same folder with a notes to yourself. I tend to write down loads of random stuff as it pops in to my head, there's no value in writing structured notes when you're composing. That approach, as described by bluebirdstudios, would in my opinion shift you from left brain to right and interrupt the creative process. A disaster! It's very important to understand the left/ right brain duality.

When you're recording, stay in record, record everything without judgement. That keeps you in left brain. You can edit later- right brain.

I think by "finish" Lennon and Simon meant that you should have a demo that has all the ideas in there in some form, if only as outlines or "jumping off points". A good strong demo.

dav nagle

madtheory wrote: »

Yes, I agree with dav, it's a composition/ creative problem, not a technical one. Both John Lennon and Paul Simon have given the same advice- always finish a song when you have the idea.

I assume you're using a computer, surely all your settings are saved automatically as part of the project? It's a good idea also to put a text file in the same folder with a notes to yourself. I tend to write down loads of random stuff as it pops in to my head, there's no value in writing structured notes when you're composing. That approach, as described by bluebirdstudios, would in my opinion shift you from left brain to right and interrupt the creative process. A disaster! It's very important to understand the left/ right brain duality.

When you're recording, stay in record, record everything without judgement. That keeps you in left brain. You can edit later- right brain.

I think by "finish" Lennon and Simon meant that you should have a demo that has all the ideas in there in some form, if only as outlines or "jumping off points". A good strong demo.

+1

The most important note I keep and write down on a track is tempo, especially for clients. For example, rewired software can change the tempo within your DAW which can be a real 'PITA'!

Most DAW's if not all have locator points where you can make a note along the music timeline. This is very handy if you need to mark areas that have a key change for example.

Notes are important but the point I was making is that they can get in the way of creativity just like KRD said, if you get too structured your mind wont relax and when that happens creativity disappears. It is a good thread OP.

trackmixstudio

If I am recording a band I take photos of amp settings and mic placement then save them in the session folder so if the band comes back and wants the same sound it is pretty easy to get it.

madtheory

Some good advice here. krd, are you recording others, or recording your own original work?

krd

madtheory wrote: »

Yes, I agree with dav, it's a composition/ creative problem, not a technical one. Both John Lennon and Paul Simon have given the same advice- always finish a song when you have the idea.

I assume you're using a computer, surely all your settings are saved automatically as part of the project? It's a good idea also to put a text file in the same folder with a notes to yourself. I tend to write down loads of random stuff as it pops in to my head, there's no value in writing structured notes when you're composing. That approach, as described by bluebirdstudios, would in my opinion shift you from left brain to right and interrupt the creative process. A disaster! It's very important to understand the left/ right brain duality.

When you're recording, stay in record, record everything without judgement. That keeps you in left brain. You can edit later- right brain.

I think by "finish" Lennon and Simon meant that you should have a demo that has all the ideas in there in some form, if only as outlines or "jumping off points". A good strong demo.

But that's the thing - I'm only using a computer occasionally - I'm not using a centralised DAW for everything.

I use several pieces of equipment not necessarily hooked up in the same way.

I have a Roland MC 505 - which has a sequencer that allows you to record patterns and full sequences - Or I can use it with Ableton.

An SP808 that's like a flaky sampler combined with a fourtrack recorder - this actually a great instrument - very tricky to learn, but you can do somethings on it that you just can't do on other samplers. - You can create whole pieces of music on it - but it's very difficult to learn.

A Korg 8 track

A Zoom 12 track (Which is currently not starting up for some reason - And I neglected to back up the content of the hard drive )

A Roland D2 -

I have other bits and pieces as well.

If everything I had was carefully catalogued into to project folders - then there might not be such a problem.

I have other problems - In that I develop ear fatigue really quickly and I don't realise it - So I stop hearing things or start hearing them really wrong and it can be a case of abandoning something then coming back weeks later and realising ear fatigue had got the better of me.

But it's like - I had a conversation the other day with a friend who's a DJ. He really knows his electronic music, and wants to produce some - but he's got lost in Ableton - knowing the functions but not really knowing how to create a produce a single track - He asked me a few questions and I tried to explain a few things to him but grasping the ideas is a little different - Like plotting the arrangement of a track without getting lost (Doing something like a mash up - someone with virtually zero musical skills should be able to do in Ableton - by dragging the tracks in, having them stretched to the same time, then tuning them - then cut them up and recompose your mash up - It might sound very easy to you - but explaining to someone what a bar is or what the difference between an 8 bar segment or a 4 bars - or for someone to realise the band threw in an extra bar of two in a segment - It's simple once you've learned it or had someone painstakingly explain it to you - but it's not that simple otherwise)


A production methodology would be - that like you have a particular sound in there or an effect - you like but you need to be cleaner or more precise - or you need something in there to be very specific. It can take a long time to get something right - I know I get overwhelmed and lost - and need something to keep me on track. It can take a long time to figure out how something is done.

A production methodology would be like taking a road runner ACME rock band into a recording studio. Getting them to play a guide track of their song - hopefully getting a good take for the bass and drums - doing some time correction - cutting and pasting to get a solid rythm track - put down your keyboards/guitar - get your singer in - Viola within a few hours you have your track.

Then there must be another methodology for tightening up the track.

Like I've heard - Liam Gallaghers vocals were allegedly recorded in 20 different takes - then the vocals were listened back to - a score sheet created for each line and bar - then a composite put together of the best vocal takes - It's a lot of work - but in the end of the day it can make a massive difference.

Personally for myself I need to develop some system of cataloguing and developing stuff. Much of the work is not creative - it's plotting things out - transferring them from one place to another - working on the technical aspect of something.

krd

Something I've just remembered.

Nirvana caused the major record labels massive problems when they appeared.

The major labels had thought they had the whole thing down to a science and had invested millions in preparing new 'hair bands' they had ready for release - but Nirvana changed the style of popular rock music overnight.

The hair bands were put together by selecting "rockers" who looked the part and getting expensive session musicians to create the tracks the hair bands would then learn the "licks" from and preform.

A very scientific methodological approach to production, image and marketing - this what Simon Cowell does.

So much stuff you don't realise has been painstakingly retouched, has. (Pixar - who do finding Nemo - have armies of minimum wage art school graduates painstakingly retouching each frame of the 3d computer graphics for glitches and bits that aren't just right)

Because of Nirvana, overnight the record companies found themselves holding millions worth of unmarketable dog****. (someone I was talking to a few years back who was working in the American music industry at the time, as a sound tech, songwriter/fixer, who left the business at the time said it was an absolute disaster - overnight everything that the 'industry' had been investing in was worth crap - That's when he left to set up his very successful jingles and voice over studio)

There was a story I've heard that at the time - People within Geffen wanted the plug pulled on Nirvana because they were blowing millions that had been invested in crap that thank God no one was ever forced to listen to.

BUT BACK TO PRODUCTION METHODOLOGY

The art of layering a kick drum, so it gets a solid pop sound on laptop speakers - gets a rib shaking feeling through night club speakers - and doesn't sound like a muddy resonant mmmmuphfh sound on plain stereo speakers - is not going to come to you in a blinding flash of inspiration - maybe after weeks and months of working on it, it will.

madtheory

You've probably read too much crap on the internet, like about layering kick drums and sidechain compression and all that. Those tips are only the icing. You're unable to see the cake, I think that might be your real problem. I can relate to that!!

OK. Some tips:
1. Use sysex and an editor librarian such as Sound Quest to save and edit settings on MIDI gear. Have an organised set up, neat, maybe with a patch bay.

2. Learn music- harmony, rhythm, composition and singing. That will give you your methodology. Singing will physically internalise music for you, it is the best way to learn. There's more to rhythm than 4/4!

3. Musical inspiration comes from life, not the gear. The gear is used to make ideas concrete, so you can share them with others in the form of recordings and live performances.

Example- very good friend of mine, musically gifted, no formal training but has a great ear. Arsed around with Synths and computers for years. Right now, he's never been more productive. He's working with a trained musician who writes music, and he writes the lyrics. All he needs is a CD player, a pen and some paper.

4. Your ear fatigue is probably caused by listening at excessive levels and/ or poor monitoring and poor acoustics. Or it may be just a lack of inspiration, because, like many of us, the gear is very distracting!

Go out for a walk, observe nature, talk to people. Then the music will come, and it will not need "tightening up" it will just be.

krd

madtheory wrote: »

You've probably read too much crap on the internet, like about layering kick drums and sidechain compression and all that. Those tips are only the icing. You're unable to see the cake, I think that might be your real problem. I can relate to that!!

OK. Some tips:
1. Use sysex and an editor librarian such as Sound Quest to save and edit settings on MIDI gear. Have an organised set up, neat, maybe with a patch bay.

2. Learn music- harmony, rhythm, composition and singing. That will give you your methodology. Singing will physically internalise music for you, it is the best way to learn. There's more to rhythm than 4/4!

3. Musical inspiration comes from life, not the gear. The gear is used to make ideas concrete, so you can share them with others in the form of recordings and live performances.

Example- very good friend of mine, musically gifted, no formal training but has a great ear. Arsed around with Synths and computers for years. Right now, he's never been more productive. He's working with a trained musician who writes music, and he writes the lyrics. All he needs is a CD player, a pen and some paper.

4. Your ear fatigue is probably caused by listening at excessive levels and/ or poor monitoring and poor acoustics. Or it may be just a lack of inspiration, because, like many of us, the gear is very distracting!

Go out for a walk, observe nature, talk to people. Then the music will come, and it will not need "tightening up" it will just be.

Thanks for the advice.

I need to build a desk with a patch panel. at the minute I just patch something in the way I'm going to use it. i have a midi patch panel I've never used.


I just started using Ableton recently - haven't experimented with a patch editor yet - I've tried some but they didn't work- I haven't been able to get my hands on Sound Quest - which has great prebuilt templates for everything I have. Though there could be a problem - as I've heard Ableton filters SyEx - I haven't been able to find any Sy Ex functions in Ableton.


The internet is one of the worst places to find out anything about anything. There are people, kids or whoever going on bulletin boards giving gibberish advice on stuff. Like kids keeping posting that I can replace the zip disk in my SP808 with a flash card - but send them a message they never reply - Where you can do it with an old MPC - Anyone I can find who's attempted it with an SP808 has killed their machine permanently.

Music, rhythm, singing - Already - I'm just not using my time productively enough.

My ear fatigue is terrible - my ears go long before they feel tired. It's more they focus in on some part and stick to it like glue. I won't notice it.

there are certain things I intend doing in the very near future - that I believe I'll need to create annotated diagrams for.

Like this - I think I'll be reworking it several times - it's worth seeing for the boss zombie at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8h9a8AA6vA