Saturday 7 December 2013

Wasting, Working, Playing

Let me tell ya, it's so hard to found that instrument sound you are looking for. Knowing virtually nothing about the whole 'plugins' and complicated dials/buttons on them means I can't really do much tweaking. I mean, only now am I starting to learn what fancy words like "reverb" and "sustain" mean. I think. I couldn't explain to anyone what my understanding of them is. It also means, my sound-making process is full of frustration. I absolutely hate it when one tune I play sounds like exactly something I've done before. I guess this is normal, but I can't make my fingers play what I want them to play. And so instead of that beautiful sweeping violin/harp/anystringinstrument sound (is this correct????) I'm aiming for I get an irregular plink-plink arrangement and some noise pasted into the background. *cringe*

I'd love to know how other people started on music. Not people who've been playing instruments for years or are in a band, but losers like me who essentially know squat about playing instruments and reading music. I suppose the wisest thing would be to learn an instrument, but it is not an option at the moment. 

All my failures aside, here are a few quick updates:

- I got a new laptop, to be shared with my siblings.
- I'm playing a lot of Criminal Case on Facebook these days.
- I'm not really busy with my thesis at the moment, so worked on a track or two.
- I'm experimenting with new sounds and instruments... some erhu, some flute, some creepy choir stuff...
- I would say I have at least 3- 5 tracks stuck at various stages to be included in the album-project-thing.
- My headphones are not helping with the aforementioned task. I need new ones.
- I lied. I really should be writing my thesis.
- I hate putting off writing my thesis, but I've got no motivation to work on it.

And the most important part of all... I've got a title for this project, code-named The Thing. I came upon it months and months ago. Still wondering if it is too corny. I guess I'll see how the The Thing sounds like in the end before naming it.

And yeah, I'll probably post a review 'soon'. I'm very obsessed with the soundtrack of The Legend of Korra these days. I will review Pakistani music too probably, but I need time to recover my music collection. More than 10GB of assorted tracks, all selected and organized so carefully by yours truly, gone with the stolen laptop. Needless to say, it still hurts to think about it. Sounds stupid I guess, but it was the first time something so important to me got stolen. I'll try to keep the whining to a minimum.

On a brighter note, 2014 is close-ish! Too early to think of any resolutions. I know working on my thesis should be one of them though. Naaaaaaa, I'd prefer not to think about that at all.

Hope everyone has a swell week,

spirare.

 

2 comments:

  1. Oh you're just like me when it comes to music making!
    I feel horribly amateur myself and I still don't know how I manage to record. Things I've recorded can never be played by me again cuz they're that accidental and unintended. I just mess around with the instrument until I catch a melody and then I work on that using different effects. Or I put a sound effect on first and see what different instruments can sound like on it.
    I DON'T KNOW WHAT SUSTAIN MEANS YET BUT YES, REVERB IS AWESOME.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. YES YES EXACTLY
      The word 'accidental' applies to me tooooo! Sometimes, I try to wonder how my music would sound if played live somewhere. I get a huge picture of a heavenly choir, an orchestra, and me on a computer in the middle. See, it's these grand visions that make me so disappointed with whatever I'm trying to do. I love choirs, really. I'm trying to use them on my newer tracks but now they all sound the saaaame, oh no. *sobs*

      Delete

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