Ask HN: Is there anyone here making music?
I run a newsletter where I interview next-door music makers. They tell us about their process and show us their studio.
I'm looking for people to interview so If you're interested let's make it happen.
There's people doing music with $100 gear and other's with studios that cost multiple thousands. Wherever you stand, we want to see what you're doing with what you have :)
[This is an example](https://www.gasnewsletter.com/p/39-denis-violet) of an interview / studio tour.
81 comments
[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 196 ms ] threadcan you tell me what was the problem? All content is open on the website
If you were put off by the popup, I get it.
Thanks for the feedback
I find people all around the internet. Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, (here?).
Do you make music?
permanentdaylightberlin.bandcamp.com/
Where can I contact you? Is it the email on your profile here on HN ?
Here is the first song we made: https://open.spotify.com/track/1QHvB9qgKbO6pcXyR9B7oQ?si=IB_...
https://orbitaldecay.se/
Pretty heavy stuff, Afraid to die is great. Keep it up guys
Album: https://vx1.bpev.me
Writeup: https://bpev.me/notes/vx1
https://www.gasnewsletter.com/p/40-kimchi-kriminal https://www.gasnewsletter.com/p/44-fuchi https://www.gasnewsletter.com/p/53-sunrise-nowhere
I'm a Berlin based producer and DJ, and would love to be interviewed. Even if the $ of my gear is a few 0's less than all of the existing artists haha.
Soundcloud is https://soundcloud.com/simonhfrost Email is in my profile.
P.S. What does G.A.S. stand for? The above the fold of your homepage is a bit confusing, the 'Artist Interviews Studio Tours | Every Tuesday & Friday to your inbox' would be useful as a description higher up.
As mentioned below, G.A.S. stands for gear acquisition syndrome. Could be a good or a bad thing, depends on how you manage :D Honestly it's just a honeypot, the main focus is on creativity and showing that you can do music without most of the fancy stuff, which of course are nice to have :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPMml3CpYe0
I have a lot to learn, and melody writing is still not a strong suit, but it's a fun side project all the same. I'm working on a rhythm game for NES, so the OST for that will be my first big original music project.
I've interviewed a guy, Fuchi, that does some stuff with a playstation and a dreamcast > https://www.gasnewsletter.com/p/44-fuchi
How can I reach you to arrange the interview?
We are harmless space aliens who want to be DJs. DJs are the most successful assimilating musical force. Unfortunately we cannot DJ so we must play synthesizers to imitate humans.
Our last big show was to a crowd of 600 at Fusion Festival. We successfully assimilated 30 earthling audience members.
Find our music on all earthling streaming platforms, and check out live footage on youtube
https://youtube.com/@cloudkinski
I produce electronic music in the range of electronica, downtempo, house mostly in DAWless way, using Elektron and Teenage Engineering boxes with help of a couple of other external synths.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeColoredSquares
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/27zESwCtXJYF2vTUJIbm7q
I've released an album last year and played several live sets both on community radios and in front of small audiences. Now I've built a totally new setup and am in the process of producing a new album there, posting drafts on Youtube.
upd: You can contact me by email: andrey@ozorn.in
I will contact you to arrange the interview :)
Nice work on curateddawlessjams.com btw
The only interesting thing about what I do, probably, is that I use a fair bit of algorithmic composition even with rock songs - I'll use a chain of Ableton randomizers to generate arpeggios or pads, or chord changes or bass lines, and then find bits I like and use those. Occasionally I'll write some JS to generate pieces, but rarely.
I'm a second generation digital musician as well - my mom was a Nashville country singer, but she used synths and Cakewalk for DOS to demo stuff back when nobody was really doing that at home, and I was her mini-engineer as a kid. In the early 90s I started doing sampling stuff with Sound Recorder in Windows 3.1, and then later with trackers and such. These days my favorite tool is my iPad Pro, with every kind of synth emulator and an expressive touch interface.
Here's a couple of examples of my stuff, a totally algorithmic piece I did about twenty years ago (Jesus) and a more straight rock/blues number that's more Tom Waits-ish. Probably not interesting for your readers, but I'm proud of doing this stuff completely by myself in a bedroom.
https://on.soundcloud.com/TbDWy
https://legbaandsons.bandcamp.com/album/shadows-dust-digital...
I don't know if you keep in touch with music production nowdays but algorithmic compositions are on the rise. From modular synths containing modules that generate pieces to external sequencers doing euclidean rhythms and the like. Great stuff.
I study (classical) music composition, lately been getting more into electronic stuff. The largest audience I’ve gotten was probably around 1000 people, although they were mostly elementary schoolers, as part of an educational event organized by my university. (Still very very fun to have that much of an audience!) I also have been getting into microtonal stuff.
I do have a bit of gear, but usually stick to a very minimal setup. Lately I’ve started getting into audio plugin development as well. Planning on releasing a new piece later today!
https://www.youtube.com/@sporkl_/featured
Definitely would be interested to be interviewed if you’d be up for it!
I'd be glad to check out your mixes and offer some suggestion or just chat about sound, production and music in general. Join the #mixing:matrix.org [1] room, write me an e-mail through my studio's form [2] or just ask here.
No obligations on your part, but I'd be happy if it led to me working with you on your music or other projects.
[1] https://matrix.to/#/#mixing:matrix.org
[2] https://thirdhemisphere.studio/
I've been interested in learning how to play this little sythnthesizer I have but I also edit video and have no idea what I'm doing with the mixing the audio (including music sometimes).
Regarding books, there's lots to choose from. For some quick applied wisdom, Bobby Owsinski's Mixing, Recording and Mastering Handbooks (separate) are recommended. Zen & The Art Of Mixing by Mixerman is very good, as well as his classic The Daily Adventures. The Bruce Swedien Recording Method is very good if you're into recording.
For Youtube videos, some random things I can vouch for:
I'd suggest watching Monty's Digital Show and Tell [1] as a primer for digital audio as a form. Steve Albini has been putting out some very solid and entertaining videos on recording lately [2].
There's also of course a few hyped (but deservedly so) channels such as @DanWorrall, @Producelikeapro or @ProductionAdvice.
Nothing I can suggest for courses as I haven't been interested in them for a while.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQ9IXSUzuM
[2] https://www.youtube.com/@ElectricalAudioOfficial/videos
Excited to follow up on some of the resources from this and the other comment.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Dance-Music-Production/dp/095... [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkp4xDOwqqJD7sSM3xdUiQ
Even just cleaning up a podcast.
BTW, here's an article specifically about recording and processing Voice: https://indiscipline.github.io/post/voice-sound-reference/
There's some examples in the part on denoising. Tell me if it's something you had in mind, and if not, in what ways it's not good enough.
I don't have enough experience to know what the most important topics / common issues would be, sorry. The NPR link below covers a lot of ground relevant to their reporters; podcasters might have a subset of those issues. You entered this discussion due to its focus on music production which has its own priorities.
The denoising example you provided is a step toward I was looking for. I think showing the waveform at each step would be an improvement, like at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/tap005-my-secret-audacity-r... and https://training.npr.org/2017/01/31/the-ear-training-guide-f...
I think the example shows one step in the process but it could be fleshed out starting with the raw recording and documenting each step in turn (adjustments done including specific software settings along with audio clip + waveform at that current step) plus the rationale and potential gotchas to watch out for.
PS. My notes recommend Noise Removal > Compressor > Normalize in that order but I can't remember where that recommendation came from. I will have to try putting Noise Removal last.
Re your PS: It all depends on your particular gain-staging. In this chain of 3 elements, you NR probably can go first or second, and less likely last. My suggestion of not putting it first is caused by adhering to conservative input levels, in which case the signal is pretty low during the first stages of the chain and may be processed too eagerly by Noise Reduction.
For mixing https://mixingwithyourmind.com/ covers a good set of interesting techniques. It edges into a few pseudoscience-y domains that are best left ignored, but the majority of the content is solid.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@visions.of.division
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0b836tZPLcWr1M0BTr6qhp?si=Y1...
I also create video to go along with the music.
I'd be happy to discuss my process with you.
https://youtu.be/zMZBc44Zf-s?t=861
I'm really old school - I make music but I don't record it. My creativity goes out the window whenever I open a DAW. I need to find an alternative that's more akin to working with audio tape and for me at least, DAWs just don't cut it.
Looking forward to seeing what other people are doing!
We upgraded our home studio three years ago; it's about as compact as you can get, but super efficient.
You can contact us at hello @ sidesister . com