Musical Inspiration & Ideas [Sound Design]

R

RuSty1

New member
I've been trying to make music for about 4 months now, made about 7 songs only one of which I liked and let people listen to (about 5 of these songs are either not finished/not mixed and mastered). I have learnt how to use Massive (watched a youtube tutorial series which was roughly two and a half hours long) and I think I've learned enough to use Ableton (I haven't gone though every single audio effect but I know what reverb is and how to use it in chains and stuff). I know enough to make a good song. Also done some music theory such as chords, basic piano stuff, diatonic chords and chord inversion etc.

But when it comes to actually making a song I just cant, every aspect sucks: Sound design, drums is ok but could be better etc. The worst part is trying to figure out what do I put in a song (types of sounds) I just dont know where to start (well I always start with drums which I guess is my only good thing but the easiest to be honest). After drums I just don't know where to go I just design some crappy sounds.

I can't stress this enough but one of my biggest problems so far in producing electronic music is ideas for a chorus and making a chorus. Even when I make the intro, pick the sounds the song starts off with and make a build up. When it comes to the chorus I'm stuck and I can never get it to sound good. There is so many different directions to take it I just can't decide. There are some choruses with just a huge synth, some that have a synth then at the end of the bar or so I dont know theres another synth or whatever (Example chorus here --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZWcYAL4zKk has some plucks or stabs then that other synth/vocals). How do you even get two sounds that sound that good together!!! Even after learning about massive and everything you can do in it I still suck at designing sounds! One of my biggest inspirations is RL Grime and his music. When searching for ideas I listen to his music but at the same time I want to develop my own sound and not copy him.

I first started DJing and then started producing music and I love doing both know it so fun but this past couple of weeks I've put a lot of work into trying to make my music better by learning music theory and Massive but I'm still getting stuck on ideas for songs(e.g which type of sounds to use, what should they sound like, how to make them sound good!), how to make a good chorus (really suck at this!) and drawing inspiration without completely copying/ripping off other artists. Any help would be greatly appreciated really love music and want to take it to the next level!
 
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The basic principle behind making a big impressive 'drop' is to withhold something essential for longer than you should and then when you put it in there's a big sense of relief and awesomeness.

The classic thing to withhold is the bass- without low frequencies things sound a lot less impressive.

Other things you could consider withholding are are instruments containing mid range frequencies or drums.


I'm thinking about doing a series of youtube tutorials on arrangement theory in electronic music, is that something you might be interested in?
 
scrapheaper said:
The basic principle behind making a big impressive 'drop' is to withhold something essential for longer than you should and then when you put it in there's a big sense of relief and awesomeness.

The classic thing to withhold is the bass- without low frequencies things sound a lot less impressive.

Other things you could consider withholding are are instruments containing mid range frequencies or drums.


I'm thinking about doing a series of youtube tutorials on arrangement theory in electronic music, is that something you might be interested in?
Click to expand...

Yes would love to see some arrangement tutorials. I understand how to hold back the bass in the intro but sometimes I'll like to bring it in just before the drop to make the build more intense. I have no problem with my drums they could be better but my instruments suck. I wouldn't mind some tutorials on making more complex drops like the example above which uses multiply instruments because I can't figure out how to do it. That type of drop seems much more complex but much less repetitive and more interesting.
 
how you compose music depends on style of music

i don't do dubstep but to me doubstep sounds same like playing drums

is when you play
kick snare kick kick snare ,
in dubstep you do
bass pluck bass bass pluck

consider that drop sound as a ride cymbal

kick - ride - snare - ride - kick- ride - snare - ride
124 bpm

bass - drop - pluck - drop - bass - drop- pluck drop

the reason you do that in dubstep is because most of sounds are too big on eq and sound best on their own but not good if played same time so you avoid hitting same time same like you dont play kick and snare same time

dubstep is so simple composition it is only the sound design which is a little tricky to get those cool growls and stuff like that
 
Laureat Ramadani said:
how you compose music depends on style of music

i don't do dubstep but to me doubstep sounds same like playing drums

is when you play
kick snare kick kick snare ,
in dubstep you do
bass pluck bass bass pluck

consider that drop sound as a ride cymbal

kick - ride - snare - ride - kick- ride - snare - ride
124 bpm

bass - drop - pluck - drop - bass - drop- pluck drop

the reason you do that in dubstep is because most of sounds are too big on eq and sound best on their own but not good if played same time so you avoid hitting same time same like you dont play kick and snare same time

dubstep is so simple composition it is only the sound design which is a little tricky to get those cool growls and stuff like that
Click to expand...

Are you referring to the example above? I listed it because I'm not quite sure how to design sounds that work that well together. I think it goes like this:

synth - snare - stab - snare - stab - snare - stab - snare
 
yeah you got it
it is the way they approach composition as if they playing drums its nothing complicated there on the notes but the sounds are complex and cool

to make sounds like that you need to learn synths like harmor and sytrus

and the more you understand the options what you can do you also become a better listener you can guess better how they are made, and you can design

like you have to know what vocal vibrato is first than you know if an artist is vibrating or not ,
 
practice, practice brotha.
just keep it up man, study some of the people you are inspired by.

the difference between good and bad musicians is that good musicians took the time and put in the work. It's usually not a magical process for most people, especially if you are playing an instrument. In many ways, a DAW could be considered an instrument.
 
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