the Wisdom of Composition thread

[Shane Sanders]

Share your nuggets of wisdom on making exceptional pieces of music. It could be a technique, method, or whatever. Perhaps you have experiments that you seem to repeat which have come to define a part of your style, so you could share those.

For instance, I think radical pitch shifting is one of the most valuable and overlooked processes to use when trying to generate and regenerate "events" for use in a larger composition.

One can make a single sound yield a dozen or so usable "events", especially if your goal is ambient music. By taking the time to catalog these experiments over time, one can make a nice audio tool chest to open on days when inspiration is low.

Combining a few of these sounds takes you in a particular direction, and often just the act of trying to write something using weird material that you can't even remember making leads you back into a more fertile frame of mind. Forgetfulness can be an asset here. It seems to me that doing anything, however banal at the moment, often leads to discovery and the more joyful side of making music.

[Hewitt Huntwork]

It's funny, but I'm actually working on a songwriter's resource that has a lot to do with "Wisdom".

I will make a small contribution here...

Wisdom does not come from age or experience. It comes from being open to the truth.

When beginning a song, be open to the truth of your feelings. When finishing, be open to the truth of your ears! Make changes as necessary when the feeling and the sound don't jibe.

[visa tapani]

Whoa, that's deep. This will totally transform the way I work.

[Steven West]

Augmentation is my trick. Even 2 notes can sound amazing and inspirational when played with a cool synth, piano, strings, and piccolo's simultaneously.
Takes the listener 45-60sec's to realise it's just 2 notes, as opposed to 20-30sec to realise a showcasing progressive pop piece using 13 notes.

[Shane Sanders]

Augmentation is my trick. Even 2 notes can sound amazing and inspirational when played with a cool synth, piano, strings, and piccolo's simultaneously.
Takes the listener 45-60sec's to realise it's just 2 notes, as opposed to 20-30sec to realise a showcasing progressive pop piece using 13 notes.

Examine this notion further and see if you can report as to why this is so. Does it hinge on unique envelopes interacting, sometimes masking each other and then revealing each other. Or does it have to do with complex waveforms supporting an already compelling interval choice? Or both or perhaps some other reason entirely...

[funkynuts]

Don,t become too attatched to any one part .

The song is king and is greater and more powerful than any one constituent part.

All hail the king !

[donkey tugger]

Dynamics and layers; quiet/loud/a bit loud/quiet/loud/louder/f**king loud. Seems a lot of people are afraid to go a bit crazy with the arrangements and strip back sections of songs then go for the huge bombastic bits. Treat your own songs like you would a remix of someone elses - cut out the cancer!.

[funkynuts]

Here,s something i wrote in another thread which equally applies here..........

I,m just going to be philosophical and tell you the three things that any great producer,musician,artist or inventor have in common.....

PASSION

PATIENCE

THE DESIRE TO BE DIFFERENT

Without passion for your work it will be empty, soulless another exercise in futility.

Without patience you will never learn,grow and discover your true potential or the potential of others.

Without the desire to be different you will never know your true self but only become a poor imitation of another

Learn from others to build your foundation.

Study under the masters and work hard until you know all their secrets.

Then experiment ,

try new things,

listen to the song in your head and be true to it ,

don,t think about whether or not so and so would do this or that,

think about everything that is possible,

and impossible,

if something is impossible it may just be because you aren,t looking at it in the right way,

have an open mind

and an open heart

do not copy,

create,

let your imagination loose and

stamp your name on the universe

walk every road that has fufillment at its heart

until finally you look in the mirror and see the face of a master looking back at you.

Then grasshopper you will know the true meaning of kung fu

[topaz]

loud bit, quiet bit, loud bit, quiete bit.

radioheadcreep

smells like teen spirit to me

Dynamics and layers; quiet/loud/a bit/quiet/loud/louder/f**king loud. Seems a lot of people are afraid to go a bit crazy with the arrangements and strip back sections of songs then go for the huge bombastic bits. Treat your own songs like you would a remix of someone elses - cut out the cancer!.

[donkey tugger]

loud bit, quiet bit, loud bit, quiete bit.

radioheadcreep

smells like teen spirit to me

Dynamics and layers; quiet/loud/a bit/quiet/loud/louder/f**king loud. Seems a lot of people are afraid to go a bit crazy with the arrangements and strip back sections of songs then go for the huge bombastic bits. Treat your own songs like you would a remix of someone elses - cut out the cancer!.

Indeedi, but all styles of music do it, even classical and jaaath... It just always seems to me that a lot of more electronic stylees neglect the power of dynamics

[funkynuts]

loud bit, quiet bit, loud bit, quiete bit.

radioheadcreep

smells like teen spirit to me

Should that have been Smells like the pixies to me ?

[Shane Sanders]

loud bit, quiet bit, loud bit, quiete bit.

radioheadcreep

smells like teen spirit to me

Dynamics and layers; quiet/loud/a bit/quiet/loud/louder/f**king loud. Seems a lot of people are afraid to go a bit crazy with the arrangements and strip back sections of songs then go for the huge bombastic bits. Treat your own songs like you would a remix of someone elses - cut out the cancer!.

Indeedi, but all styles of music do it, even classical and jaaath... It just always seems to me that a lot of more electronic stylees neglect the power of dynamics

I agree. And our ability to take advantage of a wider dynamic range than ever before makes it possible to wring even more out of the notion. Not to mention speaker placement, though for me, mixing in surround sound is a long way off. I just don't have time to fool with it.

[topaz]

I was joking, dont get all muso on me now

Indeedi, but all styles of music do it, even classical and jaaath... It just always seems to me that a lot of more electronic stylees neglect the power of dynamics

[donkey tugger]

muso

Don't you f**king swear at me!

[topaz]

wa-hey.. thats dynamics kidz

muso

Don't you f**king swear at me!