Musician's Block

by Game-BeatX14

Rating: everyone
Tags: Octavia, Slice of Life, DJ P0N-3, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 1321

Vinyl Scratch is hard at work on a new song, but hits a creative roadblock during production. Seeking advice, she decides to contact her musically inclined friend Octavia for help.

Vinyl Scratch is hard at work on a new song, but hits a creative roadblock during production. Seeking advice, she decides to contact her musically inclined friend Octavia. The stressed out beat maker soon learns that even a classically trained artist can offer some encouraging insight into the creation of electronic music.

Published 2017-02-25 04:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-02-25 04:10:01 UTC

New Song WIP.flp

Musician’s Block
By Game-BeatX14

Vinyl Scratch wearily scrolled through her five-and-a-half-minute song in Pony Loops Studio. It was a designed to be a total club banger, and so far, it seemed to be turning out just the way she wanted in terms of sound design. However, she couldn’t fight the feeling that something was missing. It felt… boring, in a way. Even with all the heavy, pounding bass and complextro style glitch melodies, the predictable structure made her bang her head on the desk. It was 12:30 A.M. and she had been working for nearly four hours already. Energy drinks were the only thing keeping her awake at this point.

“This is killing me! I just don’t know what to add to this track…”

She opened up the piano roll and toyed around with some notes, trying to build some new melodies to complete the song. But no matter how hard she tried, everything new she added felt jarring and didn’t fit the vibe she had established. Vinyl was starting to hate her new song, but she didn’t want to stop.

“If I take a break now then I’ll never finish this. Just gotta keep trying…”

The frustrated mare stared at her computer screen through gritted teeth. Sometimes she just felt like punching a hoof through her monitor and giving up on it all. But she couldn’t… Music was her passion. Also because her new 4K monitor cost a hefty sum of three hundred bits.

Time was running out. Her rent was coming due, and sales from her old tracks had stagnated. While she had gotten lucky with a few underground hits, none of her music had ever become popular enough to bring in a constant income. Her goal was to make this song as good as possible and pitch it to all the clubs in Equestria. Just one successful chart topper and she could stop worrying about finances and focus more on the creation of the music.

“Uggggghhhh, so close to being ready for release! I’ve been producing for years, why is this so hard all of sudden?”

Trying to make something unique that still retained a digestible, mainstream appeal challenged her artistic abilities from every angle. Not only did the mixing and mastering have to be absolutely perfect, but it needed to have a solid beat that was accessible to the average listener. This didn’t sit well with her usual tendencies to create tons of wobbly, crazy experimental noises.

She played back the drop to herself for the hundredth time.

WAAAAAEEEEPPP, WOB WOB WUB WUB SCHRRRRRRCHHHHHHHHHHH WUB WUB BWOAAAAAPP!

On her studio headphones it sounded very crisp, but she questioned how well the mix would carry over to her proper studio monitors.

“I really hope this won’t sound muddy on bigger speakers… Can’t believe I have to wait until morning to test it. Apparently other ponies do this thing called sleep and my neighbors don’t like hearing my music at two in the morning. Bleh. Bunch of casuals…”

She adjusted the BPM from 140 to 135, trying to find the optimum pace for the song. It needed to be full of energy, but not too fast or relentless. Something to make the crowd go wild, but provide enough breathing room between different segments.

Vinyl moved the cursor over to the verse and studied Coloratura’s vocals. It occurred to her that some of the effects and echo she had applied were too quiet, leaving the whole section sounding bare bones and amateurish. It didn’t do the singer’s voice any justice. To her dismay, increasing the volume made it sound too distorted rather than making it better.

“I don’t understand, how do these other producers do it so well?”

Deciding to take advantage of online resources, she opened up her internet browser and entered a new search term.

EDM Vocal processing techniques

A site came up detailing a list of vocal effects, but it didn’t help much. There wasn’t a thorough enough explanation for how and when to apply them. It just listed them with one or two sentences explaining what they were.

“All these music help sites are for basic concepts, I need some advanced tutorials here!”

She keyed in another term.

Professional EDM vocal mixing

The page loaded with tons of irrelevant results, showing random music sites and professional mastering services that she couldn’t afford. She scoffed at the idea.

“I’m not paying some stupid company to mix my track. Whatever, guess it’s back to trial and error. I can finish this myself.”

Baby you make me feel, aliiiiiiiiiiiveeeeeeeeeeeee!

The cheesy lyrics of the verse droned on in her head. It was now 2:00 A.M. and she still couldn’t fix the vocals. Fatigue and doubt were starting to set it. She put her face in her hooves and nearly cried from stress.

“Oh my god, this sounds so bad. Nobody is going to like this garbage…”

Vinyl dragged the cursor to the drop again.

WAAAEEPP, WOB WOB WUB WUB!

“Gah, this sounds worse every time I listen to it! The mixing is making my ears bleed. I have to redo this whole segment now!”

Suddenly, her phone notification tone sounded off. It was a text message from Octavia. She quickly read it.

What are you doing? I can hear you yelling from my apartment.

Vinyl suddenly remembered that they lived in the same complex. She replied back with three words.

Sorry. Music troubles.

It was at that moment when Vinyl realized something. She had never thought about asking anypony else for feedback. Maybe this would be her chance. She quickly exported a copy of her track and typed up a new message.

I’ve been struggling with production of a new track for the past week and I just don’t know what to do. I know you aren’t into EDM music, but would you mind giving it a listen and offering your opinion? It would be a huge help. Just don’t want all these hours of work to go to waste… I’m going crazy here, ya feel me?

She attached the WAV file and hit send, but immediately regretted it.

“What am I doing? She hates dubstep. She’ll probably tell me that it needs more cello and less electronic sounds. Ugh! This is pointless.”

To her surprise, it was only a few minutes before a response came through.

Needs more violins and less transformer noises :p

“UUUUGGGGHHH! Tavi, I swear to god...” Vinyl groaned loudly, slamming her hooves on her desk. However, a much longer and more serious message came through shortly after.

Just kidding. Vinyl, this sounds rad! You’ve got a great buildup with the arpeggio of synths, and the effects on Coloratura’s vocal hook are splendid. This definitely has some potential to be the next club hit. As for suggestions, all I can say is that variation is key. Switch up the melodies a bit for the second half and give the listener something to remember. Don’t give up on this one, please.

Vinyl was surprised at how positive her review was. Maybe Octavia wasn’t as narrow minded as she believed when it came to electronic music. She typed up a reply.

Really? You mean it?

Octavia replied back.

Absolutely.

There was a short pause before another message came through.

I may not prefer this type of music for daily listening, but you are very skilled at this genre. I’m sure it will be well received at the clubs.

Vinyl got a warm smile on her face. Sometimes it was the simple acknowledgments that kept her spirit up.

Thanks, Tavi.

She set down her phone thinking that the conversation was over, but one final text popped up.

By the way Vinyl… GO TO SLEEP! Don’t make me come over there and drop kick you harder than you dropped the bass <3.

She rolled her eyes. Tavi could be so feisty sometimes.

Oh, alright…