Ableton Forum

Hello everyone,

I have succesfully build some nice electro basslines and riffs...my problem is that I don't know how to start with a basic sample of the riff and start building it into the more complex part (main part) of the riff that I've already created. Can you guys share some technniques and/or some examples of how approach this? Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated!!

a simple method is to remove some of the notes. for a very beginning part you could leave only your notes that are on the first and third "and" (1.1.3, 1.3.3).

What do you do? Copy the track into a new track and modify it? I was also thinking in rendering it and then put it into an audio track and slice it...hmmm...BTW when you start on a new song, you make the main chorus (main riff) first and then break it down or start with something simple and then build up? I believe my problem is that when I start, I try to create something that sounds nice, but then I don't know how to break it up into something simpler in order to create the progression!!

noise gate is your friend! experiment what other sounds you can sidechain off of, and experiment with the other values...

my guess is that you have a high cuttoff on most of your electro synths. if that is the case you could try starting the loops off by turning down the cuttoff to around 5 and maybe even using a filter or eq to reduce some of the highs. as your song progresses you can crank the cuttoff back up (maybe at a break down?) and then let your synth rip in the way you had in mind. you would also reduce the filter/eq at this time.
good luck,
z

i don't know if this is what you mean... but lets say for example you have your melody in your mind, or even down on ableton. if you wanna go from that and work backwards, i would say it was possible. although probably harder than going from start to finish. but hey, that's what we do as musicians!!

to get you thinking about how to build your song, you may wish you start a new one as a practice:

if you just have kick, snare, kick, snare repeated - basic drum loop. forget the bullshit.

then get a synthy sound whatever and play something like

du du... da da
(kick snare, kick snare in the background)

du du.. da da

maybe repeat this 4 times.
then...

du du du du du... da da

du du du du du... da da (again maybe do this 4 times)

then

dudu da da dada daaaaa
dudu du dudu la la la la laaaaaaaaaaaa

then get all funky with it and go crazy.

if you have no idea what the fuck i am on about, just know this... basic drum beat, get ya head boppin, press 4 keys every couple of bars, feel it, add a few more, feel it, and then keep adding, till you get your complex melody you want.

Thanks for all the tips. I'm gonna give'em a try...I'm feeling excited again...since I was feeling like I hit a brick wall!!!

how did you get on?