Hey there,
I posed a similar issue a few days ago, and have since seen a big improvement in my own composition capability. I have a summary of what helped me HERE. Do give it a read, as in the past couple days I've found immediate improvement.
I've got loopitis. Heal me.
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- KVRian
- 1214 posts since 2 Jun, 2004 from Québec, CANADA
yep! this is it!iDumi wrote: Dnb started as this very experimental and original genre and now it's formulaic and you have to make your track a certain way, in order to meet expectations. I think that limits my creativity a great deal.
this is true of all genres, but it became quite bad in my opinion with electronica genres, witch really became a limiting formula for creativity.... can you make genre-less electronica for a while?....
if you think of it, adhering to a style is a kind of facism (it is to me anyway...) these are rules I do not want to follow!
..but apart all that it is true that making a B part from a given loop is something that is not made easy with the current software... try a different set of chords on the same beat?
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- KVRAF
- 1595 posts since 17 Nov, 2007 from Seattle, WA
Ehh, i disagree with the above, and some other posters, regarding electronic music and the restriction of creativity. I love drum & bass too, and it's obviously got some huge genre conventions going for itself, but that's just the terrain of that style music. Other genres and sub-genres, like certain styles of jazz or blues or hip hop, have strong conventions too. There's lots of new and original things you can do with it, and the popular artists prove it with many of their popular releases.
My impression is that you're getting pulled in multiple directions, stylistically & musically. You have a love of D&B and it's elements, but also a love for things that run counter to it's genre conventions, perhaps. This isn't a constraint on creativity, or even necessarily and indication of frustration with a genre. It's what happens when you want to make music in conflicting styles. Hell, imagine trying to put a gnarly D&B reese in the middle of a house track. I'm sure there's some way that it could sound cool, but I sure haven't heard it!
Maybe you'll find a way to make your directions work, who knows.
...Hmm i think I lost my point in all that typing, maybe someone else can figure it out. heh.
My impression is that you're getting pulled in multiple directions, stylistically & musically. You have a love of D&B and it's elements, but also a love for things that run counter to it's genre conventions, perhaps. This isn't a constraint on creativity, or even necessarily and indication of frustration with a genre. It's what happens when you want to make music in conflicting styles. Hell, imagine trying to put a gnarly D&B reese in the middle of a house track. I'm sure there's some way that it could sound cool, but I sure haven't heard it!
Maybe you'll find a way to make your directions work, who knows.
...Hmm i think I lost my point in all that typing, maybe someone else can figure it out. heh.
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- KVRAF
- 2097 posts since 8 Feb, 2003 from Nearish Detroit, MI
About a year ago I read "The Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook" (Amazon link) and I have to say that the suggestions in there were really practical and useful.
GLHF! (Gandalf Lives, Hobbits Forever!)
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- KVRer
- 11 posts since 13 Oct, 2008
As I see it, "loopitis" is just a lack of direction. What is it you are trying to achievie with your music / song?
First you really need to listen to lots of music. But you have been doing it your whole life, right? Well, you need to listen to it with ears tuned to structure and little brakdowns, variations and general way sounds and parts blend into each other. That way, when you start your song, you know where it can go. That doesn't mean you have to copy other peoples tricks, just observe the relationship between different sounds, how adding a sound changes the feel of the whole.
As someone said before, it is good to decide in advance on a direction your song is taking. First how long will it be. Where the breks and the peak are going be. How many distinct parts / melodies it will have. Then fill the spaces with the loop or loops you have for the parts. By listening to that, you will automatically realise where you need to add variation and where you need to shorten/stretch parts.
Use only the best parts, don't be reluctant to get rid of the parts that are not top notch in your oppinion.
Learn to trust your judgement. The best way is to render all the little ideas for sounds in your loop. Record your noodling on a synth you are using for say bass or lead using midi keyboard (as, you should have guessed by now, you need it). When listening back to those waves, you will spot nice bits, and probably at once find a place for them in your arrangement. It will make you feel good, that it was you who made them sounds. Just play with all the sound in this way and you have a bunch of cool original bits to drop into the song.
By the time you fit those bits in, your song will be almost complete.
There is a faster way. Sell a song you havent written yet to someone and they will set a deadline for you.
Then see what you're made of. Work under pressure does miracles to arrangements. All is fair in love and music production!
P.S. and yeah, it is hard work
First you really need to listen to lots of music. But you have been doing it your whole life, right? Well, you need to listen to it with ears tuned to structure and little brakdowns, variations and general way sounds and parts blend into each other. That way, when you start your song, you know where it can go. That doesn't mean you have to copy other peoples tricks, just observe the relationship between different sounds, how adding a sound changes the feel of the whole.
As someone said before, it is good to decide in advance on a direction your song is taking. First how long will it be. Where the breks and the peak are going be. How many distinct parts / melodies it will have. Then fill the spaces with the loop or loops you have for the parts. By listening to that, you will automatically realise where you need to add variation and where you need to shorten/stretch parts.
Use only the best parts, don't be reluctant to get rid of the parts that are not top notch in your oppinion.
Learn to trust your judgement. The best way is to render all the little ideas for sounds in your loop. Record your noodling on a synth you are using for say bass or lead using midi keyboard (as, you should have guessed by now, you need it). When listening back to those waves, you will spot nice bits, and probably at once find a place for them in your arrangement. It will make you feel good, that it was you who made them sounds. Just play with all the sound in this way and you have a bunch of cool original bits to drop into the song.
By the time you fit those bits in, your song will be almost complete.
There is a faster way. Sell a song you havent written yet to someone and they will set a deadline for you.
Then see what you're made of. Work under pressure does miracles to arrangements. All is fair in love and music production!P.S. and yeah, it is hard work