Creation process: How you do it?

[~redchurch]

Lately I've been thinking about the songwriting and recording process and I'm curious as to how some of you go about this.

I've tried different ways: Sometimes I write out all the parts sequenced MIDI, sometimes I simply do a drum part then write an accompanying guitar and bass part. Sometimes I write each individual part for the entire duration of the song, then write the next one this way as well...

I guess I've been thinking about this lately because I seem to have more fun when I just sit down with the drum machine or synth and sketch out little parts. I seem to have the worst/most frustrating results when I conciously go about sitting down and forcing material to come about. It seems the best of my work comes from musical 'sketching' or 'doodling' on various instruments.

I've also thought about how the song creation process relates to that of my job (level design for computer games). There are many similarities between the two mediums in terms of how I feel the most fullfilled when I go about creating something. For example in the level design creation process I often get the most satisfaction out of creating one area or 'scene' of a level and detailing that out and making it very satisfying before I move on to a new 'area'. This seems to be the way I enjoy making music as well by focusing on all the parts of a verse of a song before moving on to others. The problem with this method of creation in both mediums is that it often excludes consideration of the piece as whole and gets too microcosmically stuck on just a single part... can't see the forest, too much time spent scrutinzing individual trees. :)

Anyway, sorry for the long ramble. I'm just curious how some of you go about the creation process.

[NoirTech]

Interesting subject. On the songs I've written, I have always started out with the bassline. I actually try to complete the song with the bassline, and a simple drum track from beginning to end. Then I go back and start adding the other layers of the music. Finally, I add an actual drum track to the whole song.

[~Quixote Chapter]

I generally start with a riff or drum track that inspires me and then build up from there. What's helpfull fo me is to not be too critical during the writing faze and to not over produce from the start. With our medium there are so many options and ways to make a sound different that it's easy to get caught up tweaking a snare hit for hours, and this can hamper the writing process. I typically write choruses first and then the verses which gives a song a more cohesive sound, IMHO.

-Kevin

[~epsilon minus]

I typically do drums first, or drums/bassline together, and then add layers until I get bored/sick of listening to it.

The quirk of my sequencing process is that I program while the track runs, ie: I hit the rewind key and click in or copy/paste in the next few notes before the head returns to where I was. I do things a little more spontaneously that way. I think this probably annoys the hell out of my roommate, because it sounds like a broken record that won't stop. (but it pays of in the end when it results in a HIT RECORD THAT WON'T STOP HAHAHA... sorry)

[~pop]

It all depends on the music. I have different formats.

Pop Song....
1. I write everything on the paper before I go to the computer.
2. I write chord progressions down. Very basic stuff...
3. From the root chords, I form a bassline. Bassline forms
a drum line.
4. I record the basic vocal tracks.
5. I figure out the vocal melody.
6. Write the melody track

Dance/EBM/TECHNO
1. I go to five different studios. I collect sample loops using
old step programing analog tools.
2. I named them with chord progression or scale.
3. I save them in rex or acidized file.
4. When I ready to write a dance music, I have access to 10 gigs
of loops that I have made. Once I got basic idea from loops,
I add more midi track or live tracks.
5. Pure production... Editing until dance groove exist....
6. Write vocal melody.
7. Sing vocal melody.
8. Remove vocal melody track. It makes it less danceable when
too much melody exist.

[~devapor]

Originally posted by djstargazerX
i usually go into the bathroom with various issues of Keyboard magazine and by the time i get done with my massive dumps i have a few ideas of what to do and then i go into my vast studio of synths and start churning out all the sounds i learned how to do from the magazines.

but thats just me.

i do think there are a couple threads you could read where musicians talk about making music in one of the other forums... do a search.
this is ridiculous joel you dont do a damn thing,anyways i am not a great musician but i like to work from the inside out with software and when me and one of my old croonies were doing stuff with hardware i would do drum pattern,bassline,fillers,synths,samples and finish (but i am just a hobbiest no records out or nothing like that)

[~intervox]

About half of the time, I usually hum the vocal hook first, the melody. Then, I'll write the chord progressions out (it's the music theory background in me, lol!). Then I'll write the drums, then bassline, then all the fillers (chords, ambience, etc) and the lead lines last. Then I'll find the right words to go with the hummed vocal melody and that's it.

The other half of the time, I'll throw everything at the song, drums, bass, loads of layers, leads, etc, and then slowly start to take away what doesn't quite fit until it sounds right. Then, I'll come up with the vocal melody on top of the song.

[~cliffwalk]

This gets complicated for me because I'm starting to evolve this...

When I first started writing music it was me, a piano, some scribbled lyrics, and a basic idea on how to write down the chord progressions... then I'd assemble the band and we'd jam on it until we had a song.

Then I went to music school. I started to notate everything first... Actually almost always I'd end up working out the chord progression first. Whether alone or in an ensemble of some sort I usually had a pretty good idea what I wanted... BUT... it wasn't very creative...

Then I left school, stopped making music, and had a bunch of ideas start to fill my head up that I'd just sort of listen to in my head for 5 or so years... (actually, it's really more like 7)

THEN, I got back into music, totally solo, and had to learn a million things about how to work my home studio as well as work almost strictyle with electronic gear... I did everything from record vocals with FX already in place to capture the "mood", to layering melodic ideas over top of each other to create "Ambience", to blah, blah, blah, blah.... Jammed on a groove for a while... blah blah... blah...

Now that I've learned a million things and learned what I need to learn I'm back to manuscript, paper, and a head that knows what i can make happen in the studio...

It's a vicious cycle ... the KEY is something I fail at more often than none:

CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE YOU >>FEEEEL<< CREATIVE or you will have trouble getting your mind somewhere vital.

Dave

[~pop]

One other method is keep on saying,
"I LIKE CANDY...."
THEN.... THINK ABOUT THE CANDY....
I (A) Like (A) Candy (B).
I like Candy and Popcorn
(Cmajor) (Fminor)

Now, everyone....
I LIKE CANDY AND POPCORN.....
ok.... i had too many ginger candies....

[Synthpopalooza]

Ok ... here's the process which goes into creating a Synthetik FM track:

Many times I will start off with a kick drum and bass line and write from there (which is how "Technology" came out) ... sometimes I will have a concept in mind, like maybe an EBM type club tune or a synthpop ballad. Based on that, once I get the rough ideas down, then I work on chord progressions for the verses and choruses, add in a good bridge, and work on how I want the song structure arranged. Lastly, I make sure I have the instruments I want.

Then comes the technical aspect: Save the song to my Atari ST sequencer, record individual tracks of the song to my Philips Music CD-R recorder (adding in a 4 beat click on hard-to-synch tracks like pads) and then burning the CD-R. The CD-R with the individual tracks later goes onto my PC laptop for assemblage using ACID 2.0.

Another interesting aspect of the most recent Synthetik FM and remix material is that no drum machines and samples get used. It's just a particular style I am trying to emulate. All percussion and instrumentation is 100% synthesized. For one thing, I realised my Alesis HR-16 drum machine has some pretty terrible sounds (plus it is acting flaky on the line outs) ... so apart from laying down temporary tracks, or maybe using it as an engine to trigger other sounds, I don't use it much anymore.

[~pop]

another method is i sit down with the beatup acoustic guitar and strum some chords that I know. if i get a good riff that i feel something, i start singing and write some stuff down.
sometimes, it feels great to get away from electronic gears when you write.... sometimes, i write while i watch a movie. it always gives me some unique topics to write about.....

[~intro]

I usually run a drum machine and start cycling through sounds on my synths, banging away at keys, until something catches my ear. Then I'll quickly record it and start building up a bassline around the melody and drums. But, it's not very effective. I feel like I'm kinda stumbling around in the dark.

-Mark
www.djintrovert.com

[~NullDevice]

You know, I've never actually thought about how I go through the process. I've had tracks evolve from basslines, I've had a drum pattern become a song, I've sometimes started with a vocal melody, or a chord progression...

It's all coming from some small idea that expands over time. Like Bogart, it's kind of a "add stuff until you're sick of it" or, more often "Add stuff until you feel it's done."

Terribly unscientific.

Sometimes I add stuff and then take away other things. I had one track that started with a whole lot of stuff - synths aplenty, noises, drums, sort of a barrage of sound. When it was done it was probably the sparsest arrangement on the album.

[~chriswdc]

I change the process all the time. What I have noticed, however, is that my best work starts with a vocal melody. I usually record the vocal melody on piano. Then, I test and build my chord progressions.

[~fen]

creation process...whatever are u talking about? now that would be telling.....
be seeing you....

[~pop]

sometimes, best way to write is to be very illogical.....
i shouldn't share this info, but
i made myself a perl script that cuts up text in a rapid format
throw it up on my computer screen.
i grab a piece of paper and start writing what i think i saw.
once i written random stuff down,
i try to rearrange them to form a meaning
while i have little piece of loop of music going in the background.

[~David Vesel]

I start by writing the complete lyrics, including all of the song structure. Then I let it sit for a few weeks. I occasionally pick it up and read it over a few times. Eventually, a melody begins to formin my head around the lyrics and general thoughts about a chord progression. At a certain point, I may begin to hear possible beats and percussion as well. I usually get to the point where I can hear the entire song in my head.

After a couple of months, I'm usually ready to sit down at the keyboard and begin working. I'll start with a basic bass line, and then add the bass drum and snare on top of it. Then I'll begin experimenting with different pads and leads. Sometimes I'll temporarily put the vocal melody over the top with a synth lead. From here, I'll do a lot of iteration. Most parts get redone a couple of different times -- bass, percussion, pads, leads, etc.until it evolves into something fairly close to what I want. For sound selection, I usually just use presets.

Then I take the melody part off, do a basic mix to a CD, and listen to it in my car for a couple of weeks. During this time, I make a mental list of the things that I like and don't like, and I also pretty much figure out what I need to do vocally. If I need to change the key for any reason (e.g. I've written the melody too high for my voice) I also make a note of that.

Then I go back into the studio. Usually, I don't need to do too much to the music other than tweaks, but if something comes up that I decide just isn't working, I'll redo parts. I'll also experiment with the sounds I'm using, tweaking some and completely replacing others.

Then comes the most harrowing part, dealing with vocals. If my voice is "on", it may take only three or four hours of an afternoon. If not, then it's usually a waste of my time to try to force it.

After vocals, I make more of a serious effort to mix it, and burn it to CD again. By this time, I'm just looking for mixing and mastering tweaks. I go back to the studio, fine tune the mix, then EQ it, add some light compression to "unify" the recording, and save it to WAV and MP3. One final CD burn where I listen to it off and on for another couple of weeks, and then I'm usually pretty sure by then if it's done. Usually by this time, anything that comes up is minor and is easily fixed by mixing it again. Sometimes I'll decide that a part of vocals that I thought was okay before turned out not to be after repeated listens and I'll go back and spot-redo vocal passages, then repeat the above again.

Eventually, it's "done", more or less. I upload it to Ampcast, or else set it aside to include it in the next album.

[7red7]

I tend to start with a basic lyric in my head, usually a bridge or a chorus, I almost always start with the chorus an work around it...I'll have an idea of what I want it to sound like, maybe something as simple as a riff or some particular percussion...

I take that idea and start writing lyrics around what I have in my head...Once I have a couple verses or something tight enough to comfortably work with, I'll start programming the drums, and a bass synth riff and go from there...Layer upon layer, until it's done...Vocals come in last cause I tend to do a lot of re-writing as the music is pieced together...

I'm only about two years into actually making music and I don't exactly have anything more than a bedroom studio setup, but it's a lot of fun working everything in real time piece by piece :)

[~Jupiter 4]

Not exactly an artist, but, it usually will start with chords, or plinking about with a noise that I like...then adding the drums from there, and the bass.

Then I realize its been done before!

[~Gaia13]

I sample alot from mic's with tapes and minidisc, and cut things up in my sampler, or in cubase, and get a bunch of cool sounds. I program my synth. Then as I play around, music forms.... And I distill my soul.

listen to some of my tracks, tell me what you think....

www.gaia13.com

---Gaia13---

[~MidiRipper]

It's usually 1 of 2 ways for me, but not always.

1. I sit at the keyboard and start improvising, If I like what I'm doing, I hit the record button on the sequencer (which of course I should be recording from the get go, but I always wind up playing some tune I haven't played for awhile just for the fun of it). At any rate, I playback what I like, jot the chords down, re-do it in time, then build from there. I'd like to start a melody from that point, but I usually tend to start layering instead. Oh well.

2. I hear a melody in my head, then I record it, and build chords around that. I love it this way, but in the real scheme of things in my world, it is pretty much rare for me.

There are other approaches that come to play at times, like having the percussion down first, etc. But the two mentioned above is what generally happens when I "consciously", have an inkling to compose.

'Ripper

[~Roswell]

Roswell usually follows a similar pattern, by default, for each song.

First, I write the lyrics, and give them to Alex, who will then create the skeleton of the song with just acoustic guitar and vocals. This, I think, is the most important part of the process, because all else that follows it (all the drums, synths, samples, etc.) will be determined by where the emphasis is placed in the original song. Once I’ve got that, I’ll go to my machines and focus on where the weight of the song should fall, (i.e. a strong, driving verse that pushes quarter notes, or a slow, half-time feel chorus). It’s usually drums and bass that are the first to go down, because I like to keep them in sync, and I arrange them as such so as to eliminate further reference to the original guitar-vocal demo for that particular part. All else falls into place after that, because by now I’ve got a good idea of what’s appropriate for the particular context and what isn’t. The sounds created on the synths have to have their place because I like to think of each sound as a personality; each giving their own interpretation of the song. So, if one ‘personality,’ or, sound is off the topic, I cut him out. But I wouldn’t censor too much, because you’ll have to back up your point…

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Randy