How do you usually come up with music?

L

Lehoo

New member
Your Method/Approach

How do you guys usually come up with songs? Is it usually on an instrument; with your software (adding additional layers of sounds, notes, etc while the rest of the music is streaming); a combination of these, other? I'm not saying any of these have to be a rule for anyone, I'm just interested which method usually works for you. With me its usually on the keyboard, either experimenting with chords, or trying to stumble on a riff or melody. When i use software, its to work on ideas created beforehand. And if i do try to come up with something on the comp without an instrument (perhaps out of laziness), I usually end up with music substantially different from my piano stuff. Another question, do any of you ever get musical ideas out of nowhere; do you hear music in your head?
 
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i hear music in my head all the time, its just that when i do hear it in my head im not at home, im at work, or im sleeping (if u can believe that)
so its hard for me to remember when i do get to my computer exactly what i heard in my head at that particular time
 
xtrordinare said:
i hear music in my head all the time, its just that when i do hear it in my head im not at home, im at work, or im sleeping (if u can believe that)
so its hard for me to remember when i do get to my computer exactly what i heard in my head at that particular time
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:D
welcome to the club mate. I also get the best ideas when I'm far away from anything music related. I've got a lil voice recorder on my mobile. The sound's really wack but good enough to recall the idea once I'm back at an instrument.

easy
B#
 
Just comes to me melodylines, sometimes just hooks to i lay em down. Once you understand instruments work well together making just the beats become kinda simple. If you got some old records around listen to em study em. Might even get inspired from em.
 
Most of the time it just comes to me. I've got some words to songs that I'm putting to music. I can't record vocals at the moment so I'm just using another instrument to take place of the vocals at the moment. Usually having lyrics written down helps me to remember the overall direction I want to take the song, then I just take the idea and run with it.
 
Usually just start by playing 2 notes and find ways to connect them. There are alot of ways to approach finding melodies. It just sucks when you can't remember something you heard in your head all day. So many ideas lost that way.
 
Cache90 said:
... It just sucks when you can't remember something you heard in your head all day. So many ideas lost that way.
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Yep, that usually isn't a good feeling. I even wrote a song about it. With me tho its laziness too, sometimes. I get sick ideas right when i'm falling asleep or have a hangover - situations where the last thing i want to do is go to the piano or even pick up a voice recorder. :D
 
I make a point to always buy cell phones w/ voice memo recorders ;)

And I usually just play a beat and play some notes over it untill I get something catchy... then switch it up a bit. But yea, my cell phone has saved many an idea, although not all make it back to the studio :cry:
 
I am wack as hell when I actively sit down and try to create. But fortunately I am blessed and Single with my own place so when my best ideas come (usually at 3 a.m. while sleep) I get up knock em out in like five minutes, go to sleep, then review in the morning to make sure what I did was not wack.
 
pound away at that keyboard, buy an instrument and practice it whenever you can sing to yourself in the shower you'll come up with something and convert what you hear into notes on the computer
 
it'd be great if someone came up with a way to somehow plug my brain into a sequencer (like the matrix style) or whatever cause i hear music in my head, and its hard as hell to get down quick enough. but yeah, sit at the piano, or if stuff comes to me when im out, i use the voice recorder in my trusty fone
 
Like many people hear, what I consider to be my best musical ideas often seem to develop spontaneously in my head (often after I have been listening to a lot of music). This is despite the fact that I can competently improvise on keys, trumpet and guitar. By the way thanks for the tip on using a cell phone to record ideas. I'll be using that. Like many others I'm sure, I've found that it can be quite a daunting task to distill or extract what I want from my recorded ideas, especially when the contents of those recorded ideas often contain many variables. For instance the recording may contain both 'tonal' and so-called 'non-tonal' elements. Something I have been keen to try is to use some sort of spectral analyzer to analyse and extract the technical data that capture's what I am looking for. Then after that has been done to input that data into some kind of synthesizer or sampler etc. able to be manipulated in such a way, and in doing so tweak any parameters possible within the various applications (programs) to hopefully come up with a sound design that is in some way true to the sound design that I am looking for.
I haven’t actually tried this yet, but was thinking of exploring the possibilities within such programs as Wavelab for the 1st part of the idea and maybe Reaktor for the 2nd (or more adventurously perhaps some of the Spectrasonic modules such as Trilogy and Stylus if possible).
In a way I guess I am articulating a possible way to "somehow plug my brain into a sequencer" as MdM desires.
Has anyone tried such a thing?
Does anyone know what applications might be suitable for this?
Or, am I seriously dreaming on this one?

Cheers,
Dubs

Like many people hear, what I consider to be my best musical ideas often seem to develop spontaneously in my head (often after I have been listening to a lot of music). This is despite the fact that I can competently improvise on keys, trumpet and guitar. By the way thanks for the tip on using a cell phone to record ideas. I'll be using that. Like many others I'm sure, I've found that it can be quite a daunting task to distill or extract what I want from my recorded ideas, especially when the contents of those recorded ideas often contain many variables. For instance the recording may contain both 'tonal' and so-called 'non-tonal' elements. Something I have been keen to try is to use some sort of spectral analyzer to analyse and extract the technical data that capture's what I am looking for. Then after that has been done to input that data into some kind of synthesizer or sampler etc. able to be manipulated in such a way, and in doing so tweak any parameters possible within the various applications (programs) to hopefully come up with a sound design that is in some way true to the sound design that I am looking for.
I haven’t actually tried this yet, but was thinking of exploring the possibilities within such programs as Wavelab for the 1st part of the idea and maybe Reaktor for the 2nd (or more adventurously perhaps some of the Spectrasonic modules such as Trilogy and Stylus if possible).
In a way I guess I am articulating a possible way to "somehow plug my brain into a sequencer" as MdM desires.
Has anyone tried such a thing?
Does anyone know what applications might be suitable for this?
Or, am I seriously dreaming on this one?

Cheers,
Dubs
 
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Lol, I use the voice recorder on my RAZR, works well enough, and it's always in my pocket.
 
Usually I start with the bassline and build around that. This gives me the "backbone" of my song and then I build around it. Having the bassline down first allows me to make my drum-sounds fit to it, instead of conforming my bassline to my drums.

Also I tend to let my songs almost compose themselves. As the composition progresses, new ideas that would not have come up start to take shape.

After the main meat and potatoes of my song is laid down I work on arrangement, then I come back and "go in". This is all he details such as subtle changes in my drum patterns, adding extra supporting synthlines, and sound fx.
 
Usually I'll just sit at my computer, and the style/samples that I choose are usually choosed by my mood. Then when I start to compose, that's where my mood plays the biggest role. If I'm upset, dissapointed, ****'ll sound like pure mayhem.. For instance, my last beat The End. I was pissed at a certain someone, found a good violin sample, and **** just flowed out of my mind. That's usually how it hits me.
 
I come up with a melody and build around it. I keep everything in the same key. So once I come up with melody, it becomes easy to figure out what notes I can use to accompany it.
 
I just pound away at the keyboard until i find sumthin i like. I put it inthe computer and play my keyboard with the loop i created. I add as much as i can and I push the beat as far as I can go. I usualy do this repeating 4 bars then after I have what I want i structure in verses and hooks intros and outros which generate more ideas.
 
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you can also pick a rhythm loop just to start exploring on the synth or the bass over it. or even playing a song on the background, beat match it and play over it while recording. Then after you recorded for like 1 or 2 minutes, it's time to organize the midi parts! :) it's like brainstorming!

Hope this helps!

AQU4MAN
 
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