Help with Remakes and Other stuff

[Drl4k3]

Hey you guys

I just wanted to know a couple of things If you don't mind please read and reply with your comments

1) How do you start making a track? Do you start with the baseline or melody? (and if you have time please describe the process) how to do you come up with creative melodies?


2) When you make remakes:
i) Do you make your own sylenth and massive... etc presets or do you have sound banks
ii)how do you find out which preset works? or where do you get your soundbanks and samples from for the song
iii) How do you find out the chords and baseline of the song you are remaking? Do you do it by ear? or do you have some techniques you could share

3) Which all websites did you use to gain your knowledge? How did you learn all that you know today? Could you please give me some good websites if you know any or some good books I could refer to?
Thanks in advance guys

Drl4k3

 

[Pumpthrust]

How do I come up with "creative" melodies? By being creative. I sing melodies in my head until I find something I like. Having a chord progression underneath helps. Melodies are not hard, people just don't understand how to approach making them and think its more difficult than it is. Whether a melody is "good" or not is up to you. There are no such thing as "creative" melodies. Melodies are just notes.

How I transcribe music? I generally do it by ear. I try to listen for anything I can recognize and then work off that. Use what you know to figure out what you don't. Sometimes you get close-other times you don't. I usually transcribe the melody first which is dead easy. The melody can "sometimes" tell you what you need to know to figure out the harmony. I also try to listen to what the bassplayer is doing-usually the bassist is outlining the chords anyways. One great common-sense tip is to try to hear any recognizable patterns in the harmony. Is it a blues? Do I hear a ii-V or ii-V-I?

I didn't learn from websites. I tried, but it was a waste of time. I did a couple of semesters of theory in college and study jazz improv with a private tutor.
A good website for the raw basics is musictheory.net