Lack of creativity? Composing questions...

[Electric Trancer]

Hello party people!

I've got some questions for ya. I've a very big problem (i think so). I started to learn how to make electronic music in the end of 2005. I bought M-Audio Audiophile FW. Live Lite was included with it and I was so impressed. I tried to work with Cubase, but i couldnt really record something with this seq. But i started to improve when I got Live. I didnt learn music theory, but now i know something. I created tunes that impress me, but most of them are just 2 or 4 bar loops and I CANT make song with them ((. They are incompatible with each other, i think. How do you compose ?. I create tunes mostly by tapping my midi-keyboard in random order. Most of them are created accidentally. And what do u do? Do you always have idea how song should sound? Do you play midi-keyboard? What can you recommend me to improve playing and composing skills?

Ah! And I dont make techno, trance, dnb. Its not interesting for me. I try to make something like electrofunk, electro, electro freestyle. So I use broken beats. So I've nice tunes and cant make song with them. Maybe I chosen too complicated style?

Thank you for any reply!

P.S. Actually I recorded 1 track, but i gave up on it because I thought that its intro sucks

[kronk]

Maybe Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies are something you would want to investigate.

E.g.: http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html

[datcho]

There is a very interestig topic regarding composition on Harmony Central.
Check that one out, it's really worth reading. You'll be a happier composer:)

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/for ... did=361618

[Electric Trancer]

thanx guys, i'll check it out!

i'm open for even more advices

[jeskola]

P.S. Actually I recorded 1 track, but i gave up on it because I thought that its intro sucks

Keep it! keep everyting - youll be suprsde in a couple of years when you listen back that your freedom from production allowed ideas to flow better!

[datcho]

I totally agree with jeskola.
It's amazing how much I énjoy my first productions. Sound and mixwise it's real amateur work. But composingwise it's interesting and free.

[Electric Trancer]

additional question: what you people do when you recorded good tune which you consider a part of new song and then you cant record next compatible tune to make complete song? this kills me

[DeadlyKungFu]

you can drag good, useful parts of a song off and save it as a .als that can be imported into other songs.

OR just keep adding stuff to the same set, have it as your sketchpad set with tons of ideas, then when you get a few that work together, save the .als, delete the stuff that doesn't fit and save it off as a new name.

I've gotten into the habit of using my 'template set' (options->preferences->file top menu choice) as my current set, so I can pick up right where I left off.

[frankie123]

Play along with music other then electronic music, that tend to have more chord progressions and harmony involved. I think the biggest mistake of electronic artists is when they try to learn how to make music by listening to only other electronic artists.

[Electric Trancer]

Play along with music other then electronic music, that tend to have more chord progressions and harmony involved. I think the biggest mistake of electronic artists is when they try to learn how to make music by listening to only other electronic artists.

I've big influence from electro funk, freestyle, funk, hip hop, trance, . They inspire me. For example I like to play bass as funk musicians do. And my typical way is playing funky lead over it. these styles are complex and melodic and VERY dynamic. i think many tracks of these styles have more influence from real music, than trance, techno, etc.

[tylenol]

what you people do when you recorded good tune which you consider a part of new song and then you cant record next compatible tune to make complete song?

You may already be doing this, but if you have some kind of chord structure underlying your melody, and you are playing in session view, stop the melody clip, arm that track, and play along with your underlying chord/rhythmic structure. I think this will give you a better sense of how the melodies that work accidentally fit together with your song, than just playing randomly in isolation. In general, you could try thinking in terms of a chord structure/progression rather than the actual melodic line (eventually you want to think in terms of both at the same time ). This might be hard at first since you don't know music theory, but it can be very rewarding.

[digitalkettle]

Keep it! keep everyting - youll be suprsde in a couple of years when you listen back that your freedom from production allowed ideas to flow better!

Totally. There's no reason to trash anything with this technology ;-)
Some advice that helped me once was: push on through and finish pieces (yeah, like anything's ever finished...but you know what I mean). It's something that gets better with practice.

[kennerb]

There is a very interestig topic regarding composition on Harmony Central.
Check that one out, it's really worth reading. You'll be a happier composer:)

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/for ... did=361618

Great link. Thanks for posting!

[stale bread]

bmp

[Electric Trancer]

There is a very interestig topic regarding composition on Harmony Central.
Check that one out, it's really worth reading. You'll be a happier composer:)

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/for ... did=361618

one guy wrote there:

the original inspiration and good general compositional approach does transcend genres, but if thats all you are concerned with you wont make much more that 15 second comercial tunes. Understanding the compositional structure specific to your genre is completely necessary. General music theory will only get you so far. I can write a thrash metal riff on my guitar because I have general music theory and understanding of chord progressions, but that wont be enough for me to write a complete "good" song.

I'll go back to dance music. You can take a chord progression or program an arpeggio because you have an understanding of general music theory and apply a slightly tweaked preset and say I have a trance song, but you really don't. You have piece of the whole. If you don't understand how the arpeggio must enter and exit the song morph from a percussive element into a lead element (compositional theory specific to the trance genre) you will never write a good trance song. I can write a thousand 4/4 beats that would fit into any dance song because I understand general music theory. I can write a thousand synth lead parts and a thousand pad parts for those beats, but if I don't know howo to arrange and sequence within the paramerters of that genre then I'll never write a good song.

Basic music theory can be taught out of a text book. Applying that theory to a specific genre with specific compositional standards and understanding how to manipulate those standards well is much much harder.

Someone on this site once responded to the question of what's the difference between all of us bedroom studio producers and professional artists. Their response was that we all write good stuff, but the pros just have a talent for putting it together. And putting it together is essentially arrangement which is specific to each genre.

Totally agree. I think its my problem