Ableton Forum

1. build your own library of sounds, loops and presets.

if a 'song' isnt flowing then record some loops from whatever you have and stick them in a folder somewhere.

or just choose one synth and make your own patches, dont worry about making a tune just make some sounds.

and combine that with :

2. organise your files

for me knowing where to find something is the key to keeping things flowing. obviously the same setup wont work for everyone but i do something like

/samples
/breaks : strictly drum breaks
/loops : any loop that isnt drums
/drums : single shot drums
/synths : synth sounds either one note or multi-samples
/fx : all types of sound fx
/chunks : bits of music i've 'borrowed'
/vocal : bits of vocals
/recordings : single takes or recordings of me jamming that probably need editing to be used

and each folder has various subfolders e.g synths has a 'waveforms' directory which is single-cycle waveforms to be used as oscillators

then in each folder (apart from chunks) i have a folder which is strictly for stuff i've created rather than downloaded or bought.

- Make joke tracks on a regular basis
- Make tracks from a theme/idea

i reckon they're great ideas, i often try to recreate a particular style / genre as an experiment to see how it could be put together. last week was dub, this week it was punk. now im in the mood for something completely electronic.

mdk wrote:

- Make joke tracks on a regular basis
- Make tracks from a theme/idea

i reckon they're great ideas, i often try to recreate a particular style / genre as an experiment to see how it could be put together. last week was dub, this week it was punk. now im in the mood for something completely electronic.

Yup, recreating/interpreting/making parodies of certain genres or styles is a brilliant way (at least for me) to get things done, often with surprisingly good sounding results.

And another one.. Load up a favorite tune and jam along with it... Recording what you do, of course.. Then when you take away the 'inspiro' track see what you got!

Hd

instead of fiddling around with a song that's not going anywhere, just drop in one of yr lesser used plug-ins and get to know it better. frankly i've got way too many plug-ins i haven't spent enough time with (this is another issue all together, of course).

and maybe some new sound will spark an idea. or not! but at least you've done something productive. and figuring out what that plug-in can do might come in handy later.

I agree with organizing your sounds, whether it be samples or presets or projects or tracks. Even a simple system will help you find what you're looking for fast, while you're still "in the zone".

Also, clean house every now and then. There is no way you need 12 different delay plugins and 78 compressors. Find what you like, learn it inside and out, then delete the rest. To quote:

"Necsessity is the mother of invention."

So many great tracks have been made with only very modest equipment. When you push something to its limit, only then will you truely know what it can do. Thats when great music is made. When man and machine combine [/H+ mode]

K.I.S.S. If you can't hum it, no-one will remember it. Not every tune has to be a cheezy rock ballad, but you don't have to do an Aphex Twin impression either.

Start with the most important bits. For groovy music, start with the groove. For melodic stuff, start with the key melody. This goes for both creation and mixing. Start with whatever is the center-piece and make everything else fit around it.

Alot of songwriters start with the title of their track and build the song to match it. Others just pick up a guitar and fang away until something happens. Still more get drunk/high/depressed/enraged/fucked-up/cheered-up/whatever and then turn to songwriting to try to embody what they are feeling. Music is such an integral part of life. Making music is easy, making good music takes a lifetime.

Also, I agree with the "do anything but nothing" approach. At least that way you might learn something or stumble across something useable.

And remember, there are no rules, only guidelines.

PS: IMHO

This thread should be a sticky.

NapalmBob wrote: Alot of songwriters start with the title of their track and build the song to match it.

That's how a lot of exploitation film makers, like Roger Corman, made their movies. They came up with a catchy title, designed the poster, & worked up a quick n' cheap film around it!

Johnisfaster wrote: 1) stop trying so damn hard and accept the fact that whatever you make (good or bad) is an extension of you and therefore a good thing.
.

I'd like to expand on this - something I think people often forget with electronic music is the concept of practice. Plenty of guitarists will spend hours just practising scales so why do electronic musicians feel so pressured to come up with a track every time they sit down in the studio?

sometimes you will turn out some crap and it may only serve the purpose of highlighting what you DONT like or want to do

forge wrote:

Johnisfaster wrote: 1) stop trying so damn hard and accept the fact that whatever you make (good or bad) is an extension of you and therefore a good thing.
.

I'd like to expand on this - something I think people often forget with electronic music is the concept of practice. Plenty of guitarists will spend hours just practising scales so why do electronic musicians feel so pressured to come up with a track every time they sit down in the studio?

sometimes you will turn out some crap and it may only serve the purpose of highlighting what you DONT like or want to do

+1

I really like the notion of " JOKE TRACK "

doing something really OTHER than what we deadly want to reach to is ALWAYS useful, and totally FUN

WE HAVE TO GET FUN !!!!!


AND GET RID OF THIS ANAL OBSESSION TO MAKE THE PERFECT TRACK IN A SESSION...

forge wrote:

Johnisfaster wrote: 1) stop trying so damn hard and accept the fact that whatever you make (good or bad) is an extension of you and therefore a good thing.
.

I'd like to expand on this - something I think people often forget with electronic music is the concept of practice. Plenty of guitarists will spend hours just practising scales so why do electronic musicians feel so pressured to come up with a track every time they sit down in the studio?

sometimes you will turn out some crap and it may only serve the purpose of highlighting what you DONT like or want to do

This is a very valuable observation.

In addition to practice, I'll add the necessity of improvisation. To just go where the music takes you; letting it guide you rather than you guiding it with a specific goal in mind, can bring you to some interesting places.

In the immortal words of The Cramps vocalist Lux Interior "Rock it"

If writers block sets in then Ill listen to some of my favorite music and watch some of my favorite musicians on youtube. It gets me pumped pretty quick and ready to start writing again....works for me.

- Don't make country & western music.

&

- If your in the band: Scooter, leave it.