I have no approach really.

I really did NOTHING for the first couple years I was producing but play with my midi keyboard and record melodies.
It was back when I was such a newbie that I thought if I could just make a good enough melody, no matter what, I'd have a great sounding track lol.
That was never the case but today I can make a really nice melody in about 15-20mins, or at least get the majority of the progression down.

I always start by looping one empty bar and just hitting keys on my piano. And its almost like I'm playing the piano blind, but my fingers are so familiar with the keys that I just know where I need to go to get the melody I'm looking for (sometimes I'll be off a key or 2 and will find it on my next push). But as uncalculated a method as it seems, its has to be one of the things I'm best at doing. Even today when I finish a melody and loop the finished products I'll cringe my eyebrows in a confused way while I look at the screen and wonder "how the fuck did I do that.. again?"
But thats basically the process.

I have no idea what I'm doing but I just do it and it works. One of the most mysterious aspects of my technique would undoubtebly be how little I know about music theory but how "easy" it is for me to make a serious sounding melody.

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Sequencers: FL Studio 9XXL & Reason 3.
Main Synth Bass GTs - Pro-53, V-Station, Sytrus, Subtractor, Trilian, Blue, Sylenth & Z3ta.
Main Synth Lead/Pad GTs - Z3ta, Sytrus, Sylenth, Vangard, Albino & Nexus.
Main FXs GTs - Waves Plugins, Soundtoys, Volcano, FL Native FX.
Hardware - Truths, Echo Audiofire, Virus Snow, & Novation Xio Midi-Synth.

here this one I did about a half hour ago, took me 5 mins to write (but this one is actually cheesy I'll admit)

My computer is FULL of melodies I've wrote and will never use, and some of them are really moving too..

Another melody

___________________
Sequencers: FL Studio 9XXL & Reason 3.
Main Synth Bass GTs - Pro-53, V-Station, Sytrus, Subtractor, Trilian, Blue, Sylenth & Z3ta.
Main Synth Lead/Pad GTs - Z3ta, Sytrus, Sylenth, Vangard, Albino & Nexus.
Main FXs GTs - Waves Plugins, Soundtoys, Volcano, FL Native FX.
Hardware - Truths, Echo Audiofire, Virus Snow, & Novation Xio Midi-Synth.

Most of the ideas that I get for riffs come when I'm not in the studio or trying to sleep or just doing something at point that makes it very inconvenient to run to the studio and lay it down. So for me, my biggest struggle is to remember the melody or hum it in my head enough times that I have it memorized. And then it's just time to get down.

Well I have a Yamaha DGX 505 88-key keyboard in my room (not used for producing) and an Oxygen 49 (for producing).

Normally I just sit at the Yamaha with a Piano & String dual on and jsut play/experiment with different chords and scales till i find something that catches my ears and/or current emotive state. Then I get a good feel by playing it repeatedly, sometimes changing notes to experiment and see what could sound better or have more impact. Then once i get that all done I open the sequencer and record it with the oxy 49 and usually a basic synth at first just to get the idea down quick.

my 2cents.

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@Soundcloud

:::OUT NOW!:::
Garrido & Skehan ft. Erin - Waiting For You (Nightshift Remix)
Elvin Ong - Motion (Nightshift Remix)
Tidal Forces - Machine Blue (Nightshift Remix)

quote:

Originally posted by meriter Your primary focus should be making good music. That's all. No one gives a shit how you do it. And the people that do are fags.

quote:

Originally posted by No Left Turn Most of the ideas that I get for riffs come when I'm not in the studio or trying to sleep or just doing something at point that makes it very inconvenient to run to the studio and lay it down. So for me, my biggest struggle is to remember the melody or hum it in my head enough times that I have it memorized. And then it's just time to get down.

^This also happens to me from time to time

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@Soundcloud

:::OUT NOW!:::
Garrido & Skehan ft. Erin - Waiting For You (Nightshift Remix)
Elvin Ong - Motion (Nightshift Remix)
Tidal Forces - Machine Blue (Nightshift Remix)

quote:

Originally posted by meriter Your primary focus should be making good music. That's all. No one gives a shit how you do it. And the people that do are fags.

Chords -> Rhythm -> Melody

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

i usually write/play 2-3 random notes and from this i get inspiration for the whole melody. but once i have one melody than its easy to write 10 others that fit. thats why trance is so easy, you just layer melodies, while with other genres is a different story.

For me it has to do with the sound i'm using. i get inspiration from the actual sound itself. then i just find what key i'm in and start picking out a melody from there. sometimes i right a few melodys out and keep them and go back in a few days to see what one sounds the best.

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I usually start with a chord progression, I play that for a while maybe rearrange the chords or change them, etc. Then for the melody I mess around on the keyboard until something sounds cool. Of course it's a little more structured than that as I try to keep to the key/scale of the chords. I usually do this at night when I cant sleep so I write it down on some sheet music and put it on the computer the next day. By the time I finish the song the melody is usually different then what I originally wrote down.

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"I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings." -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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i use Reason Matrix patternsequencer. Its awesome. i hope i can find something similar in Logic caus im trying to do the switch

2 easy ways

Start with chord prog and literally choose a plcuk or lead or whatever and shorten the midi in the chords to 16th's. Arrange over a bar or using as many duplicates as you want and moving them up and down octaves. Then when you have a undoubably cheesy melody start moving some of the notes down a tone or a semitone depending on what degree of the scale your on. This turns that note into a suspension and adds emotion to the melody. you can even then go adding ths and 9ths and things.

second

play a simple pattern over 1-2 bars on piano, copy and paste into the next 1-2 bars and change a couple of notes each time or, Reverse the pattern you just did to form an answering melody.

the biggest mistake i hear when people write melodies is to leave a phrase unanswered. That bugs me

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Processing a highly structured and complex pattern of sensory input as a unified percept of "music" is probably one of the most elaborate features of the human brain.....understanding how music is perceived and how it may elicit intense sensations is far from being understood.