Is there anything more intimidating than a new empty project?

[careyletendre]

What do you first reach for when beginning a new song?

[cryophonik]

An instrument. Usually piano. I don’t even open my DAW until I have an idea.

[enCiphered]

Yes, an empty coffee cup! Without it, the project stays empty. At least I can fill it with random MIDI notes, but without coffee, I can’t even find the record button.

[Greenstorm33]

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[DMG68]

My guitar, I also don’t start a new project without having an idea already on what I’m going to do.

[seismic1]

An old, empty project

[Frantz]

Empty projects are fun. You can do anything with them.

Full projects overloaded with tracks that are difficult to mix are daunting.

[billinder33]

Kick and snare first. Bass next.

I usually shoot for a fat groove and work around that.

[lmv]

Yes, an empty coffee cup! Without it, the project stays empty. At least I can fill it with random MIDI notes, but without coffee, I can’t even find the record button.

If you're as old as I am, you should remember this:

[Wmdm]

By disciplined, it will come...

[Tiles]

What do you first reach for when beginning a new song?

To end the former song playing in my head ...

The solution to write songs is as individual as humans are. There is not the one way. And you will not always reach your goal with the same method. And sometimes the project will stay empty, no matter how hard you try.

Sometimes i wake up with a melody in my head. Or a drum loop. Or a bass line. Sometimes i simply starts by playing around. Sometimes i use premade patterns to go from there. Sometimes i start with the bass line, sometimes with drums, sometimes with a melody. Every song is different. You can also record song ideas whenever they hit you, with a smartphone for example. And then sit down once you have enough ideas.

Music theory can also be helpful. Songs have patterns. Songs have structure. Songs have different instruments for different genres. So deepen your knowledge. Analyze other songs how they did it. What instruments, what patterns, what effects. Learn new things, new instruments, new ways of writing a song, how to do lyrics and so on. And don't ignore other genres. The broader your base, the more you can be creative.

What doesn't work at all is to tense up. You can't force the muse. You can only make sure that you feel comfortable and that the environment fits. No stress, calm, prepare the instruments that you want to use. Eliminate everything that could disturb.

And it can be very helpful to make the whole thing a fixed ritual. Practicing is always a good idea anyways. Even when the result is no new song then. Simply toy around regularly. The rest will come.

In the end is allowed what works. It is art.

[swilow11]

Empty projects are fun. You can do anything with them.

Full projects overloaded with tracks that are difficult to mix are daunting.

Agreed. I've got a bunch of ready to go templates which make starting projects a breeze and there's that excitement- this will be the best one yet! It's when I'm about finished and there are audio bounces and stuff everywhere that I start getting the yips.

[billinder33]

I do think it helps to have a standard end-to-end composing process. A routine you can lean into to get songs completed. Obviously that routine will be different for everyone.

Mine is:
1. Create a fat groove - basic kick, snare, bass, hat
2. Build some instrument parts over the groove, including creating 'mudpies' where appropriate
2. Implement vocals over groove
3. Add any secondary correlated grooves (verse, chorus, b/c/d sections, etc.) to support the vocals or to add musical variation
4. Determine and set up rough arrangement - rough outline of intros, outros, breaks, drops, etc
5. Build/fill in the open parts of the arrangement, including location of mudpie clips, re-arrange as needed
6. Return to the groove(s) - embellish bass, drums, create new hat patterns, add percussion, add crashes, etc.
7. Final touches, dialing the rough mix, addressing everything I've previously taken notes on
8. Mix session (always on a separate day from production)
9. Mastering session (sometimes on the different day as #8, sometimes not)

Obviously this works great for bangers, but maybe not so well for ambient, psytrance, etc. If vocals are part of the process, I prefer to have those early rather than late, because I'd rather build around vocals than create vocals to existing tracks.

But I do think it helps to get the basic arrangement knocked out as soon as you have a couple of parts created. Because it gives you a final product to work toward, and you now have a goal instead of a perpetually open-ended project to stare at.

[mjolnir]

i wouldn't know what to do with just dry vocals and drums. much respect to ya if you can get a lot more out of that.

[swilow11]

One thing that has helped me overcome decision paralysis has been using reference tracks. Personally, I'm very comfortable with sound design and melody/groove creation, but can sometimes/often get to a sort of structural stalemate. I've got the sounds ready, the drums sound fat and crisp, everything working together.. but what next? Adhering to the structure of a reference track is incredibly useful here. It removes at least 1 decision component of a major part of music/song creation.