what do you compose first

ashhole

ashhole

New member
the lead?

the pads?

the drums?

the bas?

just curious as to where you guys start...me personally, since i produce trance, i'll either make a lead first or the pad and then extract a lead from the pads...
 
could be anything - each tune dictates it's own path - but generally I find that a track usually comes to me more or less fully formed - lead, chords, bass and basic drums are all present in my aural imagination and then I orchestrate and arrange the final version comes from being an old old dog.....
 
haha i hear you! everyone has their own style...i think it's easier for me to come up with the chords first...once that's down everything else is easy to extract :)
 
I personally always start with the drums, but i believe that if you have a solid 8/16 bars that you can't stop enjoying without getting bored of hearing it, then you have a potentially good track. suppose that also means that i work from the middle outwards, which is a bit weird thinking of it
 
i don't know why but i have never started with drums before...maybe i should give that a try for my next track and get the groove down first and see where it goes...and i have a 16 bar loop that i have heard so many times i am getting tired of it :)
 
I always do the Melody first. Since I always layer my sounds, it's often hard to envisage the outcome of the sound(s).

The sound outcome will then dictate the type of drums I use, i.e. whether I'll use heavy hitting 808's and kicks, or a more subtle vinyl style arrangement.
 
JC_Biffro said:
I always do the Melody first. Since I always layer my sounds, it's often hard to envisage the outcome of the sound(s).

The sound outcome will then dictate the type of drums I use, i.e. whether I'll use heavy hitting 808's and kicks, or a more subtle vinyl style arrangement.
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nice! now when you do your melodies, do you do them as single notes or chords? i find that single note melodies are much easier to layer than chorded melodies...they just sound better layered...
 
bandcoach said:
could be anything - each tune dictates it's own path - but generally I find that a track usually comes to me more or less fully formed - lead, chords, bass and basic drums are all present in my aural imagination and then I orchestrate and arrange the final version comes from being an old old dog.....
Click to expand...

I agree with bandcoach here. I, for example, start from the top throwing some compressed drums and a snare/clap combo for my first 4-8 measure mix fill. Then afterwards I bring in the fx to start my melodies usually; that's always based on chords - this allows me to figure out which scale I'm going to use for the rest of the track; then build off that.
 
GlitchFreak said:
I agree with bandcoach here. I, for example, start from the top throwing some compressed drums and a snare/clap combo for my first 4-8 measure mix fill. Then afterwards I bring in the fx to start my melodies usually; that's always based on chords - this allows me to figure out which scale I'm going to use for the rest of the track; then build off that.
Click to expand...

what bandcoach was saying comes with experience...i still need to improve on my ear training because one of the biggest problems i face now is transcribing what i hear in my head...
 
Drums/ percussion
As these are generally the most repetitive elements in EDM tracks, I feel as though the song should be moulded around their pattern/ sound
Nothing ruins a song more than when these elements fail to work with the rest of the track (My POV)
I'd suggest people start with drums/ percussion or Chords first (As I am still a noob, I think it is way easier to match a melody to chords as opposed to chords to a melody)

To each their own!
 
Melody always first for years but lately ive been experimenting a lot with layering and effects on drums so I've been starting with that.
 
Almost always starts with me making a chord progression i like and another to change to after, once i got those parts i start building everything else around it.
 
Whatever line contains the heart of the groove, usually either guitar, hi hat, bass or a synth figure if that is the type of track. No set process.
 
Either a chord progression or a mood. And both of these before anything else. Without these things I can't really say I've started anything.
 
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