Wanna know why you're stuck to making 30 seconds songs while other people just starting out can make more than that without being too repetitive?

Because they know how to listen. Intuitively they already have a grasp from the music they've heard before.

Learn how to listen before you try to say something with music.

 

Thanks so much guys!
Yes I must listen and practice. This is my medicine. Like the meaning of life that would be acquired just by living.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 7, 2015

u can do zillions of things when u want to manage the energy and tension inside your tracks, can play with the

• Filter cutoff on synths
• Amp Envelope Decay on synths
• Amp envelope attack on synths
• Filter Envelope decay on synths
• Filter envelope attack on synths
• Filter overdrive
• Filter resonance
• Phase Modulation on synths
• Frequency Modulation on synths
• Pulse-width on synths
• Feedback on delay units
• Overdrive on delay units
• LFO rates on any unit
• Distortion parameters on any unit
• Chorus Feedback
• Chorus Delay
• Chorus Wet/dry
• Unison wet/dry
• Unison detune
• Pitch
• Volume
• Reverb decay
• Reverb wet amount
• Reverb damp
• EQ high or low pass

etc. so it's a huuge topic, check the arrangement articles on edmpord http://edmprod.com/category/arrangecomp/ and listen their podcast



ep 3,4,5,7 are the ontopic ones

 

Not "just listen", you have to actually hear the elements.

Be aware of the structure, of when/what new sounds come in, what role each instrument/sound is playing (rhytmic support, bass, harmony, fx sound, etc), where's the "climax" of each part, etc. These are only the basic elements even before you get into theoretical stuff but if you don't develop this awareness for the basics, the rest is pointless.

 

That might be good advice but not for foster911, not at this time..really.

What's the point in getting deeper into developing sounds when you can barely make one melody and have no idea how to develop it further?

A basic melody repeated over and over with different FX can only go so far.

 

The problem is that I have started the music with these stuff and I know all of them even more than those. But As the lord kouros said I need to listen to musics from another perspective for raising the development power.

 

Drop the lord.

Start by learning scales and triads WITH YOUR EARS. Practice that and recognize them in the music you hear.

Transcribing simple stuff is what you need to get a solid ear that can relate to theory. Right now, theory is just a bunch of information for you. Usefulness = zero.

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2015

if the topic is melody development(so u got a primary and a secondary motif for ex), here u can also use different techniques like the... most common ones >

-repetition, transposition(pitch offset/octave transfer), can combine them that's the sequences (can be chromatic or diatonic) when u repeat a motif three or more times using transposition with same interval
-interval expansion, compression when u begin to repeat the motifs with different intervals (can change one, multiple, or all the interval in your motif)
- can change the tonality major>minor
- inversion, when all the intervals moving in opposite direction
- it can pitch shifted that's the transposed inversion (chromatic, diatonic)
- mirror inversion (normal inversion changes the quality of the intervals) so it's inversion with keeping qualities
- retrograde, it's an upside-down mirroring
- augmentation/diminution , when we begin to play with the notes duration (each notes has double etc. length or will be halved etc. halved is the strict one it's the most common way)
- truncation when u begin to play the end point of the motif
- expansion, opposite as the truncation
- displacement (or melody shifting), in this case u move your motifs to different starting beat

--

also can play with notes they can be chord or non-chord ones>
the non-chord tones can be passing and neighbor ones

-passing tones: must be between two chord tone, must be move in stepwise motion, must move in a continuous direction from and to next chord tone
- neighbor ones are same as the passing ones except the are moving discontinuous direction so they are return to the same chord

- neighbor and passing also can be diatonic and chromatic(if u leave the given scale), both one can be accented or non-accented (they are on strong on weak beat)

- neighbor can be complete and incomplete(escape tone) if they are returns to different tone with 3rd or larger skipwise motion

- non-chord tones also can be anticipation or suspension ones, first one is a tone from the next chord which comes earlier then the next chord itself, second one is a pitch from a chord which is held over or suspended into next one

- suspended one has to be resolved downwards by a step(2nd), if it's resolved upwards than it has to be called as retardation tones, both suspension and retardation one are accented

- syncopation also can be used as tension builder tool (beside pitch, interval size, and note duration)

--

then next time we can start the harmonic compositions topic ...

 

@xbitz

Foster's problem is not about getting information. I am sure he already dabbled on most of what you wrote in your post.

The problem is that he's been treating the subject like if "reading it" is the same as "knowing it".

Since he doesn't get anything into practice, all he's getting is some fancy words and concepts to talk about, not to actually use.

 

if u need a book with tons of exercises check the

Code:

http://www.amazon.com/COMPOSE-YOURSELF-Songwriting-Creative-Musicianship/dp/1453724958

one

 

Based on his threads, I would say that what he needs is to stop reading and just get an instrument to play something.

Trying to learn about music just by reading lots of theory and using a piano roll won't cut it.

It's like trying to learn what sex feels like just by watching porn and masturbating a dildo.

 

Lots of good advice here. Something important to remember is that you shouldn't feel obligated to throw in techniques where they don't fit or aren't needed. Having in depth theoretical knowledge is like having a Lamborghini, you want to show it off. But the average listener doesn't care. Whip out these secret uber-techniques in moderation and they'll be a potent weapon.

Some of the most important things I've learned and continue to learn about arranging is

• 1. Listen to your music. Listen to your music. Listen to your music. (Yes, spend less time trying to understand it and more time feeling it)
• 2. Go with the flow, don't try to follow some strict structure or template. You'll know when things are supposed to happen.
• 3. Keep going and finish that track, even if it starts going downhill. Try your best to fix what needs fixing. Don't scrap it and move on. Only completely change something if it's a last resort. Boring intro? Fix it. Chorus/Drop not exciting? Fix it. Lead synth sounds dull? Fix it. Experiment and build your repertoire of tricks as you go. Make your ideas work. Don't keep throwing in new ideas until you fix the old ones.
• 4. It's impossible to be perfect. You'll always want to fix things, but you also don't want to be stuck on the same masterpiece for ten years.

 

Start to reverse engineer the Electronic tracks you like. Make a top 100 and start with number 100.

Drums, Percussion, Bass, FX, Instruments, Leads, Pads, Appregios, Chords


1.Reproduce them
This will train your ear and your feeling about your music. After you master this step you will never hear the music like before.
2. Make a varation of them
3. Improve them
4. Make sketches on you prefered daw of some ideas you take of them
5. Make a whole track
6. There is a rule for composers. The first 100 songs will be garbage. So compose your first 100 tracks as quick as possible.

Important: Learn your DAW as good as possible and stay on your DAW. Hamonys and music and composition theory are very important. Learn this in parallel. Because it's to dry stuff to learn it alone.

Books suggestions for beginners:
Composing Digital Music For Dummies
Music Theory For Dummies

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2015

Electronic music is a free kind of music, it can be very experimental.

 

Any kind of music/genre can be experimental.

Looking from a pure musical standpoint and the way in which the musical material is worked (excluding sound design), electronic music has to be one of the most basic less evolved genres, probably due to it's nature and appeal. Of course, there are things like Venetian Snares but that's not what comes to mind when someone thinks of electronic music.

 

@foster911 clearly you are searching for inspiration.. or, failing that , a formula of some kind that will (possibly?) produce
that inspired sound... Even though I never claimed to be much of a "producer", and probably never will be, as EDM etc. is not my fave genre anyway. I did, however, find this video to be quite a gem for the budding young electronic artist...

enjoy and rock on comrade... ( or something like that )

Spoiler: How to make a hit EDM song! & top the beatport charts!

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 8, 2015

My last question:
Is there any magic to change to a frog?

 

haven't you heard? it's not that easy .. being green.. ?

 

I don't completely agree with this. You're right about not being able to go all the way just by reading lots of music theory alone. But the piano roll in your DAW can be a very valuable learning tool along with the aforementioned theory. You don't need to learn how to play an instrument at all just to be able to write good music. I know there are plenty of good producers out there that don't really play the piano at any reasonable level apart from being able to perform the most basic of melodies on it. Many of those of which I think make very well produced pieces of music just by knowing and using their DAW. And this obviously includes the piano roll in there.

Personally, I did play the drums before turning to more electronic styles of music. But that doesn't mean I'm any good at playing the piano or whatever instrument that would be used to fill the harmonic and melodic parts of any traditional piece of music. I used to try and get myself to play in my harmonies and melodies whenever I was producing, but I found that I was going to end up changing a lot of it by using my mouse anyways. So I just stopped doing these things with my controller and started to write every part of harmony and melody in directly with my mouse from the start. In the end, the majority of things are reasonably quantized anyways and even when you want it to have a somewhat human feel you can easily do this with your mouse.

Of course, it all depends on what his actual goals are. If he wants to play out his music in a live setting and actually perform somewhere down the road, he will have to learn to actually play some kind of instrument in order to do that. But if that's not one of his goals and he would just want to play out his music through DJing then I don't see why he couldn't just produce his music using his mouse and keyboard. Would it make everything easier if he knew how to play instrument? Hell yeah, it would! But is it really necessary just to being able to write solid pieces of music? Not at all, just needs to be able to use his alternatives like his piano roll.

 

I see you in the heaven, because you're gonna to be murdered. You know man, I was a big believer like you but kouros hypnotized me in a so hard fashion and I would do what he'd want me to do.