Ableton Forum

I used to always start with a drum beat and then add keyboards until I got a trigger finger. I now start by recording a keyboard line (usually a chord progression, with a sound preset I've altered etc) with quantization off, then loop it usually about 4 bars which is typical for most music to repeat at so things don't get boring. After I heavily quantitize (but not all the way) the keyboard line, I then use my trigger finger to record jam out a beat and then apply slight quantization to it. I don't know if it really matters if you record drums first or not, but I think it's important to actually play all the parts on a keyboard at least to get an idea. It really speeds up workflow and your body moving to the music will lead you right into the flow of the song, rather than tweaking everything for hours on end.

I think peoples largest problem (well at least my own) with composition is just sitting there and looping something until it sounds JUST right. And then when it actually is just right you don't even know it because you're bored with the sound and end up scrapping it. I used to do this all the time. Experimenting and tweaking is great but a lot of music is flow. I usually find a way to clear my mind of all the junk going around inside of it before I seriously sit down to write a song. Meditate, go for a walk, smoke (heh, not to sound typical but it generally gets my workflow moving pretty fast, things sound great and I keep moving ). Stop caring about what you think other people might think of the music or how well it's produced and just keep jamming because once you hit it, you won't get bored with the song until the millionth time you've heard it which will leave plenty of time for tweaking.

Spend your time more in the arrange view than in the session view. Try writing simple things, then arranging, create a chorus verse etc, then working your way down. Try to get a two or three minutes of a song before you start doing technical editing, just get it done first. You've gotta move fast enough at the start before you get bored with it.

These are just some things that took me a long time to realize, and to make habits out of. Realizing that most of my workflow problems of never getting songs done wasn't the programs fault and that it was mostly me being impatient. I probably went back and force from like 20 different sequencing programs and techniques and then just kept searching for something that fit "me", and then finally realized that my view on writing music itself was what was really slowing me down.

Sorry for the rant but I think these things are really important and something most people don't want to admit to themselves because its actual hard work. In fact, so much about life I learned from writing music . I was nearly failing out of college and then I took some time off from school, started writing music for a while and learn to gain confidence in myself in an environment where things weren't right or wrong, and now I'm back at school making straight A's. So much of what I've trained myself to do for music has ended up becoming just as useful in everyday life.

Or maybe I'm just wierd.

most of the time I tend to start working with an atmosphere or texture sort of sound. If I'm doing ambient beatless sort of stuff I just effect and layer and render in a sort of round and round approach till I have something I like. Then I might start to break up the sound a little with other sounds and gating or glitchy type effects.

If it's a more beat oriented piece I start in the same way, but keep my ears open for the subtle rhythms and accents in the textures. Then I start to add in some beats that bring out the accents and reinforce the underlying rhythms.

Sometimes I just start from the texture or a particular sound and think 'I wonder what that would sound like with xyz effects applied?' then it's back to layering and rendering again.

First off i'm working in hip hop right now.....

(Sage Francis,defjux,rhymesayers)type stuff.

I start with samples from vinly(highly tweaked in live) till i find the rythm i like.

Then drums,bass,synth in that order.

I used to start with drums but i found my beats starting getting stale to me.

I prefer this new method,it's more efficient compared to my old way.

Im just breaking into the impulse for kits and me likey a lots,so much control over everything.

NEXT!

No

never the same
workflow is not a 1 then 2 then 3 its a freshness killer
sometimes beat, sometimes melody, sometimes just clicks and noise.
i just do as i feel that moment.

i also never work out one song entirly at a time, i always work on 10 or more songs.

thats it

1. Beat : I don't sit down with an idea - I just listen to kicks until I find one I like - and then I layer three other kicks on that one until it has a unique sound. Then I layer snares until they match and then I load up some hi-hats that match. From there I usually go one to cutting out small snippets of different samples and loops for sound material - all kinds of music works for this. Just cut out small bits and pieces.

2. Ok now I've got the sampler loaded up - then what... ok let's do some beats from it. I usually never play the beats - I usually program them. I got both an MPD16 and several controllers but I just like to program it. I usually have two different 1 bar clips playing the same sampler - so I program first one of them - using the first octave of samples (usually the very beat oriented) and the other clip using the second octave of samples (usually odd noises and hits). I do about four or eight of both. So in the end I have 16 x 1bar clips playing the sampler.

3. Ok - now I usually feel done. But I've figured I'm usually far from done... this is where I start finding some sounds I can use for groove loops. Usually I just flick through samples until something fits - and then I filter it and whatever it - add effects.

4. Ok I've got some odd music loops now... I just go with the same strategy - find stuff that would fit in.

5. Do a REALLY rough outline mix by just recording me switching clips on and off in the session view.

6. Send the rough mix to the vocalists I know - let them do their shit and mail it back to me. (we usually use yousendit.com). I never tell them anything about what I want from the track - they just do their shit.

7. I add their vocals where it seems fitting.

.... I add some mastering in the end - I used to spend alot of time doing the master channel mastering - but now I spend more time on the channelstrips and just slightly enhance the final output...

wow..thanks for taking back on top this topic from a while ago...
i think is really important to know other people workflow...not just because you can copy it, but because you know what other people comes with to interact with music/production...
i am in early stages of all of this (despiting the fact that i am 30) so it is really usefull!

I find that I start with what ever I have in my head. What I mean by that is sometimes I have an idea of what the drums will be, what the synth will be what loop i want going through. I never start the same way that i can think of.;

Problem i have is that it never sounds the same once its done to what i have in my head, its always lacking.

want to bump this topic. I find many of these suggestions helpful.

Anyone else want to add? Or recommend other threads?

This was a fun read. It would also be cool if people said what style of music they're doing.

ukulele samples! loads of ukulele samples!

i start with a synth riff. something that grooves.
then i will tweak it until it sounds good enough for a chorus loop

then from there i add my drums. everything else that follows is spawned frmo the first two steps./

my genres are as follows

gothic jazz,
amish reggae,
and mariachi gospel

Workflow's for pussies. Don't get mad.

hello

First, i compose all my tracks on "session view" to have all the elements that i need for a full song.

The most of the time, i start making the global beat (an "impulse" with each slots routing to audio tracks, and i group all) , then , i make a sequence, a "motif", or a chord suite that will be the driving line along all the song (on some parts of this song, i'll edit a more decayed automation, or activate an effect...).
So i continue looking for the good sounds, with the good melodies for each other tracks (synths or samples)...

When i have something that sounds "full" (not too much), i switch to the "arrange view", and i start to build the "body" of the song, track by track (i try almost all the time to have a progressive body with a big break (more empty)in the end of this body.

Then, i try to imagine a good intro (the most of the time with the more soft of my tracks). I always edit automations on the moment that i build the intro (increasing volume or HPF cutoff... or sometimes, i freeze some parts of duplicated tracks for add pitch mod or to stretch it...)

After, i enter more "finely" in the micro-structure or the automations of the body, the 1st body, cause after the big break, i have the 2nd body .

For the 2nd body, i copy the 1st to the 2nd, and then, i imagine what i should bring to this 2nd body for more intensity (could be more steps in the bass line or more aggressivity, 1 or 2 tracks more, i don't know...).

After all this, i start to have small breaks (1,2 or 4 bars, depend...), i add the crash cymbs in strategic points...

Then i make the outro...

Then i mix, have space.. with more precision...

I make a progressive house/trance/techno style.

It all starts with a melody or a riff in my head. I then record my ideas on my cell phone. When I feel ready to develop, I do long jams on my ideas, then pick the best that came out of it.

Then I structure the piece.

Most of my pieces started this way.