At 8/22/08 10:11 PM, thefev wrote:
I was wondering, how do you get the ideas, the motivation etc.?
ideas dont really know how I directly get them. the music you listen to will always be an influence. I try to analyze broadly what I hear through a song and that usually gives me ideas on how to structure and phase tracks.
motivation usually comes at random times, usually when I'm in a neutral mood and like others at inconvienent times. I can't say what gives me motivation, i cant simply look at a piece of scenery or go through an event and in turn be inspired to make related music :(
Do you plan your song out before you even start making it, or do you just make it up as you go along?
moreso the latter of that question, i might have a vague structure or an idea in mind but I let things run their course, use one rule "I either like it or I dont", and try and let the end result flow out and then make minor touchups and patching in the end.
How do you plan it out? What are your techniques?
I'll start with a melody, or a chord progression, or nice texture and go from there. Then deciding what mood/imagery I'll try to invoke I'll plan out these steps and use it as loose set of "rules" to create music while trying to keep a somewhat contained direction.
1. Once I establish the type of mood/imagery I want in the track, I can select what elements I want in a song
2. Instrumentation- What instruments are needed in this type of music? Generally, sitars and "dry" percussion can suggest desert themes, pan flutes can suggest something tribal or nature related, synthetic elements can suggest something futuristic or new age.
3. Chords and melody- the melody might be something i've had in my head (don't like to entirely rely on this though- I just have a fear that I'm unconsciously stealing an unknown melody I've heard sometime in the past), might be something I randomly get by pressing a few keys together, or it can be a melodic pattern I envision would look good on the piano roll or an instrument that I'm using. Sometimes I might build it from scratch- this is when music theory comes to play so if youre a noob here dont expect to know what I'm talking about. Something middle eastern, adventurous, I'll compose using the harmonic minor scale. if I want something adventurous, but maybe with a traveler, less evil type of sound I'll use the Dorian scale. I can go on. I'll usually mesh modes together, a different one utilized in the chord structure and a different one for the melody. and from these scales and modes that you know, you can build pertinent chords...Just remember, take note of the certain intervals that are special to these modes and use them effectively or else you wont be able to achieve that certain sound. some can just use their ears to guide them, and that works. But there's always music theory, and when you combine both the power of your mind/ears and a theoretical foundation you will have even more control.
4. support structure and countermelodies- basslines, drums and percussion, background FX, chord highlighting (the progressions themself are part of the structure). I don't really know how to explain the creative process here but I generally just go by what sounds good to me, and what feels appropriate for the current mood.
5. rhythm- extremely important. use it to make your melodies catchy and your chord structuring more interesting. i cant tell you how many artists here lay down chords through the entire song, with the rhythm being straight whole notes throughout. I know what certain rhythm schemes work and I try to incorporate them accordingly into my music and just see how it meshes in fits. Obviously, fast percussion will generally provide more energy and intensity. Slow percussion is good in intros and laid back sections. see how your arpeggios relates with the time signature (in all likeliness 4/4 or 3/4 :P). You might have to reorganize straight eighths so that it can fit one bar (although, dont stick by this) or it can sound awkward. if you feel you've got to big of a leap within a certain melody and you need to patch in more notes but it goes outside your rhythm structure, split up an eight note into two sixteenths, or even into three triplet sixteenths(is that right?). Just remember the rhythm is equally if not more important than the melody.
6. mixing- DO THIS WHILE YOU CREATE, NOT AT THE END. its easier to mix once you have a grasp of what instruments you have placed in a piece. it's not all about using EQ, compression, panning to make the mix feel loud and clear, but you can be creative with it too. Really, mess with different levels of reverb to take your ears on adventure. Apply dynamic panning with this so you can visualize something actually moving around in a 3D environment. just shit like that.
7. dynamics- do this while you create as well. a commonly disregarded element. apply different volume levels as well as the individual note velocity ranges, and make it flunctuate throughout to really pump out that expression. In percussion other than the melodic perc instruments you wont have a melody to work with, but you can make these parts vibrant and epic by really messing with the velocity levels. it will also make your music sound more realistic and less robotic, as if you were to plug in a MIDI keyboard and record it into FL studio, you will see that the note velocities will *never* be exactly the same.
I'm new to the whole making music thing, and I was wondering how I should make a start. Help?
good luck with your music making thefev! i have more tips but i've wrote enough....someone better find this post useful, i dont write TLDR posts only foi my personal enjoyment :(
