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How do you write your songs?
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Djones
IsraTrance Senior Member
Started Topics :
267
Posts :
1766
Posted : Jul 4, 2006 16:47
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I usually start with the kick and bass + some percussion, but everytime when I have this part "done", I can't find a way of how to move on.
Usually I tweak and tweak some more on the kick and bass to optimize this part, but really getting further than this is quite a big problem for me.
Many times when I listen to some tracks, I think by myself, 'that can't be too difficult to make', but when I get back behind my computer, I'm all stuck again.
Also the idea of mastering and mixing the whole song at the end is a very intimidating thought to me.
I could really need some help on this, so if you have any tips, please post 'm, if you like.
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dtd
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
490
Posted : Jul 4, 2006 17:06
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Djones, i can give only some tips i try to follow:
- divide your work into {songwriting}, {arranging}, {patch programming, sample searching, sample cutting etc.}, {mixing, polishing, premastering etc.}
- do it like in brainstorming: let your creative part of the brain work, and experiment, try out, etc. without judging everything in each step with the measure "is this now really useful for my next killer release?"
- don't loop the same section for hours and polish on meaningless details while being creative (somebody called this loopitis and it's true..), this would kill your flow and you get frustrated..
ok ppl can add to this very incomplete list  |
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Kitnam
Mantik
Started Topics :
110
Posts :
1151
Posted : Jul 4, 2006 18:41
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djones, the only way to finish a track is finishing the track. many people start to make 3 minutes of very good material but dont know how to make on with it. at this point, JUST finish it.
i go 10 steps forward and 9 steps backward:
1. brainstorming, putting in elements.
2. deleting, whats good, whats not?
3. arranging, what, when...
I DONT SPLIT the production with mixing. in my eyes mixing and production goes hand in hand. there will be a final mixing session, but this is only for details and top-production at the final-period.
i need about one month for a real good track. sometimes you are finished after 2 weeks, but listen to it after 5 days break again i will listen many things you can improve  dont hurry! only hard work earns the cup.
after all elements are produced i try to arrange it again, again and again. it ends in maybe 2-4 different arranges, always one better as the earlier one. sometimes a wrong arrange of 3 minutes are enough for a real good arrangement of 7 minutes!
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D-Alien
Oxidelic
Started Topics :
51
Posts :
619
Posted : Jul 4, 2006 19:10
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dont be afraid to delete all shit you dont like. if u have a lack of inspiration start to make some sounds, and just record them. short 4/4 sequencies or long ones. try to render the same sound diferent times applying diferent fx or automatization. later when u have an ispirational kik you'll see how usefull will be this folder with some 10-15 prerecorded own sounds.
 Sound:
www.myspace.com/oxidelic
www.myspace.com/setanicmusic
Image:
www.antumbra-studio.com |
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fregle
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
11
Posts :
982
Posted : Jul 4, 2006 20:15
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if u et stuck on something, don't try to continue, do something else, start with a completely different song, make some synth patches, sample, something like that... If u want to keep working on the song, then make breaks and variations on what u already have... Taking a break is very usefull too if u get blocked. Just never continue on what u are doing if u get stuck, it will only cause frustration!! If u don't know what to do with a song just because u don't know what to do next, then take a song from which like the structure, and build ur song with the same structure, don't be afraid, it will not make u sound like a copycat If u hear something and u ask urself how to come to an effect like that, then ask it here, or look it up in one of the sticky threads on top, the mother of all leads threads should give u ample firepower to work on leads/sweeps/backgrounds, it's all explained in quite a lot of detail in that thread. |
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D-Alien
Oxidelic
Started Topics :
51
Posts :
619
Posted : Jul 4, 2006 22:45
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yeah.. I agreee too with the above post. and onemore thing.. always ALWAYS imagine your trak on the dancefloor. Imagine you dance your music, imagine what, where, when u wnat to be surprised, where u want to fly "for hours" or where u want to be submerged into a mystic worlds.. all depends on that. where u want to take the listeners....
Sound:
www.myspace.com/oxidelic
www.myspace.com/setanicmusic
Image:
www.antumbra-studio.com |
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splinter
Splinter / Kode Six
Started Topics :
61
Posts :
578
Posted : Jul 5, 2006 01:09
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i make bass and kick and percs...then i the rest i add while sequencing...i want a synth here..i make it now...and at the end i add more details then do the mixdown |
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moriya
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
56
Posted : Jul 8, 2006 18:55
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with my fingers!! |
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moriya
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
56
Posted : Jul 8, 2006 18:56
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and my head!!! |
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Sound Surgeon
Crater / Mish-kah
Started Topics :
250
Posts :
2244
Posted : Jul 8, 2006 19:03
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I usually start with a nice idea or a sound, the rest is developing during the work. Used to start with a kickbass combo in the past, but im over that nowdays
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fregle
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
11
Posts :
982
Posted : Jul 10, 2006 18:57
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sound surgeon is absolutely right on this, and that is an evolution that i went thru too... If u always start with kickbass ur songs will always go the same way... it's better to start off something interesting (a loop that doesn't fit in another song but does sound cool for example) and then building a bassline/drums around it, ur bassline/drums will be more original, and as a direct result, the song will sound more unique between ur other songs. |
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Kaz
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
90
Posts :
2268
Posted : Jul 11, 2006 02:41
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Just say "hey, I like squeeky things. I'll make a 4 bar squeeky thing loop to go with that percussion", or any kind of theme you would otherwise want to your track.
Some pads. Experiment with a different bassline. Don't mess with delays and reverbs before you've got an idea of how the entire section is going to sound. Just continue doing cool shit. That's how good things happen.
http://www.myspace.com/Hooloovoo222 |
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Elad
Tsabeat/Sattel Battle
Started Topics :
158
Posts :
5306
Posted : Jul 11, 2006 16:36
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br0d
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
355
Posted : Jul 12, 2006 10:12
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Good thread. It's so much fun to sit there and noodle with kicks and basslines that they can often keep you from focusing on other things. The thing is, good pop music (and it's ALL pop music, don't kid yourself) is based around hooks. How much of a hook is kbbb? To anyone who has already heard the format extensively, it is NOT a hook at all, it's about as much of a hook as watching a drummer play a neat backbeat.
All of this music started out experimentally, people decided they were bored with the status quo and started noodling with things...sometimes noodling extensively, radically altering the accepted norms.
The second you get over the nagging belief that you're gonna somehow kbbb your way to international stardom (even though every other kid in his bedroom is doing the same simplistic thing, and if you don't believe me click around myspace a bit) is the second you align yourselves with the original creators of this music and their ethic, and the moment you become a true force. As proven in dance pop, you can "trance up" just about any old dumb song, so the trance is not the issue here, the fusion of trance with other stuff IS. Focus on the other stuff.
I would rather hear a really inventive track with some chords and weirdness going on, that features a kinda poorly implemented trance beat, than listen to something made by some super engineer who has figured out how to cause a saw wave to sound a little bit deeper and meaner without actually introducing any new ideas or hooks into his piece. |
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Cardinals Cartel
Black Machine
Started Topics :
191
Posts :
3097
Posted : Jul 12, 2006 15:34
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I think the most fun thing is to start with an intro
and not be bound or decisive by any kind of logic
of a bass kik or an hh .... Just current with whats
happen + your feeling and let the track begin and
go .. I truly think that there is no laws in here .. I
think each track have his own story his own begin
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