Key to GOOD Composition

S

SoundGuy

Guest
It's too bad that so many people come into the electronic music gig, and so quickly assume that there is some sort of template or a set of rules to abide to. A lot of people will post messages wondering how to program a certain drum beat, or get a good classic phat bassline going.

While there is nothing wrong with this(we all gotta start somewhere), after a while the classic beats get boring. The moog samples get boring, the 303's get old.

We must remember that music is meant to evolve, it's for experimentation. When it comes to composing, you must compose for yourself, to fulfill your musical aspirations fully, not for the club goers and dj's. If you spend time gratifying yourself before others, your energy will be communicated through the sound of the beats. Someone will like it. Don't worry about pleasing others when writing, please yourself first.

I'll bet many of you assumed that i would reveal some sort of secret code of chord progression, and drum patterns that would make your head spin, but i havent.

My word of advice to all electronic musicians:
Step away from the template(not too far if you wish), and compose something innovative. How, you say? That is up to you. But if you find that your stuff sounds like someone else's stuff, you are steppin back in time, not towards the future. Use super duper odd uncommon samples that sound super inspiring to you.

ELECTRONIC MUSIC IS THE FUTURE, LET'S US TAKE STEPS TOWARDS THAT FUTURE, INSTEAD OF DWELLING IN THE PAST.

-SoundGuy
 
SoundGuy said:
Don't worry about pleasing others when writing, please yourself first.
Click to expand...

Hi Soundguy and welcome to ODJ ! :)

I really liked your post, so true, especially this sentence.

;)
 
"Use super duper odd uncommon samples that sound super inspiring to you."

Hey that is a hot way to say.

i-clan: "What Happen"
i-clan's less inspired viewpoints: "Someone set up us a bomb!"
 
Hehe, i meant to say use innovative, inspiring samples that are unique.

"What you say!"
"Take off every zig!"
 
Agreed.

Of course it's more difficult to do something new and still make it sound good, because you've got nothing to compare it with. When you're tweaking a weird sample, it can be quite hard to remain objective - it might sound cool at the time, but listen to it again one week later it sounds embarrassing!!

So my tip for people who try to be innovative is this: leave your track for a while, work on something else, and then come back to it to see if it still sounds cool.

Take it easy
 
BTW

I think just one, really good, original sample can make the difference between a so-so track and a wicked track (as long as it's used well in the tune).

I've got quite a lot of records which sound fairly good, except for just one element (a really original vocal sample, a weird synth, an innovative rhythm...) which makes the track really stand out!
 
i agree totally with the both of you, and i forgot to mention that in my first post. Writing music is like writing in general. Leave it alone entirely for a week, and then come back to it. You'll see a major difference.
Thanks for the feedback to the post, electronica forever!
 
i had a track which was aight and then left it for a coupla hours...when i came back the g4 was in sleep mode...AND COULD NOT BE ROUSED...awww, there was this BIT ... it was sooo good....
okay. it's alright.
good calls all round guys. and gals.
 
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