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Proposal: Music Production

What would be in the scope of this site that isn't already covered by music.stackexchange.com - or in some cases, sound.stackexchange.com?

Note that questions about production are on-topic on music.SE, As are questions about usage of specific music software or hardware.

There are also a number of tags you'd expect on a production site: https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/cubase https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/ableton-live https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/logic-pro https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/production

I'm not asking this question to discourage a music production site per se; rather, I'm suggesting that you already have one! If there's currently a group of users here with music production expertise looking for a site, why not join the existing community at https://music.stackexchange.com/ and https://sound.stackexchange.com?

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    They are on topic there, however the majority of people on music.se are musicians or/and write compoisitons while never touching a computer. Questions about DAWS often go unanswered on music.se because that isn't the type of people that music.se attracts. This proposal would be a more focused SE which would, hopefully, bring in more people who are knowledgeable and advanced in the field, while filtering out musicians and such who do not use music production software.
    – Unnamed Sentient Being
    Jan 14, 2017 at 22:00
  • @SammySwanson thanks for the comment. It's definitely true that particular DAW questions can go unanswered around there, although there are some that do have accepted answers too - it's not a complete wasteland! My follow-up question would be: why do you think it would be easier for a community to form around a new SE than in the existing music.SE, given that anyone who could join the proposed one in the future could join the existing one now? Is music.SE doing anything to actively put those people off?
    – Нет войне
    Jan 14, 2017 at 22:09
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    No, music.se isn't doing anything to activley put these people off, but I think the biggest reason why I support a new SE is because of the people. As I said before, music.se doesn't have too many music-production experts. I hope a new SE would encourage more to join, and more amateurs to follow. So, it isn't just about the people now that are following the proposal. Some are bound to leave for whatever reason. It's about building a stronger community around the topic. Music.se just doesn't get enough support from these types of questions.
    – Unnamed Sentient Being
    Jan 14, 2017 at 22:28
  • (finishing comment - hit max words)Perhaps it wouldn't be easier to create a new SE, but it would definitely be better in the long run.
    – Unnamed Sentient Being
    Jan 14, 2017 at 22:28
  • @Unnnamed - Music.SE has an ever growing number of people who do use DAW's - it is becoming almost essential to the musician.
    – Rory Alsop
    May 4, 2017 at 9:43
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    And to add to @topomorto's post - I have gone through the questions in this Proposal, and almost every single one is on topic and in scope for Music Production. The few exceptions are either acceptable on Sound Design, or are questions I would expect to be closed anywhere.
    – Rory Alsop
    May 4, 2017 at 9:44
  • @RoryAlsop do you mean "in scope for music.SE"?
    – Нет войне
    May 4, 2017 at 20:19
  • Yes, sorry. Was writing too much, too fast.
    – Rory Alsop
    May 4, 2017 at 22:25
  • @RoryAlsop it's tough when the conversation is split over 2/3 sites! But yes, that was my impression... including the fact that most of these questions could be dealt with on music.SE, so it's not as if the potential audience for this site would be split right down the middle.
    – Нет войне
    May 5, 2017 at 7:00

2 Answers 2

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This site would be about producing music on computers in DAWs, where music.stackexchange.com is about music theory, not production, and sound.stackexchange.com is about sound engineering and design, again not production of music.

Update

Ok, so I see I was wrong about the sites. Sorry about that. Anyways, in my opinion a site especially for music production would still be better. Music production is so large nowadays that I think it deserves a site of it's own.

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    Thanks for the answer. A mentioned in the question, music SE does allow questions about production; there's a 'production' tag, tags for 'ableton-live' and 'cubase', and so on. So I'd be interested to know what specifically would actually be in the scope of this site that isn't already covered by 'music' (or 'sound design').
    – Нет войне
    Jan 6, 2017 at 9:32
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    music.stackexchange.com is not just about just theory at all, the title is "music practice and theory", in that order. We regularly get questions about equipment for example, I've seen questions about microphones, amps, guitars, and DAWs there. I agree that it would be great to see some more production questions there, but I think it's more about building up that section of the community, rather than breaking off a part of it to start a new stackexchange
    – Some_Guy
    Jan 6, 2017 at 9:40
  • @Some_Guy Ok, I didn't know that, thanks. I still think that a site especially for music production would be better, because of the size of music production of today.
    – Jacques Marais
    Jan 6, 2017 at 10:23
  • @topomorto Ok, I didn't know that sorry. Still I think that a site for music production would be good because of the size of music production nowadays, as I stated in my updated answer.
    – Jacques Marais
    Jan 6, 2017 at 10:27
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    @JacquesMarais I can see the logic to that; nevertheless, sites that go near the territory of (e.g.) stack overflow usually get shut down as being dupes and having the potential to drain traffic from SO; I'm not sure that having one site that is basically a subset of another is really the SE way?
    – Нет войне
    Jan 6, 2017 at 10:49
  • e.g. C/C++ answers : area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/105540/c-and-c-answers - "closed as duplicate of Stack Overflow by Robert Cartaino♦ Dec 31 '16 at 18:32 This proposal would tend to drain audience from an existing Stack Exchange site."
    – Нет войне
    Jan 6, 2017 at 10:51
  • @topomorto Ok, I understand. Thanks
    – Jacques Marais
    Jan 6, 2017 at 11:31
  • @JacquesMarais you were not wrong in my opinion. The 'usage' notes in each of the forums you mentioned seem to be largely irrelevant with music production per se.
    – Tasos Papastylianou
    Apr 30, 2017 at 0:03
  • @topomorto I don't see how a music production site would be a subset of either Stackoverflow, music SE or sound SE. It seems mutually exclusive for the most part with any of these. If anything, I would worry about the reverse problem: people needing to post a 'music production' question would cross-post on all three of these sites for lack of a more specific one that covers their actual needs. The fact that you have the "ableton" tag in music SE is actually evidence of this, rather than that it somehow adequately covers music production (e.g. it's also present on sound SE and Stackoverflow!)
    – Tasos Papastylianou
    Apr 30, 2017 at 0:12
  • @TasosPapastylianou I don't see that it's mutually exclusive for the most part unless music.SE changes their rules (which currently allow production questions); there might be some difference and some overlap.
    – Нет войне
    Apr 30, 2017 at 0:51
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An example of such a question that would not be suitable on music.stackexchange.com or sound.stackexchange.com is basically anything to do with the linux workflow on audio production, e.g. problems with setting up the Jack Audio Connection Kit, typical / recommended linux setups, conversions to LADSPA plugins, enabling communication between PulseAudio and other sound engines, how to apply a particular effect on Audacity, how to re-route MIDI input from a keyboard to a particular piece of software, etc.

I disagree with the point that this is within the scope of music.stackexchange.com based on the answer to "what can I ask here" in the help topic including "usage of specific music software or hardware", as this is presumably linked to the points above it, i.e. software or hardware relevant specifically to:

  • practice or performance technique
  • music theory, notation, history, or composition
  • technical analysis of a specific, complete work, or well defined section thereof
  • instrument maintenance or repair

Similarly, as Jacques already pointed out in his answer, sound.stackexchange.com is also not a suitable place to ask this, as that seems to deal more with (taken from the "what can I ask here" help topic:)

  • sound design in the film and video game industries
  • live production audio
  • mixing and recording in a studio from the perspective of the sound tech field recording

i.e. dealing with consoles, professional studio setups and sound equipment, best recording practices in the industry, etc.

I also disagree with topo morto's comment about music.stackexchange.com being a suitable place to discuss production just because tags like "cubase" exist. I would say that such tags exist purely as a case of that forum being the lowest common demonimator for the time being, but this still doesn't mean that it is the best place for such questions, nor that it will attract the kind of community that deals with such questions.

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    I agree it would be good if "what can I ask here" mentioned production, but it's clear in the meta that it's on topic: music.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2699/…
    – Нет войне
    Apr 30, 2017 at 0:56
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    There are also various questions there about drivers, so I don't see what would be wrong about the ones you mentioned. I do agree it's not a strength of that community though.
    – Нет войне
    Apr 30, 2017 at 0:59
  • Alas, I think this is yet another argument over a definition rather than over facts. Production is obviously fine on Music SE as long as it relates to the spirit of the forum, as per the points made in its help topic. For instance, composing a score on Sibelius, adding a drum track via an audio workstation, and playing a bit with the envelopes counts as production, but that's clearly in the spirit of 'writing music'. Describing a linux workflow to enable the creation of soundfonts using particular software and repositories is not.
    – Tasos Papastylianou
    Apr 30, 2017 at 1:06
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    "Describing a linux workflow to enable the creation of soundfonts using particular software and repositories is not." - is there somewhere where someone has said that on music.SE recently ?
    – Нет войне
    Apr 30, 2017 at 8:04
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    If only there was a Stack Exchange site for Linux users.
    – Nij
    Apr 30, 2017 at 18:39
  • @Nij also irrelevant.
    – Tasos Papastylianou
    May 1, 2017 at 8:45
  • @topomorto I've posted my first production question on music se, as promised. Alas, it has gone exactly as predicted. The pleasant surprise, however, is that it was appropriately received at sound SE, even meriting an accepted answer.
    – Tasos Papastylianou
    May 3, 2017 at 9:07
  • @Nij / topomorto Also posting on linux SE for music production on linux also failed as expected. So maybe there is indeed a music production site already, but it seems to be sound SE, not music SE for the kind of questions this proposal was meant to address.
    – Tasos Papastylianou
    May 3, 2017 at 9:09
  • @TasosPapastylianou yes, sound.SE (as mentioned in my main post above) is another factor in all this.
    – Нет войне
    May 3, 2017 at 21:41
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    Tasos - your question failed on Music because it is not about music production. Very simple. There are many other posts there on music production.
    – Rory Alsop
    May 4, 2017 at 9:41
  • @RoryAlsop The question was essentially "how does not having low latency affect different aspects of music production in general, and if possible with reference to a typical linux setup in particular". I'm honestly confused how this is not a music production question. What did people think I was asking (honest question!). Or if this is indeed how you understood the question, why do you think this is not related to music production??
    – Tasos Papastylianou
    May 4, 2017 at 9:57
  • Also, I worry that the fact that "there are many other posts on music production" is a red herring. They tend to be Music Production posts indeed, but addressed to Musicians, not Production Experts. E.g. Should I go to a studio or release demos?, or simple questions like how to add simple effects or combine audio when writing score music. Judging from the unanswered questions section, most actual production questions go unanswered (or based from my recent experience closed on the spot as off-topic).
    – Tasos Papastylianou
    May 4, 2017 at 10:01
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    A question asking what improvement you have in latency and stability by upgrading to one of those options is not about music. You could use any subject (say video) and have exactly the same conversation.
    – Rory Alsop
    May 4, 2017 at 10:03
  • To save a million comments all over, I have started this chat room: chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/58179/…
    – Rory Alsop
    May 4, 2017 at 10:04

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