You can't teach an old synthpopper new tricks

[intro]

Or can you?

I find myself falling into the same songwriting patterns with every song I write. They all have a few things in common. For example, I always ramp up the end by changing chords but keeping one riff constant.

Just wondering if any of you could share experiences with the problem of constantly using the same old tricks, and how you combat this.

-Mark
www.djintrovert.com

[Scar Chemik]

Good topic Mark.

With my increasing understanding of Logic, I have found some ways of breaking new ground. Believe me, I was in a rut for about 7 years.

My tricks:
1. Entering beats or bass patterns by clicking them in with a mouse in the scroll view rather than playing them in.
2. Programming a really bizarre sound (external or internal synth) and then forcing myself to use it as a main sound or important part of the song. You end up writing around the sound which really opens your creativity.
3. Throwing a bunch of wierd effects onto a part of a song and trying to work around them.

Depending on what your hang-up is, you need to do different things. I always end up playing the same beats so I needed to force myself out of it.

Scar

[binaryzero]

you know an easy way to fix up some of that?

join or look around at other types of music making forums.

i belong to some about trance, hip hop, and drum n bass

you get to see tutorials, tips, etc.

try them out, might not always be to your liking but you can adapt them to suit you and bang you got a new technique.

i've added so many new songwriting tips to my work it's not even funny.

for example take a visit to spinwarp.com for some drum n bass stuff.

it just takes one idea to break a mold...

[cliffwalk]

I'll be honest with you... for me, it's all about one of three things for me:

-The instrument I'm playing on. Whether it's a piano, synth, guitar, my voice, or my arsenal of "Virtual Gear" I AM ALWAYS experimenting... I have about 100 GB of song "IDEAS" that were just me banging around, finding a fresh idea, and saving it before my trusty bad habitswcome bacl.

-Listening. You can hear new ideas in the WIERDEST of places. The web is a great place to find new ideas...

-Getting away when you find yourself NOT being creative. If you aren't being creative, and you know when you're not, do one of two things: STOP WORKING or WORK ON SOMETHING MUNDANE THAT NEEDS DONE BUT REQUIRES NO CREATIVITY. Do something different, talk a walk, get in a fight, get some, get out, get drunk, go get into whatever it is you get into that doesn't involve making music...

That's my two cents... considering I've had writers block for 31 years you may want to accept that as a disclaimer...

peace
-dave

[Joevirus]

I write for three different projects, three different styles, so I switch around alot in terms of how I compose. I always thought that music should be like a roller coaster, never knowing where the next fall or sharp turn might be coming up.

When I started out in 88, I was programming everything on a drum machine MIDI'd to a sampler. Then I got an old Mac and started using Performer. I hooked up my old Six Trak and started to really write. It was a turning point in my style and ability. I didn't sound like a kid with a couple of toys anymore.

So when the Mac crashed I built a PC. I put all the best software on it and learned it all. Now I think my music is 100% better than when I was using the Mac, and Now I can make those rollercoater rides with Time stretching audio and tweaking with plugins galore.

I hum the tune in my head, play it into the puter, and look at the song as a whole and predict where I want to put the effects, and then go from there. I'll use my IDM glitch plugins on a synthpop track to spice it up, and I'll use a line from a sytnhpop track on an IDM piece. I don't have a formula, it just comes to me. I like sampling my own trax and using them in other trax too.

Anyway, when I start think everything is sounding the same I just shut it off, pop in my Modern Girls video, and take a nap.

[David Vesel]

I always write lyrics first, so if I write in a traditional structure, the music is going to follow that. One way I've found to break out of ruts is to change my song structure into something unorthodox or less structured. Then the music can't help but be different.