This post is a conversation starter, but also a reminder that there’s no right or wrong way to participate in Jamuary. Some people like to post quick jams recorded in a single take, other people like to work on full songs, and other even do full video performances.
For me, personally, I finally have a studio space, after many months of construction in my house. I’m looking forward to try different pieces of gear every day, trying to set up the studio in a way that allows me to quickly jump into production mode when I’m feeling creative (or even when I’m not).
So I’m looking forward to try new pieces of gear I got recently (a Bastl Thyme+ and a Kastle 2 FX Wizard, a Zoom Livetrak L6 mixer, the Teenage Engineering PO-28, my second Empress ZOIA, a cheap Squier bass, a TC Helicon VoiceLive 2), and I’m excited to see if I can incorporate them in my production workflow.
Sup Beto, great to be here once again and thank you for making this possible
after building my studio 4 years ago I really hope to reach more this year than just jams
In the past most things I did upstairs where jams and sessions while the worked out stuff was on the main gaming pc downstairs. The studio has grown and things became more streamlined and in 2025 I hope to start a new creative alter-ego less pixeled and more oriented to synthwave with things only writen upstairs.
Jamuary truly is a great way to start the year. I hope to learn some neat new tricks with the new synths and plan to save a lot of leads to revisit later and hopefully write a lot of fresh ideas that will help me find the vibes for the new project!
Great to read you ahve a place for yourself, it was a wild ride for you last year so it is well deserved.
I’m going to do some experimenting. I really should try to learn somethings that my synths do which I haven’t either ever used, or have barely used. I’ve had the Roland Fantom since around 2009 and I learned some new things on it recently. This past year I did a lot of DAWless but my recording desk is set up for either DAW or DAWless. I still think I’ll limit any multi tracking, and if I do it may only be on the Tascam DP008Ex digital recorder which I have set up in the living room for variety, and limited options. Constraints can be very useful.
Yesterday I did a bunch of dice rolls to pair up synths with my delays, as a starting point for jams. Can’t say I’ll always stick to it, but was simple enough to set up with a spreadsheet.
I built this noise box today which I may use for some foley sound fx. Still have to wire it up with a contact mic I haven’t ordered but I expect I’ll be able to do something by months end. My brother is looking for some springs at his shop on Friday.
I think I’d like to focus on structure a little bit more this time around, but primarily still just want to complete every day. I managed it last year so two years in a row would be cool. Also picked up a Solar 42F earlier this year and promptly started ignoring it - that will be remedied.
I set a lofty goal to make one thousand improvised recordings in 2025, with Jamuary being the first stop. That being said, I do plan on completing full albums before naming tracks, choosing track order, and sharing anywhere. It might be a bit unorthodox, but are there any rules against posting “January 1” jams in the “January 1” thread but maybe 2-3 days later once I know how I’m using my tracks for my album?
For the first, I just want to finish a thing every day. I love the feeling of finishing Jamuary with 31 songs under my belt and I can’t wait to do that again.
For the second, I just want my individual stems to feel less muddy. I’ll be focusing on recording things to the best of my abilities with my current equipment in hopes of training my ear for what settings sound crisp and clean when recorded.
@dreamindani do you have a mixer that can record the individual stems? If you have one you can then publish the rough mix, and later go back to EQ and adjust gain on individual tracks for a better mix.
My goals specifically around this challenge are to keep the jams short (~1 minute) but have actual parts/direction in an effort to consolidate ideas in a way that’s easily digestible. I also got into Elektron gear in 2024 and I’m interested in becoming versed enough in it so that ideas are not held up by “How do I do this?” moments. I’m also not going to judge myself. The work is more important than the result!
A track I made at Jamuary 2024 is being used in a CES promo next week, and I’m stoked! I’ve learned a lot just by building a track in a couple of hours and getting it out there. The time pressure and prompts really push me out of my comfort zone and into new realms. Really happy Jamuary is back! My main goal this year is creative growth, but I’d also love to create more tracks with commercial potential, like for promos and other uses.
I really want to show more what i like to do and get into publishing and mixing.
I love playing dawless and enjoy getting to know my gear better and better. In 2025 i want to have my first small gig. I am always improvising and should save more usable patches and sequences .
True true. My focus in “cleanliness” is getting the line from my instruments into the mixer as clean as possible. I have a great audio interface with tons of inputs but I often find myself stuck with clipped vocals or washed out guitar because I turned things up too loud during recording. It’s a balancing act, for sure.
Right now my JP8000 has almost broken down completely and only gives sound through the headphones, hooked on an FX EQ pedal to give it that extra gain in order to at least come into the mixer “recordable” but it’s a challenge to find that sweet spot where it is usable without distortion… I’ve got the parts to repair it but I am not going to get into that during Jamuary.
in the end it is all part of the hobby… But it once again makes me realise how easy I had it when I was still working DAW only for +20 years… The studio which I started to build 4 years ago made me realise so much and gave me much more respect for the late 90 and onwards midi producers.
Lol yeah I’ve pretty much given up on using my live effects pedal during recording at this point and do everything in post with a clean DI signal from my guitar. That helps, but I still think there’s room to improve
My goal is to narrow in on a workflow geared towards live production/performance.
I am extra excited this year because, since last Jamuary, I started integrating a modular rig into my sound. Up until this past summer, I was using some TE gear (OPZ, KO2, and OG OP1) for my tracks. So, this Jamuary, I am hoping to nail down how I want the midi controller to manage the mixer (ES-9) that integrates the modular and TE gear audio and controls CVs (LFOs, Envelopes, levels) on the modular side (through the ES FH2).
I am also beyond stoked to start learning and using my new sequencer/synth
(op-XY) as the center point of the whole setup (moving the keystep pro to secondary duty). I just got it a few days ago as an overly generous gift from a close family member, and it was just like pouring a barrel of gasoline on the volcano of enthusiasm I have heading into this Jamuary.
That’s an amazing gift! I’m a huge OP-Z fan, so I’ve been keeping an eye on the XY, and following the discussion and tracks. I don’t have money to buy it right now, but the good thing is that it made me interested in the OP-Z again!