my own "rules" is the only thing that allows me to finish a track. without them id be looping grooves forever. definitly helping me get things done, and more importantly, delete unessesary stuff.

This seems to be a popular topic on TA...I swear I've seen this at least a few times before Oo...

It seems like the ideal thing is to experiment and find what's best for you. If you can produce better/faster with restrictions, then bam, set restrictions for yourself.

In terms of sound restriction, I would bet that the reason you hear a trademark synth from a certain producer (van dyk pikes, benni benassi bass, etc...) isn't because they've "limited" themselves to that sound, but because they love working with it, and that it's inspiring to them. I find myself occasionally going back and making something new with the same synth/sound, because it inspires me.

With regards to what elements you would make your song with, try building a "working template". I find working templates good for figuring out what sounds play nice with eachother...

A "working template" basically consists of your drumkit, bass, lead synth, and whatever other elements you'd like to work with. From here the goal is to build your beat/bass/support/melody in a 16 to 32 bar phrase... and this would be the phrase that you would want to build to in a trance track, with all of your main elements going. From there it's quite easy to decide whether or not your elements go well together, and whether or not you have a potentially good tune on your hands. Though the disadvantage is you now have to figure out how to get to this point in your song, and where to go from there. (Could possibly be even more frustrating than making a track from start to end, but again, nice for finding out what sounds work well together)

As for restrictions...Being able to pursue whatever idea pops into my head, or browse through thousands of different, interesting synths (or make my own) is the fun part. Being able to make whatever genre I want when the mood strikes, and build the song in a fashion that makes me happy are also things I couldn't live without. Hell,I've started an entire song based off a 16-bar piece of white noise that was modulated to sound like a breeze over the ocean...you can really get inspiration from anything, so why limit your own options?

And I would suppose it boils down to motive as well.

If you are looking to be popular, you absolutely will have to work within the confines of restrictions, as there is definitely a formula for what is, or isn't popular.

But if you are simply looking to make music for the sheer pleasure of it, I can't see restrictions being beneficial at all...

Anyway, in the end, it's always what works best for you, and what makes you, the producer, happy.

Last edited by theterran on Feb-25-2013 at 20:31

quote:

Originally posted by theterran In terms of sound restriction, I would bet that the reason you hear a trademark synth from a certain producer (van dyk pikes, benni benassi bass, etc...) isn't because they've "limited" themselves to that sound, but because they love working with it, and that it's inspiring to them.

realistically for most people, their signature sound is the sound that they had their biggest hit with, and now they try and re-create that over and over again.

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quote:

Originally posted by wayfinder realistically for most people, their signature sound is the sound that they had their biggest hit with, and now they try and re-create that over and over again.

Well I wouldn't doubt that either...but I bet it started out as something they liked/were inspired by and got pigeon-holed into that sound due to trademark / popularity.