u/vix_calls

check out his last couple of ig reel posts. him riffing the keys is insane ngl, his sounds are timeless af and have a nice vibe to it. I think he’s playing the organ mostly im still newer and can’t really tell

how do you guys feel about his stuff?

I recently discovered ARPs and ngl it's a huge timesaver just getting one that sounds good and getting a vibe going instantly so I can focus more on my drums/fx/arrangements/ear candy stuff like that. Def feels like cheating in a way lol but I waste so much time trying to make melodies and find instruments.

What I do is find an ARP I like and make some sequences with it, use a long note to create tension, flip registers in different loops to make the arrangement better, etc.

I'm just finding it hard to spice it up more an add cooler sounds on top of it since it takes away from the ARP and starts sounding out of place and random.

Is that a sign to not over complicate it? I'm sure reversing or using gross beat on it or some filters can be a way to make it more dynamic ig.

i only found one but when I downloaded it said my system wasn’t supported. I got that thing that lets you run .exe on Mac but when I installed it I couldn’t even find it or pick it up in the plugin scanner

lots of people think this is just another “i get high and fuck bitches song” until you start peeling the onion layers back.

“I told my boy, "Go roll like ten blunts for me" (what? Roll ten, what?)”

Carti doesn’t take orders, he’s the leader of his pack and instructs other on what to do. He establishes his authority early in the song

“It's the first of the month (slatt, slatt, slatt, slatt)
I brush my teeth and count up (what? Slatt, slatt, slatt, slatt, whoa)
I let my bitch roll my blunt (whoa, slatt, slatt)”

Carti gets paid on the first of the month (EBT/food stamps) and again similar theme here, he leads his relationships and tells his girl what to do, not the other way around.

this is the biggest one imo

”I gotta know who you fuck, fucked in this room (baby, who? Who?)
I gotta know who you fucked in this room (yeah, who? Who? Who?)
I gotta know who you fucked in this room (bih, who?)
Can't trust no bitch (what? Bih, bih) can't trust these niggas (bih, bih)
Yeah, in love with my money (what? In love with my money)
In love with my pistols (in love with that pistol)”

carti is a crash out but not for no reason, he’s clearly been bitten by his snake of a girlfriend and she cheated on him with a close friend, he resorts to his love for crime as a safety net

”Finna cut off that bitch (finna cut off that bitch, what? What?)
She don't cook, she don't clean (damn, what? What?)
But she want Ruth Chris (slatt, slatt)
I don't even like to hug (to hug, hug)
I don't even like to kiss (slatt, slatt)”

Carti ultimately resorts to asexuality due to women snaking him and investing nothing in the relationship. He seems to pull all the weight and get nothing in return.

I'm tryna get high 'til I can't feel nothin' (whoa, what? What? Slatt)
I could fall out the sky and I still won't feel nothin' (what? What? What? Slatt, slatt)
I could fall out the sky and I still won't feel nothin' (whoa, what? Slatt, slatt)

This part is debatable, imo this is 5 stages of grief cycle. He trying to get past denial by getting high but ultimately him falling out of the sky and feeling nothing signifies acceptance and freedom

Singapore, I need u, go, fighting my demons, run ran, rockstar lifestyle .

I’ve been listening to rap for a while from tons of diff artists but Ken wins here no question, not even a debate.

I’ll be on a walk and start stimming and just keep looping the intros😭🙏🏼

hope he tours for xperiment and see him live, the blakk rockstar drop at rolling loud looked insane

I started 2-3 weeks ago for fun and made an IG page for it and just posting my stuff shamelessly and getting a lot of reach...just not the good kind lmfao.

It's funny though cus im sure in a year from now ill look back and think "why did I think these were good" I'm gonna continue posting them tho

If you guys had to assume, what's the most common mistakes newbies make that causes the biggest downgrade in their sounds they should address first? not gonna post my stuff here but if anyones interested I can send it

if I were to organize a very large Carti fan meetup at a local Target store parking lot (one of the bigger ones) to raid the store and do a remake of Sky would people be down u think? there’s power in numbers so the more the easier as long as they don’t get the camera man

curious what bits of music theory helps you all write out your melodies and chords.

only asking because I scratched the surface and learned about staying within a scale, chords & progressions which helped a lot

for the most part I stay within a scale and just try to hum something and play around with the piano roll until I find that sound or sequence that starts clicking, but I find it can be a time sink and wanna make sure I’m not avoiding music theory concepts that can help me build melodies faster and better

what is it about Travis’ early sounds in days before rodeo mainly that gives his sounds that ‘cheap’ underground gritty/hazy feel? Its trap music but shit you can chill out and smoke too lol

I know rn with the new wave and Ken Carson they’re clipping their drums and using a lot of saturation/distortion

but with Travis sounds (think drugs you should try it, Quintana pt 2, skyfall) whats the backbone of that production giving those effects that make his sound so spaced out and woozy but not sad/depressing? i bet one part of it is the reverbing, like how every sound is drowned underwater, but ik theres a lot I’m missing

I’m thinking in diff trap genres but early 2010s southern trap was a more in your face and hype with a focus on heavy brass, orchestral sounds, emphasis on hat patterns etc then that phased out. now it’s the opposite direction with a focus of synths and distorted drums

DBR is hands down my fav mixtape/album from Travis. Quintana pt 2, drugs you should try it, skyfall (metros production is insane here), basement freestyle, mo city flexologist, etc.

It’s got that underground/vintage/gritty vibe to it, the production has a ‘cheap feel’ but that was Travis sound early on and the first of its kind (all the synths, saturation, reverbing, detuning, etc)

i know some of people don’t like it as much or think it’s overrated, im curious when you listen to it what are you immediate thoughts or reactions?

idk why but it has to be hella for me, the lil beat switch and sounds is 100% Ken😂

the factory one is like 40gb and the sounds aren’t something I can’t find in nexus tbh, are any other kontakt banks out there worth it?

Im from the south and grew up around trap music and it always stuck around at 26. I decided since I listened it so much ill start making it for fun

i got after it 2 weeks ago and finally started hitting the point where I could replicate like 60%-70% of my fav beats and make a melody of my own. but then I realize there’s 100 layers to this (counter melodies, being intentional with the drums, bass lines, 808 and kick timing, mixing, picking the right instruments and scales, arrangement and making an actual full beat that’s not boring).

its crazy because now i hear music differently…the hat rolls, transitions, 808 slides, how the sounds are mixed really well and spaced out, how diff insturments create a mood...

It’s cool how there are different genres and they all sound good despite not following a map, og Travis has his woozy sounds, YB has that fast paced high energy flow w/ orchestral instruments, Migos/young thug have the classic southern trap sound, Ken Carson/carti/lonely have crazy unordinary synths and make it work.

what was y’all’s experience getting started and progressing?

Happy friday 💨

that little guitar melody is on point, my SoundCloud randomly shuffled to this and I ran over to save it😂

I was going through Nexus and found these bells that sound like those Trinidad style steel drums, immediately thought of one of my fav songs that had it playing in the background intermittently on top of some piano chords.

I've been trying to recreate it but horribly failing lmao, I played around with the diff keys, lengths, scales, and this is the closest I can get.

Can someone please ear this out and tell me what I'm messing up on the notes? I'm still hella new so this will be a good learning lesson for me.

stop playing with cartis name. I ain’t gonna say it again stop playing with his name.

when his name comes up, respect it. stop playing with his name, I ain’t gonna say it no more