Need Influences to push forward: Styles, Artists, etc...

[arche]

I've been using audiotool for some time now and I think I get how it
works :). Before audiotool, I have never really written a song or done
anything constructive musically. I always had "stupid fingers" that
required 4 hours of technique practice daily for months before I could
get up to playing for fun and now I don't have any time for that (been
6 years since my last push to play piano). Plus when I did play, I
couldn't ever get into learning music (not that I couldn't or even
sight read when needed). I just didn't like being constrained, so for
fun, I mostly played constant meaningless solo junk.

I say this because I now am working with something that allows me to
focus my thoughts musically and experiment with musical structures I
normally couldn't (whole tones, 12-tone, etc...). I'm now looking for
more influences (artists, styles, etc...). Other than what my fellow
audiotoolers make, I'm not that aware or even seem to be into what
seem to be the traditional styles of electronic music. Unfortunately
my knowledge base here is very limited, so there could be artists
doing exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm obviously influenced by a lot of 80's synth artists. I'm now
reintroducing myself to my former love of jazz. My favorite jazz
styles were always Bop, hardbop, cool jazz, and hot big band (no glenn
miller sweet stuff). Then of course there's jazz fusion and a lot of
blues styles that are nice. I'm not a huge blues fan (real blues
blues), but some funky bluesy stuff is always fun.

I'm also influenced by classical music. Huge influence from baroque
music (Albinoni's adagio in G is a baroque piece that has romantic
period elements in it). Classical period's not so interesting, but
influences me with the sheet music I've read (can't get away from that
Mozart sheet music). I think Classical period is just played out for
my tastes. Then there's the hardcore virtuoso romantic period: Liszt.
I've stolen plenty of ideas for some fast synths from his
transcendental etudes and I plan to use more :). I've even gotten
into atonal programmatic Schoenberg (I have to work at getting into it
each time, but it's worth it).

The problem now is how do I pull all of this together to make better
tracks and challenge myself musically with an electronic music tool? I
do plenty of safe basic stuff, but I love working on more risky types
of tracks. Music that I'm not sure anyone will actually like, but got
me to fuse multiple influences or try something really new.

Does anyone have any good electronic artists or even non-electronic
artists of any period that can increase my influence pool? I need
anything that I can listen to that I can bring to my work in
audiotool. This is all too long and probably confusing, but my brain
just isn't being concise right now (another thing that influences my
music - scattered)

[oedipax]

Are you looking for experimental artists who do strange, out of the
box music? Or just anyone?

[arche]

Anyone's fine. I'm not always weird :P

[Joel Caffey]

my inspirations are Mux Mool, Deejay Bola, MGMT, Ratatat (you can youtube them all if you'd like) 

they all combine more than a simple electronic vibe, but *originality* ..and if you are looking for piano and melody insperation i would suggest Yiruma, George Winston, Yann Tiersen, and my all time favorite Franz Listz. Ive been playing the piano for about 11 years now and all of these musicians have more than entranced me with there melodies. personally, i focus on melodies more than anything in my songs.. im user TopHat btw... im not that great lol but those guys are a wide range of inspiration for me...

hope that helped in some way, shape or form :D

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[arche]

Very helpful. I'm checking these out now.

I miss the piano sooo much, but I have so little time with work, kids,
etc..., so piano's not an option anymore.

I've also been trying to get some nice melodic phrasing. I'm more and
more working on using my basslines as counter melodies as well. Chord
voicing can play a nice role in this too because you can get a melodic
phrase using your chords and then on top of that place an over-arching
melodic phrase. One of these days, I'll actually try to read one of
the books I've got on counterpoint....but probably not anytime soon
lol.

[Joel Caffey]

Oh wow I need to find a book like that! Im only in high school so I cant empathize your busy schedule and time away from piano, but I can say the best way for me to learn is to simply listen! Tracks like yours and andres..ppl with experience help me tremendously

[Cliqy]

Got so many ideas from this one track, but I know this isn't your
style. I hope you can translate the style and getting inspiration from
it? If that makes since.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7SryRT_j1k&feature=BFa&list=FLWpgjGxuCmvqVOoFaHYSKNQ&index=7

[oedipax]

As you know arche, I'm a lover of piano as well and musical
instruments in general so a lot of the music I listen to involves
instruments and sometimes a combination of instruments and
electronics. Here are some musicians/bands (with YouTube links
provided) that I love:

Fuck Buttons: (sorry for the curse word, but yes that's the name of
this electronic duo - out of this world electronics - very cool and
amazing. Love them.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hQXSsbQCMs

Claude Debussy: (I love this piece by him - it's gorgeous and
strange):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHAnhAQduMg

DJ Spooky: (combines jazz and other styles with electronics - sounds a
bit sci-fi and "out there", and a bit nutty/experimental like a crazy
symphony. Completely and amazingly cool though if you're into the
weirdo music I'm into).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOWgbo5BjmI&feature=related

NOMO: (Afrobeats plus electronics. KEWL stuff)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddP0lLAcSVs

Washed Out: (chillwave artist I just discovered - pretty upbeat and
positive sounding stuff. Love it).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkpl-N-FGm8&ob=av2e

Deerhunter: (incorporates electronics with live instruments achieving
a really full, beautiful sound and having epic endings to their songs
that seem to go on forever. These guys are my fave band at the moment.
If it weren't for them, I may have given up music this year).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mBSOtdOjoc

Ash Ra Tempel: (just awesome for achieving this level of timelessness
in electronic sound especially for the 1970s!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T_hHQ64B54

Four Tet: (This guy's really good and has an incredibly refreshing
sound)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH6OzjAzvcA&feature=player_embedded

Datasette: (Love this guy's stuff)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLPfLw2XALA

Lotus Plaza: (really experimental, atmospheric sounding electronics
like being enveloped in a big cloud of sound)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNRVyVxdWzo&feature=related

Broadcast: (retro-psychedelia - the lead singer recently died of
pneumonia. Tragic! This was a great band)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvCMqh2YIJs&feature=player_embedded

I could probably go on forever. I listen to way too much music. If
anyone wants me to list more, let me know (oh and MGMT mentioned above
by Joel are really awesome too). :)

In response to your inquiry on my page about arrangement arche, I
think absences are just as important as additions. I know lately I've
been doing dnb a lot. Regardless of whatever style you do, one thing I
try to keep in mind is when to take something away and when to add it
or substitute it for another element. There can be a certain level of
suspense achieved when you take an element away and the same when you
add it at a certain point. So sometimes, I'll just have drums and
nothing else for about 4 measures. Or sometimes I'll just have the
synth for about 4 measures but no drums and then I'll bring in both at
some point. I like to also have a break where the song takes a
different melody from the lead melody. I will usually come back to the
lead melody eventually or I'll put the two together towards the end of
a song if they harmonize. I don't mean to sound formulaic because it
really isn't too much of a formula and it really depends on the song
you're working on. Like with DJ Spooky above, that piece is all over
the place, and yet it works (at least in my opinion) so there doesn't
have to be any rules around what you do. You can do whatever and a
song can take whatever direction you want. That's the joy and freedom
that comes with the creative process. Personally, I like to have a
theme or a concept associated with a song and I may not even know what
that is until I'm already halfway finished with it. Like with my
recent track just now ("4"), the concept behind that was the 4
horsemen of the apocalypse so of course it wasn't going to be a happy
song. lol. It helps sometimes to imagine a picture or idea too. I like
to think the songs tell a story in some way in musical form. So
there's a beginning, middle, and an end like Freitag's triangle -
Rising action, climax, falling action, resolution. That's a little
stiff and rigid, but I think you know what I mean. It doesn't have to
follow any guidelines really, and you can remain really loose in how
you compose or you can tighten it up. However you want to do it, I
think there's a place for both in the realm of composition.

Okay, I wrote a novel. Sorry! lol.

[arche]

Thanks a lot. This is very nice listing with good explanations
too :).
@ Cligy: All possible links are a way toward influence even if it
turns one away from that style. I'll check it out for sure and I
appreciate anything else you want to bring :).

Back @ oedipax:

I used to be mystified by how arrangements happened or songs were
written, but it's a combination of rules and rule-breaking and
instinct. There are rules even if people don't like to think of them
as rules. Western music evolved into what it is now, so we can't just
throw them out, but they are not rules that can't be ignored, changed
or flat out broken. So there's nothing bad about a rigid structure to
start and then modify from there.

I seem to like flow a lot. I've been creating sections and immediately
breaking to something different. For me it's like a car that changed
directions. Other times I give it a 4 measure break or some other
transition. Variations can also be as simple as isolating an
instrument then re-combining. One form I like to take is a build,
isolate, rebuild (vary order). I don't do traditional drops like
standard dance music, but I like the idea of building up and then
beginning an isolation phase, which leads to a rebuild of everything
from before, but starting with different pieces.

Drum tracks are a huge limitation for me since I haven't any rhythm. I
don't really know much about how drums are supposed to be used, so I
use my instincts for those. I've had a few flashes of inspiration to
learn, but something about drum tracks just doesn't get me motivated.
I need to work on that lol.

I think I'm more abstract and programmatic than you are in writing.
You have a theme that you envision that the music interprets. I
typically look for the music in itself only. i don't really start with
a picture theme or any real concept. For example, the track
"rehabilitation" has really no inspiration from drugs/rehab/etc...
it's a flow of musical ideas that came to me and I attempted to sculpt
into something that was interesting. I don't know if I'm describing
this right.

I think tension is very different for me and probably a key area I
need to improve (among so many others). I listen to my tracks and
realize that the tension seems to happen after the fact - once a
section change/instrument change happened. Basically you're going
along fine and suddenly your somewhere else. It might not always be
fast, but it's surreal like you didn't realize there was a change
until after it happened. I don't do large buildups preparing for a
drop. The other tension I use is harmonic tensions. I'm not really
there yet, but I've been trying to use melodic phrasing that's
slightly less standard for the harmony.

Now I'm writing the novels, but I get into this stuff. I'd love to
talk about progressions and tonality LOL. I wrote a lot about what I'm
doing, so next I've got a lot of listening to do and then start
thinking about what others do and whether they mesh with what I like
to do. There's always the fact that there are styles that we like, but
don't like to make. I like farcio's techno, but I'm not into trying to
make it (1 - I suck at it and 2 - it's not my thing). Same for
dubstep. I typically just slip it in a little (another plug: "electro
beat pulse" has a nice acid dubstep break), but I'm not big on making
actual dubstep. I will, however, always love the 303. I can barely
make a track without that thing even if it's just sitting in the
background. I'm addicted to that acid sound (I guess I do need rehab
LOL).

Now to sleep. I'm on the east coast and have budgets to finish
tomorrow :(. Why can't society just pay me to make tracks on
audiotool!?

On Aug 17, 11:22 pm, oedipax <greni...@gmail.com> wrote:
> As you know arche, I'm a lover of piano as well and musical
> instruments in general so a lot of the music I listen to involves
> instruments and sometimes a combination of instruments and
> electronics. Here are some musicians/bands (with YouTube links
> provided) that I love:
>
> Fuck Buttons: (sorry for the curse word, but yes that's the name of
> this electronic duo - out of this world electronics - very cool and

> amazing. Love them.)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hQXSsbQCMs

>
> Claude Debussy: (I love this piece by him - it's gorgeous and
> strange):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHAnhAQduMg
>
> DJ Spooky: (combines jazz and other styles with electronics - sounds a
> bit sci-fi and "out there", and a bit nutty/experimental like a crazy
> symphony. Completely and amazingly cool though if you're into the

> weirdo music I'm into).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOWgbo5BjmI&feature=related
>
> NOMO: (Afrobeats plus electronics. KEWL stuff)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddP0lLAcSVs

>
> Washed Out: (chillwave artist I just discovered - pretty upbeat and

> positive sounding stuff. Love it).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkpl-N-FGm8&ob=av2e

>
> Deerhunter: (incorporates electronics with live instruments achieving
> a really full, beautiful sound and having epic endings to their songs
> that seem to go on forever. These guys are my fave band at the moment.

> If it weren't for them, I may have given up music this year).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mBSOtdOjoc

>
> Ash Ra Tempel: (just awesome for achieving this level of timelessness

> in electronic sound especially for the 1970s!)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T_hHQ64B54

>
> Four Tet: (This guy's really good and has an incredibly refreshing

> sound)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH6OzjAzvcA&feature=player_embedded
>
> Datasette: (Love this guy's stuff)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLPfLw2XALA

>
> Lotus Plaza: (really experimental, atmospheric sounding electronics

> like being enveloped in a big cloud of sound)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNRVyVxdWzo&feature=related

>
> Broadcast: (retro-psychedelia - the lead singer recently died of

> pneumonia. Tragic! This was a great band)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvCMqh2YIJs&feature=player_embedded

> ...
>
> read more »

[oedipax]

@arche: Yeah, listening to lots of different music and styles always
helps me whether I make music in that style or not. Also, as far as
conceptualizing, I usually don't actually start with a concept. It
starts to sound like something midway through the song, and then I've
got the concept. Like it kind of conjures up by itself in a really
weird way almost seeming to form out of nowhere.

Before Audiotool, I honestly didn't listen to a lot of club/dance
music. I don't really know much about dance music structure and drops
and all that. I really am not technical at all. I really go by ear
most of the time. I'm bad at terminology and technical stuff. I don't
know if that's to my disadvantage or not. It kind of bores me. Maybe
that's bad I guess. lol.

I love Farcio's stuff. I'm a huge fan of Jonjon. I think I've said
that like a million times. Not necessarily because he does dnb, but
because he seems to always choose the right samples and things that go
together really well from hundreds and hundreds to choose from, and
then he tells me it only takes him like an hour or two to make a
track!!! huh?!?!! Like, I wish I could turn out those kind of quality
tracks that fast!! It takes me several days if not at least a week to
turn out something with at least a little bit of quality! But then
again, that probably comes with experience. I've only ever played
piano and most of that was classical music, which has it's own benefit
I guess and does help in the creation of Audiotool tracks too. But
it's a bit of a different process composing on piano vs. composing on
computer. :)

I hear ya about the day job! Same here! Wish I could get paid playing
with Audiotool too. lol.

> ...
>
> read more »

[arche]

Jonjon's use of everything available to layer and create quality is
amazing.

This is the beauty of audiotool. No investment required to get
started, but infinite possibilities. Plus there's a community of users
to support your tracks and inspire. If we were just using some program
on our desktop, we'd have to go hunting for an audience.

> ...
>
> read more »

[oedipax]

Absolutely arche! I almost overlooked Audiotool at one point! I saw it
on my google browser and thought "what's this?" and didn't understand
it when I launched the app because for me, my musical frame of
reference has always been the keyboard, so I was like "where's the
keyboard?" So I just gave it up and I forgot about it for a few
months. Then one day, I came back to it out of curiosity and thought
to search the term "Audiotool" on YouTube and I came up with
Infyuthsion's "Grimebot" track. I heard that song and my jaw dropped.
I couldn't believe you could do that all online! I was so amazed.
That's when I knew I had to learn it.

It's probably the coolest thing I've discovered on the web. I love it
and am having a grand time making tracks. It's super awesome to
discover artists also and to be able to communicate with them,
collaborate with them, and exchange ideas and thoughts too. I believe
it's the best community on the web. :)

> ...
>
> read more »

[r4c7]

Well a word of advice, not really direct inspiration. I've learned, at
least with songs that have vocals, that the most important thing is
that they tell a story, second is the sound. For me this can also be
interpreted as the song can also give a message to the listener. With
this type of music, I feel that this may be extremely hard to do. I
would try to tell part of your life or an experience through the song.
You could also make a made up story, like of a fantasy world or dream.
I really hope you understand what I'm trying to get at. As I progress
in my experience as an artist, I'll try to incorporate my own emotions
into my music, maybe to even include complete song lyrics to help to
express myself.

I wish you good luck in your music career.

[arche]

Hey r4c7 - I think you're right overall. There's always a story of
some kind it seems. I think that may be where I begin and find myself
in my own head, so getting more influences will help me expand that I
hope.

I can say that many of my tracks have some of my personality in them
(for good or bad). In many cases the impatience I have is in there. I
have no patience to work through difficulties (writer's block) for too
long. But impatience also lets me be a sweatshop of music creation
LOL.

[Eric Theobald]

Be your own influence.  That's my motto.  :P

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[arche]

That's my problem :P. If I'm influenced by myself, then everything
will sound crazy and uncoordinated (kind of like everything I do
before my upgrade LOL)