spry
Offline
Cincinnati, Ohio

I've been part of the last couple rounds of weekly beats and i can say it has had a huge affect on my progression as an artist and producer.  the first go of it in 2012 i mostly stuck to my trusty gameboy using lsdj and used it as an opportunity to learn about that medium.  the second swing in 2014 i went mostly toward the daw and using midi composition and layering to produce my sound and through the course of the year i learned a great deal about that process. 

I hope to use this coming year as an opportunity to experiment with sound sourcing and pushing the limits of time utilization.  i tend to spend a lot of time listening and reworking my songs and it turns into hours spent happily plugging away at the computer.  im hoping that i can find some ways to improve the workflow and optimize my time working on a song so i can be more productive overall.

I am curious to know if other people have had similar growing experiences associated with participating in weekly beats or if others have aspirations for what a project like this could do for their own progress.

TL;DR

THE DAY IS OURS! WHAT WILL YOU MAKE OF IT??!

paul raygun
Offline
Melbourne, Australia

Great question.

2014 - the goal was to write and record a song each week with lyrics.  I achieved that goal and found how I work best which is to start an idea and not second guess it.  Writing lyrics was once quite difficult however I begun creating as a stream of concious to great results.   After about 18 weeks really hit my stride on full band songs, amazed how quick I could churn them out at quality I was happy.  Quite a lot of the songs from 2014 are getting re-recorded starting in the next few weeks.   Which part of this process took me to 2015. 

2015 - drums, drums, and more drums.  I could kinda play but that wasn't good enough.  I wanted good drums for my recordings so got myself a teach and got down to work.  Still working hard on this and will start serious demos in a few weeks that include songs from 2014 plus more new ones.

2016 - was thankful having a break from all this for a year, yet was hoping for a return in 2016.  Whilst I'll work on some of my typical songs there's a few areas I need to focus

1.  Arrangement and instruments - stuff like 4 part harmonies, counter point etc using synths, classic string arrangements, whatever I find.
2.  Electronic rhythms and beats.   Rather poor and lacking in this area.
3.  Composing a melody and the constructing harmony to support it.  Very interested to use this idea for tracks with lyrics.

I'm sure there's more that will come to mind as the year progresses.

I've found the constant output helps to achieve whatever goals set.  Plain old hard yakka!

0F
Offline
Melbourne

2016 for me will be mostly trying to get the most out of the new gear I bought this year (4x gameboys, monomachine, kp3, jv1010, korg M01D). Also, I have a new project more geared towards live pattern manipulation, so it'll be a good way to build up some patterns that I can work with.

Also, I'll be loosely attempting to write another prog masterpiece album, so there may be some demos of sections that will appear in the album, who knows.

Failing that, I can always just chuck some weekly nanoloop sketches online; it's my favourite thing for quick track development.

phesago
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Weebee2016 will be similar to weebee2012 for me- i will suck but will enjoy it regardless

omegachild
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Brisbane

I will try to do better than 2014 and get past 10 weeks!
Going to explore some modular synth jams (musical) this time as well as my usual progressive endeavours.

little-scale
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adelaide

I am looking forward to actually writing music again, expanding my use of software (especially in regards to sample curation) and hardware (I would like to use some analog synthesis).

Tomavatars
Offline
France

Hi everybody. I will take a lot less time to compose, I think I will not continue the TSDT story I made for 2014 WB (shame but too much time is needed for it).
So this year I will focus on sound design. Perhaps I will work around material and ambiences.

colorful grey
Offline
Schwerin I'm afraid

I'm going to try to go minimalist and acoustic altogether. Maybe ditch the click.

egr
Offline
Bowling Green, KY USA

This'll be all about having and meeting deadlines so I can get more efficient with finalizing ideas.

Prediction: I fail out after 3-5 weeks tongue

leafo
Offline
punk ville

2014 was just me figuring out how to write music, wasn't even sure I would make it through the entire year.
2015 I didn't write anything, but I've been practicing instruments a bunch, hopefully this will make it easier to pump stuff out
2016 I want to try singing on all the songs. It's the one instrument I have that I've been neglecting. It's going to be terrible but w/e

home taping association
Offline
Newcastle - UK

i will mostly be using feedback and jangliness. and maybe a drum machine.

Jim Wood
Offline
Santa Fe, NM

2016: Much of a Muchness. Possibly moments of improved muchness...

bryface
Offline
vancouver, canada

this might be the year that i finally learn what ableton is.

Jetkick
Offline
USA

Looking forward to working with Massive and Kontakt this year. I wanna work on achieving mainstream production quality, but composition will always be my priority. Now that I'm out of school, I will also be going for the full fifty-two uploads.

Tristan Louth-Robins
Offline
Adelaide, South Australia

I made it to 21 weeks last year. It would be great to get in a full year but it's a daunting prospect.

Devieus
Online
NL

This year is going to be completely different, again. 2012 was getting grips on it, I was completely new to the whole deal; 2014 I tried including my Ukulele to every song, and did; this year I'm not going to touch a single note, none, instead I wrote/am writing a proc-gen music generator to get closer to music theory. I have 0 control over the outcome, but aim to change parameters every week so I do actually work on my songs.