How to find "your sound" 

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This philosophical approach of breaking down unique creative processes was exactly what I've been waiting for from producer content creators. Big ups to you my man! Making waves with your lessons!

I was fascinated by Brian Eno's early works, and how he got such murky lush ambiences with very simple analog gear. I found a diagram of his studio set up in the liner notes of one of his early albums that walked the reader through his process, which involved taking a VCS3 through an EQ to shape the initial sound, and then processing it through a tape echo unit, and then processing all of that into a very long tape loop , to record sound on sound. This became his method,that he then added his famous pitch shift and reverb fed back into each other in the mixer"shimmer" effect he used in later works. By analyzing his methods, and reproducing them as best i could with plug ins, I was able to learn how he made the sorts of sounds I loved. Ive done the same sorts of analysis and learning from following examples, with both the BBC Radiophonics workshop material, and Robert Rich's work as well

Hi Oscar, this is VERY good advice, especially for budding artists. I'd add to it by saying that in the beginning you should not worry too much about both process and outcome and just fool around and have fun with it. Over time you'll start to notice things that resonate with you as a creator and you can dive into it and explore to see how deep it goes. In the beginning, don't try to make a "masterpiece", but do what feels right and let your friends listen, or even better a person that you have no relationship with, to give you their constructive feedback. And lastly, even if you have made music for decades, you are still evolving your sound, process, outcome, all of it :)

I always say that after reaching certain level of technical skill in any art, there's no good or bad piece of music/painting/writing, it just become different strokes for different folks.

Oscar is one of the most enlightening teachers on this platform. He is so articulate

i've realized that all i can do is make music that is true to me and i can't think about what the world would like...it's only about my own growth as a person and creatively...the tech and theory are fun but it's just about feeling it...and experiment with each moment with each note of who you are

in a sea of " how to make techno like (insert trendy name here)" - this is so refreshing. i took the approach to make my own sound a few years ago, every-time my sound started getting to similar to someone else, i scrappped the song. this year i started releasing music regularly and i am so happy and proud of what i am achieving. its a longer process, but is so rewarding! I have a couple of process developed through time.

thank you so much, it help me feel more confident about the way I work I do the same as you said in the video, playing with every setting until I feel like this is the sound I want to share with the world, the problem is that it can take days some time and is hard to not lose hope and start seeing everything bad, but in the end it is worth it

What really stood out to me was that first you have to learn how to make different music styles before you can really start to find your style. Coming from a programming background, this was really my experience, learn how to code, now that I am advanced, I find myself looking thru a few ways other people have solved a problem, then I forge my own path, taking pieces from one way or another. My results have a little bit of the spirit of the other people who solved it their way. As far as music goes, I'm only 1 song in. I just need to remember how to be patient and take solace in the fact that it takes time to become good, then more time to find my own spirit from within my music.

I have been messing with synths etc for a while and I am litterally just arriving at this point in my evolution. I am certainly not a talented musician and getting the confidence to say to myself "Hey this is how I do it" has been slow for me. I have been excited lately because I think I am just discovering my sound and how I arrive at it which has been a nice feeling.... I have a way to go yet but fingers crossed I am finding my process!!! Thanks for the excellent video.

Excellent! This is so important and so rarely covered in the millions of YT tutorials. I think you nailed it in that your own sound is a result of your own particular process. It's in all music, but especially underground electronic, the sound the great producers get is a result of their own process, their own equipment. One tip - when you make a sound you like that has a long effect chain, save the effect chain away. Then later, you can plug different sources into that same chain, mangle and effect them the same way. With a nice FX chain, you can keep plugging in routine samples and make something unrecognisable and unique amazingly quickly.

Great. I wish I had seen this when I waa getting started because I was exceptionally insecure about everything in my process, especially because my process is definitely non-linear, let's put it that way. I would say it is only about 20% of the time I build something to spec. Mostly my process is building context and letting the context drive what the next thing is. The downside of this is every track is wildly different, and I used to be insecure about that, but now I am cool with it. I have been trying to inject a little bit more structure into it in order to please a broader audience I suppose, but it's a fine line with that. Awesome presentation. Oh yeah, on the Doom compression thing. I had heard about it before and forgot about it. I might try using that on something I'm working on. cheers!

currently clashing with an occasional composing buddy, he's just got into polished vocal house, whereas my stuff is a bit 'messier' and chaotic. He's giving me tips on how to be slick, which annoys me. Having watched this video, I shall now 'own and defend' my style, even if I'm the only person who likes it!

Thanks for making this, Oscar. I've been discovering this on my own the last few weeks and this video came at the right moment for me. Your gut will always be a better indicator than your brain will.

I remember once while washing up some glass milk bottles for recycling, i started rapping out a rythm tapping them with a fork. By the time i knew it i was setting up two SM57 mics and the ideas came poring out. Those milk haven't made it to the recycling and are now part of my kit, but it hasn't stopped there. I now look at all sounds as my studio.

Own the process, own the outcome. I like that idea. We often imprison ourselves in the "rules" of the genre of music we trying to make even against our own tastes. I watched a video yesterday that explained how a German band called Kraftwerk made their music in a minimalist way, they only added what they thought the song needs, or what helps to push the song forward. To me their method fits perfectly with your concept of owning the process = owning the outcome. This frees me to create however I like too.

Every single video of yours is priceless. Thank you Mr.Oscar.

Tuning ones creative rhythms to the ebb and flow of certain aspects of the cosmos is quite helpful as well. Certain days carry certain energies that are otherwise inaccessible and if the window of time for creation is missed, it is gone.

For the Doom 2016 Soundtrack, Mick Gordon did a fantastic job capturing that classic Doom sound, all the while giving it his own unique sonic interpretation. He was recently featured in a song called "Merchant of the Void" by 3teeth that just premiered on RU-vid about a week ago, as well. Thanks for recommending his GDC talk and thank you for uploading this and sharing how to find "your sound"!

Bravo! Great and relevant topic. I love the presentation as always. And I love your "brave!" artistic decision to not add a kick and overproduce the outcome.

That compressor trick is awesome for harder techno.

Man i love your videos, you go way more deeper into music creation than a lot of youtubers on the platform 💜

Your videos are always so educational! Even when they are on topics that I think I know everything about, u have a way of bringing up a much needed, fresh perspective! Thank you Oscar! 💜

I am a newbie to music production, and I love your channel. And your course, too! Phenomenal!

I absolutely loved this video!! You gave some great takeaways and your explanation on the how's and why's behind the process of finding your own sound really resonated with me. Great upload :)

Found my new favorite youtube channel. already recommended this to like 10 of my friends

Thank you so much for your hard work, Oscar. A great creative block-breaking video here. I'm super ready for Foundations of Electronic Music 2.

Thank you good sir! Perfect timing. Fun to watch and very relatable.

Love your videos very much. My process revolves around turning audio into midi & experimenting with that output to inspire new riffs & melodies. Great starting point to inspire new ideas.

Wow, I'm floored by the candid discussion and honest words about an art form that is so difficult to quantify and justify. Beyond loving the process of it, I've often felt torn in my journey that I'm never ready to release anything into the wild. I'm not completely able to articulate everything i want to do, but thanks for helping me and others along the way.❤

Incredible, Oscar! Thank you for sharing this with us. I am definitely going to try this approach and see where it takes me.

I love your work and have taken a lot from your many videos on tools and techniques, but I really appreciate your deep dives into the creative act. In many ways this is also very practical, but also provides a broader conceptual framework for making music. Thanks! ❤

Love it Oscar! Thank you ! And of course i can only totally agree with this. Change the process to change the outcome is really interesting. And it is also what can happen if you collaborate with someone else that will have a different process. You will learn on the way and get a different outcome ☺️

Loved this, Oscar. A shake up is always good. You don't have to throw out all the craft you've learned to take the art in a different direction. This new expression is a part of the same identity. I can imagine the generative aspect of what you have learned here bridging too and from your previous work. I often hear EDM which has a reflective quality under the drive and dynamics required by the dance floor. Perhaps that is where you pitched up with this. A new horizon beyond the beat.

First of all “Much Love” from Au Oscar I think this what new producers need to hear especially people like me i really obsessed with music since at young age & I know there’s connections between music and your emotions/feelings but never knew how important it is plus no one ever on RU-vid explains like Oscar just did everybody making tutorials videos about composition but never explained how it is so important to connect yourself rather than copying same things from others. I see myself sometimes in positions where too much focus on composition and literally no emotion involved then I start losing interest such as writing block. Thank you so much this really open my mind!

Didn't expect Mick Gordon. The gdc talk is really awesome indeed.

Thank you so much for this! You articulated so well the feeling I had regarding my music. I think one extra thing to consider about this is to practice being open-minded! Like you said, sometimes we find out who we are through realizing what we are not. But if we have a negative attitude towards other processes and outcomes than our own, we might also put limits on our creativity. I think we all have some ideas of "the right way" to do music or what genres of music are "worse" than our favorites, or how we should be improving. Go break those ideas and have fun!

Besides being inspiring content, it brings me a lot of joy simply WATCHING and LISTENING your videos, even without thinking how I could use this in everyday (musical) life! Thanks a lot, Oscar!!

New Torc track!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 And a great video, as usual. Thank you, Oscar :)

"Defend." As in 'defend in the world." That's the best way I've ever heard it put. This way, you don't have to find your song or sound because your song or sound will find you.

nicely explained 'own the process' applicable in all creative processes, nice video thanks.

This is hands down one of the most important videos on music production out there. Thank you so much Oscar ❤

When I first started playing around with cuebase I was too focused on having everything being perfect on timing so that there ended up being no life to the sound. This is a really instructive and inspired video!

Although I always get something out of your beginner oriented videos, I REALLY appreciate this video as an intermediate producer wanting to take it to the next level and find my own voice. I'm looking for as much discussion about the creative process of electronic music as possible so this video is a glittering gem for me. And I wanted to mention, although the beginner demographic is a huge one, beginners come and go. It's the intermediate level producer that will stick with you forever.

This is brilliant Oscar !! That Mick Gordan track is one of my favorites. Killer Intro !!

i totally agree it takes courage to just trust yourself...as you mentioned Oscar

This kind of content that's not the normal are super high value, thanks Oscar!

Thanks for this great video. It helps a lot in finding MY sound. I like the cutting of the vid a lot!

Thanks for this man, very timely video for me. Have been in a rut lately and trying to find a different sonic direction. Any tips that shift thinking are super handy!!

3x Bullseye. Simplifying a very emotional and personal topic into short powerful video that will resonate long after watching this. Also making clear and bold statements that will help creatives evolve, grow and learn to identify themselves. And your timing is amazing. Yesterday I had some vage questions running around my head. Not clear and straight forward questions, so answering them is impossible. But Owning the process = Owning the outcome is an eye (ear) opener. Thank you Thank you Thank you

Hello Oscar, thank you for bringing this important topic ! From my experience, I needed to make a great backward step with plug ins and technical stuff to think more about the message I want to deliver. In this situation I really enjoyed working with presets to create a very first draft of my track, than wait for few days to check if the goose bump are still here 😀 Then I move to the more the technical stuff and sound design things.

Thanks Oscar! When I first started to learn production, I made the decision to learn sound design in and out. Took me 12 years, but now it's starting to pay off. I'm starting to find my sound and make unique-sounding songs.

fantastic video Oscar. thank you!

"Sound Bath" - Love that..... :) Nice video, Oscar........ Some liberating thinking here. Love the track too. 👍

Great Vid, Oscar. I only upload sounds/music that is resonating with me. In the end, I have to listen to it for a long time during road trips. If anyone else enjoy the music as well, that's just bonus for me.

Such a great video. Thank you for sharing these thoughts. You are always inspirational.

Wow! This short video is deeper than I thought. Need to rethink it.

Chapeau, Oscar !! Truely inspirationnal video, talking about the process is important, most youtube input only teaches you about technics and reproducing pre-existing gimmicks and music genres. It would be very interesting to talk about the "gear" aspect of finding your own sound, because gear is part of the process and of your identity. The tendency that producers worldwide have to use the same DAWs, the same controllers and synths from the same brands (actually same goes for DJs) is kinda limiting the global creative possibilities !

Deep AF. It's a life lesson, not just a music lesson.

So inspiring! Thank you 💪

My process is usually to start with Operator or another "pure" tone source and get a chord progression or melody that I like, then build out the song from there. Sometimes I'll start by making a trap/rap-influenced beat and build from there. But I always try to bring in my bass guitar and vocals where it makes sense, and I love distortion and the human voice (preferably not my own). Usually my biggest obstacle at the end is cutting out low frequencies because I love big kicks and bass synths. Thanks for sharing this, love all your videos!

Interesting how you mentioned working with Emotions then fighting your head about wanting to make it part of a pre-learnt formula, I originally dove into my first DAW not knowing anything and just playing with the plug ins, drawing random melodies, applying effect on top of effect and I loved it. Then I started to learn more about Genre formulas and now I find myself listening to the earlier stuff feeling like it has more emotion to it than todays me attempting to make a house track.. in a way it's almost like I lost part of me in trying to conform to an audience expected Genre Formula..

Reminds me of Brian Eno's "cards" - finding ways to disrupt the formulaic response, and find a new one. Keeps it fresh and challenging My favorite : " Think about the recipes you are using, and abandon them." Great Videos man!

Hey Oscar :) Man this is so fun, you have the power of releasing videos right at a time when i am thinking about this matter myself. Almost everytime haha,. Just finished a track where i really had to think about "identifying to my process to own my production and to find my own colour". The univers is good and funny, you drop this video today haha. The process i identify with is a form of a coherent weirdness, chopped up vocals that are kind of abstract & hypnotizing. And when i let my heart express itself with raw emotions during the song, then in the end i get sentimental through those weird and punchy rythms. By the way Oscar, i really have to thank you. It sounds big just like that but it is absolutely true : your work changed my life. In early 2021 i started watching your tutorials and this quickly unlocked new levels in my production skills, you made ableton look easy and very intuitive, so i got hooked. Next thing you know, later on this year i made the decision to quit my job to be only focusing on my songs. Few months later i've released my first auto-produced EP, then a label contacts me to release antoher one. Now it's been more than a year and a half that i do music full time, always watching religiously work videos, always increasing my level from tracks to tracks. I've produced 10 new songs that are unreleased and yet already spotted by labels i love, artists are playing my tunes at parties, i'm collaborating with artists that amaze me. The journey just began but i can not count how many great things it already offered me. I've never been this happy my whole life, nothing is the same. I'm starting to really own my process, i know when to listen to my feelings when composing, i know enough technic (thanks to you) to be able to really express myself. You Oscar, were the person who made it possible. I would never thank you enough for this. Please keep on doing this amazing work for us :) Huge love from France

This was very inspiring and lovely. Thank you for that!

Thanks for the great insights.

Great video, and your track is terrific, just a lovely piece of music. Nice work!!!!

Very important video thanks man. I still have to find my own process but I guess it’ll revolve around pad design, they’ve always been my favorite thing in music.

Totally inspired.. so relevant for the time we are in. Profound, heartfelt, inspirational and then…..That green moustache…….. perfect! We’re you hesitant to publish or just thought, hell yeah!

really loved this video, I love your approach.. I do have my process.. I like to play around with the sound .. just play with it and see what my ears like.. i dont have anything in my mind that i start with.. ijust put the beats and then add sounds and put them together

I loved this Oscar….you are a such an inspiration! Thank you so much

Just discovered this channel and it is amazing me how useful it is for me personally. I have learned more in the past weeks than I had for years. You are doing an outstanding job! BTW: I have heard Mick's soundtrack even started a new musical style called "argent metal" :).

Thank you so much to share your deep thought on music and trying to get the most of our creativity process 😉

Next level video! Thank you!

For me, this is applying software engineering to the process to make it faster, tighter, more scientific. I’m just at the beginning of this with Reaper scripting but I’m completely obsessed!

🥇🏆 and the best teacher award goes to Oscar.. very well structured and main idea delivered flawlessly, much appreciated 👍

this is a beautiful episode, more of this

Amazing subject, I really appreciate your videos. And that’s my most big complication: process.

Great video as always!

Thank you for all you do, Oscar.

i've always enjoyed the "random but rhythmic" sounds of nature and try my best to mimic that in my music. i like to use ableton's random and arpeggiator plugins to create intricate rhythms in my drums. then, i like to put subtle resonater and vocoder on my high hats to wash them all into one layer. i think of my songs as vast oceans of sound one can sit in and ponder.

thx for this experience and these tips !

Super inspirational thank you! ❤

Amazing, all the way around thank you so much!

Thanks for sharing your answer to a question I personally have. I made progress in my thinking. 1000 mercis. Toujours un plaisir d’évoluer dans ma musique avec vos apprentissages, qui suivent toujours la liberté de s’approprier le style et la technique de manière personnelle et naturelle.

EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! these insight videos are pure gold

thank you sir! 🙏

Thank you, for being there.

thank a lot for this one !!!

I never knew I even needed such a video but just 2 minutes in and damn you are spot on. Great way to put these concepts

Thanks Oscar 🧡

Thanks for the motivating video! :)

I personally like to vary my process. However, there is one thing that I do pretty consistently, which works toward an end goal, either an image or a scene or a mood. Sometimes it’s self-contained, but it often part of a larger whole.

Great video, i believe it is important to create music that represent's yourself and the meaning you create with production and 'your' music. Rather than just emulate another person in the hope of 'making it'...

There is a time and a place for both this and the more punchy and, perhaps, more formulaic techno with the kick bass drop etc. Both have a place.

Great video, thank you.

My idea for future if creating an album or adding new tracks already getting promoted is something unusual which still connects to previous tracks.This can broaden number of listeners greatly.Someone can like 50% of tracks from my album. If finding the "strange one" can relate to rest of album.

Thanks for the great vid

your the reason i still use youtube man, love your content