@TeffyD - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index
Q: How did you discover the NG and why did you make your account? What do you feel what were your expectations?
I found out about NG around 2006, when a 6yo me was trying to find things to do other than browse funnyjunk.
I made an account because I reheard about NG and figured why not. My expectations were that I wouldn't do anything. It’s very easy compare yourself to others and I just assumed I had started way too late.
Q: What makes a community good?
Support, and non-fanaticism. Communities tend to have this problem of making a para-social infatuation to certain things, and it’s best to remember we’re all human, not perfect gods.
Q: How did you get into creating illustrations? Is Krita a good program?
I got into drawing because I was ADD riddled in school and liked doing it, although I barely draw now. I made an album in Nov 2022 called Greatest Hits. I needed to make cover art for it and saw Krita was cool, free, and easy to use.
Q: How would you describe the community here?
Human. If you see youtube, twitter, hell SoundCloud, what community do you even see? Bot accounts asking for u to get scammed. NG feels like actual human beings are responding and having fun.
Q: How do you feel about doing collabs? And what the NGAP Collab Center
Love doing collabs, I usually tend to do everything myself, but it’s just fun asking fellow creators if they wanna help or vice versa.
NGAP Collab Center are cool dudes, very helpful and fun to hang out with.
Q: Your musical inspirations
Early Sims game music, SimCity 4, Sims 1, etc. J-pop fusion, Nu-metal, Racing game soundtracks from the 00s.
Q: What did you like about doing your NG Mall Music Collab?
I loved the variety, how many different ideas came about from just the term “mall music”, it was really cool to see how other people view it.
Q: Your advice for creating music
If I could restart with the knowledge Ive gained, is
1.) MAKE TEMPLATES, for each of the genres you do, the synth patches you make, the drum machine you may use etc.
2.) LEARN MIXING, In my own personal opinion, you can be the best in music theory but if it sounds like ass it doesn't matter.
and 3.) GAIN STAGE, the secret to a great sound is the RECORDING of that sound, if half of your mix is just fixing the recording, you need to re-record.
Q: What are your hobbies and activities you typically don't talk about?
I am enamored with cars, how they work, design, and sound. I love Tornadoes and weather like that. I like playing Euro Truck Sim 2, so if you have multiplayer maybe we can convoy or something.
Q: Your favourite foods, and why?
Pizza, plenty of variety
Tacos, perfect
Sausage and Peppers, awe-struck.
Q: What does it mean when a community is non-fanatic? And why is it positive?
If you remember the height of the Rick and Morty fandom, it was pure insanity. You couldn't escape it. It was the same with Undertale too for a little bit. It's all good to just love a piece of media, but if you're spamming it, holding people to a god-like pedestal, harass people for not liking it, it becomes a problem. There is a small guy in the back of my head that Smiling Friends will fall into the same fate.
I'm also probably just a massive hater, lol, I think I heard Megalovania so much its become a PTSD trigger. There was this time when music memes were super popular and they would ALWAYS. WITHOUT FAIL, PLAY THE FIRST PART OF THAT SONG, STOP IT.
Q: How would you describe your experiences with ADD? Do you feel misunderstood by people?
I was never fully diagnosed, but it was very evident to me and my parents. I never focused, jumped around from hobby to hobby, get hyper-fixated on something just to immediately drop it, never had a single plan or goal of what I wanted to do in life, annoying. I don't think I was misunderstood as much as just "you just need to apply yourself!", which I would if I could.
Q: How did you decide on using Cakewalk by Bandlab? And what do you like about the VSTs that you use
Things I Use:
-Ibanez RG and Gio
-Tanara Bass
-Alesis V61
Software:
-Cakewalk by Bandlab
-Superior Drummer 3
-NeuralDSP Amp Sims
-Pianoteq
-Kontakt and other NI stuff
-Lounge Lizard EP4
-SWAM Instruments
I got Cakewalk because it was free. I was originally only using audacity and iphone garageband, pure misery.
As for the VSTs, Superior Drummer 3 was probably the best purchase ive ever done, it can become a sampler, made techno to dnb samples to funk to brush drums, plenty of add-ons and support too. it is expensive and large but well worth it, NeuralDSP is the best bang for buck for amp sims. They go on sale all the time, I personally use Cory Wong, Petrucci, Abasi, and Gojira. Guitar Rig 6 is also great. Pianoteq is probably also the best Piano sim next to Kontakt. Great sound and like hundreds of pianos to get. Lounge Lizard is also the best next to kontakt for Electric Pianos. Lush to 70s prog rock, great sounds. SWAM make libraries from brass to strings, I use the Saxophone library. its VERY in depth, and you can make some great sax leads with it, like in my song "Jazz Time". Last but certainly not least, what is there to say about Kontakt that hasn't been said. Actual terabytes of free and non-free libraries from cinematic percussion to hotel lobby bells, another great "bite the bullet" purchase.
I should also add the importance of PLUGINS not just VSTs. I use Waves plugins a lot, I got a bunch of them for cheap on a Black Friday sale. F6 EQ, SSL compressor, L1 Limiter, iZotope Ozone, etc.
Q: The education material you would recommend for making music
For mixing:
-The Art of Mixing by David Gibson, the best all-in-one video on every topic about mixing and recording. It's old and VERY corny, but 1000% worth it.
-Mixing the Midrange and Low End, helped me understand I was cutting too much out of tracks, and boosting the low too much, and also where common troublemaker frequency ranges are. For most beginners, its these areas that ruin a mix the most, because they're harder to discern with headphones either simulating fake bass boost, and you cant hear them as well as highs on monitors (unless you have a sub)
For synth making/music making:
-Jazen Tutorials on Vital, great tutorials on making every kind of patch using Vital, another amazing vst that is free. It helps because you can sort of reverse engineer them to find your own patches for your tracks.
-How to make SICK House Drum Beats, guy makes funny videos and area also helpful at knowing where to start. There are plenty of royalty free drum samples on the internet. I use Sitala to make drums like this, it's free and easy to use.
-3 Levels of Melodies, good tutorial on making coherant tracks, or help your melodies flow better and sound more natural.
To spare this being unbearably long Ill stop here, the recommended videos for these videos are just as good.
Q: What did you like to do when you are playing Sims?
85% of the time would just be building houses and enjoying the soundtracks.
Q: Do you have a playlist of music you would like to share?
I don't think I have one. I was listening to this recently so ill share it.
Q: Food and drinks that you like
Other than the previous answers for food, I like Diet Dr Pepper, those vitamin waters in a square bottle, and just plain ol' water.
Q: What do you like to do when you go outside?
Usually swim, window shop, or clean my car. I also love going to Goodwill and seeing what new stuff they have. I got an Atari 2600 for $20 one time.