how do you write?

[ugo]

do you have a particular process to your song writing? if so, can you describe it?

do you focus on a lot of details as you go along, or try to get the general structure down first?

do you tend to write with an idea or style already in mind, or do you just start working and see what comes out?

do you often get started, only to find yourself stuck after 8-16 bars? if so, do you have any tips/tricks on getting past that?

do you start with drums/rhythms or with melodic instruments?

are there particular types of sounds that you find you start/build your songs from the most often? (eg: start with pads, or leads, then grow the song from there, etc.)

do you think more in terms of layered single note sequences, or chord progressions?

anything else about your songwriting process you'd like to mention?

[Hink]

yes

[Barf]

All of the above

Sometimes a sort of Jackson Pollock 'actionpainting' approach works for me, just pick random synths, samples and trow em in there, tweak a little here and there without thinking about if its fits or not, throw some more random picked sounds in there and keep adding and tweaking randomly etc until slowly sort of a composition emerges all by itself out of the chaos...



...doesnt always work though

[sp0rk]

I usually have a chord structure in mind. I usually steal everything. For instance : I might hear a song and think 'hey that progression is neat'. Then I noodle with it on the piano and work out a few chord substitutions.

After words, I'll tinker with melodies I hear behind the chord progressions. After that, I'll think about what kind of textures I'd like and try a few things (ie, pizz striings, percussion beats, full chords or top/bottom heavy chords, rythmic backgrounds/etc), then mix it all up and just add whatever is missing

[Dominus]

I'm right-handed

[emdot_ambient]

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=153953

Depends on what I'm working on. When it's my melodic ambient stuff, I generally pick a synth and start fooling around with presets. I find one that inspires a riff, then record the riff and tweak the preset. I then build up the rest of the song up by layering parts on top.

You can hear that process quite literally in Aeolian Planes. The layers introduced are pretty much in the order that the composition unfolded. The melody was added last, though.

Another example is Behrlinesque where the first sound is a Pro-53 preset that's repeated (with minor MIDI note alterations) throughout the song. The other layers were conceived in more or less the order presented. The strings and melody were improvised overtop, with extensive MIDI note edits done after the fact.

When I get more abstract, I tend to record sections of individual instruments, then improvise over top with others. After I've accumulated a dense sound world, I then go in and work on the composition via mix alterations and MIDI automation. This can be heard in Gamma Melt 3, which includes a lot of improvised percussion and soundworld instruments. The composition was sculpted and shaped to give a sense of movement and change throughout the piece.

All these are essentially MIDI projects, all samples being played through Kontakt. However, there are some songs where I write individual parts in MIDI, possibly adding audio tracks, and then mix down to one or more stereo tracks. Once I've accumulated the stereo mixes from different Cubase projects, I then merge them all in a master project. I did this for my KVR song entry Free For All, which was recorded originally in 4 different Cubase projects, then merged in a master project.

[emumk6]

When inspiration hits, I start the record button and play until my idea has been completed. Then I add other parts, and do the editing/technical crap later. Technicality is Inspiration's greatest enemy.

[ugo]

in my case...

- i dont have any particular process i go through.

- i tend to focus on too many details instead of getting the basic song built first.

- i dont usually have any strong ideas ahead of time, so i write whatever comes out.

- i end up making a whole lot of 8-16 bar sequences, usually with multiple tracks (sometimes many), then promptly run into a wall and cant figure out where to go from there.

- most often, i start with drums/loops and build the song up from there. after the drums, im not sure if there is anything in particular i reach for most often. a pad, bass, or lead may be equally likely.

- i tend to work more with layered single note lines rather than chords. this is for two reasons: 1. my chord knowlege is weak, 2. chords take up more space in the song and i like leaving more room open for other sounds to use. another reason i do this is probably that its a leftover from my background as a bassist.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=153953

ah, cool. i missed that thread.

[M'Snah]

I'm consciously using two techniques to overcome the 8-measure block:
1) Concentrate on melody/harmony first, and NOT on FX, mixing, etc. I have quite a few 'nicely' mixed 16-bar to 8 measure songs
2) I'm learning to write Techno now, because that's mainly the same 16-bars over and over again, but with a filter sweep for a sense of dynamics and tension/resolve.

[Ildon]

do you have a particular process to your song writing? if so, can you describe it?

It'd take too long to describe in detail, so I'm going to try to shorten it to this:

Pictures/mental images/names/whatever -> what kind of feeling? -> what kind of scale? -> what key? -> what instruments to start with? -> what kind of song structure? -> compose from there.

do you focus on a lot of details as you go along, or try to get the general structure down first?

I can do it either way. It depends on my mood and how fast I need to work.

do you tend to write with an idea or style already in mind, or do you just start working and see what comes out?

Somewhere in between, kind of. I already know my sound and style, so I know what to go for when I sit down and write, but I didn't really work for my sound... it just kind of happened from spending so much time listening to Naoshi Mizuta.

do you often get started, only to find yourself stuck after 8-16 bars? if so, do you have any tips/tricks on getting past that?

Nope. Just have a general idea of where you want the song to go before you start writing and you'll be fine. No secret to that.

do you start with drums/rhythms or with melodic instruments?

It depends. Different moods and sounds call for different kinds of music. Most of the time I write everything side-by-side, eventhough it doesn't always sound like that because I use a lot of repetitive rhythms.

are there particular types of sounds that you find you start/build your songs from the most often? (eg: start with pads, or leads, then grow the song from there, etc.)

I have a thing for arpeggios. o:] It mostly depends, though. Sometimes I start with an arpeggio, sometimes a melody, sometimes drums, sometimes bass, sometimes pads, sometimes string chords, etc.

do you think more in terms of layered single note sequences, or chord progressions?

Um, both, but if I had to choose one, chord progressions.

anything else about your songwriting process you'd like to mention?

Nope.

[Amberience]

I find I can only write when I have the eyes of a Barbarian such as Conan or Condoleeza Rice burning a hole in the back of my head.

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

Things that I tend to do:

- Write a poem, then end up setting it to music
- Get an emotion, try to make a tune that represents it
- Hear a song in my head, try to make it real
- Jamming with myself, suddenly it turns into a song
- Get inspired by a particular timbre/patch on a synth, layer/build it up into a tune
- Something/someone I see, hear, or some part of a conversation sparks off a song idea

Rarely do I sit down and work from some premeditated reasoned desire to "write a song" - that just does NOT work for me at all!

[funky lime]

a friend of mine a few hundred miles away is as into recording as i am if not more so. now and then we are both on AIM at the same time and decide to hvae a "record-off" in which we set aside the next 2 hours to each record a new song. when the time's up, we both mixdown what we have and exchange our MP3s for review/critique/enjoyment.

what i like about this approach is there's a deadline; lock the door, turn off the phone, unplug the ethernet cable, pack up the bong and get going). the deadline really helps capture more raw, human takes since there's little time for getting that guitar part spot on, etc.

we've done this over a dozen times in the past several months and each time both our mixes sound better and our ideas even more fresh.

after the time limit is up, i've got a rough sketch of a new song to play around with later.

[RTaylor]

All of the above

Sometimes a sort of Jackson Pollock 'actionpainting' approach works for me, just pick random synths, samples and trow em in there, tweak a little here and there without thinking about if its fits or not, throw some more random picked sounds in there and keep adding and tweaking randomly etc until slowly sort of a composition emerges all by itself out of the chaos...



...doesnt always work though

Equal parts automatic drawing and intent. It's mostly just building on ideas that I've been working with for years though... assembling bits and pieces into something that says what I want it to. I spend a lot of time building bits and pieces as well...

[eduardo_b]

Nobody has mentioned whether they are writing for themselves or others. I write only for myself, so the accumulation of wav files that don't work together only frustrates me. I wouldn't get even this far if I thought anyone else was going to hear this stuff.