Scream & Writhe Forum

Think of this thread as an open journal of sorts. Write some casual thoughts, and share them.

I'll start.

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Lately, I've become a tad frustrated and defeated. I've been playing around with my gear for a few months now trying to learn what sort of sounds I'm able to create and make note of the ones that I liked, but I want to get to the point where I can make a song out of them! I'm having trouble figuring how I'm going to turn all of these sounds into dynamic and engaging songs. Every time I sit down with my gear for a couple of hours now, I just feel like I'm going in circles. I must be missing something...

So I don't spend too much time feeling sorry for myself and not getting anything done, I've shifted my focus to forming a concept/theme that I would like to approach with my noise project and writing lyrics around that. Fortunately, I will soon have a lot more time to work on my noise since I will be participating in a program that my high school offers its seniors. In a little less than a month, I will be dropping two of my classes to have more time to work on a "personal project" of mine--being recording my friend's album and working on my own creative projects--for the last quarter of the school year. I'm super psyched to go to college next year, too. I'm going to UMass Amherst, and I'm looking forward to meeting more like-minded individuals there. I also want to try to start a noise scene there if there isn't already one, but that might be challenging. Noise isn't the most accessible kind of music... We'll see what happens, though. Maybe people will be open-minded there! I'm optimistic.

thatonekidatshows wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:16 am Think of this thread as an open journal of sorts. Write some casual thoughts, and share them.

I'll start.

--------------

Lately, I've become a tad frustrated and defeated. I've been playing around with my gear for a few months now trying to learn what sort of sounds I'm able to create and make note of the ones that I liked, but I want to get to the point where I can make a song out of them! I'm having trouble figuring how I'm going to turn all of these sounds into dynamic and engaging songs. Every time I sit down with my gear for a couple of hours now, I just feel like I'm going in circles. I must be missing something...

So I don't spend too much time feeling sorry for myself and not getting anything done, I've shifted my focus to forming a concept/theme that I would like to approach with my noise project and writing lyrics around that. Fortunately, I will soon have a lot more time to work on my noise since I will be participating in a program that my high school offers its seniors. In a little less than a month, I will be dropping two of my classes to have more time to work on a "personal project" of mine--being recording my friend's album and working on my own creative projects--for the last quarter of the school year. I'm super psyched to go to college next year, too. I'm going to UMass Amherst, and I'm looking forward to meeting more like-minded individuals there. I also want to try to start a noise scene there if there isn't already one, but that might be challenging. Noise isn't the most accessible kind of music... We'll see what happens, though. Maybe people will be open-minded there! I'm optimistic.

Hey, i don't know if you're looking for some advices or if it's the right thread for that but, i can relate to that feeling of being bogged down creatively. Here's how i got out of it some years ago. I'll try to be quick.

For me it was the weight of comparing myself to all the great music and musicians out there that always stopped me in my tracks. I'd start recording and be stuck on the first few sounds i'd make thinking that it didn't sound right or good enough and then, i'd get discouraged.

What really broke this loop of self doubt is when i said to myself ''fuck it, i don't care about the end result or if it doesn't sound as cool as my musical heros. I just want to make a finished track''. So i started laying down some music and surely enough my own tastes , consciously or not, were still informing all the choices i was making while recording and arranging. In the end
i got to finish a track and listening back to it, it wasn't half bad.

So by doing instead of thinking too much, you get results. Try to avoid being too strict with yourself and lower your expectations while creating. You can always tweak what you don't like afterwards.

Approaching it like that surprised me many times. I'd listen back to my new track and be like ''Holy hell!! That came out of me!?!?''. It's a really cool feeling.

Anyways hope that helps a little. Feel free to pm me if you ever wanna talk some more about this or anything else.

Cheers!

The phrase “I still haven’t seen the new Batman film” keeps cycling in my head. I’ve been a fan of Batman forever, and I was so excited for this new adaptation. It’s three hours which means I have to dedicate the time to be at a theatre for three hours. I hate theatres mainly but suck it up and just go.

I am currently manually removing volume peaks on Reaper for over 40mn of material. I know I'd rather put a compressor or limiter there, but am dumb dumb.

dertodesking wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 11:14 am
For me it was the weight of comparing myself to all the great music and musicians out there that always stopped me in my tracks. I'd start recording and be stuck on the first few sounds i'd make thinking that it didn't sound right or good enough and then, i'd get discouraged.

What really broke this loop of self doubt is when i said to myself ''fuck it, i don't care about the end result or if it doesn't sound as cool as my musical heros. I just want to make a finished track''. So i started laying down some music and surely enough my own tastes , consciously or not, were still informing all the choices i was making while recording and arranging. In the end
i got to finish a track and listening back to it, it wasn't half bad.

So by doing instead of thinking too much, you get results. Try to avoid being too strict with yourself and lower your expectations while creating. You can always tweak what you don't like afterwards.

Excellent advice ! I've been in that spot too.

Zalhietzli wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 1:05 pm I am currently manually removing volume peaks on Reaper for over 40mn of material. I know I'd rather put a compressor or limiter there, but am dumb dumb.

dertodesking wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 11:14 am
For me it was the weight of comparing myself to all the great music and musicians out there that always stopped me in my tracks. I'd start recording and be stuck on the first few sounds i'd make thinking that it didn't sound right or good enough and then, i'd get discouraged.

What really broke this loop of self doubt is when i said to myself ''fuck it, i don't care about the end result or if it doesn't sound as cool as my musical heros. I just want to make a finished track''. So i started laying down some music and surely enough my own tastes , consciously or not, were still informing all the choices i was making while recording and arranging. In the end
i got to finish a track and listening back to it, it wasn't half bad.

So by doing instead of thinking too much, you get results. Try to avoid being too strict with yourself and lower your expectations while creating. You can always tweak what you don't like afterwards.

Excellent advice ! I've been in that spot too.

Thanks buddy!

Zalhietzli wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 1:05 pm I am currently manually removing volume peaks on Reaper for over 40mn of material. I know I'd rather put a compressor or limiter there, but am dumb dumb.

Damn! You're a monk! Haha!

thatonekidatshows wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:16 am

Lately, I've become a tad frustrated and defeated. I've been playing around with my gear for a few months now trying to learn what sort of sounds I'm able to create and make note of the ones that I liked, but I want to get to the point where I can make a song out of them! I'm having trouble figuring how I'm going to turn all of these sounds into dynamic and engaging songs. Every time I sit down with my gear for a couple of hours now, I just feel like I'm going in circles. I must be missing something...

Record everything you do, even if it’s just testing/experimenting with your gear. And then go back to it a few days or even weeks later. This is a tried and true method of getting out a creative rut. Be merciless in culling the bits you don’t like, but you just might find that if you play around with the bits you do like, combining them in different ways, they might make up a finished track or two.

I'm going to UMass Amherst, and I'm looking forward to meeting more like-minded individuals there. I also want to try to start a noise scene there if there isn't already one, but that might be challenging. Noise isn't the most accessible kind of music... We'll see what happens, though. Maybe people will be open-minded there! I'm optimistic.

Finding the venue will probably be the greatest challenge. But if this is a college town, you’ll probably manage to arrange something. If you end up using a commercial venue like a bar or something where there will be money involved, try to find one where they have had shows before and one that has a decent reputation. Promotion is easy and free now, on fb/insta, whatever. I know lots of people hate social media, I do too, but it does have its uses.

Once you do put on a show, remember that this is noise we’re talking about. If five people show up, it’s not a bad result, if they are genuinely interested and possibly will even be involved in the noise scene you want to start. And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that you can almost certainly forget about making money out of organizing noise shows.

If there already is a scene in your college town, then support it by attending shows and buying releases from the artists playing there. Noise isn’t ”rock”, where the artists are supposed to be aloof, dismissive, even scornful of their ”fans”. Don’t be shy about approaching them, and telling them what you’d like to do — have them perform at one of your shows, you performing in their shows, whatever. Don’t be pushy, but don’t be shy either.

Zalhietzli wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 1:05 pm I am currently manually removing volume peaks on Reaper for over 40mn of material. I know I'd rather put a compressor or limiter there, but am dumb dumb.

Damn! You're a monk! Haha!
[/quote]

Well actually typing this out had me thinking about this a bit more, and I think I kind of enjoy it ? Like, these tracks were made very quickly, just one shot improv with no editing or mixing. So this painful, slow and repetitive task of drawing the volume curves creates a kind of intimate moment with the material, in contrast to how fleeting the recording was.
Whatever solace I can get haha. Welp, back to the mine.

I've been into much pain this week to create anything (and am barely able to function), but I'm finding that listening to harsh noise gives me temporary relief.

Enjoying a little hangover and eating soy yogurt like some pretentious fuck. I'm listening to tango album of Tuomari Nurmio and waiting for my work shift to begin. Requires some stamina. Guarda che luna! Haven't done any noise related stuff lately, it's good to do something else sometimes. Like drink. I hope this thread will become very important. Haven't yet listened to new Kovana album and new Laibach album is out today. Sky keeps falling on my head, but it's ok.

I'm currently letting my frustrations from my day job boil to let it out in the evenings to make angry music. Gotta source that inspiration wherever you can hahahah!!

Welp, I've hit yet another creative roadblock. I wanted to try to record a track, but I think I'm overthinking how I want to place microphones. I might also just be getting too bogged-down subconsciously trying to sound like early Whitehouse... I dunno. I've always had problems of not finishing my work for fear of it not being the best it could possibly be or up to my unreachable standards (which I realize is a good thing only to an extent.) I think I also just don't really have a clear idea in my head of how I would like to sound, but that's probably because of all of my influences. I've had a friend tell me that some of my work is worth releasing, but I want to make sure that it's really good and ready, y'know?

My standard for considering something finished is if I would enjoy listening to it. As of now, I haven't really recorded anything that I would be super enthralled with the same way I would be with anything that I like listening to. What if that's just how it will always be? Again, at least one other person tells me that it's good. I don't want to just never release anything because I don't think it's that great if others do. I guess I really only feel comfortable releasing something that I, personally, enjoy because I would know--beyond any doubt--that at least somebody finds it enjoyable. There's also the whole fear of releasing my music into the black hole of the over-saturated market of noise music (and music in general), but I know I just have to get over that since it is simply the life of the struggling artist.

I'm just big chilling

thatonekidatshows wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 3:30 pm Welp, I've hit yet another creative roadblock. I wanted to try to record a track, but I think I'm overthinking how I want to place microphones. I might also just be getting too bogged-down subconsciously trying to sound like early Whitehouse... I dunno. I've always had problems of not finishing my work for fear of it not being the best it could possibly be or up to my unreachable standards (which I realize is a good thing only to an extent.) I think I also just don't really have a clear idea in my head of how I would like to sound, but that's probably because of all of my influences. I've had a friend tell me that some of my work is worth releasing, but I want to make sure that it's really good and ready, y'know?

My standard for considering something finished is if I would enjoy listening to it. As of now, I haven't really recorded anything that I would be super enthralled with the same way I would be with anything that I like listening to. What if that's just how it will always be? Again, at least one other person tells me that it's good. I don't want to just never release anything because I don't think it's that great if others do. I guess I really only feel comfortable releasing something that I, personally, enjoy because I would know--beyond any doubt--that at least somebody finds it enjoyable. There's also the whole fear of releasing my music into the black hole of the over-saturated market of noise music (and music in general), but I know I just have to get over that since it is simply the life of the struggling artist.

I don't know if you saw, but I gave you some advices about how to overcome this exact problem when you made your first post on this thread. I feel it's a common issue that a lot of musicians go through early on in a project. Go back to your first post and if you wanna talk some more about it I'll be happy to help you any way I can. Cheers!

preparing for show, left almost all of the effects out. Making some food soon. Trying to figure out the money thing for the future, although I know it is impossible anyway.
Should go through and edit a book of poems, make a couple of album artworks for other people and probably something else (that would bring the money in) but I always remember this stuff when I don't have time to focus on it. Working on small sculptures, woodblock prints, the next spoken word/noise album, trying to keep the 16 square apartment looking more like a habitable zone than a warehouse of junk, failing, most of the time.

I will finally have a freer schedule for the next week, so it is time to try recording some new stuff!

thatonekidatshows wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 3:30 pm Welp, I've hit yet another creative roadblock. I wanted to try to record a track, but I think I'm overthinking how I want to place microphones. I might also just be getting too bogged-down subconsciously trying to sound like early Whitehouse... I dunno. I've always had problems of not finishing my work for fear of it not being the best it could possibly be or up to my unreachable standards (which I realize is a good thing only to an extent.) I think I also just don't really have a clear idea in my head of how I would like to sound, but that's probably because of all of my influences. I've had a friend tell me that some of my work is worth releasing, but I want to make sure that it's really good and ready, y'know?

My standard for considering something finished is if I would enjoy listening to it. As of now, I haven't really recorded anything that I would be super enthralled with the same way I would be with anything that I like listening to. What if that's just how it will always be? Again, at least one other person tells me that it's good. I don't want to just never release anything because I don't think it's that great if others do. I guess I really only feel comfortable releasing something that I, personally, enjoy because I would know--beyond any doubt--that at least somebody finds it enjoyable. There's also the whole fear of releasing my music into the black hole of the over-saturated market of noise music (and music in general), but I know I just have to get over that since it is simply the life of the struggling artist.

For what its worth I think waiting to release material can be a good thing especially if you are still figuring out how best to articulate the sound you're trying to make. If your recordings aren't enthralling you or catching your ear the way you want maybe think about why that is and what sounds WOULD be enthralling to you and try to pursue methods of creating those sounds. At the same time, I think it's easy to record something and listen back to it immediately and then not enjoy it right off the bat. Sometimes I'll do this with recording ideas but if I let it sit for a few days and go back it's usually not as bad as I remember when I listened back RIGHT after recording. It's easy for your ears to get fatigued and play tricks on you. Also keep in mind you're probably your own worst critic.
It's really easy to feel like your material gets lost in the flood of other material, often times it just does! But if you make sure you're releasing tracks you really stand behind and don't be afraid to send them to friends and contacts I think people who are interested will respond. The process is slow but in my experience it's worth it to just be patient and don't get discouraged about not getting a ton of response right away.

Staring at my dust covered gear while writing texts which I hope will help sell the upcoming Usagi releases. Also thinking about an article/essay of sorts that I'm working on.
Six months full time parental leave from wednesday and onwards. Maybe MAYBE I'll be able to do some recording at some point soon. I miss it.

Prepping for my first professional tour next month. Cant wait!

Crimesofthecrown777 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 28, 2022 2:36 pm Prepping for my first professional tour next month. Cant wait!

YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!

thatonekidatshows wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 3:30 pm Welp, I've hit yet another creative roadblock. I wanted to try to record a track, but I think I'm overthinking how I want to place microphones. I might also just be getting too bogged-down subconsciously trying to sound like early Whitehouse... I dunno. I've always had problems of not finishing my work for fear of it not being the best it could possibly be or up to my unreachable standards (which I realize is a good thing only to an extent.) I think I also just don't really have a clear idea in my head of how I would like to sound, but that's probably because of all of my influences. I've had a friend tell me that some of my work is worth releasing, but I want to make sure that it's really good and ready, y'know?

My standard for considering something finished is if I would enjoy listening to it. As of now, I haven't really recorded anything that I would be super enthralled with the same way I would be with anything that I like listening to. What if that's just how it will always be? Again, at least one other person tells me that it's good. I don't want to just never release anything because I don't think it's that great if others do. I guess I really only feel comfortable releasing something that I, personally, enjoy because I would know--beyond any doubt--that at least somebody finds it enjoyable. There's also the whole fear of releasing my music into the black hole of the over-saturated market of noise music (and music in general), but I know I just have to get over that since it is simply the life of the struggling artist.

I'd suggest that expecting to be able to listen to your own music, and enjoy it in the same way as you would with other artists, is an unrealistic expectation to have.

In terms of overthinking, just record the way you have it and give it some time. You might get a better idea of how to improve it once the track comes together, then you can go back and re-do it if you want.

Don't worry about releasing music and it being lost in the sea of noise. Even if it doesn't get picked up immediately, something you release further down the line will, and then people will likely go back and check out your older work. If that doesn't happen, you've still put something out there.

Also, I need to follow my own advice 😁

Painting anti-tapes, cutting inserts and flyers, gluing covers, making copies... full production mode over here. New releases next week!

htp_systems wrote: ↑Mon Mar 28, 2022 1:48 pm
For what its worth I think waiting to release material can be a good thing especially if you are still figuring out how best to articulate the sound you're trying to make. If your recordings aren't enthralling you or catching your ear the way you want maybe think about why that is and what sounds WOULD be enthralling to you and try to pursue methods of creating those sounds. At the same time, I think it's easy to record something and listen back to it immediately and then not enjoy it right off the bat. Sometimes I'll do this with recording ideas but if I let it sit for a few days and go back it's usually not as bad as I remember when I listened back RIGHT after recording. It's easy for your ears to get fatigued and play tricks on you. Also keep in mind you're probably your own worst critic.
It's really easy to feel like your material gets lost in the flood of other material, often times it just does! But if you make sure you're releasing tracks you really stand behind and don't be afraid to send them to friends and contacts I think people who are interested will respond. The process is slow but in my experience it's worth it to just be patient and don't get discouraged about not getting a ton of response right away.

It’s absolutely preferable to wait till you have something worthwhile to release, before you actually release something. The noise music circles, even globally with the internet now, aren’t ultimately that big. First impressions do really matter. If people who follow the scene(s) actively relegate you to the pile of ”just another so-so project”, it’ll take a long time to get out.

Being pissed off and trying to figure what the fuck happened to my bluetooth headphones. Friday they worked normally. Saturday and sunday didnt use them. Battery is like 80% etc and no warning, no nothing: the left channel doesnt work at all anymore.
Back to wired ones for now. God damn it.

Pain.

Namahs wrote: ↑Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:08 am Being pissed off and trying to figure what the fuck happened to my bluetooth headphones. Friday they worked normally. Saturday and sunday didnt use them. Battery is like 80% etc and no warning, no nothing: the left channel doesnt work at all anymore.
Back to wired ones for now. God damn it.

wire snapped on the inside, can be soldered but is really an annoying task if your hands shake even slightly.