Thanks Jennifer - good luck on your musical journey ; glad we could help! EO

It is our pleasure - good to hear it's so helpful. Good luck with your music EO

You won't regret it. Good luck, and thanks for your feedback. EO

Thank you!. Spread the word . . . EO

@@EarOpener As I have been already, gladly! Hope this channel reaches many many musicians. Thank you!

Our pleasure EO

It's Izotope RX - a brilliant piece of software - but mainly for cleaning and processing audio. It's not a DAW. Thanks! EO

Yep - older sister. Thanks for your positive feedback. EO

We agree! Lot's more contributions from Brian elsewhere on the channel . . .EO

This is great to hear. Thank you - and good luck with all your music. EO

I hear you - it's such a common problem. There are a few things you could try: I suggest doing some exercises to work the 'muscles' of thinking with shape in mind, of developing material in a satisfying way, where the development seems to be purposeful not random. A simple thing to try would be : 'write a 3 min track which goes from sweet to ugly' or 'from aggressive to calm' or 'from jazzy to techno'. Work faster - try and do it over an hour or two. It's not about polishing, it's about starting to think in broader strokes, and in longer periods of time. (Remember it's an exercise - if it sounds crappy, that's ok - you've learned something. But sometimes an exercise might lead you somewhere interesting.) If you practice this kind of thing, you will start to re-wire your brain so you are always connecting what you are writing to what you have already written. Second thing to try - I know it sounds really corny - but I would suggest playing an instrument , or singing, or going 'dum de dum' into a mic, over , say, 2 minutes. See what you have to do to keep it interesting - see what happens to the journey. Remember, until recorded music existed, this was the only way music was ever made - in real time. It's deep - so connect with it. If you haven't tried doing this (or jamming with other musicians) it could really help you. Good luck! EO

Yes, you raise some very interesting points. I find that some - especially younger - musicians try to write instrumental music , but only really listen to SONGS themselves. Their work sounds like a backing track but misses the central element - the voice. They are related, but very different things to write. Typically , instrumental music needs a lot more variation and arranging to keep the piece moving forward - think of a symphony or a jazz piece, with solos from different players. Or a clubby track that is very produced with a lot of different sounds and textures. Songs always have that centre - the voice and the lyric - that you know the audience will focus on. In terms of finishing tracks, you might want to check out this video on our channel . . . . kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYSqmISgbZ1lorM Good luck with your music! EO

Thanks for sharing! Glad it was useful - hope you find other useful videos on the channel. EO

Thank you. You should watch our three videos on arrange,ment - I think you may also find them useful. Good luck with your music EO.

Our pleasure. You might like our other two episodes on Arranging on the channel. Good luck with your music! EO

@@EarOpener i will definitely be checking those out. Ive found it remarkable how so much emphasis is made on recording/mixing etc yet so little on the prime factor 'arrangement' without which hours of mixing simply cannot fix. I guess partly due to 'most' being keen enthusiatic amateurs as opposed to professionally trained. Plus, 'arrangement' simply sounds less exciting/sexy

yes - weird isn't it? My guess is that it will start to come into fashion again as a subject. All we need is Beyonce to wear an 'I heart Arrangemen' t shirt . . . EO

Good question . . . it's on Satan's KZbin channel EO

@@EarOpener 🤣🤣🤣🤣

You are very welcome! Good luck with all your musical adventures. EO

Our pleasure! Hope it's useful EO

thanks. Yes, you're right - thanks for pointing out. That was an editing error . . . Apologies (to Lowkey, especially). EO

We appreciate it, thank you. I struggled with this video - it is a very hard subject to go into, as people's knowledge of the rudiments varies so widely. You may like our third video on Chords (modulation) elsewhere on the channel. Thanks for your comment and good luck EO

@@EarOpener Will definitely check that out!!

Thank you! Hope it is useful . . .EO

`yes, we agree! I have mentored a lot of young musicians, and we spend most of the time talking about very general topics - we hardly ever talk about, say, dorian mode or bus compression . . .thanks for the comment and good luck ! EO

Thanks @foghornblue. Glad you found us - spread the word, EO

It is our pleasure - thank you. Hope we help you in your musical journey. EO

Thanks.You're not too late - we are just very very slow at making content! Good ideas. In the mean time - I'd very much recommend using your phone (or something else) as a recording device, capture the spontaneity in-the-moment and then it is the time-consuming job of writing it down. If you are slow at writing things down, I'd recommend doing some exercises - play a few bars of a track in any style and write down the melody. You will improve very fast if you do a few minutes a day for a few weeks. Good luck with your music EO

@@EarOpener I'll definitely do that! Thank you! You may be slow but nothing good is done fast, and the content here is truly gold, glad to hear there will be more coming, thank you again

It's an original track by Paul Clark. EO

Thank you! Good luck on your musical journey . . .EO

Thanks. The episodes, it's true, do take a lot of time to plan and a lot of people are involved. We're all very glad they are useful for you. Hope you are making some beautiful sounds . . .EO

This is very good to hear, thank you. We don't release content very regularly, so I think the algorithm, doesn't;t like us! But do spread the word - and good luck with your music. EO

Thank you! Spread the word. EO

Good luck with your horizontal thinking :). . . .EO

Glad you found us! Enjoy the channel, and good luck with your music. EO

Ha ha.... somewhere on KZbin is a version of all of Captain Beefheart's 'Trout Mask...' album playing simultaneously . . . .brain melting. EO

Interesting point. Can't agree with you about Beyonce, though :) . . .I don't think her visual chutzpah is about compensating for weak vocals. She would have done very well in the radio era! EO

So happy to hear you love the content. We hope to be working towards bringing back videos in the future. Do share around with anyone who may find this useful! EO

So glad you found it helpful! EO

great ideas, thanks. My main thought is: you may not need a lot of treble lines when there is a vocal. Look how the great big band arrangers worked with artists like Ella, Ray Charles etc... the high string motives are often quite sparse - filling in gaps when the vocal has stopped or is holding a long note. In Modern R&B its even more sparse - short little riffs, rather than sweeping lines.. My advice is - hum (or imagine) your treble lines once your vocal is recorded - see where the space is. What you hum (or imagine) will - hopefully! - tell you what instrument. I have an idea for a video on this subject... EO

@@EarOpenerThank you so much! This is extremely helpful! :)

Thanks for posting Lauren. We make videos very infrequently which the algorithm doesn't like. But do tell your friends and followers! Good luck with your music - I hope all our videos feed into something exciting. EO

So happy you found it helpful! - you're welcome. Check out our other two episodes on Arranging. . . EO

You are very welcome. There are two more episodes on Arranging - enjoy exploring the channel. EO

Yes. I don't think these ideas have really hit the mainstream yet, despite being around, even in western cultures, for quite a while....

Ed O'Brien from Radiohead EO

Thank you, we agree!! Tell your friends . . . EO