I've noticed it kinda varies for me.


But as of late, I kinda make a bar or two that has a lot of the "main elements" of the track (some synth-ing, bassline, percs, etc.)

And then I close it and make another. And another.

After a few days, a week... I'll come back and open some of them. Usually one will stand out. "Wow, that sounds awesome... didn't really realize at the time..." and then I'll develop it into a full track.

alright guys, some great advice here, exactly what i was hoping for

I will actually sit down this weekend and finish off a track. been kind of lazy lately look forward to something coming out from me this weekend. cant say if it will be any good or not though... then you can all teach me about mastering

this is my own, personal, standard, most often used "receipt" for a trance tune:

i start out with an 8 bar (8x4 beats) loop playing over and over, then i add stuff to the loop all the time.

1. kick
2. basslines
3. drums
4. fx/adlibs
5. pads/atmospheric sounds
6. synthlines

this way, i can listen to the groove and add stuff as i get the inspiration. i hear a cool effect, synthline or a good bassline in my head while listening to the beat. that way i can kinda listen to the tune's arrangement and buildup as it evolves, in only one loop..

i think the groove/buildup part before the break is the most important part of a tune, and that is what i start out with, to set the right mood and atmosphere for the tune.

hope this helps

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i used to blag it all along the way and make it up as i went along. but nowadays im more organised.

i have a projects folder, with sub folders for each month. inside each month folder are my projects for that month, arranged in numerical order by date started. all ending with version number. i used to pile everything into one folder and it became a nightmare to find old stuff and locate old project wavs. either for ideas or to recycle.

i have a lengthy pre production phase where i basically build samples, synth patches and so forth. this is on going. so if im not in the mood for writing a song, ill build a patch on my virus b instead. i wiped the entire A bank and thats where i put all my patches. the last 11 slots of the A bank are test slots. so i have multiple versions of the same patch but altered in different ways. then i just junk the crappest sounding one when i fill up all 11 slots and keep repeating the process until im only left with killer patches. then i save the best one permanantly on the A bank and delete the rest. repeat on another day with another new patch.

i build my kick drums, basses, leads, pads, effects. nearly everything on virus b these days. only other synth that gets a look in is AR bassline and imposcar. although now i use my virus b for saw wave 303 sounds.

most recently alot of the sounds at the end of my bank A are kind of oriental/sub continent'ish. i didnt intend for them to turn out that way. they just did and i started to quite like the sound of them. mixing wavetables on virus is always a bit of a pick and mix. so the last project i worked on and the current project im working on all make use of these assets and sound a bit oriental. computer music recently gave away loads of chinese gongs and stuff so im using them alot too this month.

once i have a small library of sounds that all share a common kind of theme i bung them all in a new 'wavs' folder for my current project and i move onto a short production phase. usually starting with a drum track and bassline, built out of these assets. beyond that it varies depending on the direction its going. every project ive done has always started with a drum track though :z guess i just got used to doing it that way. if you have loads of decent sound assets and a good idea of what you want to do, you can build up a track really fecking fast.

again. i used to just wing it. but then id sit for ages in front of a computer twiddling some synth sound for hours. get fed up because its going nowhere. then go and look at weird photoshop pics on SA.com.

one thing i never do now is score instruments whilst im producing. i usually either work out the main hooks for my song on guitar first or on my virus b. writing the song whilst producing i find just makes the whole process take longer and it turns into a grind. especially if you are stumped for ideas on how your tune is going to turn out.

then after that i always plan to do a length post processing phase, but to be honest i rarely get this far. and when i do get this far, i have so little practice by this stage that i almost always feck it up and the end result sounds worse.

but for me at least the key thing is organisation. doesnt matter what system you have going. you just need a system. any system. boil it down to a routine and do everything on autopilot.

i find that if i dont really have a plan or a repertoire, i tend to just piss about and get nothing done. fiddle around on a few things then get bored and do something else. make yourself a rough plan of what needs to be done. try to get certain things done by certain dates and keep your projects folder and desktop really neat and tidy and you will get more productive. makes producing music faster, easier and more enjoyable. and i think it shows in the end result.

Last edited by Derivative on Dec-02-2005 at 23:16

My successful tracks seem to stem from getting a drumloop, bassline and pad working well together. The rest just follows...

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hmmmm, ????

Don't think theirs realy a rule that you have to follow to get the best workflow. I often spend half an hour mixing whatever up and then decide it's not good enough and delete everything. Then start again, and repeat this proces about 3-4 times. If I feel i'm onto something nice, like a good melody, bassline or drumtrack I work that out more and the rest is plain sailing. Just add something if you feel it would sound good in the mix.

Once you have a bit of experience you will be able to have something in you head before you start, a big idea. And you will know what stuff to add to get this sound, if it's drums, percs, melody.... I usualy start with this good idea and work the rest of the track around it.

kind regards,

Charlie Darwin

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Music is as universal to people as breathing. We've probably been at it since before we even started talking. Immaging two cavemen smashing away at a peace of flint to make a spearhead. It wouldn't take long for them to learn te synchronise the sound. And there you have it, the words first percussive band.

Music has survived wars, famines, the plague and many other things and has evolved with man across many cultures. Dance music is just the next step in the evolutionary chain. My guess is that it will probably be with us untill we are extinced.

Alright, thanks everyone, these are exactly the kinds of things I was looking for!

nhibberd, yes I know there arent any rules, I just wanted to know if there is any ways to speed things up, like say doing the melody first before the bassline because if you dont then something wont work out. Thats basically all I wanted, was just general info on the way to do things, so that I dont end up having to scrap a song half way through because I messed up in the beginning.

You say once you have experience you will get these big ideas...what if Im getting them now...without even producing a single track...could this mean something? because whenever I try to go to sleep I often think of a sick tune, and I can "hear" the bassline, melody and pads in my head, of course its not a full song, probably only a few seconds, but it sounds good in my head...so I guess now i just have to learn to convert whats in my head and put it on the computer?

Thanks again all, I have been slacking, I will get to work on my song this weekend for sure, as all my tests but one are done this friday for school.

quote:

Originally posted by Pudelko Im fairly new to production and have a question for all you pros out there. Whats the method of production that you usually use? or do you use one at all? What I mean is in what order do you usually produce, meaning what do you start with, the melody? the bass lines? the beat? Is there a specific order that these should be inplemented in in order to speed up the production process, or do you just go at it all at the same time improving everything as you go? For me, as of right now I just create melodies that sound interesting, then try to add the beats and basslines into it afterwards. What about you?

I am extremely NOOB too but have been involved in the writing process for years. BUT now-a-days it all starts with the drums, then the bass, then the melody for any form of edm.

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quote:

Originally posted by Storyteller How I produce.. By sitting back and relax and telling my sound engineer what to do. Then I go home to feed my pet rabbit, and come back again to see if he's doing exactly what I told him to.

Wow that is great! I have an Alex M.O.R.P.H synth, I use the preset "massive trance anthem" and then render it... its spot on!

Alternatively, when I fancy getting my hands dirty I tend to work around a melody as I find percussion and bass easier that way!

i hope this helps, but its not from my experience.

Stage 1

The first thing to do is come up with a simple drum loop that’s four or eight bars long.

Fine-tune the kick drum and other beats to make sure the sounds don’t overlap frequencies.

It’s a lot easier to work with a loop at the beginning, so don’t start arranging the track till much later.

For now it’s all about building a groove, and once the drums are sorted, stick a simple bassline over the top that compliments the drum patterning.

Then add some percussion, and then run it through some plug-ins to give the sounds more character and depth.

Stage 2

The next step is to find some samples that compliment the drum pattern.

Either place samples over the top of certain drum sounds, to make your hook rhythm stand out, or in the gaps between beats to fill the track out.

This enables you bring samples in and out of the track whenever you want, and place them in specific locations.

You should also change the velocity of some samples, to make them louder when you want definition, and quieter when you want to create tension.

Stage 3

By this point you should have a pretty decent loop going, but there’ll also be quite a few effects running, so it’s important to render down some of the MIDI tracks to audio, which you can then import back into Ableton.

This means less pressure on your CPU, which should help avoid the system crashing.

With rendered audio, you can add more plug-ins like a ping-pong echo or a filter to give the sounds a different twist, and audio is a lot easier to manipulate than MIDI.


Stage 4

Next comes the main bassline.

To add definition, layer other synth patterns over the top of the bassline pattern, by copying and pasting the same parts into a new MIDI track.

This is a quick and easy way of giving a track more variety, and you can bring the new synth sound in and out as desired.

Stage 5

When the loop is finished, and there’s a diverse range of sounds going on across the whole frequency range, it’s time to start arranging the track.

This is a good time to work on EQ, and although you should be manipulating EQ throughout the beginning stages, this stage is easiest as the loop is split into arrangement parts.


Stage 6

Just use your ears!

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