Hi.

I am transcribing those fast film scores like "He is a pirate", I am doing this for a long time, I can't hear all the instruments, or guess exactly right percussion placing, what could be one of the problems I am facing, so let's start with problems.

This is about creating my own tracks.
Fir example I want to get something similar to "He is a pirate" track.

Problems...

1. I do not like my melody most often, just sometimes I somehow get good ones. It is not they are out of scale or something else, but they just are not something you would be humming after you heard it. So, the first problem and question is how to develop ideas?

2. When I develop idea, melody + chords. Pirate tracks, or adventure style of music use short notes, so melody is on short notes, after that I add spiccato cello to follow accents of the melody, and of accents, but not too many of accents notes so it does not sound messed up.
Than comes many doublings, with same accents, percussion same accents.

Everything gotta be the same accents, and once I have same accents, my track does not sound enough busy, I feel accents, and I feel empty space between accents.
I hope you can understand what I just said.

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I think transcribing anymore does not make sense for me, I can do it, I am programed now to guess notes and be copy paste compositor, and it did not help me create my ideas, or my tracks.

Years back, everyone told me trsndcrive, transcribe, I really thought it would help, but it does not, maybe for begginers, just to get sense of main orchestration things, but to be able to develop own ideas, it's useless.
Also it is useless in any sense if you will transcribe tracks like "He is a pirate", it is just too hard to hear all the instruments, because there ismuch if percussion, and in such tracks not even percussion can be heard well.

So if here happens to be someone experienced in producing such (adventure, pirate, Irish, Scottish, folk...) music, I would be more than thankful for advices.

 

There are so many ways how you can approach a song and none is right or wrong.

You can create the biggest master pieces of orchestra music without being able to play major or minor chords on a piano, yet knowing that after E follows F.

The most important part is to define for yourself what the meaning is for you of creating a track, a song. I've had the problem facing the blank sheet of MIDI, not knowing what to do cause I didnt have had a purpose to produce in the first place.

Others jump into the studio, create a groove, a small melody and just goof around and have fun, thats their purpose of creating their track in 1st place.

But I can't relate to that. Like you, when I just do something, my melodies dont sound like "me", rather like a random track someone else wrote, not saying it sounds bad, it just doesnt sound or feels "fullfilling" to me, for others it does.

I can guarentee you, if your approach and workflow doesnt fullfill you, you can create anything, it sounds good to others but to you, it's not what you want, no matter if it sells like water in the desert.

My melodies and compositions became so smart and fullfilling to me, once I found my motive for composing in 1st place. The emotions you feel while producing determine the quality of your song, so if you dont feel anything about you starting now producing, if there is nothing special, then you wont create anything special.
It might sound esotheric to you but if you study neuro-science and how your brain functions as well as your body chemistry changes when you simply change the emotional state you are in, you will understand that this is the origin of any big creation.

Of course, repetition is the mother of all skill and you wanna practice fundamentals almost daylie. If writing melodies is a fundamental for you, write 1 song or melody with chord progression a day, no matter if its good or not. The more you do it, the better it becomes but your song only becomes special if the reason to write it is special in the 1st place.

 

And also, once you become way more experienced in songwriting, you will understand that filling too many gaps is poison for any other instrument that is already involved. Also in terms of melodies, you can literally over-melody your story telling and it becomes quite uncomfortable following.

Give your sounds space to breath,give your notes space to breath and give the audience time to appreciate each sound. If you keep throwing sound after sound to your audience, you will create quite the chaos.

If it sounds "boring" than maybe cause your sound isnt interesting yet, find a way to make it more interesting. Reverb and Delay for instance are probably most common tools in order to fill gaps, but you can become very creative using other effects and tools in order to let the note ring out in an interesting way.
And after all, the more instruments you use, the harder mixing becomes.

 

Last edited: Jan 31, 2020

ear training with intervals, start with chord progressions and make melodies out of them (omitting the fifth, using tensions), listen to world music not only western to gather ideas
also try this one if you struggle with rhythm: https://teoria.com/en/exercises/rd4.php

 

1.
a good "hook" is difficult to achieve. all i can suggest is thinking about it while doing your other day to day things and if you get an idea then hum it and record it.

2.
you could try filling gaps with things like atmospheric sounds. they do not have to be obvious in the mix, just a subtle texture in the back can add a lot.
that said, sometimes less is more.

 

Long time ago, about 60 years, I stopped trying to replicate what I heard... Instead I started to create what I wanted to hear. Most of the time I hit the same chords, but the majority was a new mix. THat's what I recommend... Listen, then create your version, not what you heard. Exbismal.

 

my problem always was where to start and what to do , when i wanted to remake a song i was like i want it exactly like it , that was wrong because i wasn't that pro in the first 1 hour i gave up , and also because it wont help you to be creative and make your own stuff .