hi guys!
I've just realized that everytime i create a new project/song i do everything from scratch but i think most of the time i loose myself into much mixing and finding the right sounds rather than making music.. I've few tracks that sound really good and i'm considering to use them as template and create new tracks with them so i've all my leads,percussion ecc ready.
But i'm curious how do you all start a new project
Thanks

 

I think it varies from project to project. I have a template with blank kontakt + 16 midi channels which is up every time for a new project. But all fx channels like reverb, delay, even buses are ready to use. I add each instrument according to my need as no one project is similar. I also have my own eq presets for the loaded instruments which save my time. Later on I add other effects as per my need. So this is how I like to work. Of course there are other methods as well.

 

As a template I only have the summing busses (kick/beats/chords/synths... etc.), fews sends (reverbs, delays) and pretty much that's it. Try to structure your workflow:
1. Composing stage (when you create the main loop/theme of the song)
2. Arranging
3. Mixing - you start with all faders down and bring back elements & check proper levels for reverbs.
4. Pre-mastering. You can send this to the label and if they will release the track some will ask for unmastered mix to master it in the house.

As you do more tracks, you will eventually (hopefully) stop "surfing" sounds & presets and produce your own from whatever sounds you already have at your disposal. For the moment, try to reserve the surfing for the 1st part only.

For consistency, you can reuse elements from previous tracks, especially when you want to make an EP (or you want to preserve a personal sonic signature).

 

i usually starting a new project with kick and then a bass. writing everything in 8 or 16 bar with no mixing or little bit mixing. then i making arrangement another day.

but i being a sufferer by same problem with you. i don't know how can i make my own synths and searching presets minutes and hours..

i think i need good tutorials for synthezis.

 

Well, that's not really my problem.. I mean composing,arranging,sound design etc..
I just think that it's time to save all my sounds,busses,drums and so on ..and using them as starting point instead of recreate all everytime

 

Yeah that's my point, now that they are starting to sound good of course..

 

for consistency sake i have templates for certain projects and then a default preset if it something that just not part of the projects I have . my default is an assortment of audi and midi track, drums set up( normally Sd 2 or easy drummer) as i like to start with rhythm tracks . EZ drummer 2 is nice as i can compose a complete drum track within it and can import that into my daw and use SD2 seamlessly , reverb & delay tracks and summing of vox,gtr ,bass etc sometimes i start with a melody, sometimes a rhythm sometimes ill write lyrics and build the song around that sometimes the other way round. all really depends on where the inspiration comes from and build off that. Ive written songs that wee inspired from samples from movies or sometimes ill go on youtube and look at odd thing like something im working on now that I've incorporated the audio from a passenger plane flight recorder where the plane landed on the wrong runway that was under maintenance, as you see there is really no one place to start . for me it all starts with a spark of an Idea.

 

I've created presets for all the things I use in the recording stage (so before I bounce everything for mixing). I did that before I began with my one song per month project just to ensure I won't waste days on finding the right sounds. I'd say my two main 'instruments' are voice and guitar. One doesn't need any presets (at least not for recording) but for the other one I could spend hours tweaking. A little more gain a little less bass, different IRs, which amps to combine for fat rhythm guitars etc. To avoid that I spend a whole day creating the basic preset which were rendered useless when Thermionik was finally updated to v5 so I had to do it all over again but it was worth it. I did the same thing for bass (two presets for Cerberus within Cerberus), drums etc.

So now when I begin a new song I know roughly how many tracks I need, which sounds and load the according stuff. As I compose outside my DAW (well at least the basic structure and arrangement) this might be different if you actually start from scratch where new sounds help keeping the creativity up. I sometimes randomly load up Kairatune or a harp or sth. just to fiddle around with something that wasn't planned there.

It might be a good idea to have templates and presets which you will most likely return to just to safe some time in the early stages but knowing how to keep an element of surprise for yourself is also a good idea.

 

I do sound design/sound selection and arranging in separate processes, taking a break and going for a walk in between. I cannot do mixing as a separate process tho, I do it at the same time as the arrangement, as depth staging etc. are integral components of the composition to me.

 

Why not just save the entire channelstip of a 'sound' or even one step further save all inclusive midi.
If you are using StudioOne you could achive this by saving the entire channel as Musik Loop or in Logic as TrackStack

 

it sounds like you have found a way that works for you, that awesome! now go create that template(s) and you will have even more fun ahead

 

With a Piano (or guitar) and a metronome.

Sound coloration is a 2nd stage process for me, I focus on the idea during the 1st stage.

I learned to sketch before painting at art school

 

Last edited: May 17, 2016

Every project is different but I could fit them in categories; my own, others. Then; composing - jamming, tracking and mixing. I have templates for most situations in different DAWs. For me a new project (for me myself & I) I start with something I have laying around, on tape, on disc, snipplets, whatever suits my fancy that day. I have lots of notebooks where I wrote down ideas I had and no time to work them out any further when I had them. Then I'd fire up a DAW and set it up to suit the idea. After that I'll go sound hunting in my libraries or on my synths. Once I have enough raw material I'll start putting the thing together. Sometimes I'll just be jamming and have a box running to record everything. Which I also do when I track for others, or when I'm in the middle of a project and working out some melody or whatever. I basically record everything, so I can come back to it later. This is a handy habbit, when you or someone else plays, sings a terrific progression or lick and 10 minutes later you go, wait a minute, what you did 10 min. ago is way better than what your fiddling now ... hope it's of some use to you.

 

Sometimes I do sound design without any music, I just try to find a nice combination of sounds and save them. You never know when they might come in handy

 

trance, first couples of hours(and days :D ), jamming with chords (on piano) then chopping and routing them to different random typical instruments(not final ones ofc.) maybe routing the different chopped chord voices to different instruments, then playing a bit with the note velocity randomizer (to able to imagine the different song parts)

result of the prev. first half an hour (just started it)

with Nora u can play with chord progressions totally independently from the melody can try out different ones without any pain(same with melody) can create counter melodies (to bass parts) etc., and the voices can be routed to different tracks ( created a topic about it on https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=460628 ) needs m4l if u use AL with Nora

so I'm not care about the mixing and the final sounding at the begining the melody and chord progression should work without them too

 

Last edited: May 17, 2016

Stella Artois every time!

A few cans and something will happen.



Edit - @xbitz - nice!

 

@G String , that used to work for me too until I quit drinking.