I'm back! What's a lesson you wish you knew sooner? 🤔 🔊 Free To Use Sounds ► bit.ly/3kIpeTz (save $5 with code: venustheory5)

@alchemistrpm82

Жыл бұрын

It's good to have you back. One of the biggest things I wish I knew years ago is that plugins are same-ish, and there's no reason to own so many. It's so tempting to collect a ton of music software, but like you said, much of it is vastly overrated. And even when it's not, often times this cool new plugin, whatever it may be, will offer little to your actual workflow.

@hleet

Жыл бұрын

all of them :p

@laxplanet6046

6 ай бұрын

I heard Flying Lotus say something along the lines of "sometimes we are to hardon/put to much pressure on ourselves, you just have to sit down and ease into it, but you do have to actually sit down" after hearing this, and struggling with crippling depression I set the goal of just sitting down once a day and opening a session, that's it, just open the DAW. Now I'm back making music again after drifting for years.

I made music. Cameron you’ve inspired this 60+ grandpa fascinated for the last half century with synths, to spend the last 6 months creating and live streaming well over 350 hours of original ambient music experiments, 3-5 uploads a week. Each of those started from a blank document. I tried to simplify to just the result, not my process. I came up with something I think is pretty cool. I think I made plenty of lousy stuff too - iterating in public. I also made some cool contacts with developers and even found bugs. Now I have to figure out what next. I tried speed running ambient on hard mode for half a year, and I’m reeling a little from that I think. Best of luck, me.

@haus_cat

Жыл бұрын

That is very cool 👏👏

@bricelory9534

Жыл бұрын

Awesome job! I think there's a balance of the "mania" we get when we find a new passion in our creative life and finding the pace that allows us to continue it for a long haul. For me, it's a challenge because I crave to be constantly learning something new - so when I have new things to try, I dive in. But as I feel things start becoming old hat in some way, I find myself tapering off. One way I try to pace it out is to use that interest in learning to dive as deep as possible into one of the synths/instruments I own to pull everything I can out of it- grow familiar with what it can offer, how to create with it, and so on. This helps me not get overwhelmed with finding new things to play with, which I think is both way too tempting and problematic in its own right (I think we tend to create the same things again and again if we are always just trying out new instruments. That is because I'm learning HOW to use a new instrument, I'm not trying to learn what new things can I do musically - leading to a mile wide pool that's only an inch deep.) I don't know what sort of things are causing you to reel, but I encourage you to explore something you found yourself struggling with when you were making all those tracks (for me, I really struggle conceptualizing interesting drums, so I work on exploring both how others use drums and what I like or don't like about them - it's helped me grow a lot) or learn to use a part of a synth that you've avoided/skipped over before (for my TD-3, I tend to just record one pattern into my DAW and use it there... I want to explore chaining patterns together, things like that). Music is all about exploration, in many ways. I hope you can find a great path to continue exploring moving forward!

@Nirossen

Жыл бұрын

just subbed. Keep it up. Thank you for the inspiration!

@actualkevin

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Haus, Brice and Hiro for the friendly support. Brice thanks for your extensive reflection! When I say I’m reeling I suppose I need to supply more detail for context. I live-streamed 100% of this, so I could say DAW-less. I employed all the stuff to “mix and master” for LUFS and TP conforming to KZread’s specs, I utterly ignored visuals at the start until KZread actually informed me my videos didn’t have a high enough data rate, then I would shift attention to generative visuals. My metadata game re KZread discoverability etc is just in a dumpster. I did this in a complete vacuum with really no viewership to date. I suppose the reeling comes from looking back, realizing all that it took, seeing it went nowhere and wonder if where I take it next. That must go into music theory (as I’ve recently started to demonstrate to myself). I’m also realizing I’ve learned way more than I expected I would. That’s why I chose “reeling” as an all encompassing characterization of what feels like the end of a journey, but must become just a another leg.

@bricelory9534

Жыл бұрын

@@actualkevin that's great to recognize - and it is amazing to look back and realize all that these sorts of things take to come together. I am reminded of KZread musicians Hainbach, who shared a wonderful video about "burying the high" in dealing with post-performance crash/depression. It was about being purposeful to make time and space to celebrate what you accomplished with people, as a sort of "sending off," before starting a new project. From what you are describing, it sounds like taking a bit of time to reflect on all you accomplished in those six months before looking too much at what your next steps could be a helpful capstone to this leg of your journey! :)

Can I just add that this is filmed absolutely brilliantly and the quality is superb

@shadvegasmusic

Жыл бұрын

his stuff is so high quality, its awesome

@Obscurity202

Ай бұрын

He is an auteur

I agree. Also, working with someone else seemed to bring out creativity. My mom came to visit, and she plays guitar and sings. I came up with so many more ideas with her there. And we produced a song together in only 7 hours. It was probably my best work in the whole year.

Some excellent advice here. As much as we might think we already "know" this, it's good to get reminded now and then. 🍻

"The Last thing you need is a new gear" I'm gonna repeat this 10x a day after I get up every morning

That's why I release every week. You learn far more from the practice of finishing, than second guessing supposed perfection.

You have single handedly cut out every excuse I keep making for "Why i'm not making music yet". Thank you for that SO MUCH!

Hope you enjoyed your break. Glad you are back doing what you do best: inspiring the rest of us

So glad to see you making videos as I really thought you were going to make a several month long break. So thank you as this is one of my favorite channels to watch for inspiration

Really great video as always Cameron. Thanks for sharing this and everything else you do. Much love.

Inspirational as always. Welcome back! I'm glad your mini vacation brought the peace of mind you sought!

You're videos are so inspiring! They tick all the right boxes for me! Thanks!

Another great video and thoughtful insights into the process!

Cameron, man... really adore your inspirational touch on all of our music geek souls ! Thanks a ton for all of these goodies & please keep coming back to keep us all alive... much Love... :)

Love these “big picture thinking” videos of yours Venus. Full of helpful info.

Developing a system is a great topic. I would really love to see you going deeper on this.

@shadvegasmusic

Жыл бұрын

this was my favorite one too, systems and workflows give you more "RAM" to create stuff.

@josesierra8793

Жыл бұрын

Agreed

@Kaelem..

Жыл бұрын

I would too!

Most accurate points I’ve ever heard. Everything you said resonated with me so much.

As someone who mainly works in video, most of these tips absolutely apply there as well. Thanks for the great advice and reminder to keep putting in the hours!

I’ve had all these realizations over the last 5-7 years of making music. Fell into all the pitfalls with gear and having to overcome my fear of failure. Thank you for spreading this wisdom in a concise and honest fashion. Kudos to you!

Really good video. Some of these things I often tell myself (especially about gear!!), but it's always useful to hear it from someone else's perspective

I agree... It's definitely important to have fun and experiment. Happy accidents sometimes create wonderful, unexpected stuff! Keep up the great work man!

Here's my number one tip: if you're trying to work out a lead, melody, drumline, whatever... press record first, your first take will often be your best.

Great video as always! It really helped me notice some problems I've been having lately when making music.

Wow this was amazing man and honestly what I needed to see, thank you ❤

good to have you back, you seem a lot more relaxed now!

I had a bit of a burnout earlier this summer, and getting back to "having fun with it" and "make the silliest stuff ever" was really very important to find my way back to my love of music. I made a song called "Goodbye" (where all the lyrics are just repeating that word over and over) and one called "I Love Her, She Loves Me" (where that phrase is just repeated over and over), and remembering how it's all supposed to be just fun and games, and if I enjoy it, then that's really what matters 😊

@Chunda8

Жыл бұрын

There are people that have had hits with this approach. Some tunes along this line you may enjoy: "Bugatti" by Tiga, "Flat Beat" by Mr. Oizo, "Jack" by Breach, "Chunky" by Format:B and "Okay" by Shiba San. Maroon 5s big hit "Moves Like Jagger" started as a joke, nobody thought it would go anywhere, turns out to be one of their best. More than one hit has a whistled hook. Dave Grohl advises the 'Lyrics as Bumper Sticker' approach.

@griffinqk1058

Жыл бұрын

@@Chunda8 also poland by lil yachty

@MU6AFA

Жыл бұрын

Where can I listen to your song?

@JohnNoirSmith

Жыл бұрын

@@MU6AFA It should be on most streaming services (Spotify, KZread Music, Apple Music, SoundCloud for "Goodbye!", Tidal, etc), with my artist name being "John Noir Smith" 😁

You are one of the most analytical dudes, when it comes to the creative process. I agree with everything here, and have adopted some of these strategies, myself... especially here, on KZread. Keep up the good work, now that you have "officially" returned. We appreciate you!

Thank you so much for this video and the rest of you videos in general. They are a breath of fresh air for many of us and inspire us to keep creating! Best wishes from Romania!

Loved all of this, but especially #6. I think your gear reviews are excellent, but my favorite content of yours is the stuff that focuses on techniques, concepts, and experimentation. Regardless this is one of the few channels where I watch every video that comes out. Glad you had a good musi-cation!

Lots of good ideas in this video, thanks. About a month ago started working on music 2 hours a day. Doesn't always happen, but more often then not and surprise, I'm getting better.

Really enjoy your videos. Great advice. I'm glad that you sharing this wisdom with the general public. I also like how most of this advice can be applied to any medium of artistic creation. Better to write a bad poem than no poem at all!

Great video, C. Lots of good advice here. Glad you're officially back. Have a great day :)

I really love these videos I was watching/listening to while drawing; I do make music, but I work as a designer, and these things apply perfectly to other artistic processes and is really nice to hear something I've been telling myself for a long time ago, mainly because college left me with a massive burnout and finding that strength to grab a pencil and sketch something out was just incredibly tiring, eventually I stop caring, about what people would think, I stopped caring about social media; I just started to think about what made me happy about drawing when I was little, and I was so simple, the answer was just right there. 🥰 Hearing this from a person I admire a lot (you) is just like a big sip of fresh air, reassuring me that my conclusions are on the right path in some way or another. I'm catching up with ur videos because I took a long hiatus from social media. 🤭 Thank you for this 💖

Good advices. After covid started I wasn't really able to finish properly any song that I started, but since this February we started a genre challenge with my friends where we randomly select genre and try to nail it every week. This really helped me to learn all the tools I got during my 'freeze' time, and it really helped me to optimize my process. Before that I was afraid of my own ideas (like 'is this riff good?', etc). But in the end I started to commit my ideas faster because I had just one week and couple of hours a day for making a track for the challenge. So, after many months of the challenge I made like 20 good tracks, where 6 of them are already released and many a scheduled for the release, and also tons of demos where I can put in little work and finish the piece. Now comparing to what I did before and what I do know - I see major improvement in quality (because I learned a lot during my freeze time), songs get on repeat, I improved my skills in various parts of music production, and the most important thing - I spend less time on things I was stuck in. To sum everything up: now I am not afraid of making a bad track. I will just not release it, but its very important for me to finish the stuff.

Legit taking notes right now 😆 These ideas have floated thru my head for years with mediocre implementation, but your way of explaining everything gives me much better perspective on music production. Great content!!

WORDS, very satisfying to hear some conclusions that you come up with and fresh insights !

Welcome back Cameron! Good to see you.

Couldn’t agree more, no such thing as failure, it’s all experience. I live by it. Great video as always. Cheers Dave

Love your work Venus Theory! Thanks for sharing

Your videos have made me improve so much as a musician. Keep up the content man.

This video could not have come to me at a better time, fantastic vid

We can tell you put great effort into these videos, thanks for the insight!

This is one of your best Ted Talks so far, Cameron. Love it! 🤟😎

Welcome back!

1st video I saw from u and just suscribed, ur way to see the music is inspiring!

Glad to see that you're back :) Thanks to your videos and advice, I managed to create a track, something I haven't done in the past two years. It's not a masterpiece but not a mastercrap either 😂 At least it's something that I am satisfied with. It's hard when you are over analyzing everything, so I just said to myself " do your best and just move forward, the flaws are a natural part of the process". Big thank you for giving me that little push to get me going again. Take care.

such a great video, listening to artists like Nino Rota and Piero Umiliani is what got me out of the idea that every song needs to be perfect ,some of their music is slightly off key at times and not everything is beautifully recorded either ,yet they find their way onto my playlists time and time again, just cause i cant help but love everything they made in the way and style they made it

This one of those channels where I truly think the videos should be getting Millions of views coz what he says is INCREDIBLE, and it doesn't only apply to music. I can even get motivated to study or exercise by listening to him and his voice is soothing AF.

Great advice! Working full-time etc blah blah blah I find my time for creating music is precious. I'm constantly kicking myself about watching too many youtube vids about plug-ins, samples, effectors etc.... Your's are still some of the most insightful so allow myself to indulge here!

Ya. 100% subbing. Ive watched a few of your videos and I am beyond impressed. Best advice, motivation, inspiration.

Thanks. Been trying to get time studio setup and your video has inspired me to get it done!

amazing production!!!

Just what I needed to hear today, thank you!

All sounds like good advice, my man!

Great video brother! I have unfinished tracks dating back a decade or so. What ends up happening a lot is, the idea I had at the time was good, but I wasn't in the right headspace to finish it, or figure out wher eit was going. Often they were only just a few measures of scratch padding. Then later on, sometimes years later, I'll go through and revisit the unfinished tracks, and one of them will spark something. Remembering the idea, but now combining that with whatever musical experience I've had since I originally wrote, I am now in the right headspace to do something with it, that I either wasn't able to do before, or would never have thought of. Never delete your tracks. No matter how short, stupid, or uninspiring they may be, they can be a source of inspiration to write something great in the future. Also, GAS is real! Don't get GAS!

These videos are really helpful. Thank u!

Love your videos man, keep it up 🎶👌

A thing I love about your way of delivering advice is that u are not boring to listen to, a lot youtubers are so boring and it´s just long strict sessions that makes my brain burn out, so when I finally have to make music my energy is close to 0, u on the other hand sound interresting and your morals and ways of thinking really resonates with my adhd brain, it might also be that you´re pretty straight forward and yeah I guess I like your style of comedy lmao

Very instructive Cameron, thanx for that one.

every video i watched of you has elevated my thought about how to be a better artist, you are the true guru of the music on internet ....much admiration

I needed to hear these things. Thank you.

Full of great advice. Thank you!

needed to hear this. thank you

Doing the recording, editing and sound design for an audio drama has a lot in common with composing music. I'm going to rewind and watch this one again.

Oh man... I needed to hear that. Even though i know everything you said but still somehow your words get through my thick skull

Good to have you back Dave!

Outstanding tips mate!

Ok, so a deep well of technical knowledge and information, a comedic force and now a philosopher, dispensing perils of wisdom. I don't know what's next but PLEASE keep it coming!!!

Thanks again for your point of view. Almost helpful. Now a days I'm listnening more to you like a mentor then as a teacher. Nice!

Another great Video! You’ve done it again

GREAT video and way to look at productivity. Just what I needed today. I'm well into a new edit now instead of procrastinating. Next I'll apply it to my music and get out of a very long term rut. THANKS

I really needed this. Thank you. 👍🏾👍🏾

I highly anticipate your coming vid on creating a unique and personalized workflow.

Ahhh! I love that black crows doc. Chris said something about how every song ever written is part of a giant wheel that keeps spinning and all songwriters are just keeping the wheel spinning. I think if that often when I get the ‘writers block’. So much good info in this vid Cameron🤘keep up the good work

This is great! I really enjoyed the perspectives.

Another awesome video, cheers bud.

Good to see you Back 👍 I totally second all seven points you put up here having made almost exactly the same experiences and come to the exact same conclusions 👍 I rarely had such a feeling of "yeah, did everything right" like after watching this video 😊 and guess what? I am going to have more than 10 songs ready and done in a couple of weeks, just starting with the mixing sessions 👍

6:30 adding on to that, I've learned over the last fifteen years that "perfect" ideas tend to turn out much more flawed than you imagine, and it's much easier to turn a "bad" idea into a good one just by asking yourself "okay, but what's a part of this that I do like" and building it out from that element. There's a certain danger in what we like to call "inspiration" because, quite often, inspiration only wants to show you the big picture, but your job as a creative is to assemble all the little details that will make it up, one at a time. Don't lose sight of the trees for the forest! :D Though you might want to try going to write in the forest. Great place to look for ideas, and put them in perspective too.

Stellar advice.

On my days off work, I've managed to (more or less) stick to some kind of regimen, where I plan to spend a certain minimum amount of time doing music-y stuff, but I've found one particular method to work more than just forcing myself to do it - a reward system, of sorts. I have spookily similar distractions to you Cameron, in the games / KZread / Netflix things, and it's dead easy to fall into that when you've got spare time, but what I now do is act as though I'm actually at work, where I can't just spin the chair around and go do one of the aforementioned distract-y things. Instead, I consider those distractions as a reward... IF I behave myself and get my act together to actually get productive, even if experimental. So, when I know I've got a nice salmon dinner and bottle of wine, followed by some crappy Nflix shit, followed by a Cyberpunk session to look forward to IF I BEHAVE MYSELF, I can fully immerse myself in the music, and so far it's worked great. I don't always produce anything worthwhile, but at least I'm trying.

Thank you Cameron for all of your content!!! I also wish I had the depth of your bass voice. ha!! Cheers man.

Great video and so true on so many fronts. Love your presets on Pigments.

great video! good editing and message :)

This is actually great advice. Cheers!

I love theses advices !

Great talk!

Great Stuff! Inspiring me to get back into music bro. Thanks for that.

Excellent and well considered advice. Thank you.

I've been struggling with all those things lately... thank you for the well timed advice 👍

absolute words of wisdom there. Thanks

sounds so like me, everything you described (all problems mentioned) is like watching my self. Thanks for reminding what not to do brah!

Top notch video full of sound advice: @ 7:30ish - for me, since I make busy and techy music, it’s way easier starting projects than finishing them. Endless edits, tons of variations on riffs, coupled with “having” to make sure my work isn’t minimal, has been the bane of my musical efforts since I began the hobby decades ago.

So glad you took a break Cameron, great take aways, what gave you the biggest buzz creatively? (In the time out)

Always learn something from this channel it's brilliant 👏

I needed this

Thanks for this. On the gear front, as someone who’s had lots of gear and very little, I’m back at the very little stage (mainly because I’ve had to sell a lot of it due to being not rich) and it doesn’t bother me one bit, actually. One of my classics is to buy a new ‘thing’, thinking it will change my life and finally be the answer to my lack of production. Don’t fall into the trap! If you’ve got a laptop and an audio interface, you’ve already got too much gear, i.e: (amazing) software. As alluded to in the video, it’s not the gear, it’s the making of the music. Love your videos, they’re very therapeutic! Thanks again.

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing🙏

Best channel for actually helpful guidance ... this is wisdom right there. And not just a that usual jibberish about "use this plugin, to make your songs great instantly" type of things

bro.. love your videos.