Producers - a Special Breed? (Another Pseudophilosphical BS ;))

[Memento Beats]

Hey folks,

This question has been on my mind for quite some time and I'm really curious what you think about it.

I have been here on Illmuzik for four years now and during this time I got acquainted with a lot of people that have been making music or they plan to start learning how to make it or they just entered the realm of music production/bedroom music production (as in our case this second term has more application in my opinion ). I've read a lot of introductions, I've read a lot of threads here, I've participated in a lot of public and private conversations with Illmuzik users. And all of this made me think - are we a special type of humans?

This thread was inspired by a private conversation between a few members of this forum that took place a few months ago. After this conversation (because it was about serious private problems of one user I'm not going to reveal nicknames here - who knows, will know ) I started noticing similar patterns in pretty much majority of us. I mean in terms of our personalities, background, professions, interests and even personal problems. And when I talk about interests I don't refer to music by any means.

I was shocked to discover how many of us have been, used to be or are trying to become programmers. My explanation for it is that producing music and writing code is kinda similar. You sit in front of the computer for hours trying to communicate your ideas to the machine (MPC/AKAI) and/or a computer. Of course I learned the hard way that producing and programming are two completely different things yet they are similar when it comes to - let's call it - work conditions. But it's absolutely mind blowing how many people here has dabbled in programming.

Second thing is the problems I already mentioned above, it's absolutely amazing how many people has struggled with the same kind of personal issues. And what's absolutely crazy is the fact that we are thousands and hundreds kilometers apart from each other. Yet, sometimes it feels like we come from the same neighbourhood.

What IS IT that brings all of us together? Are we some kind of special breed or something? Is it some kind of strange Law of Attraction that pulls us all together?

I'm curious of your answers.

 

[2GooD Productions]

I think music production takes a certain level of intelligence to be able to grasp properly, its such a complicated subject that you need to be able to absorb the details.
My web programming came about as a necessity as I was broke and couldnt pay somebody to build me a website, I learned how myself. Always had an interest in computers as my dad used to build them in the first days of computers, I had 3 atari 2600's at one point. I went to college for c programming and never used the qualification, went to work with my mates instead. My life has been one long list of bad judgement calls by me. My situation in life is entirely of my own making. After chasing people to listen to my music let alone buy it has made me decide to get into vst programming instead.

 

[Fade]

I think a big part of it is because we're into the technical side of music, which nowadays is run by computers, so that maybe makes us interested in coding.

It could also just be that we love tech. I've always been into computers and always loved music so that's why ILL is like a mashup of that.

But I also hate computers and being in front of them. There's a big difference between working all day in front of a computer versus manual labor. One thing I hate is computers is not good for your health; eyes, posture, weight gain, etc. So on one hand I like the problem solving of coding but on the other hand I want to throw my computer out the window, put on a backpack and go live life outdoors.

 

[Iron Keys]

What IS IT that brings all of us together? Are we some kind of special breed or something?

We're all fucking lunatics.

Is it some kind of strange Law of Attraction that pulls us all together?

it's Fade - he's the biggest lunatic of us all.

 

[Iron Keys]

One thing I hate is computers is not good for your health; eyes, posture, weight gain, etc.

I noticed that a lot of my favourite/best producers are fat.

Clearly they are fat from how much time they've spent making beats.

So to those who aren't where you want to be, it's not cause you suck, you just aint fat enough yet.

 

[Iron Keys]

ok so a more 'serious' response now...

I think it's just because we are way more similar and less unique than we think we are. (humans/people/whatever Fade is)

It's something I've been realising more and more lately. Even consider those style of memes that become popular now, where people talk about what seem like very unique, weird, quirky habits, that you've taken no influence in adopting, but are shared by millions around the world. Such as the one where someone leaves a knife blade half over the edge of the sink saying "the symbol of i might make another sandwich, but i haven't decided yet.'" There are so many of these that you realise we are not so different or unique.

So that will only heighten likely when you people with shared interests which likely come about from shared characteristic that draw you to such interests.

Me personally, I'm not so interested in coding, I would be far more interested in the ideas/design of something as opposed to the mechanics of it.

But even take me and 2GooD for instance... we have a bunch of ironically shared details even down to the fact we share a bunch of identical injuries.

And also like you mentioned, shared 'personal' issues which you relate to with other illiens.


Despite that, I am definitely an incredible unique sparkling ball of amazingness. You man just generic 1 type humans.

 

[2GooD Productions]

ok so a more 'serious' response now...

I think it's just because we are way more similar and less unique than we think we are. (humans/people/whatever Fade is)

It's something I've been realising more and more lately. Even consider those style of memes that become popular now, where people talk about what seem like very unique, weird, quirky habits, that you've taken no influence in adopting, but are shared by millions around the world. Such as the one where someone leaves a knife blade half over the edge of the sink saying "the symbol of i might make another sandwich, but i haven't decided yet.'" There are so many of these that you realise we are not so different or unique.

So that will only heighten likely when you people with shared interests which likely come about from shared characteristic that draw you to such interests.

Me personally, I'm not so interested in coding, I would be far more interested in the ideas/design of something as opposed to the mechanics of it.

But even take me and 2GooD for instance... we have a bunch of ironically shared details even down to the fact we share a bunch of identical injuries.

And also like you mentioned, shared 'personal' issues which you relate to with other illiens.


Despite that, I am definitely an incredible unique sparkling ball of amazingness. You man just generic 1 type humans.

you make a good point, humans are more similar than we are different, which is why we are divided by people in influence at every opportunity. We other those that are different, but they arent really that different at all, if we took the time to find out. The human condition is something we all share, down to the fact that we are ALL so easily manipulated emotionally.

 

[nikwen]

Two observations:

1. A crowd of people attracts like-minded people. The crowd on IllMuzik is a lot different from the kids just getting into production that I see elsewhere. That's probably why many people here share so many common attributes.
2. I think forums attract software developers. Forums are structured, you share deep thoughts, and we've grown up with them. Instagram seems to have a completely different crowd that's more into presenting themselves and less into sharing written thoughts. That might also explain why there are so many developers on IllMuzik.

it has made me decide to get into vst programming instead.

What are you working on at the moment? (Feel free to share privately if you don't want to post in public yet.)

 

[2GooD Productions]

Two observations:

1. A crowd of people attracts like-minded people. The crowd on IllMuzik is a lot different from the kids just getting into production that I see elsewhere. That's probably why many people here share so many common attributes.
2. I think forums attract software developers. Forums are structured, you share deep thoughts, and we've grown up with them. Instagram seems to have a completely different crowd that's more into presenting themselves and less into sharing written thoughts. That might also explain why there are so many developers on IllMuzik.

What are you working on at the moment? (Feel free to share privately if you don't want to post in public yet.)

Ive only just started really, was learning juce, then wanted an open source framework without a splash screen and found ASPiK. As I go I want to start with a gain, just a basic gain for gain staging as its so important, then as I learn to do each aspect of DSP and filters, and get my head around the algebra I will add to it until I have a full track plugin, with low and high pass filters for essential cutting of frequencies, a spectrum analyzer, eq, compression, maybe saturation. I also want to create a vst that creates an extra audio output that gets routed to my audio input which i can then send to discord to stream cubase 11 with sound and minimal latency. I have a few ideas, just need to learn how to implement them.

 

[iDeaLoGiK]

Personally I just like forums for the way they work, which is what drew me here. I've been perusing online forums since early highschool, granted back then it was more the animation forums back when stick figure fighting was huge. I got a kick out of making that shit. Social media killed a huge proportion of what used to be huge communities in favor of quick gratification, it happened with both the hip hop side, and the animation side of online communities. I can't stand using discord for things like posting music for feedback. It's too short-lived, and you can get lost in the weeds pretty easily. Granted the way the showcase is set up here is a little bit out of the ordinary to what music forums were when I first started, but its slow enough that at least something gets said for the majority of people posting.

I'm not big on coding myself, although I do like tinkering with computer hardware, which I suppose is on a similar vein. I think a lot of it has to do with the type of personality people who are interested in music have. The act of making music is problem solving when you get down to the most fundamental level of it. Everything from writing to mixing, and mastering. I'd imagine it forces you to use that part of your brain inherently to create, and thats where the connection lies. It's no different than coding in that sense, or in my case, building computers and writing lyrics. I'm a pretty hands on person, I work construction, I really like to tackle problems and work out a way to either solve it, or get around it entirely. Most people are wired in such a way that when they make something from nothing like in music or coding, that when the project is done there's a palpable pride in the accomplishment of having done it for better or worse. As far as producers all being cut from the same cloth, I suppose theres some merit in that, but I've seen some communities online that are bordering on obnoxious. That's something that I don't see from here. This place reminds me more of the old Rap Dogs netcee forum, its pretty relaxed. I don't feel like anyone here is really out to prove anything to anybody, nor should they have to. Granted I think the big difference between a production forum and a netcee forum is that generally producers aren't aspiring to be huge per-say. At least not in the same way rappers tend to be. Unless you're timbo, alchemist or khaled, basically nobody will know who you are even if you get big placements... hell even they (aside from Khaled, because he uses that damn tag in everything) are probably completely unknown to anybody who only listens to the music rather than getting down in the mud of hip hop culture. Maybe thats why producers trend towards being humble, i dunno.

 

[Fade]

@iDeaLoGiK Very well said!

Like you said, it's the problem-solving and being able to create something that is very common. We spend lots of time in front of a computer so maybe it's also a natural progression to go from creating music to creating code.

I remember that Rapdog forum a bit. I wasn't a member but there were so many forums back then and it was great having that, but yeah social media fucking killed a lot of communities. Whether it's Discord or somewhere else like FB or whatever, posting your music there can easily get lost in the shuffle. We used to have people post their stuff in just one section but it quickly got out of control of course with tons of posts with hardly any replies. I think the Showcase solves that, although some people post and leave, which is expected.

 

[nikwen]

Ive only just started really, was learning juce, then wanted an open source framework without a splash screen and found ASPiK. As I go I want to start with a gain, just a basic gain for gain staging as its so important, then as I learn to do each aspect of DSP and filters, and get my head around the algebra I will add to it until I have a full track plugin, with low and high pass filters for essential cutting of frequencies, a spectrum analyzer, eq, compression, maybe saturation. I also want to create a vst that creates an extra audio output that gets routed to my audio input which i can then send to discord to stream cubase 11 with sound and minimal latency. I have a few ideas, just need to learn how to implement them.

That's awesome, man! I love what you're doing here.

Let me know when you've got something to show.

 

[OGBama]

I @Fade have a love/hate relationship w/tech.

I @Memento Beats am a new "producer" who decided to dive in because of my bad experience(s) regarding the landscape of "type beats." This led me to say "fuck it, I'm going for mine and producing." The bad experience I had was the aspect of downloading instrumentals to write to as I went through Hell just to legally get one to practice recording to regarding how (I tried with a "sharesheet" in iOS jargon for the iOS app called "Shortcuts" by Apple and it was called "YouTube to GarageBand" created by a Reddit user who hasn't updated it to work w/o any problems, every time I found a potential instrumental to use it would act wonky with it and it turned me off to using it).

I got tired of type beats that sounded like what I call "808s and too many narcotics" and many beats I did find cats was having ridiculous prices for track outs, etc.

What stopped me earlier from diving into the production side was the lack of community experience(s) regarding music. One of many things that resonated w/me was when Tricia Rose alluded in "Black Noise" to the nature of producing being homosocial and she spoke of it as a male space. I've noticed now with the advent of social media that women are in abundance making music, esp. on the producing side, but I'm diving in out of real interest.

 

[Kane the MOD]

I just came here to bite. Copy your samples, techniques, styles and personalities and become billionaire by selling your shit for $3.99 a beat to mumblerappers.

 

[2GooD Productions]

I just came here to bite. Copy your samples, techniques, styles and personalities and become billionaire by selling your shit for $3.99 a beat to mumblerappers.

I wish I could sell my beats for 3.99 to mumble rappers

 

[OGBama]

Re: selling @2GooD Productions you're better than that, fuck mumble (c)rappers.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Re: selling @2GooD Productions you're better than that, fuck mumble (c)rappers.

it was just a joke lol

 

[Fade]

it was just a joke lol

 

[2GooD Productions]

I cant say Ive shopped a beat since I came back to making music, havent even tried to sell a beat to a rapper. I have submitted to some libraries though, but more in the $5000 starting ballpark. I have had as much luck selling those as I did when I was trying to sell them cheap 12 years ago. I dont sell my music, Im not a salesman, as a result I hardly get my music heard let alone sold lmao, thats the reality of it.

 

[OGBama]

Think @2GooD Productions of marketing as pulling, not pushing your world onto people, in your case, listeners and artists.