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What are you working on this weekend, /prod/?
Me, I'm gonna start trying some orchestral stuff.
What do you do when you're trying to transcribe a track and it's too difficult? Keep trying for weeks, give up and try again in like a year, or what?
>fuck the bump limit
I've mentioned this before in prod, but what you're talking about is called the ability to audiate, or audiation. It basically means you can visualize the music, like you would a picture. You 'hear' all the notes and timbres, and then you can work backwards from what you're hearing to make the song physical. It's not quite the same as transcribing or perfect pitch because it's about making something NEW, it's a synergistic process.
As with all things in the brain, research is always finding new shit, but it comes down to a few things - innate ability, exposure to music/sounds as a child, and time. It's thought to be more easily developed during the language period of childhood, same as actual language.
Obviously we're not (all) children here, so to continue development you'll need to practice. This can come in the form of meditation, developing a resting tone that you try to always be able to hear (usually something like concert C or F), processing eventually to trying to recall songs in your head - not 'think' of them, but actually being able to put down the pitches correctly.
Another good way to strengthen this is to start to improvise in some sort of jazz capacity, or any other. You have to audiate to figure out what you're going to play in the moment, even if it's just scales or licks you copy from others. Over time you'll build the skill up.
dreaming is similar to the meditation route, you're in the same state there. it's risky to rely on the dream state as you're at it's mercy for inspiration
All in all, you may never be able to get to the point of MJ there -- he was put through hilariously traumatic shit in his childhood related to music training, so between an innate skill and aggressive training you might never "catch up." But there's no point in not trying, as most anyone can develop it, and this is one of the single most important things to us here, as, you know, making new music instead of just performing it
>But there's no point in not trying, as most anyone can develop it
How do you develop it? Are there any guides?
Drop it for now and come back to it when your transcribing skills have improved. See it as a goal.
I like the resting tone approach. Basically: play a pitch on a keyboard (or daw or whatever) -- go away from the keyboard, do other things. Set a timer for a few minutes. When it goes off - 'think' in your head of the pitch, hold it there. What did it sound like in timbre? What was the EXACT pitch? (it's easy to approximate and feel like you're correct) Then - while still thinking of it - play the original note on the keyboard.
If you were correct, good work - extend the time, do other things (the hardest being playing music), add notes (aka: chords) etc. Once you can do that very consistently, start trying to do it with pieces of music. I'd do simple nursery tunes, or basic classical beginner pieces, stuff out of a learn to play piano book.
You can also supplement with exercises out of an ear training book (I used the Norton manual for ear training and sight singing in uni), they're kinda the same thing, but more focused on identifying intervals and sight singing.
That's important, but for audiating, you really want to be trying to IMAGINE the pitches first. How will they sound when you produce them? With your voice? With the piano? etc. That's what will develop that sense of 'hearing' whole pieces
fwiw, after way too many (8) semesters of ear training/practice, I consistently get glimpses of whole tracks in my head, at least 8-16 bar chunks, depending. Getting them out is a different beast though, especially in electronic music, where you also have to know how to make the timbres/synth patches you're hearing too...
AHHHHHH I DONT WANT TO CLEAN OFFICES ANYMORE I NEED TO MAKE IT
>When it goes off - 'think' in your head of the pitch, hold it there.
How do I do this? You're talking about hearing the actual keyboard note right? I can only hear my own voice singing notes.
Unfortunately this is a hard part to explain. You just kind of do it -- think about how hard it is to describe how to visualize a picture, or move a finger, it's the same kind of thing. First off don't get frustrated. It's hard and trying to force it doesn't work any more than trying to brute force lift more weight than you're able. Bad analogies aside, I would try to focus on the timbre of the piano note first if you literally can't hear it in your head. (Which is statistically unlikely) Can you imagine the overtones? If it's digital, what about any fake reverb? Resonances within the speaker cabinet? EQ of the sound itself? is it bright, dark, muffled, is there an transient from the hammers? The list of shit goes on and on. A note isn't just a note, it's a combination of many different elements being synergized by the brain at once. If you can tap into just a few of those you'll find 'it' and once you've done it, just once, you'll always have it. Just like moving a limb. Then... it's just a ton of practice
>I would try to focus on the timbre of the piano note first if you literally can't hear it in your head.
Yeah I literally can't so i'll try that. So I should sit down at the keyboard for an hour or two a day just playing notes and paying as close attention to the timbre as I possibly can? How long would you do it for before concluding whether or not it's working? Also thanks for all the super detailed posts user.
First of all, best to acknowledge that you can/have the ability to hear it - if you had the disorder, you wouldn't be able to audiate anything. Not your own voice, nothing while reading, etc. It's rare but does exist, just like the people who can't visualize at all. Once you've cleared that mental block, I would do what you say, sit at a piano and play a note, and try to hear it through the lens of all the details. No judgement if it doesn't happen. Then repeat a few times, move onto a different note, continue, etc. I'd say an hr or two is too long, it's more about daily repetition vs length of practice. 10-30min tops, every day, preferably before producing or practicing an instrument, is all it takes to start. You're literally creating new neural paths here, so it will be a slow but steady process. I'd say 2-4 months is a good timeframe to see progress, but you can definitely go faster if you've got some innate skill. You're training to use a phantom limb, forcing an adaptation, and if you give the brain enough consistency, it will figure it out on its own. Pretty cool stuff t b h all the neural implications of music training have always been fascinating
I was able to do this today. I need to practice it when I was at grocery, but this idea was so interesting I tried and did it. Sadly, it was from my first song, which I don't like anymore
hey /prod/ is there a way to take all these piano one shots and create my own custom patch that can be loaded on the fly in FLStudio?
I think you can do that in DirectWave.
You might want to quantize that beat.
Finishing up a sample pack
Mastering a couple of songs
Hopefully making a beat or two
Finish a song for once. I've been too busy trying to learn how to play piano/guitar to finish songs
youtu.be
I'm trying to learn about making orchestral music and made a little practice project, literally a 4 bar loop, as I was following along with this tutorial. It's not great but it sounds fine and I was surprised by how easy the concepts were to grasp in practice.
voca.ro
I thought you need an orchestra for this. Is this how most VGM music with orchestra is made, they just programmed the instruments? If so, thanks user. Also it sounds good user
You mean quantize the drums?
>Is this how most VGM music with orchestra is made, they just programmed the instruments?
At least back in the day a lot of great VGM was made with fake ass orchestras lmao.
youtu.be
Yes.