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Quick Q: production tools for series of compositions?
Quick question, mainly for food for thought (not UB40)
- Most of us are in the very long process of getting together a workchain, a toolflow, a conveyor belt, to actually get shit done, toward a finished end result.
- We're very aware of the threat of no forward motion.
- Most of us have some vague idea of how the way we work could produce a result.
Most of us are not entirely stumped if we had to make a song for a reason, should such an eventuality arise.
That's fine for one song.
Do any of you work on more than one song at a time?
One of the characteristic ways I used to work since forever is usually a pair of songs at a time.
1. One would often take the reject ideas of the other to see if it fits, and vice versa, and they'd strengthen each other but not sound (too) similar.
I've noticed I don't do that any more on the iPad and I think it is because it isn't easy to manage a whole scaffolding of disparate apps and connections and way of recording it all, if I have to swop the whole thing over to another scaffold of similar but different things.
It isn't easy to work on different songs and swap them in and out.
Or is it?
How do you work on several concurrent projects, if you do?
Not so much which synths, etc, that doesn't matter too much, you just save a patch where you left off and load the other patch, etc.
Mainly I'm pointing the finger at the entire christmas tree that has to suspend above the recording desk and control room, how do you change the whole thing in and out?
- Or do you decide to do one project in a set of apps, and another concurrent project in a different non-overlapping set of other apps?
- > 2. (I.e. Something like one song uses synths x y z and Auria, another uses synths a b c and Cubasis, another uses synths p q r and GarageBand or Modstep or something).
What think you?
I've gone on a bit too much, 
but think of it as an over-explained one-off simple question. Pretend I'd only used a one-liner to ask. 
Comments
I will often do prototypes of the same project in several apps, jumping between so see what fits best with what i'm trying to do
However, recently, i've started to impose limits on the amount of apps i use for a given song because it sparks creativity. Sometimes i'll even do my own version of KVR's one synth challenge
I actually don't mind the sort of unfocused, iterative process because i find it takes me places i wouldn't have gone had i stuck with Logic Pro X from start to end
Good topic.
Rather than relying on the state saving setups often discussed here, and confuse me entirely, I rely on a streamlined(albeit limited) workflow that allows me to work on several projects simultaneously. Imitations force me to work more creatively. That's why I employ Gadget as my primary composition & arranger tool. Then Auria as my go-to for mixing and mastering. This workflow allows me to utilize other apps to spark inspiration and drop ideas into Gadget for arranging.
I tend to change the scaffolding based on the task at hand rather than the song, during this process I try and make decisions and stick to those decisions, meaning I can record my output, whether that is MIDI or Audio and then not have to try and recreate what I had setup before.
I then redo the scaffolding when I want to do that task again
This means that say i setup for recording live guitar..I will record as many ideas as I can while I have that setup...this is why (referring to your previous thread) generative software and loops are so useful as they can provide some 'musical' scaffolding when capturing those original ideas.
Aha, that's a good point.
I employ the tried and tested "throw a bunch of crap at the wall and see what sticks" method. Whatever sticks will be what I will finish. there will be time set aside for producing maximum crap to throw at said wall. It may not be perfect, but goddammit it works.
But what do you do when you change to another song?
This is definitely a roadblock in my current iOS workflow. My main DAW is Auria Pro, but it's a pain that every time I open it, it opens the last project with all of it's baggage (IAA zombie apps and all).
My idea for making this better (specifically for Auria Pro) would be a startup screen. I even mocked it up and posted it in the Auria forums in the "Auria Wishlist Thread":
Probably a boring answer since I'm not solely committed to working in iOS, but I try to keep projects organized in folders in AudioShare. I also have a catch all folder there for bits and bobs organized into subfolders like drum loops, leads, synth bass, etc.
If I get something going in any app with multiple instruments, I'll save it as a project.
do it again or browse through some stuff that hasn't been made into a complete song yet to see if i missed something. i hoard music ideas and browse through them often to see if or sticks out for completing or perhaps add to the pile.
Wow, great idea! Is it doable with iOS rules and all?
Good question. I'm not an iOS dev so I don't know the ins and outs, but I'm pretty sure it's doable. The app that comes to mind is Medly. When you open Medly, it shows you a projects overview screen where you can then choose which song you want to work on.
True! I also have Medly, but I haven't been using it for a while and completely forgot about this start screen...
Now, I know everyone wouldn't like that extra step, so it'd be great if there could be a preference in the settings screen to handle whether to show the startup screen or just load the last project.
Would it be fair to say that this is actually one of those areas where GarageBand actually does very well in? Song A on Monday, Song B on Tuesday and Wednesday, Song C on Thursday and more work on Song A on Friday, etc, with a minimum of missing dangling forgotten or altered dependencies?
YESPLEASEYESPLEASEYESPLEASEYESPLEASEYESPLEASEYESPLEASEYESPLEASEYESPLEASE....
Seems fair enough, and there are probably more people here using GarageBand than let on because it has a reputation for being a DAW for neophytes/amateurs. There's no shortage of snobbery about "how music should be made."
Often there are advantages and trade-offs with any set up, so I think it comes down to figuring out what's the best combination of apps that fits the way you like to work.
This can be difficult if you have too many choices and are unwilling to commit to a sound.
Here's a quote from mixer/engineer/producer Andy Wallace...
"When I was working on eight-track or 16-track I had to make mix decisions while I was recording, and today I can go back and listen to these recordings and feel that I made good decisions. But I now get sessions with 100+ tracks where there will be eight different mics on the same guitar amplifier, and you have to listen to what makes the best blend, and so on. When I get a project that's full of unmade decisions it slows me down, because I have to put my producer hat on and sort out these decisions. I prefer for the recording engineer and producer to decide on the sound for a guitar, but instead, many of them like to keep their options open because they're looking for perfection. So I spend a lot of time trying to make people understand that there's no perfect mix. You can always change a mix and not make it worse. But do the changes improve it? In my experience, a mix rarely gets better with endless changes and recalls. For me, a mix is about trying to find something that works and that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and believing in that. If you are rethinking and second-guessing that all the time you risk losing that feeling.”
I can't and "maybe" shouldn't breakout of my setup, but I'll might have to add a linear DAW of some sort for an actual song with parts.
Xynthesizr OR Oscilab driving a Synth (for baseline or melody) with rapid permutations.
Figure for legato leads (which can get converted to midi -> MIDImorphosis)
Drums via RMD or other Luis Machines
All routed in Audiobus AUM and kept in two files. One is the original setup. Two is the recorded audio to which addition frills can be added.
It's easy to get a grove or jam setup this way. The biggest hurdle I have comes from actually composing a song and not just a noodle.
It's all in folders in AUM/Audioshare with MIDI parts stored in Xynthesizr or Oscilab.
So the answer to the OP question is all I have are SEVERAL multiple bits of every song. Which thanks to AUM / Audiobus are "easy" to recall.