So basically counterpoint?

 

Start singing to your bass line. Edit your vocal. Reverse it for variations (very creative). Write lyrics or play the melody with any instrument. Add chords and drums.

 

Last edited: Mar 26, 2024

I love you but it sounds like keygen will smoke crack ;D

 

Think about context, try to figure out arrangement, it's counterproductive to get stuck in few bars loop that go nowhere, make it go somewhere, let that kick and bass go and then figure out what are you even trying to make and then slowly start adding those sections and elements, like I will need hi hat here, snare will start here, I need some supporting arp here, that will lead into break here, I need chord change here and some pad sound will pay that and so on, let the music speak to you, instead of you trying to force bunch of random ideas that will drive you into the wall.

You can even start backwards, like this is my main theme/chorus, now I'm going to make song around it, dunno, just try to think about context before adding too much of anything.

 

yeah, or look at Beat-owen , he was so deaf he thought he was a painter

 

Not at all. If you look at nearly every piano part in any style in history, even the recent pop tunes, the bass notes and melod(ies) regularly tell you what the chord is. Counterpoint is generally a counter melody that either enhances or compliments the existing melody (hence the word 'counter'). The bassline can certainly be counterpoint but more importantly, just the two should spell something out harmonically.

 

Sorry, notes don't work like this.

 

maybe it's song structure you're struggling with?! every tune has to start as a bar loop somehow, let me point you to "Fracture Drum and Bass in Ableton Live" fuck it it's not your daw or cup of tea, watch it fr fr.

In like 8 quick chapters he will go through this song, but he will give you some much insight on what to do and when to do it. Treat it like an formula.
Once you finish it, yeah it will be his song and a drum and bass song, but then you'll have what is needed to make even this 8s loop in the video into a full blown song, it goes with what anonymouse, Melodic Reality said, no disrespect to the others points, yet in the adding to all this situation.

Let's say this video you showed us already is the second drop, where's everything full of energy and such (dont you dare delete it), then you can use this same loop with less elements as a first drop, assuming the "Intro, 1st Drop, Breakdown, 2nd Drop, Outro" structure. so you kinda almost have a half completed song... ya dig? Not even touching in the music theory (harmony and melody) knowledge (as in my case, i have none) i'm like assuming you have, but that's not even relevant on what i'm suggesting.

Some dude once said: "Cadê as notas que estavam aqui? Não preciso delas! Basta deixar tudo soando bem aos ouvidos." = just make that bitch sound good. (it was in portuguese so i'll roughly translate, im lazy)
He also said that "one beer before lunch is so much better to start thinking", and his name was Science, dude had "Science" as his name, i mean, can't argue with that...

 

Maybe tackle it from a different direction. Instead of starting with a loop, try to start with a track created by an artist that you really like. Start to listen to it and analyze it. Use it as a reference for your own track. Set up your own track using the same tempo as your reference and then start to “copy” your reference track. Take the first few bars and listen to the instruments in the reference track and recreate them in your own track. Perhaps it starts with the bass and some drums. Copy it loosely, create your own melodies, but copy the arrangement of the instruments. If in the reference track the hi hats start playing at bar 9 place them at the same position too. If they drop out 16 bars later, do the same. Do that for all the instruments and create “your own” track like this. This way you will get a feeling for the genre, and you don't have to worry about the structure of the song. At the end you will have created your own track that follows the structure of a track that you know will work. After some time of doing this with other tracks you like, you will get a feel for the music that you are trying to produce. You will know how to build up your own tracks, and you don't need to rely on the structure of reference tracks anymore.

 

Last edited: Mar 27, 2024

Deconstructing something you have already made is pretty easy. If it is electronic music, chances are you are working completely to the grid anyway. 8 bars this, 32 this, 32 this, 64 that, and so on. Build what you think will be the most going on with the track at it's busiest. That can be first drop, and usually is. But you can pick whatever. Build out that section. If you add something and think it is questionable, mute it and keep going. That stack of stuff is your overall content, even if you add and change stuff later. The point is to flesh the thing out, giving yourself still too many options maybe. It will get you out of writer's block very quick.

Lets say you built your first big drop, because this is what most people do. The second drop is more of a variation upon the first, but it is often seen as less important these days. It's where someone will begin mixing out of your track into another. You can even help them out by making it a little more sparse than drop 1. Make that section of the music 48 or 64 bars, whatever you want. You want a block of material. Decide how long of an intro you would like. 32 bars often will suffice to start. Highlight every channel in your DAW. Use it's Insert Silence function, to insert those 32 bars of blank space for your intro and first breakdown. A lot of that material will come from your main pattern anyway, you will just backfill it.

Decide how long you want your second breakdown. Set a Marker at it's start and end. Leave it as blank space. Go back and Copy Drop 1, and paste it after your space Markers. The framework for your track is already there for a basic arrangement. Cut up all the parts so they are smaller pieces like 4 bars, 8, or 16 bars. Start muting stuff, not deleting it; you will have to put it back otherwise. Often.

It's a fast way for you to defeat writers block, learn basic arrangement, get something musical going, and not be staring at a blank project. Intros and breakdowns do not write songs.

After you do it a few times, you may stop doing it this way; you will be doing it without it being "on purpose". It's why people learn how to drive in an empty parking lot and not on a track.

 

Last edited: Mar 27, 2024

yeah it just takes practice man, like ive been songwriting for 15 years and playing instruments and singing my whole life and i do this for a living now. theres a learning curve before your skill level meets your taste, to understand the advice i gave youd need a lot more experience. like where im at i dont want to say i channel things, but i intuitively know what to do next, or what to add and i try every idea i have and i think of music more imaginatively and feeling based, though i understand music theory. that comes from a lot of experience, ive written thousands of songs in my life

i would just start with finishing a song, just keep it simple at first, with a basic structure. do a intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge and outro. you dont have to finish it in one day, you dont have any real pressure around creating it - you have like a synth pop cut here, just start one section at a time, the intro leading into the verse, etc. in this style. some of the most famous painting were done over years, it took Michaelangelo, a master, 4 years to do the sistine chapel. i do multiple version of songs, taking things out, adding things, rearranging, before i release it to the public, a lot of my peers do too. being an artist takes patience, theres no rush, especially at this level. you have to be not good for a bit and thats okay

think of it like a video game, the more experience points you get thats how you reach the next level. you need experience points to get better, finishing a song will teach you a lot and give you points. then when you get to the next level, youll understand something better. even if you get in your head, take a break and come back to it. start with that simple structure though, youve heard songs before, draw it out, this is 9 seconds, like 5 bars. start with an intro, 8 bars, verses are usually 16 bars. so in this case thats sixteen count of 1,2,3,4 on a metronome. focus on just getting the experience points to be level up, you cant be a better songwriter giving up every 9 seconds

everybody has to pay taxes, dont expect to just be writing bangers out the gate, accept you have to be bad first to get good. focus on getting good, at this level thats gaining experience, finish a song will be big in that and it will be come a new normal if you keep doing it

 

Don't make a loop. It seems that when you make a loop you get stuck in that loop...and the only door to completion that you can find is the trash can lid. That way seems not right for you, to just frenetically glitch in spasm and become contorted into a crumpled up ball of incomplete, unfinished ideas. Why don't you try to create an actual living and breathing melody that is not static and which has a living and breathing life of it's own and then begin to embellish it with a bass line and other accoutrements. It might not wind up in whatever preconceived genre that resembles the short example that you provided, but it finally would in the end be born and live as a finished song. The grid is your personal prison. If it has never worked for you to compose that way it probably never will.

 

Last edited: Mar 27, 2024

This is a fucking massive and deep subject, my first advices would be

1 - Work with subtle but cool variations of the thing you came up with
2 - Play with different types of instrumental arrangements
3 - Play with harmony (that requires theory knowledge or the very least a well experienced ear).

In the end composing is based on a language, you want to present an idea or different ideas and want them to sound cool and walk the listener through a story. The best way to learn how to that is by paying attention to what other artists are doing. Whenever I see someone asking questions like yours it sounds to me like someone in the middle of NYC asking out loud "HOW DO I SPEAK IN ENGLISH HELP!!!!!". Just be a little bit attentive and analytical with the music you like to listen to and have patience, the more you practice it the better you get at it.

 

Thanks again everyone, including @Margaret for that Keygen Comment

I intend to go through everybody's comments again, making notes of everything I find useful. I thank you for all the criticism too because I've had enough of remixing other people's tracks. I want to concentrate on my own, and you have all helped.. yes @Margaret, even you :p

I really appreciate it. Thank you all

 

In this post I predicted the approximate time of overcoming these kinds of problems:
https://audiosex.pro/threads/the-saddest-fact-about-music.74380/page-14#post-765171
How old are you?

 

I'm old, but young enough to want to have a good go at improving my hobby. I know I will never be great at it, but if I can be at a level I am happy with.. That's good enough for me.

 

Greatness, genius, mediocrity and an abundance of other labels attest to a person or group's perception of something or someone. They remind me of that phrase "praise and blame are one and the same".

Age has nothing to do with enjoyment, personal achievements or personal satisfaction. If you are content, truly, that's all that matters.

 

First thing is that you must dig deeper into this. If music would be part of your life like eating and sleeping it will be much easier than just a side hobby and making something very rarely. You must breathe this, thinking of this everyday, learning and improving daily. Can't live without this. Then you can call it a part of your life. Without it will be much harder.

Before starting new project you need to prepare yourself.
A lot depends of what type of music you wanna create, what genre, track length, complicated or simple, how your track will be perceived? Do you wanna make sad or happy song? Is it meant to exert some specific feelings? State of mind? Point in time?
You have some overall idea for it? Something inspired you? You wanna make something similar to something? Or experiment?

Very much depends also of genre you choose.
Different genre - different toolset, different song structure, different complexity, different tempo, different length.


Examples:
Oldschool Drum & Bass
For example if you wanna make some oldschool drum & bass.
Project tempo will be around 168 BPM
Your tools will be:
"Amen Break" Sample for Percussion
Some synthesizer for Reese Bass
And nice Analog Distortion FX to make bass crunchy

That's it for the start and now you can experiment without external world or listening to tracks in this genre for inspiration and reference to compare the song structure and other things.
And you will get something like this:



Funny Track In The Style Of 90s Acid House
For example you wanna make some simple meme track for fun in the style of 90s acid house.
You look for the songs in that genre to check the tempo and it will be around 136 BPM.
Your toolset will be:
TB-303 for Acid Bassline
Roland TR-808 for Drums
Some Distortion to squeze shit out of it
Funny Vocal Sample

And that's it for preparing. Acid House tracks are very simple. Similar like in previous example now you start to listen to other tracks for inspiration and for reference.
And you start to making something like this:



If you wanna make sample based music it also will be different toolset.
Izotope Iris 2 is nice for sampled music
You need some inspiration and overall idea for the start
And then download all the materials in best quality possible

For example you watched old Disney "Alice In Wonderland" movie.
And it inspired you and you wanna make song from fragments you had some ideas while watching
You then need just:
Izotope Iris 2 for Sampling
"Alice In Wonderland" movie in good quality for Samples
Some Breaks Samples for Percussion
Some software to catch System Audio
And you will get something like this:

You can watch for example how others doing it.
There is cool channel with producers streams.
Here is Tennyson for example but there are many others too:
34:06 - He starting new cool project. You can see how the process looks from scratch

 

Try it out:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5ABAKbx3yD/

 

im young compared to most users here im learning and naturally inclined to music, it just clicks easily for me: but i still had to put in a lot of work, everyone does, regardless of natural inclinations

with that mindset youll definitely get to a place you can be happy with and have fun if you dont give up. theres more than enough info here to help you, im rooting for you