Whenever a good new melody or rhythm starts clicking in my head, I want to put it on my DAW entirely in a clean and simple version, say like a first iteration in programming, and then I can try to add stuff and if it's not working, I can go back to that first iteration and start again, maybe in another genre or another tempo.

If you have a similar approach than mine, what's your workflow process? Do you have any practical example of a track you started off being really simple?

I'm always at the end adding too much stuff to that very first track which kills my inspiration and limits the potential of the song.

 

I do the same thing you do, and I end up doing the same thing you do. That is, adding things and ruining my original idea.
I didn't keep the original idea before, but for a while now I always keep it.

What I do now is this.
I record in a new project as "Demo" and there I record everything as ideas come to mind, then I save it and leave it intact. Then I'm naming by project, for example Song 1.1, song 1.2 and so on.

Now I'm using notes for very punctual things that later I don't remember how I did them, like a quick memory refresher.

 

Think the structure through first. How long's the intro, where are low intensity moments, where the intensity rises, how the song should flow. Mark it in your DAW and build on it. Don't just stack things upon things in one loop.

 

I was just yesterday reading another post on taking notes and managing changes. Looks like something worth trying out.
Thanks for sharing

 

I recommend you the program that Oly suggested "EssentialPIM", I have it in the portable version, it's free for home use. You can have it open while you make music, it's super comfortable and light. Also, you have everything in there, if you want to write down other things you have everything in one place.

 

Yes, this is something I've been applying lately. It helps a lot. But still, my demo versions tend to get a little messy.
Thanks

 

I will. I never tried that before but let's see how it goes.

 

On some (most) things I just pile on "cool stuff" until it becomes an uncontrollable mess. Now, as I do that anyway I've created some strategies.

Consider this approach "sound sculpting", starting from a big mass and chipping away ending up with a sculpture.

0) Pile on shit until exhaustion
1) Identify the key element(s) of the tune, normally things like vocals, bass and backbeat and turn everything else down, completely
2) bring each background element up, one at a time, see how it fits
2a) turn it down until it doesn't distract the main idea and elements
2b) process it to thin it out until it just gels, using EQ/filtering (high/lowpass are your friends), gates or compressors, especially when sidechained to a main element like kick or snare
2c) place the result in the stereo field and add reverb to move it to background
3) listen to the result and see if you can hum along with the actual song
4) if it's still too much go back to 2.

Usually works for me.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 24, 2022

Dont throw the kitchen sink at it! bit by bit!! if it sounds shit! then try something else!

 

It's all about arrangement. The way I do it, I try to think of the "stacks" that go in any given song: rhythm, bass, chord pads, countermelody and/or counterrhythms, which will become the hook. I tend to start at the busiest part, usually my about-to-be chorus. What I mean to say is that instead of filling up the song with whichever comes to mind, I try to focus on competing these roles, purposefully. Then adding or deleting parts becomes a thing of balance and compensation. For instance, I might use a busy rhythm: acoustic drums, a beat loop, and a tambourine. Then the chord pad might be simple and sustained. If my melody has several harmonies, the counterpart must be simple. Likewise, if I have just one vocal melody, I might need to thicken the chord pads, (by means of an argeggio or a busier rhythm) and add a more interesting countermelody to spice up the melody and make it blend with the accompaniment. Once the busiest part is done, I go to the verse (sparse and quiet), prechorus (busier), and a middle eight or instrumental part if needed (very contrastive). Once I copy and paste parts (i.e., intro/verse 1/prechorus/verse 2/prechorus/ chorus 1/ instrumental/middle eight/ chorus 2 / chorus 3 /outro) I will end up with plain duplicates of the same parts. Them it's time to build up or change parts to my layers to make each section more interesting. Say, a simple tambourine rhythm in chorus 1 and a busier rhythm in choruses 2 and 3, a piano groove in verse one and a strings pad with a simpler piano groove in verse 2.

Once each section feels distinct from each other, it's time to add fills, risers, and/or drops, depending on the genre.

I hope this helps.

 

"It's a process" - Someone had to say it I suppose.
Seriously though, it varies.
Too many things come into play - schedules, thought processes (or lack of), good feelings (or the opposite), mental state (or lack of), coherence in ideas (or lack of)... I can keep going.

Basically, sometimes I hear the whole tune completed in my head many times. Sometimes, just a rhythm, a phrase, a melody, a harmony structure...so on and so forth.
We all aim to write the best thing we have done because we believe we are more experienced and older than when we wrote our first tune. Life does not work that way. So we do the best we can at that point in time and nobody can ask any more of themselves.
I can honestly say though that the environment you write in (or live in) and your life schedule, contributes to the output.

 

This is my number one problem I have when creating a full song. Maybe it's the inexperience. I have no problems with creating short 4-8 bar loops, but when I try to compose it into something full I almost always end up with a herd of mountain goats playing experimental deep throat instruments.

What I find interesting is that at that moment I get used to the sound/harmony and actually like it ... until the next day that is :S

 

?!?!?!?

There is an age-old trick. Find the artists, style(s), tune(s) you like most and are trying to write in. Analyse the form (e.g. Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, chorus). Then where and how it goes to create it's impact. Listen to the dynamics. Listen to the instrumentation types. Listen to if it is layered, whether it has doubling with more than one instrument. Most popular music or dance music follows a form.
That is a good starting point. Do this solidly on different tunes for a week or two.
Then take a break for a day or so from music to give your ears a break, come back and dive in and write something cold. You have nothing to lose other than a little time and you will get an appreciation of some things if not a new tune.

 

Sage advice pal:

Basically work with genres and styles using them as role models
PS: But that just doesn't guarantee freshness! (hence why there is so much hybridization between genres and especially styles. But that is another story...)

 

Thank you

There are no guarantees in this life sir. However, there are recipes in approach that have been shown to consistently produce some kind of good result by implementing it. As to whether the result is the one intended, that too, is another story.

P.S - If hybridization is their end result, bands like The Police achieved their own sound by being just that, so it also has upsides.

 

And I'm here struggling to complexify my music

 

Agreed with that. I've been listening carefully to many trending songs lately in terms of mixing and production. I'm getting better at recognizing common features and patterns that can be implemented in my tracks.

 

This is something I've been aiming towards lately. Start with the busiest part and then complete the other sections substracting elements according to the feel I want to deliver.
Thanks for sharing

 

I don't start with the busiest section, I start with the verse section generally. Listening to a particular 8/16 bars too much causes ear fatigue. Then I just switch to a different 8/16 bar section.