So something I have been meditating on for a while. I wonder what you guys think.

I hear a lot talk on streamlining workflow, specifically "to get ideas out". It seems that a lot of developers and self proclaimed producers on social media etc main USP is to make getting your ideas down quicker - and thus i suppose leading you to becoming better at your craft / successful, whatever.

What ive been thinking though, is that after 15+ years of making music (in bands, and solo electronically) i can honestly say that i cannot remember a time when i came up with a melody in my head, or an idea for a track as such.

It seems to me that art tends to manifest. And without getting to wishy washy, we are conduits. Antennas with the sensory systems and conciousness to interact with whatever it is that we channel when composing. My best tracks in my old band were the result of drunken jams with no direction at the outset. My best tracks made ITB have been when i tune out and just tinker.

Maybe once or twice I have sat down with a rough melody, but really the times are slim to none. I tend to have no idea where im going when i open my Daw, turn on my keyboard or pick up my guitar. I also know very little music theory over the absolute basics. I think after a short lifetime of being really into sound and music and composition i just "know" if it sounds right. Initially with my guitar i learned about a few chords, then i noticed how similar it all is then i was able to just follow the sound. It seems like meditation. Same with keyboard, i dont know any chords by identification, but i can play whole peices, sometimes jamming for hours without going out of key as such. haha, of course i may be crazy and it may sound like a million nails scratching a chalk board - but i think that after internalising so much music you develop a feeling for it.

My observations seem to correlate with a bigger picture of the thinking mind / ego in general. I got really into J Krishnamurti and his philosphical writings. I found his take on things sounded much like the political, sociological things i was reading, namely exploring Anarchism as a legitimite philosophy.

It seems to me that when i over think it, when i try too hard, i just have shit sessions. Everything becomes a hassle and a struggle. The idea i try to translate is anti climatic, much more so than coming up with that bassline or lead line from no where, or from the rythem of my drum programming ive been working on.

Having learned my tools, and having conviction in my love for music and its centrality in my life, i find it much more fruitful to just "be". Im in no rush. There are no ideas i need to get out quickly. I play and i record what i play and then i play again arranging what i record into a composition. I then play again when i play with the tonalities and sounds when i mix down.

It seems disengenious to sell the idea that everyone can make amazing music by applying certain steps, by employing certain methods. Tips, tricks, special plug ins etc. I guess its all borne of capilism and the need to sell stuff. Sell apparent knowledge, sacred secrets to making hits.

I understand everyone is different and people make music in different ways, and id be interested to find out what you guys think of all this.

i guess its very possible to make popular music by following rules, formulas and methods. By pre emptively coming up with some "idea" which will work, humming a melody in your head.

If you made it all the way through that - i appreciate it. Please go into as much depth as you want in your response

 

If you wanna skip the massive first post - im basically asking: Do you write melodies in your head, walking aroud humming and planning tracks. or do you just let the ideas flow when at your daw? Do you think one way is more effective than the other? What are the pitfalls of each?

Do you think there is really a rush to get ideas out? Or do youthink its a journey? Trial and error, playing?

 

Yes.

 

It’s called music because the ancient Greeks thought it was caused by a Muse called Terpsichore. Now the essence is what Paul McCartney calls noodling. Just playing around with a melody on the keys, on the strings or with your breath. And sometimes, when you noodle around, there comes a moment when the chill goes own your spine and something punches you a little bit in the stomach. That’s the muse. That’s Terpsichore. She tells you when it means something.

 

I tend to do both.

But I find the best way to making your own personal artwork (not for teams), is by not thinking about it too much and just sitting there and putting out. Just keep working and develop a momentum, then the ideas start rolling and before you know it you have 6 or 7 really good riffs for 6 or 7 tracks.

Don’t think too hard about each layer in your arrangement, just come up with something, anything. At the end of the day the main things you need are Drums, Lead, Bass and maybe vocals and effects, so do whatever to get an arrangement.

 

Thats cool

 

Yea thats kinda how i do it too. I understand whats required. Dont think much of it and jam. It tends to fall into place. sometimes its good, sometimes it gets saved and revisited days, months or years later.

 

I dont tend to try and replicate anything either. Like i understand the value in "make bass like X" tutorials, for learning how sound design works etc, but i think youve got to let go of it all otherwise you will sound like everyone else. Good to find your voice and let it speak

 

I think the idea of getting down with your muse to get down ideas about getting down is a good idea.
Same place, same time.

Spoiler

 

ultimately it is all about getting down

 

phone voice recorder

 

...always out there; keep on the dial, your scanners open

 

i go to bed with a melody in my head, then i get up and try and lay it down in live

 

Recorded tonnes of stoned guitar jams on my phone haha. I keep meaning to fire them in my DAW and sample them

 

find the best ones and replay them into your machine, phone is just to get your essence- ..if the idea is part of something you've already started, count yourself in on the recording to find the vibe

 

I do that kind of. Usually i get tired then when i get to bed all i want to do is eq he bass a bit more etc haha.

 

Steven Slate will buy it from you. He has the clout to sell it on...

"Plug ins depreciate in value... transient ideas for bass lines depreciate in value, give me $20 a month, for the rest of your creative life and i will show you the way."

 

Yea the rawness of them would slot into some dirty techno type stuff. Short chops, triggered from TAL sampler. for even more gritty wonder. will try this soon.

 

try now
..too much thinking will wreck it




...anyways, good luck

 

Haha not at my daw... ill try forget it then subconciously remember it next time im jamming so i can stay on my high horse...