If i dont have real instruments in front of me i feel musically castrated. I lose all inspiration if i dont have REAL drums, guitars, REAL bass, and a keyboard. I dont know why this is but i just cant manipulate drum machines and sequencers like i can real instruments. No soul or feeling is in anything i do with computers.
You can reply/respond/add to this if you want but its mostly a rant. I got reason 2.0 today and i cant pull anything out of it. Oh well.

I know how you feel, but then look at a song like "Forever in my Life", mostly machine, then he sings and OH yeah, there it is!

The only way to get soul & feeling out of a recording is to put some in. If your using all machines, it will sound like its made by a machine but if its real or at least some of it is, I garuntee u'll get a better result. I use a mixture of live & electronic. My drums are electronic & everything else is live, can turn the whole sound around

I'm the oposite. I record using MIDI and people tell me my stuff doesn't sound mechanical at all. I once fooled a guitar player with a keyboard sound!! He thought I had recorded guitar on a track and it was my Korg!!!

I'm not too good with drum loops though. That tends to be repetitive for me. I find a good pattern and just loop it. I need to experiment more with fills and accents. Then again, Something in the Water is pretty repetitive in that sense isn't it? I'll have to listen to it again to make sure.

I feel like a retard when I have a 4track in my hands. Well not completely, I get vague memories from my college recording techniques class. I did a demo 3 years ago with a four track. I had my Korg going into 2 tracks, using MIDI to mix and sequence. I recorded my vocals through a reverb onto the other 2 tracks. Now I'm learning digital audio recording, but I think if I had the analog recording knowledge, it would be a lot easier.

thecloud9mission said:

Please dont ever instult me like that again.

I think You can get Great results with Mixing both forms.Most Artists do.I think everything is a Challenge because you learn to Adapt to Change or you will never change.we all have a way we like to Hear or Play Music but it's cool to Experiment in different areas here&there.

cbastriani said:

Insult you?

I was not suggesting that you are devoid of soul & feeling (because I wouldnt & I have not heard you yet), I meant add some real instruments (soul & feeling) to it & you'll get a better result from your computer based recording.

It was something Stevie Wonder talked about in an interview. He was talking about synthesised brass parts & said his way round it was to record a synth brass section & add a reall saxophone to it. The real sax balances out the electronic synth sounds & thats what makes Steveies brass parts sound so big.

It was advice, not offense & Im sorry if it caused any.

Another thing to avoid is quantising your music. This can make it sound very mechanical & if you are going to quantise, use a very light filter.

Hope this helps

God bless

Lewis

Im sure you meant well, but i wasnt honestly looking for advise as much as i was looking for other experiences, maybe my tone from the start was wrong. I was just venting basically.

P.S. - I'll have somthing out soon for all the orgers to hear.