Here are 5 Things to help with your Music-Making!

1 - Sound Oracle on Designing Sounds for Ableton and Hip-Hop's Biggest Names

This conversation was incredibly inspiring! Sound Oracle is hot off producing 2 amazing Packs for the Ableton 12 release. His drums have been used by Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Drake, and more on Grammy-winning songs. Oracle shared some of the secrets to his success, his favorite devices, and how he got started making sounds for a who's who in the music industry. Try to listen to him speak and not feel inspired!

Sound Oracle on the Music Production Podcast

2 - Don't Fail with Abandon

I just finished Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal. It's a great book, especially if you're feeling a little burned out by trying to be productive.

One thing that stuck with me was the idea of not failing with abandon. That means if you aren't going to meet a goal for the day, don't just abandon it. For example, maybe your goal was to make some music today. But life got in the way and unexpected distractions and events took priority. Rather than doing absolutely nothing, see if you can at least do something small. That might mean picking up your guitar for a few minutes before bed, writing two lines to the verse of a song, or even setting your space up for tomorrow. At least it isn't nothing! By accomplishing even something tiny, you can rest at ease knowing the day wasn't a total loss.

I thought this was one of the better books about creating a sustainable life of productivity, in contrast to many other books that will likely turn too much hustling into burning out. Highly recommended!

Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal

Ali's YouTube Channel

I know of a great book if you are looking for 365 5-Minute Music-Making exercises :)

3 - Jack Antonoff's Top 5 Production Tricks

Tape Notes has a great demonstration from producer Jack Antonoff. He showcases some nice "against the rules" production tips that can add a lot of life to our music.

Watch Jack Antonoff's Production Tricks

4 - Ableton Live 12's Roar In-Depth

Anthony of Seed to Stage put together an incredible deep dive on Live's newest audio effect Roar. After talking with the developers, Anthony gives some beautiful examples of what Roar is capable of. I love that he really emphasizes that Roar is so much more than just a distortion plug-in. Roar has become one of my favorite new features in Live 12 and this video shines a light on some of its strengths.

Ableton Roar Deep Dive

Here's my own Roar walkthrough and exploration video.

5 - Throwback Pack - Lo-Fi Mediums - VCR Synth

In our Discord, a member of my Music Production Club was talking about getting lost in the sounds of one of my instrument racks called VCR Synth. I couldn't remember when or where I made this preset! But after a little digging, I found it as part of my Free Lo-Fi Mediums Ableton Live Pack. The pack contains instruments made using sounds recorded to VHS tape and Micro-cassette tapes. I built these sounds during a Philadelphia Ableton User Group meeting help over Zoom during lockdown.

It's a really cool pack with beautiful sounds! I'm glad to have been reminded of it!

Check out the post for the pack and watch the Zoom meeting, featuring some really great presentations from dolltr!ck, BangInclude, and me!

Get Lo-Fi Mediums Free Ableton Live Pack #201

Thanks for reading!

Got anything cool that I should add to the next 5-Things? Let me know!

All the best and have fun!

Brian Funk

2 comments

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