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Sometimes, it feels like it takes an hour just to sequence one tiny part of a song... for example, the 8-bar piano loop here probably took a good hour to sequence- not to come up with, that only took like 2- but getting it sequenced all properly took forever it seemed.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1715217/rnb_beat.mp3

kinda kills the music making mood when all you can come up with in an hour and a half is a looping 8 bar piano line, some violin and drums.

So what are your techniques for speeding up your recording process?
Anything, such as techniques, equipment, software, any tips you can offer to speed up getting the music from your head to your DAW.

I've found i have this compulsion to totally re-record something if i don't play it perfectly. But if i just barrel through and leave smaller mistakes in tact, I can go through and edit them out, and get my sequencing done a lot faster.

Break your voices down - don't record everything at once, record your melody, and then record the LH accompaniment separately, if it seems hard to get everything in one shot.

It just takes practice, as you get better, you'll be able to sequence your playing a lot faster and more musically.

Is there anything in particular that's holding you up?

Gargamel314 wrote:Is there anything in particular that's holding you up?

Basically, trying to be a perfectionist holds me up.

What I'll do is record the part in my sloppy playing, then rewrite it but with exact timings I want in piano roll. Finally, I'll humanize it.

The problem is when I play a part manually, I always screw it up... And if I automatic quantize my sloppy playing the notes always get shifted into places where the melody travels at a different pace then I want it to.

I'd enter the notes into the piano roll from the beginning without recording myself, but I have a hard time figuring out how long my notes last lol- like, I know that some notes last longer than others, but I wouldn't know if a note is 1/6 or 1/8 or 1/16 by ear. I can only tell note length by comparing them to each other; this is why sequencing from the start confuses me.

Also, sometimes I'll start a beat but realize that it's supposed to be in 3/4, not 4/4, etc.

Finally, one thing that always annoys me is using sounds that have reverb or delay- if I want to loop them, I can't, because it will chop the loop off prematurely. I'm guessing that because of how advanced logic is, there's probably a way to loop where you can keep the loops reverb overlapping with the start of the next repetition, but maybe not.

tpantano wrote: Finally, one thing that always annoys me is using sounds that have reverb or delay- if I want to loop them, I can't, because it will chop the loop off prematurely. I'm guessing that because of how advanced logic is, there's probably a way to loop where you can keep the loops reverb overlapping with the start of the next repetition, but maybe not.

Yes,
Record the loop a number of times over (so that the reverb wash builds to a higher level. Typically just play it twice or three times unless you have a massive reverb. Then take the middle bar for your actual audio loop.

I find the best workflow is to sequence the part using MIDI until I'm happy with it, then send it out to the synth and record the audio from that. I mute but keep the MIDI in case I change my mind about the sound or forget what I played.

If you work mainly with 'loops' I really get the impression you'd probably like Ableton Live. I used to hate the idea at first because it was so different to everything else, but now I'm thinking about buying it because I'm working on more loop-based poppy-ish material

X-Trade wrote:If you work mainly with 'loops' I really get the impression you'd probably like Ableton Live. I used to hate the idea at first because it was so different to everything else, but now I'm thinking about buying it because I'm working on more loop-based poppy-ish material

I have a copy of live lite that came with my FTP, and when I tried it out it confused me a ton 0.o

but once I read how to use it and actually get to recording, I'll decide if the full version is worth it or not.

I go by a loop based mentality because when composing alone this seems the best way to do it... for electronicy music I think its really meant to be loop based; one shots are for real instrument music like rock