Things I sort of believe about making music • Hacker News Board

Re: Things I sort of believe about making music

#91

Post by thraxil » Wed, Apr 27, 2022, 9:11 AM UTC

klodolph wrote: post #46

robbiex88 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is inadequate driver support for the USB mic. I'm running a focusrite 2i2 3rd gen, and although I have gripes with the drivers, the performance is miles beyond the default windows drivers and is fairly solid.

Right now it seems like that's one of the biggest arguments against USB mics, if not the biggest. Standalone USB audio interfaces tend to have better drivers. AFAIK this is more relevant on Windows, just due to the complete shitshow that is Windows audio drivers, and not really relevant on Macs. Due to the various problems with USB microphones, I generally recommend something like a Scarlett Solo + SM57 or SM58 as an…

I'd have to agree. An SM57 or SM58 is also a piece of gear that you'll be able to use for decades, even if you've moved up to high end thousand dollar mics.

I've actually never encountered the issue with USB mics not accurately reporting latency because I don't think I've ever tried to record with one. Back in the 90s, in high school, my drummer friend and I went in together on a couple SM57s and a Radio Shack 4-channel mixer so we could record our jam sessions into a boombox tape deck (later a PortaStudio). I still have one of those SM57s and just pull that out whenever I've needed a mic.

Re: Things I sort of believe about making music

#92

Post by comboy » Wed, Apr 27, 2022, 9:34 AM UTC

slothtrop wrote: post #85

comboy wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who says you have to practice? In the context of coding I just craved it, never needed any discipline. With music most seem to learn like the author just wanting to create something and learning along the way rather than "now it's time for my 2 hours of ableton practice" With instruments I think the situation is pathological. We teach everybody to learn the exact same things, scales, patterns and chords in the exact…

> I think most of those who did spend 1000s of hours on specific thing, did not require any discipline to do these things. I think this is a complete, utter fantasy.

This is a real life :) I get your point and I know some people who work your way who went very far. But if you don't want examples from my circle just read some biographies. People who spend 1000s of hours on something are passionate about it, they really want it. I don't think you can discipline yourself to spend 12h daily on something without going insane. But if you really want it, it's effortless, it's what you want to do.

I'm taking time to respond because what you say is what I've been thought, and I think it's just unnecessary mental gymnastics that may cause suffering. If it does not and it makes one happy, then whatever story works seems fine. But having two different narrations that end up with the same actions, I'd choose one which is less painful.

You are choosing to discipline yourself to be doing something. So you want to be doing this thing. If you allow yourself to truly question your whole life, then either you decide you don't really want to be doing this, or you understand that you do. If you bring out the contradiction to the surface, it just resolves itself.

Because this is a logical contradiction in your mind - I don't want to do this but I want to do this. If you want B and it requires A then if you eliminate thinking about them separately and treat them as one thing - B comes with A, then either you want it or not.

It sounds awfully like preaching, and I'm sorry about that. But since you took time to read it maybe you'll at least have some fun entertaining the idea in your head while really not wanting to do something. The concept brought me a lot of joy and made my life easier so I naturally feel like sharing it.

Re: Things I sort of believe about making music

#93

Post by tailspin2019 » Wed, Apr 27, 2022, 4:05 PM UTC

klodolph wrote: post #20

mjr00 wrote: post #17

> Christmas Music One important skill I've found necessary in both music and my software career is dissociation . By that, I mean the ability to separate yourself from the work that you've created. It's natural to feel that what you have made is a reflection of yourself and your value, but it also leads to a lot of fear. In the music world, this manifests as a fear of releasing music and instead endlessly tweaking kn…

> In the music world, this manifests as a fear of releasing music and instead endlessly tweaking knobs and refining 4 bar loops; This is pretty common, and I’d like to add that there are more reasons besides “fear” for endlessly tweaking knobs and refining four-bar loops. Fear is a good explanation, and it’s not a wrong explanation, but it’s only a part of the explanation and as I’ve gotten older I’ve placed less wei…

> Don’t give in to the temptation to listen to it over and over again. You might think that if you listen to those four bars you might be able to hear what comes next in your mind, but in fact, the more you listen to those four bars repeating, the more your brain gets used to the idea that after you hear those four bars, you hear the same four bars again.

You've articulated my number one challenge when writing music. I get stuck in the 4 bar loops and then later I get stuck with my first-draft arrangement where I just end up listening to the track in an unfinished state repeatedly rather than taking action to finish it. I basically procrastinate at every step.

> you hear your own song often enough and you just have no idea what parts of it are any good

Yep. Thanks for writing this comment. You've hilighted things that I subconsciously already knew, but seeing it made explicit like this reminds me I need to pay be paying more attention to these traps!

Re: Things I sort of believe about making music

#94

Post by slothtrop » Wed, Apr 27, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

comboy wrote: post #92

slothtrop wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think most of those who did spend 1000s of hours on specific thing, did not require any discipline to do these things. I think this is a complete, utter fantasy.

This is a real life :) I get your point and I know some people who work your way who went very far. But if you don't want examples from my circle just read some biographies. People who spend 1000s of hours on something are passionate about it, they really want it. I don't think you can discipline yourself to spend 12h daily on something without going insane. But if you really want it, it's effortless, it's what you w…

> People who spend 1000s of hours on something are passionate about it, they really want it.

This does not preclude discipline. Here again, this is long-term. The motivation isn't necessarily there at every waking moment. A runner or bodybuilder for instance won't just take a day off because they're tired and don't feel like exercising. The "I want" assertion can be a matter of moment-to-moment whim, not careful soul-searching.

> I think it's just unnecessary mental gymnastics that may cause suffering.

I'm currently suffering from your mental gymnastics.