Ableton Forum

basically, try not to have a starting formula, otherwise all your music will start sounding the same.

I usually start with a synth. If I can get something that is really interesting I add some other elements, I try to keep the drums later in the process so they really fit well. I don't write 4 on the floor so I don't need the beat so quickly.

mrsakitumi wrote:basically, try not to have a starting formula, otherwise all your music will start sounding the same.

I used that in reverse in recent years, I wanted my music to all sound the same so I limited myself to very specific sounds. I liked the idea of having a catalog of work from a certain period that all sounded like it came from the same person at the same time.

Sounding the same is actually quite useful if you ever want people to recognize your style and build an idea that they might actually like your stuff.

I could play you a 10 second snippet of some Boards of Canada, or some Autechre and you would know who it was pretty quickly due to their 'signature sound'.

Limiting your audio pallete a bit is actually pretty creatively stimulating too, it forces you to concentrate more on the voicing of chords and the arranging of the instruments. That's usually a good thing, that's too easy to skip over if you spend your life loading new VSTi in search of an amazing new sound all the time.

I have started writing a lot of tracks, and even finished a few if anyone has 'how do you finish' advice that is probably helpful too

It depends on the track/song. If it has lyrics, I usually think of the lyrics first, unless I think of the melody first.

I wrote some songs with a keyboardist friend of mine, and he would write the lyrics more like poetry, then I would adjust them to fit into a meter/rhythm. Once the rhythm and pace seemed clear, he or I would make up some chords that fit the mood of the lyrics, and then I would make up the melody over the chords.

If it is a "sit down and make something up" goal that I've set for myself, I will start with a beat, and then either guitar chords, a pad or bassline over the beat. One of the things that is great about using Live is that you can build up a lot of interest with percussion fairly easily, you don't need to have a lot of harmonic layers necessarily. I also have been using odd time signatures like 7/4 and 5/4 because there is a kind of organic feel where the cycle in the rhythm provides interest that wouldn't be there otherwise, repetition is less boring and more hypnotic as you try to grasp the phrases.

Another thing that is fun is finding or making some clips of melodic phrases that you like, and then layer them collage-like, transposing and trimming to match. You can come up with some wild stuff.

btw, here are some of my tracks, if you don't like the way they came out, then you know not to do any of the things I suggest

http://www.last.fm/search?m=all&q=utenzil

I usually start from nothing and start adding elements without thinking forward. It can be anything really. Play with a sample, with an Operator preset, some drums, a hardware machine that I resample, etc. I have noticed that if I keep playing in session view for a few hours without forcing myself to write a tune or concentrating on an arrangement, some unexpected ideas start developping by themselves. At that point I have a few tracks with various elements, usually very different from my starting point. Because they all come from the same playing session, they somehow make sense together and can be used as buliding blocks for a track. In the same time some sort of vision of what kind of track I could make from there starts to emerge.

At that point, I review things that have developped throughout the session and try to play some clips together, experiment with various combinations. Every time I have something I like I capture it as a new scene. That way, I end up with a few track possibilities.
I then move to the arrangement view and start putting the track together.
Very recently I used The Phat Conductor advice which is to build transitions first. As soon as I put together two breakdowns on the arrangement view, I had an complete and solid track done in no time. Really something I'll do more in the future.

mrsakitumi wrote:basically, try not to have a starting formula, otherwise all your music will start sounding the same.

I agree to a certain extent...but a house for instance is usually built from the base up. How each builder constructs the base is variable, but I beleive there are certain principles that are basic to any discipline.

I must admit however that one of the greatest freedoms of being an artist is knowing that creatively there are no boundries. What the heck, you could build the roof first and put it aside then lift it up and place it on top of the walls when the time comes! Honestley, that is what I love about what I do. Sometimes I just get a kick out of doing things the crazy way.

the_planet wrote: Then I spend weeks tweaking.

I once Wrote an ENTIRE Album That way.


In All Seriousness Sometimes it's a bassline or Drum Beat i hear in my head, other times i'll sift through the vinyl i've digitized and find inspiration there.

I do have quite a few melodies in my phones voice recorder as well. THAT comes in real handy sometimes!

I always start with the kickdrum. Nearly every track I started with another instrument failed, don't ask me why. Maybe because I'm very used to building it from the simplest instrument to the most complex.

I always strart on the B of the bang

nbinder wrote:I always start with the kickdrum. Nearly every track I started with another instrument failed, don't ask me why. Maybe because I'm very used to building it from the simplest instrument to the most complex.

+1..... and that in itself can take a lot of tweaking to get right. Beleive me, I still cant find the way to acheive a proper kick without days and weeks of tweaking. Sometimes along the way, listening back to some old tracks, I noticed that I had acheived some near perfect Kicks and Snares. Usually both are never on the same track. However, dont ask me what I did differently. And to think these were probably achieved while not paying much attention to them but concentrating instead on other aspects of a project.

the_antagonist wrote:i like to start with a dance move then work backwards

I work mostly in the evenings... and I like to keep it simple

3dot... wrote:

the_antagonist wrote:i like to start with a dance move then work backwards

lol... "yes, I envision a really sexy girl dancing to my tracks, and her breasts are moving like *this*, and then her ass is jiggling like *that* and it is just so hot to imagine. Then I ask myself 'ok, now what kind of tune would cause that sexy girl to dance like that?' and then I write it...."

from interview answers I will never be able to come up with once I am famous, which by the way won't happen either.

that got my juices flowing right there...

to get a bit serious... I generally get ideas either when I'm taking a stroll alone..or in the shower...
...but then I loose them when I get home/out of the shower...