Tutor Of The Week + Site Reformation

[Circuitfry]

I think you know what Jeff means, I-Pie, don't deny it to be true~. They really do get rushed. I would look back on sci's pony songs that go wild with autotuning and set brilliant chill atmospheres, and I loved those, but his toastbeards pretty much force him to be less creative. The episode responses are a little nicer, however, Jeff; they have been giving two weeks to respond.

[Interrobang Pie]

I think you know what Jeff means, I-Pie, don't deny it to be true~.

So I guess we don't really have an issue here with TB then I think, if Sci also wants to keep it separate from MLR.

?

They really do get rushed.

They only get rushed because people do them on the Saturday they're due (like everyone does everything), and who's to blame for that? But then, some people, like myself, find it easiest to just sit down for a short time and take a stab at it. One week is a long time to be stabbing at a song - I personally can't work like that.

Of course, you always have the option 'fuck themes, acquire victory'.

The episode responses are a little nicer, however, Jeff; they have been giving two weeks to respond.

No they haven't.

[Interrobang Pie]

Okay, more and more people saying that the forums are awkward to navigate and/or boring. Drop the Toastbeard discussion for now and concentrate on what is essentially the centre of the community.

EDIT: Note to self, ask about the 'pro musician' Skype group.

[Makkon]

yes please.


What does everyone think of just 3 categories? I'd like to eliminate subforums as much as possible.

I can't find the main disscusion on this that we had, please feel free to modify this listing. It's not complete, I can't think of everything at the moment.

Music
-Remixes
-Originals
-Discographies

Technique
-Tutor of the Week
-Help/ask a question
-Sequencers, Samplers, Synths and VST discussion?

Community
-Site News
--Challenges, Contests, and Events
--remix war
-General Discussion
-My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
-Doodles and Scribbles

[PinkieGuy]

yes please.


What does everyone think of just 3 categories? I'd like to eliminate subforums as much as possible.

I can't find the main disscusion on this that we had, please feel free to modify this listing. It's not complete, I can't think of everything at the moment.

Music
-Remixes
-Originals
-Discographies

Technique
-Tutor of the Week
-Help/ask a question
-Sequencers, Samplers, Synths and VST discussion?

Community
-Site News
--Challenges, Contests, and Events
--remix war
-General Discussion
-My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
-Doodles and Scribbles

Seems much better, definitely more linear.

[Interrobang Pie]

Try lumbering remixes and originals into one - in that board we can just tag our own songs with <RMX> or <OC> or <WIP> or whatever.

Could help/questions and sequencers etc. could be blended into one? At the end of the day it's all discussion about music things.

Otherwise, that looks fine.

[Rainbowdutch]

Try lumbering remixes and originals into one - in that board we can just tag our own songs with <RMX> or <OC> or <WIP> or whatever.

Could help/questions and sequencers etc. could be blended into one? At the end of the day it's all discussion about music things.

I hate to say it but:

I agree with Ipie here

[Makkon]

Good idea. What do you suggest we call that forum?

[Darktrot]

Good idea. What do you suggest we call that forum?

Honestly.... IDK however there is another factor that we all need to consider.

With the fact of What im reading if we will be going through with this. A WIKI will need mods and an Admin. Due to this forum mainly being a contributer that (by default) will leave Makkon even busier than Usual than he already is having to deal with all of our antics, ranting and raving on. But now he will have to monitor Wikequestria (YES I MADE THAT UP THANK YOU!) and what is the buissness on this connection to Equestria Daily? I dont beleive this is a bad idea but its not a good one. I beleive its bad enough were getting barraged by others (god knows i do it enough) and now we are going more public so I guess this is good. Now with the Rising fame of some members would that mean all member hitting a certain status will be on a panel at an event? just some idea's that ran through my head as i read this...

[PinkieGuy]

Good idea. What do you suggest we call that forum?

Honestly.... IDK however there is another factor that we all need to consider.

With the fact of What im reading if we will be going through with this. A WIKI will need mods and an Admin. Due to this forum mainly being a contributer that (by default) will leave Makkon even busier than Usual than he already is having to deal with all of our antics, ranting and raving on. But now he will have to monitor Wikequestria (YES I MADE THAT UP THANK YOU!) and what is the buissness on this connection to Equestria Daily? I dont beleive this is a bad idea but its not a good one. I beleive its bad enough were getting barraged by others (god knows i do it enough) and now we are going more public so I guess this is good. Now with the Rising fame of some members would that mean all member hitting a certain status will be on a panel at an event? just some idea's that ran through my head as i read this...

Can you explain a few things, i'm confused:
1) Where did anyone else mention a wiki page?
2) Why is makkon even busier (I don't see where additional antics are coming from)?
3) Wikiequestries is totally sweet
4) What particular mention of EqD are you referring to? In a way we're already loosely associated with them, as they do post information about us, especially in regards to Remix Wars. In exchange for that, certain standards are imposed on the RWs.
5) What idea is a bad/good one?
6) What do panel's have to do with the site reformation? I doubt that all starts would be at panels at events, mostly because A) some of us are attention shy, B) some of us are in australia <_<

I think i've missed alot in your message, any help working out what you meant?


Interesting aside: I noticed that I used the word Site Reformation as the title of this thread. I also realized that I am an Ex-Catholic who became Anglican due to protestation at my catholic church's lack of foundation in the bible. That makes me a Reformist.... d'ohohoh, the irony of it all.

[Stars In Autumn]

Yeah, I'm not sure where the wiki thing came from. I don't see why we need one or what we'd do with it.

And man, a lot of you like using small font! I have to zoom in to read that stuff!

[PinkieGuy]

And man, a lot of you like using small font! I have to zoom in to read that stuff!

That's because it made me giggle, but had literally nothing to do with the actual discussion at hand.

[Interrobang Pie]

So DJ Spike is just pulling things out of air. (A wiki was mentioned ages back, I think, but no-one took that further - no real interest?)

Good idea. What do you suggest we call that forum?

Remixes and Originals mashup becomes Remixes/Originals. Creative, I know.

The only name for the help/questions and sequencers blend is Technique... maybe you could rename the category from 'Technique' to 'Production'? Also maybe rename the 'Music' category to 'Releases'? I got nothing really.

[Circuitfry]

Put the Technique category at the top of the page.

[[voodoopony]]

I didn't read any of this thread's posts but the idea of selecting different people for a weekly tutor thing excites me. I think it'd make a gnarly sub section.

[bartekko]

5th page GET

also, actions speak louder than words

are you doing anything yet, admins?

[Tiaaaaa]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but if the remixes, originals, and what-not are all condensed to a single forum will there still be a division between pony and non-pony? I mean, I guess it's not a big deal if there isn't but I personally kinda like the division.

[Icky]

Good point Tiaaaaa, I think it's best we keep those seperate (mabye on 2 different subforums?)

And Im also excited for the weekly tutor thing, sounds great!

[Andy Feelin]

I like the idea of naming the threads <MLP> and <NotMLP>, probably we can extend it to <RMX> and <OC>. Thus one subforum is just enough.

[bartekko]

@ tutor of the week:

we should have two or three tutorials on basics of using specific daws, for the beginners

one for ableton, one for fl and one for... reason/cubase/whatever is popular

I TAKE ABLETON TUT MAKING.
also, any plans on "when"?

then we should have basics of sound synthesis, then eq'ing, whatnot, adding reverb and stuff like that...

[Interrobang Pie]

I started a Famitracker tutorial a while back. It's not finished yet but apparently it helped a few people.

[PinkieGuy]

@ tutor of the week:

we should have two or three tutorials on basics of using specific daws, for the beginners

one for ableton, one for fl and one for... reason/cubase/whatever is popular

I TAKE ABLETON TUT MAKING.
also, any plans on "when"?

then we should have basics of sound synthesis, then eq'ing, whatnot, adding reverb and stuff like that...

So, because I haven't really addressed it til now and it's a big part of this thread (and I finally have the free time to do so):

PinkieGuy's Thoughts OnTUTOR OF THE WEEK!!!!?!!!!11
Firstly, I think bartekko's suggestion of DAW specific tutorials is a good idea, but is not directly related to the tutorial of the week concept.

Instead, I'd suggest that the tutorial of week involve 2 focuses:
1) An artist's overall, holistic approach to teaching.
2) Teaching specific to that artist's sound.

How would this work though? Italics sections provide a practical example, if I were writing a metal tutorial week

A Written Example
Tutors introduce their topic of tutorial for this week, and any material used.

Hi guys, I'm PinkieGuy and i'll be doing a tutorial on metal production this week. To record my metal songs, I use Sonar 8.5 as my Workstation. To record the majority of instruments, I use a line 6 Pod X3 hub, my trusty guitar collection, and a broken dynamic mic my dad bought in '82. Drums are done using Superior 2.0

At this point, they suggest how to go about starting a song, either froma composition or a recording point of view.

Before I start recording a song (and often before i've started WRITING the song) I set up my workstation. For metal recording, an important technique for a broader sound is the concept of Double Tracking. Double Tracking involves recording rhythmic guitar parts multiple times and panning some 100% Left and the rest 100% Right. By recording the same part multiple times and panning them in different directions, the tiny imperfections in a person's playing technique will add depth to the sound. The down side to this is that you have to be quite accurate in playing to prevent your recording sounding sloppy.

As you can see in the below image/video (THERE WOULD BE AN IMAGE OR VIDEO HERE), I start my song with 5 tracks panned as follows:
Guitar Rhythm 1: 100% left
Guitar Rhythm 2: 100% right
Guitar Leads 1: 95% left
Guitar Leads 2: 95% right
Bass: 0% pan

As the song progresses, I'll add other tracks as nescessary (IMAGE OF VOX TRACKS, SOLO TRACK, SAMPLES TRACK).


From here, a tutor will provide some information specific to THEIR writing.

Hardcore and Metalcore music often use hard chugged, rhythmic sections as vese riffs. A great way to introduce a song is with that chug pattern in isolation. However, to make the song really hit hard, I tend to apply 'Telephone' Equalization (TEQ) to the intro guitars. TEQ involves adding an equalization to your instruments that resembles a bell curve or mountain. It involves a high pass and low pass filter on the sound, removing all the treble and bass frequency, to make the sound sucked out.

Here is an example of a song intro and verse without Telephone Equalization, and a version with.

(EXAMPLES)




That's enough example for now
Given the above kind of format, I think it'd help if we somehow had a general template for filling these in. Just so people have an easier time in making them, because quality Tutorials are going to take a tonne of effort.

Another thing that needs to be decided, as has been mentioned elsewhere in the forums is how to determine who is tutorialing when. Should this be:
- decided arbitrarily
- based on a particular formula
- at the decision of the site co-ordinators
- by a committee of members
- based on a dice roll
- by popular vote
- first in

or some other means?

I would suggest we should have exactly 1 tutorial a week, which starts particular day (Saturday? Thursday?), and ends on that day the next week. This should have many benefits:
- prevents the site suddenly getting flooded with material
- it's an incentive toto work hard at their tutorial prior to and during the tutorial week so you fit everything in.
- It becomes an exciting event, as a new artist pops up every week.
- If our method of determination was kept hidden somehow (say it was random, or it was decided by a small committee {and/or makkon+jackle}), then it would be an exciting surprise seeing who was up next. Just like unwrapping a Remix War Style swap for the first time

[Andy Feelin]

But probably you shouldn't fix on the exact style you usually make, because I don't know if anyone wants to copy you (besides Remix War of course). May be it should look like: "My usual style is metalcore, so I make my guitars double-tracked bla bla bla, but when I'm experimenting with bluesy sound I do bla bla bla..." Or probably to help people differ global techniques from genre-specific ones: "This effect is cool but only for metalcore, so if you aren't a metalcore fan, disregard this".

[PinkieGuy]

But probably you shouldn't fix on the exact style you usually make, because I don't know if anyone wants to copy you (besides Remix War of course). May be it should look like: "My usual style is metalcore, so I make my guitars double-tracked bla bla bla, but when I'm experimenting with bluesy sound I do bla bla bla..." Or probably to help people differ global techniques from genre-specific ones: "This effect is cool but only for metalcore, so if you aren't a metalcore fan, disregard this".

That's a fair point, I probably would fix that in the finished version. I'd suggest calling the thread "Tutorial 1: PinkieGuy's Metalcore Tutorial", but that could prevent people from looking in the first place, and might miss stuff.

That being said though, a lot of other artists will be writing in styles that people want to emulate. That's why I wanted to include both the overall approach to teaching and the artist specific stuff.

For example:

I teach sidechain compression. That's just generally useful.
I also teach how to make a wobble synth. That's only really useful in dubstep.

or

I teach about general frequencies when mixing guitars + drums + bass + vocals, so everyone has their own space. That's generally useful.
I also teach about EQing djent guitar. That's only really useful to people with extended range guitars tuning really low.

That way, people beginning in music will get lots of great info from each artist, but people who want to learn how to SPECIFICALLY sound like Alex S or EuroBrony or JackleApp Or Makkon Or Tarby Or Pickle Or Their Favourite Brony Muso can learn stuff that has SPECIFICALLY been out of their reach.

Big picture and little picture at the same time.





Anyone else's thoughts?

"My usual style is metalcore, so I make my guitars double-tracked bla bla bla, but when I'm experimenting with bluesy sound I do bla bla bla"

If I did this it would probably read: "One of my usual styles is metalcore, so I make my guitars double-tracked bla bla bla, but when I'm experimenting with a bluesy sound, I double-track any way, because no-one wants flimsy blues. SWAG!"........ Or something similar

[UnderpΩny]

Good idea, this ought to be pretty informative.