Hey guys,

Well, like some of you may know, I'm more of a rock'n'roll/blues guy, but I'm trying to get into EDM to expand my creative horizons.

I'm focusing more on downtempo/chill/ambient stuff, just so you know...I like guys like Air, Bluetech, Omnimotion, Killowats, Brian Eno, etc...

The thing is...This thing is HARD!

It's incredibly easy to keep zooming in, if you know what I mean, and adding details to increasingly small parts of the song without ever finishing it.

So, I'm interested to know about possible methodologies or formulas I should probably follow to keep my creative process dynamic and efficient.

Could you give me a hand here?

For example, in traditional pop/rock music, we have common formulas, like intro/verse1/verse2/chorus, verse3/bridge/chorus/chorus/ending.

Is there such a thing in EDM?

How do you approach the process? Linearly (from beginning to ending)? Holistically (from macro to micro)?

I mean, where do I add detail? Where do I make it calmer? Where do I make it busier?

In other words: Is there an overall guiding principle to keep this mostly repeating pattern interesting for as long as it lasts?

Is there any memorable courses or tutorials you recommend on the subject?

I'll be very thankful for any practical advices!

Cheers,

M.

 

watch this and you're set

in edm it seems you are building things as you go, have a breakdown, and drop.......

watch the vid, will help

 

My own approach.. it's kinda evolved over time. Right now, I tend to pick a key/scale/mode of some sort as my basic starting point. I'll try and come up with a chord progression that sounds good to me, then build from there, throwing in some arps, some pads, and eventually a rhythm over top. I generally am good at coming up with the main meat and potatoes, and then branch out from there. The tough part for me still is getting from a chorus idea to a verse idea or vice versa.

In the past, I've also just opened up a random VSTi in my DAW, and played around, cycling through presets until a certain sound hit me, and a melody popped in my head, then I'd program that in (im really not a good enough keyboardist to play it), and then branch off of that. I think I'm pretty good at coming up with a chorus or verse that way, but can struggle a bit with the other parts and variety when doing it this way. But I think that's where the more theoretical approach (in para one) kinda helps a bit more.. building off of chord progressions. Both approaches for me have their advantages/disadvantages.

I'm certainly no pro at this, but I think I've been getting better at this from the more theoretical approach. I have started to pay more attention to things that I mentioned already (scales, modes) and now recently learned about "borrowed chords" that add a lot of variety.

On top of that, I think it's also very important to add variety to your tracks (meaning individual tracks within the song) in other ways... i.e. add movement via modulation, etc..

I will say that I write Electronic music, but I don't really like the radio type stuff. I have a tough time defining a genre for the music I write, but I also like that! lol I like to try and think outside of the box a bit.

 

Structure is all depending on the subgenre you make, but yes there is a structure in the same way pop/rock have, but it's a bit less obvious (unless you are into mainstream EDM genre that goes like break/drop/break/drop all the time).

If you don't know where your track should go, easy way is to find a track in the same vibe, and put it on your arrangement (adjust the BPM of the imported track if needed), then you can mark where there is a change, where something is added/taken off.
Then you do the same things with your sound, at some point you'll feel that your track could do something differently and your arrangement will start to have it's own structure (and it's ok if it's exactly the same, as long as it's your own idea).
You can also do that before working on your sound, and use that as a template for new project. Or have different structure template. The more you'll do, the more you will know what to do with your structure.

The for the methodology of producing, to avoid getting stuck in a loop forever, my approach is to make an idea that is long enough to have a bigger view of what the tracks "want to be". For exemple in the creation part, I will make a 1 minute structure, with some automation and little change, even if the idea is just a melody. I save it and export as an audio file, listen a few days later (usually one week), and listen the audio. Then I'll note what I want to add/change, and I'll do little session only focusing on that, so I don't get lost in an never ending editing process.
Also the mix part is done in a different project, so I separate the 2 mindset. If a sound is really bad, I'll change it in the creative part, but not tweak it, unless it's for creative purpose.

I don't know if it's all clear, it's maybe a bit confuse to explain. Hope that help

 

Hey brother,

Well, I could say the same thing about what I'm trying to do...Just trying to come up with my own style, my own identity...I guess that's the hardest thing to do in the arts, right?

As for modulation and automation, that's the main reason I'm in love with Bitwig, which is the DAW I've been using for this kind of stuff...It's so easy to modulate anything so that no part of the same track ever sounds the same!

On the other hand, is also so easy to pick four bars and waste five hours modulating every little thing within this very little space of time...lol

 

Further to what 11Fletcher said (as it reminded me of another part of my own process).. I write a LOT of different tracks out. Going back to January 1st of this year, I have 33 songs started. I think I have one, maybe two finished, by I have a WHOLE lot of ideas.. very unfinished ideas.. some very bad ideas that I've abandoned.. some great ideas that I come back to now and then - like he said, I give it a bit of time before coming back to it. I'm not at all afraid to completely abandon a song.

When I create a project, I create it in it's own folder.. it's named something very basic to start "Proj101" (for example, meaning my 101st project), and after it I put some sort of thing to identify it so I know which song it is.... and sometimes I'll even give it a rating so I know to come back to that one for sure and keep working on it, or I know it's probably for the dumpster. I am actually probably going to go a step further, down the road, and put projects in several different starting folders for organizing what's finished/complete, and what's garbage vs. what's good.. etc.

I know that probably doesn't sound like it's part of the creative process, but I think doing that helps me take a break from a song, but reminds me of what is worth going back to later on to work on more.

 

Haha, yeah, for sure. I think that's probably where it might be best to put that towards the end of the stage so you don't spend too much time over producing everything before you've really gone anywhere with your songs.

 

this is actual comformative advice as an edm enthusiast for 12 years now, starting from house to happy hardcore to now what ever the hell i feel like. Everything and i mean everything needs at least 8 otts on it its not edm if you dont start a mixdown with at least 8 otts going on every part of your track. Also sasuage fattner

 

Last edited: Feb 17, 2021

so -1LUFS is not a myth ?

 

I would recommend..
-Make the music you want to hear
-Try to copy some tunes or just elements (this will help you creating your style)
-first drop and second drop might be enough
-think of the "djs" how want to mix your music so start, bridge and end should not be overloaded but with a rhythm that you can hear

I also think the most used schemes rely on the trending tunes in the scene.