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Your favourite way to compose a melody. (pg. 3)
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| xXProducerXx |
Maybe I should have created a poll regarding this topic, just to see some stats.
By now the only thing I can say is that there isn't a universal best way.
Some are inspired by theirself, some others seem to be inspired by a "solid" groove made with at least a basic rythm (let's say high hats and kick) and maybe a basic bassline.
I would be glad to see other replies. This topic is very interesting to me and, I'm pretty sure, to you all.
Thanks all |
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| cryophonik |
| quote: | Originally posted by xXProducerXx
Maybe I should have created a poll regarding this topic, just to see some stats.
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I'm thinking a better thread title would've helped as well. The subject title implies that there are only two ways of starting songs and, as we've seen here, not everybody starts their song ideas with drums or a bass line. Actually, I don't recall anyone mentioning that they start with bass, but on that note (pun intended), I do have one song that I started with a bass line - it's called 'ReActive' and I actually started it while I was playing around with a bass line on my real bass (my primary instrument) and I just recreated the bass line with soft synths, built the song around it, and added a melody, which eventually became the vocals. (BTW, it's song #6 on my myspace mp3 player if anyone's interested in hearing it). That's one of the few songs that I composed "backward" compared to my normal approach. |
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| Kismet7 |
| This indeed a question I had when I started. To answer from my discoveries, the best way is that there is no one way to start a piece of electronic music. The best way is that you have to be inspired by the sounds, rhythm, melodies that you are fiddling with, and then from there ideas can build. If you're not inspired as you are developing a sound, its hard to build a track. Sometimes i'll create a loop or pattern and craft a sound to it. I'll listen to and tweak that for a while because I enjoy that particular sound and pattern, and from there things fall together nicely, as I modularly build around my beloved first few loops. So start with sounds and melodies that inspire you to build accompanying sounds and melodies, and from there a piece will gain a direction as you start to envision where you want things to go. |
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| Nightshift |
It all depends on what you want your focus on.
This is how I do my thing, I am by no means not saying its the right way:
If you want your beat to be your focus then start with kick/bass/percs in focus on making a beat that is addicting to listen to and gets ya movin. When making more percussive-focussed tracks i tend to jsut begin with finding/making a kick and making a strong percussive loop. then work a bass around what sounds good with the percs' groove. then work the rest of the track aound the beat.
If you want to do more melodic i suggest you write a main pad theme, then write a main lead that fits with it or the either way around. but i find it easier to work with the pad first. If I am doing a melodic track i usually try working a rough draft of the breakdown section first because i feel it is one of the most important things when it comes to melodic tracks and is often overdone/underdone. then i work the rest of the track around that. |
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| xXProducerXx |
Thanks cryophonik for your suggestion, I've changed the title to make it more specific.
I have to resay, your answers are getting more and more interesting this topic.
Thank you guys, I read every answer and I'm sure everyone can learn something reading them. |
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| DjStephenWiley |
As another poster said, I always open my DAW with an idea in mind. I've taught myself to NOT open my DAW to "play around" - Just personal experience, but I learn close to nothing and get nothing done when playing around. I believe this is one of the biggest mistakes that people make.
#1. You are likely going to have a better track if its not created from messing around in Ableton.
#2. You're likely to put more effort, and not quit (finish the track), into something that you didn't discover on accident. (This isn't a rule)
Ok so what I do...
I always try to commit to a key as soon as possible. From there I go to scales and then of course chords. Notice I didn't say chord progressions...... What I do is write multiple "possible" chords that I think will jive well and use that as my basis for designing my melody, which is next. As cryophonik does, after my "main" melody or melodies, I try to write the alternative or tension relieving melodies. If the track is destined to have a big break and build, I usually insert this there as well. Next I go to kick, bass, and I'm trying to start using a limited amount of percussion while finding other things to fill the sonic spectrum during what I call the "boring beginning and end" of EDM.
I actually sat down one evening with my top 20 tracks from 2008 and my top tracks from the late 90's. I wanted to listen very very carefully and really try to figure out what changed and how I could re-capture more of that 1999 feel. The most far and away element I could find (which blew my mind that I didn't notice it earlier or have never heard anyone discuss it) is "percussion overload" with today's music. So then I went back and started listening to tracks from 2001, 2003, 2004, etc. to see how we got to this percussive overload, and, as you might imagine, it slowly and slowly kept building and eventually started turning from true instrument sounds like hi-hats into glitches and other FX. So anyway, to end my rant, I'm trying to completely eliminate any use of percussion. That doesn't mean I'm not going to use it because every song will need it, but that's the attitude I take now when I make music. No percussion unless it's absolutely needed. I've been doing a lot of experimenting to help fill the gaps that limited percussion/glitch/fx are leaving behind but I havn't had much success as all of the alternatives seem to do the same thing as percussion. Take away the late 90's sound.
But alas, I shall continue! Probably won't get any projects done lately, but I'm happily revamping my entire sound and approach to composition.
Sorry for the rant, but perhaps you could get something out of it. Maybe you should sit down and listen and think very hard about what you want to do. I think if you do this you'll find it much easier to answer your original question. It helped me a lot. Only open your DAW when you have something you're ready to sequence or if you are truly using it for self teaching purposes. Spend the time you normally do dicking around in your DAW (im assuming you do because most do) on studying and watching tutorials. You'll get far more out of that and I know there are plenty here who will agree with that. |
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| Subtle |
| quote: | Originally posted by DjStephenWiley
#2. You're likely to put more effort, and not quit (finish the track), into something that you didn't discover on accident. (This isn't a rule)
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Everything good i have ever made has been by accident. :p |
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| floyd741 |
| melody first FTW |
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| xXProducerXx |
| quote: | Originally posted by DjStephenWiley
As another poster said, I always open my DAW with an idea in mind. I've taught myself to NOT open my DAW to "play around" - Just personal experience, but I learn close to nothing and get nothing done when playing around. I believe this is one of the biggest mistakes that people make.
#1. You are likely going to have a better track if its not created from messing around in Ableton.
#2. You're likely to put more effort, and not quit (finish the track), into something that you didn't discover on accident. (This isn't a rule)
Ok so what I do...
I always try to commit to a key as soon as possible. From there I go to scales and then of course chords. Notice I didn't say chord progressions...... What I do is write multiple "possible" chords that I think will jive well and use that as my basis for designing my melody, which is next. As cryophonik does, after my "main" melody or melodies, I try to write the alternative or tension relieving melodies. If the track is destined to have a big break and build, I usually insert this there as well. Next I go to kick, bass, and I'm trying to start using a limited amount of percussion while finding other things to fill the sonic spectrum during what I call the "boring beginning and end" of EDM.
I actually sat down one evening with my top 20 tracks from 2008 and my top tracks from the late 90's. I wanted to listen very very carefully and really try to figure out what changed and how I could re-capture more of that 1999 feel. The most far and away element I could find (which blew my mind that I didn't notice it earlier or have never heard anyone discuss it) is "percussion overload" with today's music. So then I went back and started listening to tracks from 2001, 2003, 2004, etc. to see how we got to this percussive overload, and, as you might imagine, it slowly and slowly kept building and eventually started turning from true instrument sounds like hi-hats into glitches and other FX. So anyway, to end my rant, I'm trying to completely eliminate any use of percussion. That doesn't mean I'm not going to use it because every song will need it, but that's the attitude I take now when I make music. No percussion unless it's absolutely needed. I've been doing a lot of experimenting to help fill the gaps that limited percussion/glitch/fx are leaving behind but I havn't had much success as all of the alternatives seem to do the same thing as percussion. Take away the late 90's sound.
But alas, I shall continue! Probably won't get any projects done lately, but I'm happily revamping my entire sound and approach to composition.
Sorry for the rant, but perhaps you could get something out of it. Maybe you should sit down and listen and think very hard about what you want to do. I think if you do this you'll find it much easier to answer your original question. It helped me a lot. Only open your DAW when you have something you're ready to sequence or if you are truly using it for self teaching purposes. Spend the time you normally do dicking around in your DAW (im assuming you do because most do) on studying and watching tutorials. You'll get far more out of that and I know there are plenty here who will agree with that. |
Hey Stephen,
I have to admit, I often open up my DAW (usually Ableton Live, which is definitely my favourite) and start messing around with it. I think this isn't a bad thing at all, because my "artistic mind" needs to be excited by something. It doesn't occur so often to have a melody in mind to me, so a basic direction helps me a lot in making melodies. And I mean lead melodies, not just background melodies or something similar.
My way to build up a melody is often like: get a kick and a cool bassline. Improvise something and extrapolate what I like most from it. Then isolate the thing, adapt it to make it cool without accompaiments and here I have a melody which is a "lead" one. It needs some work, I know, but the results sound cool to me.
I totally agree with you for what concerns the percs overload. My thought about this is very simple: modern clubs and discos need noise. And people obviously wants the club music, you know, because that's THE music in their opinion. And it's a fact that reflects the modern society, which is built on chaos mainly.
And just to clarify, the topic is about "which way you prefer compose", and not "which way I should do it". I think I know enough about music to go on, and I think the DAWs today are so easy to use that only a newbie would need a tutorial to use them. I'm just curious to see how people work, I'm not looking for people to teach me something.And you know, there aren't tutorials to make good music. There is just everyone's mind.
Thanks for answering |
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| xXProducerXx |
| quote: | Originally posted by Subtle
Everything good i have ever made has been by accident. :p |
I totally agree. And I think every innovative/good songs was born by accident. :) |
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| Waza |
| I also agree it's just like when your having a jam session and you come up with a nice riff, and say hey thats cool i'l develop a song around the riff itself..... |
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| sixofour.604 |
Ive written atleast 30 melodies in my first and second year of production. And I put out maby 3 tracks a year. So yeah. Some of my songs are not from the initial 30 melodies, they were inspired on the spot, but alot of them pull from the bank I made.
I made the 30 or so melodies because, basicly, I didn't know what I was doing, so I was putting melodies out more frequently.
Btw, ive been producing for 7 years. |
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