V
verbal
Guest
I was wondering how most of you make a song. Could you describe the usual way you produce from start to finish? Thanks..
Verbal
Verbal
M
Mike Lobo
Guest
lets see
I dont follow any rules in creativity, when it comes great. I guess sometimes its really a matter of trying, jamming and ideas flow from there.
After geting "the" idea I normaly start layering the song and building the logic sequence. Then its fun part until the final mix.
Usualy I balance all the mix, pan, volume and eq before starting the final processing. I didnt mention about programs since I use many.
In the end I use wavelab 3 "mastering", well sometimes.
I dont follow any rules in creativity, when it comes great. I guess sometimes its really a matter of trying, jamming and ideas flow from there.
After geting "the" idea I normaly start layering the song and building the logic sequence. Then its fun part until the final mix.
Usualy I balance all the mix, pan, volume and eq before starting the final processing. I didnt mention about programs since I use many.
In the end I use wavelab 3 "mastering", well sometimes.
F
fitz
Guest
I generally start out in my sequencer whether it be cubase or the rm1x doesn't really matter.
I have a basic setup for each sequencer so that all my instruments are already mapped and "midied up". This way I can get started right away.
I usually start with drums. I have a bunch of preset drum arrangements that I made for the different kinds of music I do.
Let's say I am creating a trance song. I will load up my default 135bpm 4 on the floor drum pattern and I am all set.
From there it depends on if I have an idea in my head or if I am just going to "fool around" till I spark some creativity. If I have an idea, like some little trance lead floating in my head, I will just get right to putting it down. Many time you will find that when you get an idea down it doesn't sound quite the way you had it in your head. Such is life. But thats not always bad. You are usually still left with something musically useful.
Next I will try to come up with some variations on what I just did. This can be done so many ways. Arpeggiators, effects, midi delays, etc can help you with this. Sometimes its as easy as breaking up the pattern into pieces. Lets say you have a 4 measure arpeggiated trance lead. Take the one of the measures and play it by itself and see if it sounds good looped. If so you can repeat it and use it as a segway into your main arpeggio. Or you can take that one measure arp and use it as a bassline. Hopefully youn get my drift. The most important rule is that there are no rules. Send arps to your drum machine, use a vocoder on a bassline, use fx you normally wouldn't. It's all good when you are trying to comeup with an idea.
Next I would work on drums. Though sometimes I tend to start here as well. Drum programming can be fun and so easy. Source material is important here. Working with plain sounding drums or a GM drumset can be very uninspiring. Load up your fave drum kit in your sampler, software, drum machine, etc and even add some efects if you can. Some reverb and a bit of delay will sweeten things up right away and this can all of course be changed later. Now since i have my four measure trance lead recorded I will loop it and open up my drum editor. I will use loop/record (you can do this in almost any sequencer) and put drum hits in as it records over and over. You can keep adding and removing notes as it records so you get instant feedback as to how it is sounding. A good trick here is to copy the midi notes of the main riff, in this case our trance lead, and copy the notes straight to the drum track. This might give poor results at first but if you play around with it you not only can get a useful drumloop but one that goes well with your main riff.
Woops....gotta run. I was probably rambling here but hopefully you got an idea of what I was saying. If you want me to continue from here just ask and I will do so later.
peace all,
fitz
I have a basic setup for each sequencer so that all my instruments are already mapped and "midied up". This way I can get started right away.
I usually start with drums. I have a bunch of preset drum arrangements that I made for the different kinds of music I do.
Let's say I am creating a trance song. I will load up my default 135bpm 4 on the floor drum pattern and I am all set.
From there it depends on if I have an idea in my head or if I am just going to "fool around" till I spark some creativity. If I have an idea, like some little trance lead floating in my head, I will just get right to putting it down. Many time you will find that when you get an idea down it doesn't sound quite the way you had it in your head. Such is life. But thats not always bad. You are usually still left with something musically useful.
Next I will try to come up with some variations on what I just did. This can be done so many ways. Arpeggiators, effects, midi delays, etc can help you with this. Sometimes its as easy as breaking up the pattern into pieces. Lets say you have a 4 measure arpeggiated trance lead. Take the one of the measures and play it by itself and see if it sounds good looped. If so you can repeat it and use it as a segway into your main arpeggio. Or you can take that one measure arp and use it as a bassline. Hopefully youn get my drift. The most important rule is that there are no rules. Send arps to your drum machine, use a vocoder on a bassline, use fx you normally wouldn't. It's all good when you are trying to comeup with an idea.
Next I would work on drums. Though sometimes I tend to start here as well. Drum programming can be fun and so easy. Source material is important here. Working with plain sounding drums or a GM drumset can be very uninspiring. Load up your fave drum kit in your sampler, software, drum machine, etc and even add some efects if you can. Some reverb and a bit of delay will sweeten things up right away and this can all of course be changed later. Now since i have my four measure trance lead recorded I will loop it and open up my drum editor. I will use loop/record (you can do this in almost any sequencer) and put drum hits in as it records over and over. You can keep adding and removing notes as it records so you get instant feedback as to how it is sounding. A good trick here is to copy the midi notes of the main riff, in this case our trance lead, and copy the notes straight to the drum track. This might give poor results at first but if you play around with it you not only can get a useful drumloop but one that goes well with your main riff.
Woops....gotta run. I was probably rambling here but hopefully you got an idea of what I was saying. If you want me to continue from here just ask and I will do so later.
peace all,
fitz
D
DJ Skill
Guest
I work on an rm1x as well, but i do it differently, and probably worse 
. I start on the lead phrase(s), doing some chords or melodies with little thought until I find something that sounds cool. Then I might add arppegios, delays, etc. I leave the percussion till last, cos i hate it-it's boring. I prefer to get the percussion to fit the melodies, not the other way round. Sometimes this can really screw up though, when I have a good melody, but nothing else will go with it and I've wasted loads of time. If I have a decent melody in my head, i'll get to a keyboard asap, and try to improve it before it leaves me 
. Effects are really more of a spontaneous thing for me, not planned.
. I start on the lead phrase(s), doing some chords or melodies with little thought until I find something that sounds cool. Then I might add arppegios, delays, etc. I leave the percussion till last, cos i hate it-it's boring. I prefer to get the percussion to fit the melodies, not the other way round. Sometimes this can really screw up though, when I have a good melody, but nothing else will go with it and I've wasted loads of time. If I have a decent melody in my head, i'll get to a keyboard asap, and try to improve it before it leaves me . Effects are really more of a spontaneous thing for me, not planned.
D
DJ Taos
Guest
A good dance track should almost always start with a good drum beat... once you got that you need to make/creat or find a bassline that really locks in with the drum beat. after that I go onto chords and new progressions.... The main thing is to really work with the drum beats and the sounds in those beats as they are the most inmportant things in a dance song.
Taos
www.djtaos.cjb.net
Taos
www.djtaos.cjb.net
D
dj funkifize
Guest
well, I have actually not yet completed one whole song....
but I do have methods.
I don't make dance tracks though. But maybe some of my methods can help you anyway.
I start usually with a simple melody or chord progression that I came up with either on guitar or keyboard. I record that and basically just remix it. First I get it into Cakewalk and copy and paste it a whole bunch of times. Then I listen to it and play something on my drums. I get a drum part that I like and I get my drum part down (I don't record myself though, I copy and paste into Cakewalk from samples).
After that.... well, that's about as far as I've gotten in most of my songs (LOL). But after that, you just add what you hear. When I play that back, I hear in my head other parts that would fit well. I recreate them and put them in. Also, while doing everything else, I'll put in sound effects, percussion, scratches, harmonies. Though they don't always stay in the same spot. I may put in an effect of say a dog barking in the beginning, and later I may move it to the end.
whatever.
My method of making music is sort of haphazzard. I kinda just throw my ideas together with really no thought. (That may be why I don't have any finished tracks hehe)
Or I just put a whole bunch of things into a new Cakewalk project that I want to go together. Then I make them fit. I have several mini-disks of my playing guitar. I take samples of my playing and put them together. I also have a few MDs of conversations. A few at my cousins' house, one at my house. And I take phrases from those conversations and use those.
Man, I'm getting a bunch of ideas right now. I can't wait to get home and work on them. Maybe I'll finish a song!
but I do have methods.
I don't make dance tracks though. But maybe some of my methods can help you anyway.
I start usually with a simple melody or chord progression that I came up with either on guitar or keyboard. I record that and basically just remix it. First I get it into Cakewalk and copy and paste it a whole bunch of times. Then I listen to it and play something on my drums. I get a drum part that I like and I get my drum part down (I don't record myself though, I copy and paste into Cakewalk from samples).
After that.... well, that's about as far as I've gotten in most of my songs (LOL). But after that, you just add what you hear. When I play that back, I hear in my head other parts that would fit well. I recreate them and put them in. Also, while doing everything else, I'll put in sound effects, percussion, scratches, harmonies. Though they don't always stay in the same spot. I may put in an effect of say a dog barking in the beginning, and later I may move it to the end.
whatever.
My method of making music is sort of haphazzard. I kinda just throw my ideas together with really no thought. (That may be why I don't have any finished tracks hehe)
Or I just put a whole bunch of things into a new Cakewalk project that I want to go together. Then I make them fit. I have several mini-disks of my playing guitar. I take samples of my playing and put them together. I also have a few MDs of conversations. A few at my cousins' house, one at my house. And I take phrases from those conversations and use those.
Man, I'm getting a bunch of ideas right now. I can't wait to get home and work on them. Maybe I'll finish a song!