Spectrum of Musicianship

[FrankJaeger]

Hi everyone,
I wanted to start a topic/convo to chat about the levels of musicianship and degrees of professionalism that are present in the Reason community (or at least present here on Reasontalk). I want to have an "open floor" conversation where everyone can chime in about their personal music journey. Basically, I want to discuss things like the following:

1) Are you a professional (by this I mean do you make a living off of your music/audio), amateur (make a decent wage off your music/audio) or a hobbyist (you only do this for fun)?

2) What would you classify yourself as? a beat maker? producer? Singer/Rapper/Songwriter? mix/mastering engineer? Sound maker (synth programmer)? Film Scorer?

3) How long have you been making music or "manipulating" audio?

4) What's your favorite genre of music? EDM (too many sub-genres to list here)? Rock, HipHop? etc.

5) What direction do you want to take your craft? Are you a hobbyist hoping to transition to professional in the future? Would making a living off of audio be a dream to you or would it kill the fun?

6) How does Reason fit into your workflow?

I'll start us off:

I'm a hobbyist beat maker and occasional rapper that wouldn't be too upset if I eventually became a professional producer. My dream job would be to find people that have vocal talent with no experience making instrumentals and produce tracks for them from the ground up. I've been dabbling in music for over 10 years but never took it seriously until maybe a year ago. My 2 favorite genres by far are HipHop and Rock (specifically Metal and Nu Metal) and Reason is my go to for everything audio. I have exactly ZERO plans of leaving Reason...

[Bes]

hobbyist, i just lace together cv tools into sequencer experiments. it helps with being old and sore

[miyaru]

I’m a hobbyist too. I did study audio engineering at the SAE collage in Amsterdam. Financial, I’m ok, do not have to live from my music. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. That makes me happy. Nowadays I’m into reggae music.

I make music for 40 years, started as bassplayer in Heavy Metal bands and made the journey through many genres.

I like reggae best, and also love EDM.

I do not plan to become professional, just want to do what and when I do it…….

Having both Ableton Live Suite 10 and Reason 12 perpetual, both used with a Ableton Push2 makes my musical live fun!

I also have a hardware synth, a Korg N1 and an old groovebox, a Yamaha RM1x. Beside that, I also have guitars and bassguitars.

I use Reason 12 more than I use Ableton Live Suite 10, Reason just fits best in my workflow.

[dakta]

1) not professional, work in IT by trade and no professional links to music, learnt very basic organ from my Grandad who played at clubs and churches in his later life though I didn't go far with it. trying to find a local tutor to show me basic guitar and drums that'd be fun

2) songwriter - I like making new things as opposed to playing existing stuff, could do with producer skills

3) making music with reason since 2002 but interest has been lifelong

4) genre I am fluid on. I've never taken to RNB, hiphop etc, but I've always liked music of various genres particularly electronic. I used to really want to do trance in my youth, however I've really come out of that and have even leaned towards pop/britpop/synthpop almost. Do the occasional 'classic' style song too. Doing pop stuff does get painful though when you dont have vocals (or the talent). Can do the songwriting though,

5) I don't need/have the time to become pro. have a bucketlist where I'd love to do an 'as professional as possible' pop music video just for kicks though a) to shake the introvertism out of me and b) show the grandkids in time to come

6) reason is my everything. Have various products, cubase, etc but reason is perfect for me and apart from wanting more and more rack extensions it's absolutely perfect for me. I feel priveleged to use it as if I had to have hardware of equivalence I'd be out of the game financially. Now I can have infinite of everything up to what my pc can tolerate and the licenses are relatively cheap for the transistor/physical equivalent :O everytime reason annoys me I just think of that level of accessibility it offers.

[robussc]

Hobbyist.

Aspiring songwriter

I’ve been messing about with music since I was a teenager. My first “keyboard” was a Casio VL-Tone First proper composers synth was a Yamaha V-50 that I loved and used it with Steinberg Pro-24. When I moved to the States I got a Kawai K4 and hooked it up to Cubase (then added a Proteus FX), but dealing with saving the patch state (and operating the synth through those tiny LED displays) was so tedious that when Reason dropped I switched in a heartbeat and never looked back.

I definitely am in the Electronic music camp, but more classic stuff like UK synth pop and the instrumental work if Jarre, Vangelis & TD. So I enjoy modern artists that have taken those ideas and built upon them. I also enjoyed getting to know French indie pop as I find they’re still making fun music. Artists like Laurie Darmon, Mai Lan etc.

I would like to get to a point of releasing original tracks on Bandcamp/soundcloud just for my sense of accomplishment.

Reason is where it begins and ends. I just love working all inside the box.

[Heigen5]

1) Are you a professional (by this I mean do you make a living off of your music/audio), amateur (make a decent wage off your music/audio) or a hobbyist (you only do this for fun)?

I am capable to get professional stuff done, but I don't make living with my music . I also offer some services, like making game, commercial and film music. This business is rare though.


2) What would you classify yourself as? a beat maker? producer? Singer/Rapper/Songwriter? mix/mastering engineer? Sound maker (synth programmer)? Film Scorer?

I am a mixture of producer, musician/artist, composer, songwriter, singer, rapper, sound-designer, but I would just call myself a musician.


3) How long have you been making music or "manipulating" audio?

Since 1993. But my first computer music was created in 1997.


4) What's your favorite genre of music? EDM (too many sub-genres to list here)? Rock, HipHop? etc.

Electronic, pop and rap.


5) What direction do you want to take your craft? Are you a hobbyist hoping to transition to professional in the future? Would making a living off of audio be a dream to you or would it kill the fun?

I just want to make music like thus far. I wouldn't want to start making stuff for living with deadlines. I like to be free and independent in this regard.


6) How does Reason fit into your workflow?

Reason is the best! Dats all!!

[Popey]

1) Are you a professional (by this I mean do you make a living off of your music/audio), amateur (make a decent wage off your music/audio) or a hobbyist (you only do this for fun)? - Very much a hobbyist

2) What would you classify yourself as? a beat maker? producer? Singer/Rapper/Songwriter? mix/mastering engineer? Sound maker (synth programmer)? Film Scorer?-

Song creator possibly, never really thought about it

3) How long have you been making music or "manipulating" audio? -

First started messing with reason around late 2016/early 2017. First created an actual song in 2020

4) What's your favorite genre of music? EDM (too many sub-genres to list here)? Rock, HipHop? etc. -

my favourites are Techno, house, breakbeat and DNB

5) What direction do you want to take your craft? Are you a hobbyist hoping to transition to professional in the future? Would making a living off of audio be a dream to you or would it kill the fun?

I have no real interest in becoming a pro as such however i would like at some point to release a record on a label (even if they are small). It would be nice to have that outside verification that something i produced may have value.

6) How does Reason fit into your workflow?

Nowadays it is used as a rack plugin but is used on every song i create in some fashion.

[mimidancer]

I do not earn a living making music. I am a pediactric intensivist. I have played piano and violin since I was 5 years old. Started keyboard percussion at 10 then drums when I was 12. At 14 I started learning guitar and Picked up bass at 16. I was born in the 90s but I love 80s music. Dark electronic music is what I like to write. But I am comfortable sitting in with a jazz band or playing classical music in a chamber ensemble. My guitar teacher in my teens was totally 90s. So I am well-schooled in Jeff Buckley and Smashing Pumpkins. He did a lot of session playing and I had the advantage of going to some very nice studios with him. I got to meet some very talented people and messed around in some cool places with interesting people. The things I learned there have translated well to reason. I think that old-school recording workflow made learning Reason easy for me. I think I am the only Reason user here without workflow complaints. My setup is a mix of software and hardware instruments. I enjoy the devices in reason because almost all of them have character. I love the modular nature of reason that allows me to adapt it to be what I need. To sum up, I’m a hobbyist, and love to write. Probably way too emo for most of the people on this forum. But mostly they have been nice, supportive, and constructive when I have shared music. My opinion on the software, not so much. Be well. Make something you love.

[popnapp]

Nice topic! I often wonder, where to put all you guys. Sometimes it seems to me, that everyone is more into music than me, more knowledge, more skills. I thought, you all must be professionals. Nice to see some fellow hobbyists.

1) I'm definately a hobbyist. Burried my dreams to become a prolific songwriter for the stars quite some years ago.

2) I'm mostly a songwriter

3) Doing this since around 1980, so it's 43 years now, more or less.

4) Genre = PowerPop, Pop, Beatles, McCartney, Billy Joel, Alan Parsons...

5) Direction = no aspiration, just wanna have fun. If I churn out a new song every 2 weeks or so, I'm fine.

6) How does Reason fit into your workflow?
Reason is my first and only DAW experience since 2010. Before that it was an old Amiga computer, sequencing, midi and cheap keyboards.
Since I switched to Reason+ last year, I feel really inspired by all these soundpacks and all those instruments and gear, that comes with it. I love it!

[raymondh]

Cool topic and I enjoyed reading the replies so far!

1) Hobbyist. Music is cathartic to me, a creative escape that is very grounding, a techie release where I get to play with synthesizers, which is where it all started from me.

2) Electronic Music Producer, from composing to sound design/synth programming, arrangement, mix and master.

3) mid 80s, from Commodore 64 SID based music, to a home made synth (I used to be into electronics), to Yamaha CX-5m + Roland MT-32, to Atari-STe/C-lab Creator and more synths

4) 80s Synthpop and Electronic (think Jarre, TD, Kraftwerk, Yello)

5) Wherever it takes me. I would like to hone my skills and become a better composer.

6) Both as a DAW, and a plug-in to Reaper.

[mcatalao]

Here:
1) Are you a professional (by this I mean do you make a living off of your music/audio), amateur (make a decent wage off your music/audio) or a hobbyist (you only do this for fun)?
I consider myself a serious amateur (as in i sometimes get paid to make music related stuff, and I try do do it at a pro level, If that makes any sense...).

2) What would you classify yourself as? a beat maker? producer? Singer/Rapper/Songwriter? mix/mastering engineer? Sound maker (synth programmer)? Film Scorer?
I consider myself a musician first, then a composer then a producer (I help bands go from an idea to a record, in the various steps of the production, and i also mix and master).

3) How long have you been making music or "manipulating" audio?
I started learning and playing instruments around 4 or 5 (so, around 40 years), my first musical project at 16, and never stopped. Was a professional musician (i didn't have any other sort of incoume) from 1998 to 2003, playing keys and winds in a portuguese folk band.
My first contact with sequencers and synthesis was an old Yamaha PSR400 that allowed to create new rhythms, then later i got a roland sequencer and a XP-10. And when i went to college, soon started using my computer around 96 to make music.

4) What's your favorite genre of music? EDM (too many sub-genres to list here)? Rock, HipHop? etc.
I like to compose electronic instrumentals, new age, pop, jazz, fusion and some film scoring. For other artists... I do whatever genre they're into.

5) What direction do you want to take your craft? Are you a hobbyist hoping to transition to professional in the future? Would making a living off of audio be a dream to you or would it kill the fun?
I'd like to have more and more work in the various stuff i do in music - help more bands and artist to get their stuff done. But i don't think it's realistic to quit my job in the next years!

6) How does Reason fit into your workflow?
Reason is the main daw in my productions, so since it has vst's it's been the center of my workflow, but i also use other daws sometimes with RRP.

[FrankJaeger]

WOW!!
Loving the replies so far to be honest. Reason has the best community of any DAW bar-none.

[motuscott]

1. Amateur or Die
2. Musical pot stirrer
3. 55 yrs
4. Less is more
5. Amuse myself until the Jeebs takes me home
6. It is an embarrassment of riches. I am pleased

[Floyd42]

1) Are you a professional (by this I mean do you make a living off of your music/audio), amateur (make a decent wage off your music/audio) or a hobbyist (you only do this for fun)?

Hobbyist

2) What would you classify yourself as?

Musician

3) How long have you been making music or "manipulating" audio?

For 50 years. Since I was 5, I've been experimenting with sounds, music, rhythms. A few years of piano lessons, many years of drum lessons. A few bands over the years, but no real ambitions to play live or take it further. Thanks to computers and DAWs I could now do everything on my own and didn't have to compromise anymore.

4) What's your favorite genre of music?

Prog Rock, Electro, Rock, Folk, Blues, Jazz, Classic,… you name it. I don't prefer any genre and am willing to dive into new things.

5) What direction do you want to take your craft?

Play until death comes for me. My music is actually a diary. Each song has a date as its name. And almost every date has a song.
I never had the ambition to be a professional. Because every step towards professionalism is a step away from the original fun. At least that's how it feels to me.

6) How does Reason fit into your workflow?

Just perfect.
It's playful, accessible, intuitive and very musical... don't know how I could express it better.
Tried Ableton, Bitwig and a few others, but Reason picked me up right away.

[gullum]

1) hobbyist I have around 10 songs on Spotify and other platforms and have made around $0.25 the last 6 years from them

2) I'm a musician producer and songwriter because I'm the only one involved in what I do

3) I started when I was around 18 so thats 32 years more or less

4) I started out making metal (trash/death metal). later more EDM some pop and folk rock

5) about 1 year ago I was fitted with hearing aids and found out I can't hear anything above 2kh, So I decided to sell mostly all my instruments and gear I have not made any song in the last year, my son now uses my Reason license so I guess my career has ended by now

6) started using Reason rewired to Nuendo around 2004-5 the when record was released I switched to reason only and it's been a perfect match I tried live and logic but only feel at home in Reason

[crimsonwarlock]

1) Are you a professional (by this I mean do you make a living off of your music/audio), amateur (make a decent wage off your music/audio) or a hobbyist (you only do this for fun)?

I have never been an actual professional in the music industry. However, I played in several bands where we did paid gigs. The first band I played in, we did about 2-3 gigs a month, basically all year round. We had a rather active club-circuit here in the Netherlands back then. Besides that, I did get hired occasionally for studio sessions, mainly because I was one of the first people to have a DX7 in the Netherlands (which obviously dates me ). I also have done synthesizer demonstrations at big national expos and symposia.

These days, music is purely a hobby for me because music is in my blood and I can't live without it.

2) What would you classify yourself as? a beat maker? producer? Singer/Rapper/Songwriter? mix/mastering engineer? Sound maker (synth programmer)? Film Scorer?

A self producing composer/songwriter/musician, or something in that vain. I did a lot of sound design back when I used mostly hardware, including a lot of DX7 programming.

3) How long have you been making music or "manipulating" audio?

A little over 40 years now. I started out building my own synthesizer and learning to program and play it. I already played a little, as I grew up with all kinds of electric organs in the house.

4) What's your favorite genre of music? EDM (too many sub-genres to list here)? Rock, HipHop? etc.

I have two main projects. One is about progrock with eighties new-wave influences. The other is more electronica like Jarre, Vangelis, Kitaro, with some Berlin School thrown in and leaning towards synthwave.

The genres I listen too stretch from classic orchestral to progressive metal and everything in between. There is stuff I don't listen to, like House/hardcore, or early punk.

5) What direction do you want to take your craft? Are you a hobbyist hoping to transition to professional in the future? Would making a living off of audio be a dream to you or would it kill the fun?

Just being able to make my own music and distribute it among friends and family. I had my chance in the early nineties, when one of my tracks came across some A&R people (through my studio session work) and they wanted to talk about signing. I then and there decided that music was, and should always be, my “escape” and not my daily work. So I respectfully declined.

6) How does Reason fit into your workflow?

I bought Reason 11 suite on sale during the first year of the pandemic. Because my studio was located in my office building, which was 100 kilometers from my home, and I had to work a lot from home, I decided to buy Reason and install it on a laptop to have some music making software at home. I soon found that Reason supported my workflow better then Reaper, which was my main DAW so far. So I completely switched over. Reason is now my main DAW, and I only open Reaper to transfer old projects out, and into Reason for a do-over.

[arnigretar]

1) professional and run labels as well and also do mastering for a lot of artists in my field
2) I just say 'electronic musician' and that's just that. label owner and mastering engineer can also apply
3) i started my own band in 1997 so I would say since then
4) Ambient Techno, Detroit Techno..and often just plain ambient
5) i'm happy with how it is to be honest. if my life in music continues to improve I would just be happy
6) been on the reason train since beta testing in '99. it is my workflow. i use also ableton live but that's just when i'm playing live or when mastering - i find it easier there. but I write most of everything in Reason

[nadj]

Thought I'd join in, just for laughs...

1) Part-time hobbyist.

2) I do a bit of everything. Guitar, bass, drum programming, producing, mastering. None to a high standard.

3) Since the late 90s. Got a demo of Making Waves from a cover CD from a PC mag and used it to make noisy industrial stuff. Moved onto Reason in the early 2000s to make ambient/trip-hop. Got more serious (and actually paid for the software ;-P) when Record came out and proper guitar recording became viable.

4) I go through phases of making different kinds of music. Mainly riffy-proggy-punky stuff, but also a bit of trip-hop stuff when I need to give my ears a break. Anything lo-fi.

5) I just enjoy the process. Most of my music gets heard by only a handful of mates, and I've never really tried to package anything up to release. Been in bands with mates, but everyone else has moved on and "grown up".

6) Reason is all I use. I wouldn't know where to begin with anything else. I need to see the wires. All I miss is punch-in/out, but I prefer to record everything as full takes start to finish anyway. Keeps it raw and energetic. Since the Kuassa REs came out I've done almost everything in the box, they're that good.

[dvdrtldg]

1. Not sure where I sit on the pro/amateur/hobbyist spectrum... I've worked professionally in radio (and more recently podcasts) since the mid 1990s, mostly feature documentaries. Have been making music & sound for my own shows and the occasional freelance production since 2010. My main musical project, though - the one I do because I love it - is terminally niche and if I tried to live off its proceeds I'd be dead by now

2. Classification, not sure. I do a bit of sound design, a bit of "normal" music composition, a lot of weird ass experimentation

3. Been making music all my life - piano & guitar from when I was a little kid, bands through my 20s/30s, digital for the past 15 years

4. Too many favourites to list a genre. Easier to single out what I don't like, which is opera and "smooth" jazz. Got a bit of a special thing for drone, dub, also jangly 3-chord guitar pop. Never not in the mood for The Ramones

5. I've got retirement glimmering on the horizon, planning to put more time into getting my music out there. I produce a lot, put out the occasional release on this or that micro label, but mostly the distribution/networking stuff just doesn't get done. No hope of making any money off it, but it would be nice to be part of some sort of like-minded community, do some collaboration etc. At the moment I just don't have the time

6. Reason is integral, it's where I do all my composition & mixing. I like to master in WaveLab, which is a dedicated mastering program and I've been using it since forever. But every now & then I'll take something all the way through in Reason and the results are usually great

[FrankJaeger]

1) hobbyist I have around 10 songs on Spotify and other platforms and have made around $0.25 the last 6 years from them

That's roughly $0.50 more than I've ever made personally with my music...

[FrankJaeger]

1) Are you a professional (by this I mean do you make a living off of your music/audio), amateur (make a decent wage off your music/audio) or a hobbyist (you only do this for fun)?

...music is in my blood and I can't live without it.

If I never make a single cent from music, I'll still feel this exact way.

[huggermugger]

I'm a retired professional. I ran a freelance music/recording company for 20 years, earning most of my income from it. Mostly commercial/corporate/institutional music. I also did session work and gigged with a couple of kid's music artists.

I'd classify myself as a composer, session player (keys), builder (I construct a lot of generative and self playing patches in virtual modulars) and sound designer.

First time I "manipulated" audio was with a Roland SH3a and a two-track, sound-on-sound capable 1/4" reel to reel.

Impossible to name a favourite genre, I listen to a huge range and love it all.

I spend my time learning my VST plugins and software, mainly modular. Music output is now an incidental thing for me, I'm more interested in exploring than making a track per se.

Was hardcore with Reason around v2 - v3, then morphed over into Logic. Now, my main use of Reason is the RRP, especially Players and CV Utilities, which work really nicely in Logic.

[ChulaCoola]

I am a hobbyist hoping to make some money on the side one day. Mostly I do it for fun at the moment.

My first manipulation of sound - probably the old Moog, I think it was. But in a DAW - that would be Guitar Tracks Pro. A few years later I discovered Reason 4 as a free demo, and played with that for 20 minutes at a time. Then to satisfy my itch for synthesizers, I tried other free software, like Synthmaker, which was a lot of fun, and I made a handful of synths, and lots of sounds. A few years later I tried FL Synthmaker, downloaded a free demo of HV Formant Synthesizer made/coded by a guy who made it in Synthmaker. Then I finally bought a Reason 4 used copy. Then I bought Reason 12.
My DAWS I have used - Guitar Tracks Pro, free versions of Ableton, NCH Audio recording software (not really a DAW), and several others I can't think of at the moment. It definitely will be Reason for me, although I do have 2 free copies of Ableton Live which came with my keyboard, and my audio interface.

Never worked as a professional or even in a band. Learned one whole song - Stairway to Heaven, because someone else walked me through it.
I got started way back as a musician, (LAUGH LAUGH!) playing guitar mostly to pass the time and keep out of trouble in Jr high. I never took formal lessons, didn't practice a lot (I wish I would have). But eventually I always managed to buy a guitar and some sort of amp or other. I also had a chance to use an old synthesizer the kind using patch cables. I didn't get into it much at the time. I played with it for 2 minutes, then went "huh"

So now, I’d call myself a musician/songwriter/producer/engineer/soundmaker. I am one, and the only one in my … studio.
Just a few years. I did record 3 "songs" in reason 4 full version. But they weren't finished, and I do have the wav files, but not the project files, because my laptop crashed. So now I am in the very painful process reconstructing them in Reason 12.

My favorite genres of music are Rock, Prog, country, jazz, folk, but also anything that sounds good. EDM, techno,

I wouldn’t mind making money off my stuff, after I learn to make decent quality music.

Reason 12 is my main and only DAW.

[Quarmat]

1) I am a hobbyist, although I have earned a little from music, mainly by doing soundtracks of theatre pieces for small companies in my area and two of my tracks were bought by MTV back in 2005 and used for a few seconds in those animated bits that were sometimes in between programmes and commercials.

2) I would say I could be something like a producer and composer.

3) I started self-taught on a yamaha keyboard when I was a kid, then as a teenager I took up electric guitar and bass guitar, some drums and took trumpet lessons for a few years. In the second half of the 90s I got into electronic music (which I previously considered 'unworthy') and used FastTracker2 first, Cakewalk and Frutiyloops 3 later and Reason from 2001 onwards.

4) I like a lot of stuff but probably what I like most is electronic music infused with funk.

5) I'm not a kid anymore so I guess a lot of the trains have passed me by, but I wouldn't mind having a parallel career, maybe doing soundtracks for video games, or being able to write and produce a song that can have a life of its own and become popular. But I don't want to tour to promote my music nor do I want it to become a job and take the fun out of what I enjoy most in the world.

6) Reason allows me to turn an idea into sound very quickly (faster than other DAWs considered much more pro) and, at the same time, allows me to explore aimlessly and come across happy accidents that can then turn into songs. I like watching Reason, I like its instruments and its REs. Other DAWs are boring and without personality. If I don't have fun I can't be creative.

[tomusurp]

Amateur working towards professional. Started as beatmaker in middle school. Spent many years just working on beats and learning some mixing along the way. Then since 2019 heavily studied mixing and mastering and got into vocals and songwriting and finally started putting out and promoting my music.

Beats and engineering are my strengths so I consider myself a producer/engineer. Also studying music business here and there and looking to develop my vocals which is a challenge. Otherwise beats and engineering is the fun part