Music and audio production

1491 readers

16 users here now

Need a tip or want to show off your latest music production?

It’s here. Free software will be preferred but all are welcome. Don’t just post links without explanations, we expect you to comment your post or it will be moderated. If you ask something, be as precise as possible, provide context. And now, let’s talk audio!

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Finally getting back into it, but it's been decades so I'd appreciate some tips (self.musicproduction)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by neidu3 to c/[email protected]

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I think I was at my most creative and prolific around 20 years ago, with my best stuff being released around 2007-2008. I started dabbling with Cakewalk around 200, which later became Sonar.

But then Sonar took a direction that really messed up my workflow.
But not long after I suddenly had an unrelated career.
And then I had a family to take care of.

In other words, life got in the way. Plus I had permanently migrated to Linux, and despite many attempts I couldn't quite get into it.

However, thankfully I found Bitwig, and I feel like I'm not at a place where I can start doing it properly again. But of course, all the synths and plugins I used way back when are probably out of date. So any tips for replacing these?:

Native Instruments Guitar Rig - Guitar effects and processing
Edirol Orchestral - Orchestra oriented softsynth
Steinberg Hypersonic - general purpose softsynth
Drumkit from Hell - Drum softsynth

Also, is there anything new in terms of tools, techniques, and processes that have emerged during the past 20ish years I should be aware of?

top 6 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

If you have bitwig, you really don't need much else. Other things can be nice to have, but focusing on new gear/software is a never ending rabbit hole that has a near-complete reduction in productivity at the bottom. Bitwig's included synths, samplers, and effects are WILDLY powerful, and you can do basically anything you can do in any other synth, with few exceptions.

I would focus on trying to make specific things. Like, try to recreate a section of a track you like. If you can't see an obvious way to do a specific part in bitwig, look up a tutorial, or download a sample. That way you'll focus on doing stuff you like, and on learning how to do it better.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You can try Guitarix for the guitar effects and amp simulation: https://guitarix.org/

[–] neidu3 3 points 2 months ago

Nice one. I'll try and see if I can get it up and running with pipewire.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Vital is my favourite synth. It's similar to the popular Serum, but it's free / has upgrade tiers. You can find lots of presets on their forums and discord.

https://vital.audio/

[–] neidu3 2 points 2 months ago

Nice. I love the ability to tweak sounds on the waveform level.

[–] rofilm 2 points 2 months ago

I don´t know if you are interested in using granular techniques, working with sonic grains etc. In case that you are, here is a link to download my comprehensive e-book about granular sound tweaking. I´ll give it away for free: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dj3av5q141ln5zi/In%20the%20World%20of%20Grains.pdf?dl=0 Cheers and peace! Rolf