"Workflow" to write music

[Ghost Snake]

1st of all I apologize for the dumb title ...

I'm an occasional synth twiddler who would like to improve his "track-making" skills, but always ends up with unfinished song structures... Due to frustration in the process... I'd like to make melodic electronic tracks (John Carpenter/ Tangerine Dream) that usually rely on drums,bass arp, pad and melody.

Being primarly an acoustic guitar player, I've got no troubles at all with my typical "craft" :
I start with 4 bars, and slowly develop them until I have a structure. It's so straightforward.

But when creating music in a DAW (Cub) somehow I go crazy....

"Where should I start ?
Should I create a midi or instrument track ?
Which channel ?
Wait, let's put reverb on a send ...
Let me record this keys part....oh, man, Cuby ate the first chord ! Should I hard-quantize everything ?
Uhmm maybe I should just write my parts with the mouse....

Yeah, good job making everything sound so mechanical ..
Let's try retrospective record then..... Cool ...I'll keep this take (even if the first chord is missing lol) "

This is my typical mindset..... The thing that I despise the most is seeing the music I'm recording "written" in lines on the arranger screen.... It gives me terrible performance anxiety for some reason


Does anyone relate to this feelings ?
I've tried Reaper but its midi features felt a bit clunky and limited.....

[OzoneJunkie]

When I used to write on the one synth I had (hardware, a Kurzweil K2000RS), I would hit record in Cakewalk (this is going back before that DAW even had audio, was just MIDI). I'd improvise. Then I'd find another patch, hit record (so, track 1 is now playing). I'd improv on top (maybe at the beginning, maybe later in the track). I'd repeat this a few times.

I'd come back a few days later and listen. Sometimes the whole thing was a wreck. Sometimes it had a couple gem moments. Sometimes there was a whole track there, and it just needed to be cleaned up (quantizied, fixed bad notes, etc). That cleanup might take hours, way longer than the actual writing/recording of the track.

It worked for me at the time, and I think it actually could work well for certain types of music. I don't write this way anymore, but maybe should give it a go again.

One main point was to not get hung up while in the moment. Writing isn't about tweaking for me, not when I'm in the zone.

[choochcat]

I'm always interested in the different ways people make music. I've done stuff with people that have an entirely different approach to me, and that can be really rewarding or just terrible.

The one thing I'll consciously do is to try to make a separation between drafting, crafting and editing, which is what I also try to do in other vaguely creative activities.

I'll try to get something down quickly, then rewrite it or rework it, then polish it. Getting sucked into the polishing bit leads to never finishing, for me, mostly because that's the bit that tires me out. It's unjenoyable and hard, and so I ration my time on it. An hour here, an hour there.

The middle bit is what I enjoy most - mostly stripping parts away, thinking about how the parts work together, and trying to make space or development in the arrangement. At some point I have to say 'good enough', otherwise my natural inclination is to do this for the rest of time.

I often start the first stage with something that's not a new idea - take a small section of something old, play something over the top of it, change the feel or the tempo, then throw away the old thing.

[bitwise]

Let me record this keys part....oh, man, Cuby ate the first chord ! Should I hard-quantize everything ?

If you start playing one bar after the recording has started, you don't miss the first chord. If it ends up in the first bar, edit the note and move it to the second bar. When you're done you can even remove the first bar.

[vurt]

re not liking seeing it being written as you play : minimise window or open mixer view/vst gui?

[Ghost Snake]

When I used to write on the one synth I had (hardware, a Kurzweil K2000RS), I would hit record in Cakewalk (this is going back before that DAW even had audio, was just MIDI). I'd improvise. Then I'd find another patch, hit record (so, track 1 is now playing). I'd improv on top (maybe at the beginning, maybe later in the track). I'd repeat this a few times.

Cool, sometimes it's just the simplest thing that does the trick. I'm probably over-complicating things due to being "out of shape" from a compositional point of view . Sometimes too many options are overkill. I'm also wondering, why is the creative process rarely discussed, compared to production - mixing - sounds ? Is it something that people just take for granted, or maybe it is a very personal and individual thing, like everyone has a different approach ?

[jancivil]

Well… the ‘put reverb on a send now’ distracting from getting your 4 bar segments going is scatterbrained stuff, lack of organization…
It is a terrific lot to have all before you at once. I stared at Cubase for a long time intimidated. I finally realized editing was the compositional modus operandi a Cubase afforded me tape really did not, except in a much broader sense, cutting together whole pieces of music. So except for rare situations with a clearly different m.o., all composing I’ve done for 15 yrs or so was in Key Editor, the piano roll.

Instrument track vs the F11 rack and create MIDI track: traditionally the Instrument Track wasn’t used by those of us who have multiple tracks/events/parts up in Key Editor simultaneously, as these will be distributed to multiple ports and channels (EG: to one multitimbral instrument global channel = Any with its individual instruments 1-16) AFAIK they made some changes to Instrument Track, which used to allow no control over channel, even. but RTFM!

Your sound design is a wholly different job from “writing” & recording your segments, if you are not already someone who has a workflow where the two are integrated organically, such as live improvisatory synth performance (the opposite pole of 4 bar segments on the Arranger page). Even so, the sound design of your mix is a separate hat any way you cut it. So either hold off until mixing, or design your soundstage first. I do the latter, as the ‘musical ideas’ portion of our show is informed by the sound of the instrument, its character and relation to others and its location in the space.

[choochcat]

Is it something that people just take for granted

I think it's harder to reflect on and some people just aren't that into reflection.

I've always been interested in how people work at almost anything. Not the micro-level of technique, but the MO - how you get from a start to a finish without grinding to a permanent halt.

For some people that's either boring (because it's not concrete or specific), or uncomfortable (because it's about reflection on how you behave and what influences that behaviour).

[OzoneJunkie]

When I used to write on the one synth I had (hardware, a Kurzweil K2000RS), I would hit record in Cakewalk (this is going back before that DAW even had audio, was just MIDI). I'd improvise. Then I'd find another patch, hit record (so, track 1 is now playing). I'd improv on top (maybe at the beginning, maybe later in the track). I'd repeat this a few times.

Cool, sometimes it's just the simplest thing that does the trick. I'm probably over-complicating things due to being "out of shape" from a compositional point of view . Sometimes too many options are overkill. I'm also wondering, why is the creative process rarely discussed, compared to production - mixing - sounds ? Is it something that people just take for granted, or maybe it is a very personal and individual thing, like everyone has a different approach ?

There's books out there, I've read a few. Also, there's something that I've held onto, from Ian Kirkpatrick, when he talks about 'exercising' the creative process - that all of the noodling and stuff that ends up in the can, is still beneficial, that it's practice and builds the creative process muscle.

[BONES]

Does anyone relate to this feelings ?

No. I only care about how the song sounds when I'm finished. Everything else is just bullshit.

I'm also wondering, why is the creative process rarely discussed, compared to production - mixing - sounds ? Is it something that people just take for granted, or maybe it is a very personal and individual thing, like everyone has a different approach ?

Most likely it's because it's not something people think about. At all. Ever. If you listen to the shit most people around here churn out, you'll understand what I mean.

To answer your question, there is no strict method. Today, for example, I was looking for something to boost part of a song I've been working on and ended up with something that I've turned into a song in its own right. It just happened, oops! The song I wrote previous to that, between Xmas and New Year's, was a more deliberate effort. I started out with a "kit" I purchased online, mixing and matching elements until I had something that I was happy with.

[AsPeeXXXVIII]

Should I create a midi or instrument track ?

Since you mentioned REAPER, I'll budge in with a little something: the cool thing about REAPER as opposed to a lot of other DAWs is that it doesn't differentiate between the two. You just create a track and it can be either or, depending on whether you record a "real" instrument or slap a VSTi into the track's FX chain. That's one of the things I love the most about REAPER and I wish that approach was more universal - every other DAW I've dabbled in has had instrument and MIDI tracks separately, which for me is a workflow killer.

[stillshaded]

I think the remedy is simple in concept, but a little more difficult to put into practice because it requires some self control.

Here's my suggestion:

-create a few templates that have a few options for the basic instrument types you require already setup and good to go. Maybe a couple of drum machines, couple of basses, leads, pads, etc.

- Start with the intention of creating sections of music. Do not allow yourself to mess with sound design or mixing. Think of this almost as writing music notes on paper. It's not super important that you know what order the sections are going to be in, but as soon as you feel like a section has a pretty solid identity, and its structure is relatively clear, move on to creating a new section. Usually, the new section will want to have something similar to the previous section, and something different. In other words, change some things, keep some things the same. Categories you might consider are: Harmony (chords), motifs, phrase length, instrumentation, sonic texture, energy level, etc etc.

- Move on to sound design and arranging. Resist the urge to begin mixing. Instead, focus on the sounds chosen for each part. Automation should start happening here. You can also consider switching around octaves for different sections, having different instruments play a part at different times, and creating variations of sections so that they will be different if they occur more than once. E.g. chorus 1 and 2.


- Now start mixing.


I really think this basic approach or some variation will work. If the foundation of your song sucks (the writing) everything else will suck. Challenge yourself to get that right before moving on. You could play some bach pieces with a casio keyboard from the 80's and they would still be moving.

[EdwardGivens]

I almost never use templates.
As for productivity I use a technique borrowed from Joan Miro.
I start multiple pieces at once when inspired. I stop the minute I start to overwork them. I put them aside.
Later I'll come back and work on them more coldly - like an artisan. I'm now somewhat less attached to them and can be more objective. When done the inspiration is still there but I can also recognize the music as work of my mind.

[mumpcake]

I find that when I write lyrics, the melodies and structures tend to work themselves out from there.

Unfortunately, I usually am not inspired to work with lyrics first. More typically I might come up with a cool riff, lead, or bassline and get stuck at 8 bars.

As far as project templates, they are great for when I know what I am planning on, but a lot of time I will be experimenting and not really have any idea where that will go. In those cases my template is usually just a list of folders.

[Ghost Snake]

I think the remedy is simple in concept, but a little more difficult to put into practice because it requires some self control.

Yep, I think self control and restraint is gonna help for sure. Then the brain will do the rest hehe