Where do you begin?

Voyager2 · Post by **Voyager2** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:10 am

When creating a new song where do you begin? Do you start with a beat? A riff? Do you begin the same way most of the time or do you mix it up? I'm curious to hear the different methods of starting something new.

Cheers!

JoshG567 · Post by **JoshG567** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:17 am

It always depends, but for me a mental headspace that precedes any music itself is more helpful than any "trick" that may be out there.

If I'm just free tracking it helps to have a ton of effects mapped to foot controllers so I can see where different tones lead me without touching the pc.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:41 am

An idea. Abstract from a cosmology show, a song I heard, a phrase some one said, etc. how that translate to actual music is a fluid process, but the ideas are initially solid but often change as I write.

adambomb337 · Post by **adambomb337** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 5:28 am

Usually it's harmonically or melodically driven. Sometimes it will be a chord progression or just a simple melody in my head. Other times, it will be a rhythm I'm playing on the drums & I'll make that in the sequencer, or I'll be making sounds for a synthesizer and the new patch will give me an idea to build around. It can be almost anything really. If you're ever stuck, just play around with something that sounds interesting to you then

crystalmsc · Post by **crystalmsc** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:12 am

Mostly comes from a concept here, the rest is a free flow. As for the producing process, I usually started with the beat and melodic part. Followed by the basses and pads.

Richie Witch · Post by **Richie Witch** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 1:38 pm

What's worked for me lately is this. I randomly roam around my sample/clips/loops library looking for a beat or a groove that speaks to my mood. Once I find one, I'll set it to looping in Session view while I dig around for anything that goes well with it.

If I can't find anything in the library, I'll try creating some beats on my drum machine or listening to tunes from my music collection, searching for a groove that I can emulate on the keyboard--just a bit of a bass line or melodic rhythm of some sort.

Once I have a couple samples that play well together, I convert them to MIDI, swap in my own sounds/instruments, and tweak them to taste. This gives me the foundation of the project.

From there, I will load up an instrument and start jamming to what I've got so far. After 5 or 10 minutes of recording, I'll scan back through my jam session, 2 to 4 bars at a time, looking for musical phrases that really vibe with all the previous stuff. I repeat these jam sessions with different instruments until I have all the pieces I need to build the song.

From there, I'll go back and listen to the various instruments I chose and see if they still fit the feel/sound of the overall tune. I'll start substituting/layering/processing the instruments to bring all the parts into some raw cohesive form.

I've got two new tracks in the works now since I started using this process and I find myself getting a lot farther and being happier with what I'm creating than anything I've done previously.

ImNotDedYet · Post by **ImNotDedYet** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:20 pm

A number of things...could be a sample or loop I heard while auditioning it for another song, could be a melodic bit that I was playing when auditioning a sound I was designing, could be a chord progression I "accidentally" banged out. Usually it's one of those though.

störgeräusche · Post by **störgeräusche** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:06 pm

Bassdrum. Because if it's not properly sounding, the whole track/mix will suffer. Sometimes I'll just randomly browse thru my Komplete 9 racks (audiomodder's vst bridge) and start to build a track around a sound I like.

Martin Gifford · Post by **Martin Gifford** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 12:42 pm

I like what Richie Witch said because of:

"getting a lot farther and being happier"

That is exactly what I want, and I imagine others want it too.

BTW, do we have any stars on this forum? I want to hear about the processes of Successful Artists.

(cosiwannabeasuccessfulartisttoo,sorry)

login · Post by **login** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 2:49 pm

A concept, then I choose the sound palette and then to harmony.

tone61 · Post by **tone61** » Sun Nov 02, 2014 12:30 pm

the most fun tool I've tried in quite a while
http://www.incredibox.com/v1/

sonik777 · Post by **sonik777** » Sun Nov 02, 2014 12:41 pm

Usually it's the drugs.

I keed I keed

re:dream · Post by **re:dream** » Sun Nov 02, 2014 1:08 pm

A melodic, or harmonic sound. A chord progression. Then I build the percussion around it.

If I start with the bass drum, all my tracks sound the same

iamcluster12 · Post by **iamcluster12** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 11:58 am

il usually drop in a basic drum loop so I can work on the melody, once the melody is sorted I delete the drum loop and build from scratch around the melody.

eyeknow · Post by **eyeknow** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 9:00 pm

I'm like Josh, it depends.

I'm a one man show. I (at least attempt) to play guitar, bass, and have push and an impulse 49 for "keys"

Sometimes I'm futzing around with synth patches and stumble into a progression. Sometimes it's a guitar riff, sometimes I'm making coffee and an idea comes to me. But I can't play all those instruments at one time so something it takes a while to get it all going.

My problem is not starting though, mine like many others is finishing

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