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2026-05-13 20:24:34

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

#MusicProduction thread incomming:

One of the things that challenges me in Bitwig Studio, is how much it’s build for an electronic music workflow, and I’m never trained in (or have a lot of experience with) electronic music.

You might think a DAW is a DAW, but it really isn’t. I was educated in music most often played on traditional instruments in styles like jazz, pop and rock. And since this is 20 years ago, electronic music production wasn’t a thing at all at the academy of music.

2026-05-13 20:28:15

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

For many years my career was build around this music. We would meet for rehearsals, print out sheet music (if it wasn’t just from the Realbook or improv) and no one would bring a computer.

Occasionally we would record in the studio at the academy, where we had a studio desk and a computer with Cubase. I can’t even remember if there was other plugins than just the stock plugins.

I bought my own ProjectMix I/O to be able to record my own projects, but it was recorded music.

#MusicProduction

2026-05-13 20:38:02

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

The difference in live played music on traditional instruments and electronic music is HUGE.

I’m used to bands where I would write chords, lyrics and a melody, and we would arrange the music together. Most often we didn’t really arrange it that much, but more like “this for intro”, “build up in the bridge”, “break after the chorus” etc… and when we would say these things to each other, people just did it.

#MusicProduction

2026-05-13 20:40:59

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

For my debut album, I had been playing the singer-songwriter-like songs for a long time alone at concerts, songwriter events or songwriters in the round etc…

Then I would ask some of my jazz colleagues from when I was performing with my jazz combo, if they would join me in the studio.

It took 3 days in total:
Day 1 - Rehearsals
Day 2 - Recordings
Day 3 - Mixing

That’s it. No fiddling around just playing music.

#MusicProduction

2026-05-13 20:43:35

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

This way of working was perfect for me (and my ADHD), since I could come up with new concepts all the time, gather a band, have a rehearsal and start booking. And it was perfect as long as I lived in an area with other musicians who I could work with.

When I moved to an Island in Rural Denmark after my studies, it was far from perfect.

Suddenly my network disappeared (or I disappeared from my network).

#MusicProduction

2026-05-13 20:46:45

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

And first I just kept writing music with my guitar as I was used to, but then I tried to record it and make a one-man-band recording, and I really sucked at it.

Coming from playing with some of my best friends and all talented instrumentalists to only working with myself and my mediocre skills on other instruments. I’m a vocalist not a piano player, bassist etc… and compared to the people I played with before, I sucked at it.

#MusicProduction

2026-05-13 20:50:10

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

Those were some really tough years for me artistically.

Having all this music in my head I was used to making with my friends, and not being able to get it out really sucked!

I kept trying doing recordings myself, but it never worked.

Some years later when we established the theatre I have been running with my partner (who’s an actress), we soon found out that I couldn’t be doing live music on the tours after we got our first kid. So I needed to find a new direction.

#MusicProduction

2026-05-13 20:53:34

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

We were inspired by working site-specific and in rural communities in the theatre, so I was instantly inspired to sample everything around me and learn to make music using found sounds.

I bought Ableton Live and took a couple of courses, and it gave me an approach that worked well for the theatre.

It was in this proces I stumbled upon subtractive synthesis, and my jaw just dropped big time.

#MusicProduction

2026-05-13 20:59:22

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

2026-05-13 21:03:02

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

2026-05-13 21:07:18

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

2026-05-13 21:11:12

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

I can use Bitwig, just like I loved to use Studio One on Mac, because it reminds me of the old days, where the computer was just a more stable easier to use tape recorder.

But it doesn’t help with my mediocre playing.

What I really miss, is the thorough knowledge of electronic music creation. Like making a kick sound from scratch, or making my own patches for a synth etc

This is partly why I love working with found sounds. Because the sounds are random, the result is random.

#MusicProduction

2026-05-13 21:14:39

Morten Mosgaard

mosgaard@uddannelse.social

Right now I’m trying to find out how I’m going to learn this.

The resources I find are either too easy or too advanced.

I need all the steps in between “I want the synth to sound like this” to “Here is my preset”.

Like: How did you choose that synth? Why are you using that waveform? Why does you need a synth with three engines? Etc…

Sometimes I feel like going back to the academy starting over but with this focus.

#MusicProduction

2026-05-14 17:39:53

*_jߍyrope

jrp@hub.kliklak.net

2026-05-14 01:59:37

Jessica the VI Artist🎚️🎹🌈

JessicatheVIArtist@kind.social

@mosgaard Subtractive synthesis also completely opened my mind about lots of things related to not only sound, but also to signal flow in general.

2026-05-13 21:04:06

shoshin

shoshin@buzz.cicadas.surf

@mosgaard have you tried any other applications to try to arrange and produce music with gnu/linux?

its a bit long-in-the-tooth but Rosegarden has been around for a long time and has an interface geared towards more traditional music notation.

2026-05-13 21:10:28

*_jߍyrope

jrp@hub.kliklak.net

@Morten Mosgaard It's a shame, that you have to split your post into so many parts, because Mastodon limits you there. Makes in almost unfathomable.

Anyhow, why not use a DAW then, which works like a tape machine?

2026-05-13 22:09:06

Cassana 🍻

cassana@the-crossroads-inn.com

@mosgaard An interesting thread. I mainly deal with acoustic instruments, and honestly, being the recording/sound engineer, composer and all the session musicians at the same time is hard enough. I half-expect this great swampy missing middle between basic and advanced you mention might just be where everyone explores and experiments more than anything. Regardless, enjoy the journey.