finding your "sound"

[tk421]

I know there is nothing "wrong" with the way I create songs, but I don't think there is any consistancy to my music. Friends who have listened always say, "That sounds like you." When I listen to all my songs together it sounds like a bizarre mix tape. I rarely even use the same presets, trying not to do the same thing twice.

Has anyone thought about this? I kind of want to think of a way to "sound like a band." Maybe by thinking of a theme or limits and rules to write songs with. I do not consider this a problem, but I wonder what anyone thinks about when composing. Do you try to sound like YOU or do you just go with what sounds good at the time?

[gravehill]

Do you try to sound like YOU or do you just go with what sounds good at the time?

Both. My musical history is rather diverse, I started with death metal, evolved to classical influenced doom metal, then via industrial to gothic rock and now experimental blend of neo-classical, (dark) ambient, ethno and electronic music.

Still, when I listen back to my old material it does sound like me, just sometimes a much youger me...

I guess if you don't try to strain your creativity by aiming for some well defined mould, the end result will sound like you, whether you wanted it or not. I view it entirely good thing.

[aldred]

I agree.

If you ignore the instruments you use for a minute and listen to the melodies and how the music flows and develops, I expect you'll find a single thread running through it somewhere. But I wouldn't worry too much about it even if you can't. Much better to have lots of flavours.

mark

[tk421]

Gravehill, I just listened to your music. So far Avatar is my favorite.

[emdot_ambient]

I've found that if you must make the music you're interested in making, no matter what the instruments, genre or compositional method used, you can't help but sound like "you."

For example, I've approached composition from these different methodologies:

1) Find a sound that inspires a melodic pattern, and then build the rest of the song around it.
2) Begin composing with a bass or drum pattern in my head, find sounds that fit and build a song from that.
3) Use a random preset generator to come up with a sound that is interesting and build a song around that.
4) Pick a genre and compose a song to fit the genre.
5) Record a bunch of interesting sounds for N amount of time, then record another bunch of sounds for the same amount of time without listening to what I did before, rinse and repeat, build a song out of these by sculpting the mix and doing creative processing.
6) Come up with a concept like imagining a landscape with a huge mountain in the background. Assign a sound to the moutnain, and then the sounds of other objects in the foreground and create a mix of all this imagining you're driving through the landscape.

And many more besides these. Yes, they all end up sounding very different from a genre and musical content POV but I'm always amazed that the process involved in composing the works ultimately ends up being less noticeable than the actual aesthetic choices I've made over the project . . . they all end up sounding like "me."

[shamann]

I know exactly what you're talking about, tk421. A few years ago I went through the same thing. I'd do a big band song, followed by noise, followed by techno, followed by jazz, followed by some art rock thing, etc.

It's a good process, as it broadens your skills and makes you aware of many approaches to music. It's bad if you are looking for anyone to take notice of your music, because ultimately there is no there there. No sense of the artist behind the tracks. (People have trouble conceptualizing multi-talent ultimately. Sad, but true.)

I focused on doing things my way by a) taking a bit of a break from writing, b) figuring out what I liked to do, c) figuring out what I was good at, d) working on my chops, and e) focusing on doing several tracks in a row of a similar nature.

Sit down, decide on a technique you like (say swing beats for example), set out to write around variations on that technique, build to track length, then start writing extra bits around those parts. Set some restrictions on style, instrumentation, etc. At least, roughly try to do it, inspiration goes where it wants, just try to rein it in a bit.

Be prepared for this to take a while, at the end you'll get to a point where you know how to sound like you want to, in a unified manner. It's good to have a generalist beginning though, helps you create stuff in one way that won't get boring by using influences from other styles.

Cheers,
Steve

[Barf]

...maybe u ARE a 'bizarre mix tape'

I dont worry about consistency anymore, I worry more about too much consistency, when songs start sounding the same

Isnt it a compliment when your friends say your music sounds like 'you'?

[tk421]

It's bad if you are looking for anyone to take notice of your music, because ultimately there is no there there. No sense of the artist behind the tracks. (People have trouble conceptualizing multi-talent ultimately. Sad, but true.)

This is kind of what I was thinking about. I am not considering a music career, but if I did I almost think I would have to pick one of my songs and write 10 more with the same presets just to make a consistant sounding album.

[tk421]

Isnt it a compliment when your friends say your music sounds like 'you'?

Yes it was. I was also surprised when the words "professional sounding" was used. KVR really works!

[Hink]

yah can't force it though...let it follow it's path, you're just along to enjoy the ride...

[emdot_ambient]

It's bad if you are looking for anyone to take notice of your music, because ultimately there is no there there. No sense of the artist behind the tracks. (People have trouble conceptualizing multi-talent ultimately. Sad, but true.)

This is kind of what I was thinking about. I am not considering a music career, but if I did I almost think I would have to pick one of my songs and write 10 more with the same presets just to make a consistant sounding album.

But why would you want to? Take a listen to Brian Eno's early albums like Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy. Yeah, there's almost always guitar, bass and drums . . . but the sounds vary SO much and there are such a wild variety of other sounds, AND there's such a wide varety of song styles . . . yet is all sounds like Eno. Listen to some of the music of Beck, it's all over the place, yet it sounds like him.

If you're going for a CD length collection, then the important thing isn't that each song have a consistent set of sounds, but rather that you make sure the songs go well together. And sometimes contrast is much better at achieving that than consistency. It's called sequencing: getting the songs in the correct order so that each song sound like they're in the correct order. Just like in DJ'ing, you make sure the beginning of the next song compliments the end of the current song.

I've done sucessful radio mixes that included music by Klaus Schulze, Edgar Varese, Vangelis, Jethro Tull, Talking Heads and Leon Redbone. It all worked strictly because of the sequencing.

Unless you're copying someone else's style, your songs can't help but sound like you. So then your job becomes compiling them so that each song compliments the others that precede and follow it on a CD.

Variety is the spice of life.

[pHz]

cliched and pretentious possibly ...

... but if you do what YOU want to do rather than worrying about 'product' then youll ALWAYS end up sounding like yourself regardless ...

... (youve already answered this ... but ... ) do you want to make music or make a career ???

slainte rob

[gravehill]

Take a listen to Brian Eno's early albums like Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy. Yeah, there's almost always guitar, bass and drums . . . but the sounds vary SO much and there are such a wild variety of other sounds, AND there's such a wide varety of song styles . . . yet is all sounds like Eno. Listen to some of the music of Beck, it's all over the place, yet it sounds like him.

That's one of the music business dilemmas you will face when putting an album together. On one side it should be consistent and easy to swallow or it won't sell. On the other hand it should be diverse enough not to become boring. Eno, for example, is a good example of someone whose albums are both consistent and interesting.

[gravehill]

Gravehill, I just listened to your music. So far Avatar is my favorite.

Thank you for listening! And for reminding me that I REALLY should update the pages

[dystonia_ek]

Listen to what you've done, identify common threads, remove everything else. What's left will give you a snapshot of your core sound that you can then rebuild on. Just a thought.