How have you improved?

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How have you improved?

Postby Motivfs » 22 Jan 2013 21:26

I've been on this site for almost half a year now, and I must say, that thanks to this place, I have come across alot of help. Just like me, I'm sure many of you have found ways to improve your work, maybe thanks to MLR, maybe other ways.

I'm curious to see how much others have improved oh... Lets say over the last year or so? (Since I believe most of us are relatively new to music production still), although I won't hold it to you to keep it in that timeframe.


For myself, I've been producing for about 10 months now, and there are certain areas I have noticed that I have improved drastically in, in the past 5 months or so.

mixing, melody, progression (Still a work in progress on that last one though), and one that I struggled with alot, transitioning.

For what I'm working on, and trying to improve, would be sound design, probably something I have struggled with for quite a while now.

So MLR, tell me, what aspects of your music have you witnessed, err.. heard, getting better?
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Mundius » 22 Jan 2013 21:41

Nothing.

EDIT: I was making music since 2010, and I believe I have not improved at all.
Last edited by Mundius on 23 Jan 2013 18:02, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Conduit » 22 Jan 2013 21:50

This community convinced me to follow my dreams, and that it really is possible to become great at something if you put the work in. My musics improved, especially in terms of layering melodies and composition, but the real change has been in the rest of my life.

MLP and this community gave me the push to do the things I've always wanted to do but were to lazy to try. In the past year I've picked up cello, piano, taeqwondo, as well as digital composition. I can honestly say that my life has improved a ton, I rarely play video games, and I'm getting closer everyday to my goals.


tl;dr Composition and life
Last edited by Conduit on 22 Jan 2013 22:11, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Mr. Bigglesworth » 22 Jan 2013 21:51

Melody, drums, synthesis etc. I'm still ultra-prolevel-noobish though
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby colortwelve » 22 Jan 2013 21:54

Compare my oldest surviving original track to my newest:

http://soundcloud.com/colortwelve/rainbow-dash-and-rarity-walk



My most marked improvements have been in composition, as I actually know some theory now, and mixing, which improved after I availed myself to one of the many guides floating around the Interwebs.

The hardest thing for me to believe is that I've only been properly producing for about 11 months - not even a year just yet. And I've had appearances on quite a few albums, my own album and EP, and a collaborative release in that time, and I'm still throwing myself at two more albums. Maybe I've improved so much because I force myself to get a lot of work done, but my friends have had a hand in that too, especially Vladnuke, Ibeabronyrapper, and Rhyme Flow - they don't BS me when I suck more than usual, and they push me further when I do hit a stride.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Motivfs » 22 Jan 2013 22:02

Flatflish wrote:This community convinced me to follow my dreams, and that it really is possible to become great at something if you put the work in. My musics improve, especially in terms of layering melodies and composition, but the real change has been in the rest of my life.

MLP and this community gave me the push to do the things I've always wanted to do but were to lazy to try. In the past year I've picked up cello, piano, taeqwondo, as well as digital composition. I can honestly say that my life has improved a ton, I rarely play video games, and I'm getting closer everyday to my goals.


tl;dr Composition and life



colortwelve wrote:Compare my oldest surviving original track to my newest:

http://soundcloud.com/colortwelve/rainbow-dash-and-rarity-walk



My most marked improvements have been in composition, as I actually know some theory now, and mixing, which improved after I availed myself to one of the many guides floating around the Interwebs.

The hardest thing for me to believe is that I've only been properly producing for about 11 months - not even a year just yet. And I've had appearances on quite a few albums, my own album and EP, and a collaborative release in that time, and I'm still throwing myself at two more albums. Maybe I've improved so much because I force myself to get a lot of work done, but my friends have had a hand in that too, especially Vladnuke, Ibeabronyrapper, and Rhyme Flow - they don't BS me when I suck more than usual, and they push me further when I do hit a stride.


I feel exactly the same, in the sense that the people on this site, this community gave me the push I needed to produce better quality music as time has went on. I, myself am actually just starting to get into collaborative albums, but have yet to make my own EP (Because alas, I have not improved as much as I'd hoped to make one yet).

I still feel that, I tend to go on my own path however. I have never really had that partner yet in producing, maybe eventually, but I do not regret it. I do feel it would give me a big boost in terms of improvement, but I'm sure that if I'm dedicated enough I can push myself as well.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Magnitude Zero » 22 Jan 2013 22:42

When I joined MLR, I had no idea what EQ was. Yeah.

I think that was about 8-9 months ago now? I did Toastbeards regularly for a little while definitely put me on the right track (haaaa. "track".), and then learned TONS from Remix War V and, especially, Soft Spectrum. Seriously, holy shit, after SS and the fantastic critique the judges gave me on mixing and composition there was an instant and noticeable improvement in my music, so thanks a bunch to everyone involved in that.

And as cliche as it sounds, MLR has gotten me to the point where I cannot imagine a life without music. I passed the point of no return looong ago, there's no stopping now :lol:
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Element6 » 23 Jan 2013 15:31

Magnitude Zero wrote:When I joined MLR, I had no idea what EQ was. Yeah.

^ This is me.

In fact, when I joined MLR about eight and a half months ago, I pretty much knew that making music looked like fun. That's it. In elementary school music class we watched the Berenstain Bears every day for some reason.
The first thing I made was this horror:
http://soundcloud.com/element6-1/loud-mouth

It's pretty much the stereotypical bad brony song. "Yay" samples, not a single bit of EQ, the same pattern over and over again. Ew.

Fast forward to last weekend, I made this:
http://soundcloud.com/element6-1/happy

Still not "great" by any means, and it might not be the best example for where I am now, considering I made this while away from home (and away from the vsts I'm comfortable with,) but it's my most recent work, and I like to think I've improved.

Great thread idea, by the way!
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby itroitnyah » 23 Jan 2013 15:39

In every way possible.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Beetie Swelle » 23 Jan 2013 16:30

Pretty much everything about mixing and production that I know I learned from my 5-6 months of being here. I listen to the quality of my music now compared to what I made before joining the site, and there's a pretty big difference. The difference is between when producing my own music was just a hobby and when it started to become a passion.

I also started to have faith in my own abilities when people actually like my stuff (If it wasn't for this site, I probably wouldn't be in my school's jazz band right now).
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby SticktheFigure » 23 Jan 2013 19:55

I have improved in using FL Studio itself. As far as theory all goes, I've had a pretty good grounding in that for years. Nothing exceptionally impressive, but I'd definitely say intermediate to advanced.
Other than that, I haven't really improved much at all. My melodies and harmonies could still use work. I could try to experiment with stranger chord progression too. I just have trouble with it all. Going from classical, baroque, etc. into EDM is something I haven't found to be easy.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby MorteMcAdaver » 23 Jan 2013 20:07

Vocally, most of all. The vocal commissions I have gotten have given me a new avenue of writing and singing vocal melodies for brighter, more "pleasant" compositions.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby FlyingNinjaBannanas » 23 Jan 2013 21:17

I went from nothing to being able to create a decent drum section for a song, including equalizing, compressing, and overall effects to said drums. Still need to learn synthesis, theory, and pretty much everything else.

One step at a time.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Stu Beef » 23 Jan 2013 22:54

I can sound like I know what I'm talking about for the most part. I've managed to make my kick audible (even if it sounds stupid) in something that is yet to be released. I had a couple revelations about songwriting that make it so much easier/better. I actually do post-production on my recordings, and I (not Cloud, you lying sack of feces) thought of a cool way to simulate multi-tracked drums from a single mono drum track. I've gotten my brother to actually be impressed with my recordings. My singing and playing (trumpet, recorder lol, drums, guitar, piano) have improved (in various ways). Probably some other stuff too that I'll think of later.

Honestly, I listen back on what I was doing a year-year and a half ago and hear very subtle differences. It feels different, but it's hard to decide if the end result has improved all that significantly. I guess I made passing that judgement hard on myself by refusing to approach any 2 things the same way.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby ThatRobChap » 24 Jan 2013 11:48

I don't think there's any ways in which I haven't improved in the last year or so. My main improvement is probably mixing, and I'm still not great at that. :lol:
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Nine Volt » 24 Jan 2013 12:00

Considering I've only been producing for about 13 months, and I didn't even have a clue about anything music related before, let's just say a lot :3

More recently (2-3 months) I've firmly grasped basic scales and chords, learned how to semi-properly master, and finally decided to learn how to mix properly (which has actually probably become my strongest skill). Currently I'm looking in to more advanced theory to further improve my music.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Symphon » 28 Jan 2013 08:44

I'm gonna be honest, I think I've improved in pretty much every single way. When I first started here, I didn't know jack. I went from barely even comprehending basic synthesis to the much more complicated compositions I do now. I really think all of us have improved immensely from learning from each other, and it's really great to see how people can grow when they help each other.
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Re: How have you improved?

Postby Mush » 03 Feb 2013 09:17

When I first joined here, I have been making music (if you can call it that) for... a month?

I didn't know anything, I mean I couldn't even read music (still can't).
However, over the last 10 months, thanks to you guys here, that I can now make something and confidently call it music and something that I'd enjoy listening back to in the future.

Now, a comparison, (one of) my oldest things I can find on the webs and my newest.


I know, its a Rainbow Factory remix... Hey, I had no idea how many there were back then!


I know, its a Small Wings remix... Hey, I had no idea it would be one of... 20 odd?

Anyway, as you can see, I have definitely developed over the past year.

I forgot why I started this post now.
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