Okay, so pretty much I'm starting a new track. I usually like to write a melody with a nice lead synth to start, then I make a bassline off of that, then I add layers as i make them, and then put it onto the playlist and go from there. But this does not seem to be working to well, at least not with this new track I'm trying to create. Where do you guys tend to start in the production of a track?

you dont have enough wobble

apply the LFO to the cutoff

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Make sure you're using analog synths. Apply lots of sidechain.

Once that's done the song will write itself without any help from you, the producer...At least that's how Tiesto does it.

I generally separate out my composition sessions from my production sessions.

Then, what I'll often do is find a beautiful lead sound for the main melody.

Based on the melody and sound, I'll either start slotting in other sounds, or I'll browse through all my "bass foundation" templates. I have heaps of these, built up from sessions where I'm trying to recreate great sounding songs. They cover a wide range of kick, bass and drum sounds. I'll generally be able to find a template which will underpin the lead really well - so I load it up, bring the lead in, work out a bass pattern (or patterns) that works well and run it through the synth(s) I used in the template and very quickly I'll have something which sounds very decent.

I generally try to recreate around 10 trance songs each year, it helps a lot with learning, and means I have a lot of solid "production sound sets" ready to go when I'm turning a composition into a finished song. Some of my attempts sound nothing like the song I'm trying to recreate, but still work wonderfully in new songs.

i start with drums and baseline.

I seem to work a bit differently to many. Like to litteraly build from the ground up, in linear fashion trying to perfect every sweep, every tiny hat.

This way I get more motivated for 2 reasons;

1) I always have something to look forward to. For example often leave melodic break till last - a fun bit dangling like a carrot waiting

2) I get more and more motivated as each polished (imo) bit takes shape.

I will get each sound as good as poss as I go.

I find not much mixing is needed at the end.


Here's an example - this intro has taken about a week, working evenings - but once it's nearly finished I can then look forward to the break work.


Still quite a bit to do though such as neatening transitions.




DD's dominate2-01 by Dirtbox Divas

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Last edited by Richard Butler on Jan-16-2011 at 18:08

Hmm, I like how you approach production richard. the whole its like dangling a carrot idea is a really good direction to producing. Also, that lil intro is pretty neat, I really like the synths. What tempo is that at? any delay on the kick?

quote:

Originally posted by sicc Hmm, I like how you approach production richard. the whole its like dangling a carrot idea is a really good direction to producing. Also, that lil intro is pretty neat, I really like the synths. What tempo is that at? any delay on the kick?

127 bpm.

The kick had loads of layering and treatment - in fact I'm not that happy with it. There is a tiny bit of bandpassed delay on the high kick portion just to add a roomy sense.

Quite a vbit more to get right in the intro - but this ios my way of working - linear style woith always things to look forward to.

I have found in the past that if I get the key juicey meody / chords done right up front it can in the end be a chore to then go and do hats later - that's just me though! I like starting with little things like nhats when I'm fully fresh and clear headed.

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quote:

Originally posted by Richard Butler 127 bpm.

+1

with that i mean 128bpm.

I usually go to the pet store and buy some hamsters, only 2 to begin with but you may need more later. I then put the hamsters in a pit and get one all riled up by telling it the other hamster was making fun of it's mom, this pisses them off a lot. So when I finally let him go he starts to charge at the other hamster, poor guy has no idea what's going on. As he's kicking the shit out of the hamster I use a microphone to record the squeals of pain/rage/etc. This microphone is, of course, fed into Ableton Live through my soundcard. Once they stop fighting I listen to what I recorded and cut out any notable parts. Then it's all about stretching, looping, chopping, pitching, licking, sucking, fucking. The only downside is sometimes you don't get enough usable content for a track- this is when you have to go back to the pet store for more hamsters.

That's basically how I start a track, it may or may not work for you but I find it to be pretty reliable. Good luck

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quote:

Originally posted by floyd741 I usually go to the pet store and buy some hamsters, only 2 to begin with but you may need more later. I then put the hamsters in a pit and get one all riled up by telling it the other hamster was making fun of it's mom, this pisses them off a lot. So when I finally let him go he starts to charge at the other hamster, poor guy has no idea what's going on. As he's kicking the shit out of the hamster I use a microphone to record the squeals of pain/rage/etc. This microphone is, of course, fed into Ableton Live through my soundcard. Once they stop fighting I listen to what I recorded and cut out any notable parts. Then it's all about stretching, looping, chopping, pitching, licking, sucking, fucking. The only downside is sometimes you don't get enough usable content for a track- this is when you have to go back to the pet store for more hamsters. That's basically how I start a track, it may or may not work for you but I find it to be pretty reliable. Good luck

Looool

quote:

Originally posted by floyd741 I usually go to the pet store and buy some hamsters, only 2 to begin with but you may need more later. I then put the hamsters in a pit and get one all riled up by telling it the other hamster was making fun of it's mom, this pisses them off a lot. So when I finally let him go he starts to charge at the other hamster, poor guy has no idea what's going on. As he's kicking the shit out of the hamster I use a microphone to record the squeals of pain/rage/etc. This microphone is, of course, fed into Ableton Live through my soundcard. Once they stop fighting I listen to what I recorded and cut out any notable parts. Then it's all about stretching, looping, chopping, pitching, licking, sucking, fucking. The only downside is sometimes you don't get enough usable content for a track- this is when you have to go back to the pet store for more hamsters. That's basically how I start a track, it may or may not work for you but I find it to be pretty reliable. Good luck

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Easy steps to the PRO SOUND: Open up your CD drive and pour in two cups of Bertolli olive oil. This will give your track a smoother, slick feel. Then smash a bunch of Rold Gold mini pretzels (at least two hundred) into tiny pieces and dump them into your CD drive as well. Hit "record" in your sequencer, and then bang with your fists as hard as you can at random on your MIDI keyboard for about five minutes. After you've done this, hit the "quantize" button -- this will turn your notes into an AWESOME uplifting melody. Add a classic 909 kick drum playing a four-to-the-floor beat and kick the track up to about 180 BPM. Route the kick drum through a vocoder, using the kick drum as the modulator sound and Michael Jackson's "Beat It" as your source sound. This will sound tiiiiiiiiight. Record the resulting song to analog tape. Put the tape in a traditional brick oven heated to at least 350 degrees Fahrenheit for twenty minutes. This will give your track the extra warmth that every producer craves. Send the results of this process to a mastering engineer and he'll fix it up to make sound REALLY PROFESSIONAL. Then send the final thing off to Armin and Tiesto. You'll be sure to get signed!