Starting composition,any ideas?

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Very well said :)The flow must withdraw ,you can't create a mood or inspired ideas,because you 'must' do the job.
Same is with sound design,sometimes i spend days perfecting a single preset,then listen last 10-20 variations and first two are always the best sonically, even not so perfect technically :)

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ariston wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 3:49 pm whenever I TRY to come up with something, it's usually garbage. Whenever I goof off and mess around and just generally have fun, I usually strike gold.
My story also. Though when I try, it's generic or something that I've already done.
Best stuff always comes with an exploration and having fun.

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On that note, IMO, good idea is moving on from something that doesn't inspire you anymore and postponing it for later, even if you just started it, so many times I'm in the mood to play chords and I would just go about saving best stuff and than coming back to them later, plenty of times I have no clue what to do and opening those projects actually sparks some inspiration, I don't care really, I have ideas I develop more than decade already, they deserve it, it's art, not product for mass consumption.

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I just start usually from anything and search for "something". Cool phrase, cool sound, mood, cool chord progression, cool sample... It's not important. Something that "sparks".

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Something interesting to start with, like some lyrics, a theme, a melody line / riff, a rhythm, a hand-crafted patch or carefully tweaked/mangled sample, a chord progression, whatever.

Then, whatever seems to make sense after that, in whatever order. But I do typically prefer getting down at least a sketch of percussion/beats early on, to sort of hang the next few things off. Some bones, if only temporary.

All over the place, basically, lol.

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There are no rules for creating music, and you don't need a license for it, you can do pretty much whatever you want.

But, I think it's very important to be focused and have a clear concept of what it is that you wanna do.
What genre you aiming for, what mood or emotion you want to convey etc.
You can spend years of creating aimless and uninspired sketchs that will lead you nowhere. But if you spend some time thinking and digging inside yourself and discover what it is that you wanna do, you'll be surprised how quickly ideas will flow one after another.

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So true!

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First sound design session, then some chords composing and then just messing around and deleting everything.

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Always cool to read about how others create. For me, the process is usually like this.

My first steps always are :
1. Choose BPM - This usually just determines the style/groove I'm going for. If I have something in my head already, FL Studio's
"tap" tempo feature is great for finding BPM.
2. Chord Progression - I usually just freestyle chord progressions on the piano until something works, then record that section.
3. Melodies + Drums - At this point, I usually add top-end melodies + drums and sequencing. Drums are usually last for me, if I add them too early my melodies tend to be a bit too stiff.
4. Mix/Master
4. Listen on studio monitors, iPhone headphones and in the car to find any changes that need to be made

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Another thing I've noticed, a bit more on the practical side: it's important to change your M.O. from time to time. Coming from classical piano, I was always "chord-up" when writing music. I can come up with something useful in a snap, but it's usually within my comfort zone, which has grown a bit stale over time. To shake things up, I sometimes start with melodies or just rhythms, and take it from there. I found the former especially liberating when I avoided chords altogether, and simply wrote complementary melodies. Music theory still finds chords in there, but the approach is different, and the result is definitely different.

In that spirit, here are a few approaches I've used to kick-start the ol' creative process:

1. Doodle a picture and set that to music.
2. Write a song about how a vacuum cleaner feels when its bag is full.
3. Write a song as if you were a baboon.
4. Listen for music and rhythms in your surroundings and take it from there.
5. Set a poem to music, then change the words.
6. Take an existing song, and sing the words to a different melody and rhythm.
7. Write a song using only 3 notes.
8. Sing like a lovelorn caveman.
9. Play drums like a saxophone, or the guitar like a marimba. Play the piano like a violin, and the bass like an ocarina.
10. Make a track with tiny ping sounds, or just use synth brass.
11. Take the song you hate the most, and write a loving tribute to it.
12. Make a mash-up of trip hop and a military march.

I'm sure there are nearly infinite possibilities, but you get the idea. It's not important to stick to the initial idea, just to get the ball rolling. I started a track once, with the sole purpose of being as minimalist as I could possibly be, and it grew into this big huge thing by the time I was done. I never would have gotten there without that initial aim, though.

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ariston wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 6:43 pm
3. Write a song as if you were a baboon.
I want to hear your music

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I have to agree. It's one of the more intriguing things I've heard recently.
Take care :wink:

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My sources from ideas are very wide too. I can start with virtually any part of the music (main theme, opening, etc). It's important to write every idea and to come back later eventually on it.

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"Creativity happens when you're being playful. Creativity dies when you try to force it. Try being a conduit rather than a creator".

Like right before you wake-up original music sometimes plays in your head.

Someone mentioned how devices that generate chords can stifle this form of creativity.
That depends on what it does, although it also depends on your approach to it. Some suggest chords or progressions. And some just list chords from inputs like a scale, or list all note combinations that satisfy inputs, that can be played with click or drag over the lists - more Melody from dragging vertcal/horizontal to change chords/pitch.
And also, as in ChordwarePA, use a second list that's a corresponding negative harmony to the chords of the first list.

Mostly just be rid of all negative preconceptions that are unfounded.

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For years I started with guitar and vocals and came up with arrangements later on. Then when I started digital recording I'd sometimes improvise tracks to drum-loops and edit later. But lately I've been letting the technology dictate a starting point. For eg Xfer's Cthulu has helped me break out of habitual chord-changes and write stuff that surprises me. Also I've had some success by chopping up drum-midi (I use EZ Drummer) into unusual time-signatures and writing over that. I even tried a one-month free trial of Output's Arcade, and while I didn't use everything I found there it pushed me in some interesting directions. Only problem is now I've got so many tracks I don't know when I'll ever finish any! But I'm sure not short of ideas.

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