Making Music, how do YOU do it? Options

[tacoboy]

There seems to be a lot of o topics about the technical side of music production. I'd like to know more about the methods.

How did you start out?

What effects has it had on your life and way of thinking?

How have you progressed and where you would like to see yourself in the future?

[mortalengines]

I actually started out (freaking decades ago) playing guitar. All of my band projects turned abortive at one point or another and I got tired of begging people to get together and play on the weekends (they were usually too busy dealing with hangovers, houses, girlfriends, etc) so after a while, I found myself getting a computer fast enough to run audio. I think the first program I started working with was Acid on a PC. A cool start but, I got frustrated and started taking courses at the local community college (engineering and midi programming with PTLE and Reason) and it has all been downhill from there (haw! haw!). It used to be that my favorite toilet reading was a "Power!" book (either Reason or Ableton) and it probably took a couple of years before I settled into a comfortable workflow. I am there now and I must say that the effort was worth it. You will hit a brick wall for a long time and then one day it is like a light bulb goes off or something and suddenly it gets easy.....then it is time to push yourself some more. Don't be afraid to make crappy music for a while, and don't EVER get too comfortable with what you are doing. Have fun! Relax! Do it because it is fun! If it isn't fun, take a break for a while and come back. It is amazing how many times I just COULDN'T get something to work and took a 15 minute break and came back and Holy Mackarel.....it worked!

www.myspace.com/mortal_engines