Author Topic: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)  (Read 22852 times)

Lovelock

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Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« on: January 06, 2016, 03:20:15 am »
Do you have trouble starting out a song or often get to a point where you've lost direction and don't know what to do next?

this post is for you, here experienced and inexperienced producers alike can share ideas, techniques and methods to help you get creative.
And remember, these might not work for everybody but you can hopefully find some that work for you.

My tips and methods:          (please share yours in a reply!)

- Having trouble starting a chord progression for a new song? try taking the midi of another song you love and using only the bassline, build your chords off this in a new way and you will find it sounds nothing like the original, I don't use this for any of my original songs but it really helps me with the timing and the feeling of a good progression

- Composition is entirely up to the creator, and so is the order in which you create that composition, if you can't get any ideas out for a decent drop, try writing an outro or break to freshen your perspective, my favourite hooks I've made are absolutely impromptu without any planning before them, simply thought up while work on something else in a song

- Create a folder of inspiration, I fill mine with images, gifs, short video clips, and music. It doesn't have to have any particular theme but if you are working on one specific song for a long time it's easy to lose the feeling after hearing it so many times. I make a folder of images that have the same aesthetic or feeling to me as what I am trying to recreate in the listener.

- Look towards your sound design. Sometimes great melodies, hooks and drops can be found by starting on having some weird sounds first, for example, Porter Robinson's "Sad Machine" uses a simple fruity LSD preset as the catchy lead. Once again, doing this my ideas are very spontaneous and I come across simply while working

Please share your own methods! Thanks :D

« Last Edit: January 06, 2016, 03:27:37 am by Lovelock »
can't stop, won't stop

Hytyma

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2016, 06:17:32 pm »
I go for a run. Exercise is amazing for refreshing your head space.
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Nadav

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2016, 02:47:54 am »
Take long walks or bike rides without headphones on. The rhythm of moving and breathing is conducive to musical creativity. In the 16 years I've been writing music, that's always worked for me.

Wontolla

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2016, 02:52:38 am »
I go for a run. Exercise is amazing for refreshing your head space.
Take long walks or bike rides without headphones on. The rhythm of moving and breathing is conducive to musical creativity. In the 16 years I've been writing music, that's always worked for me.
these

Tiongcy

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2016, 08:14:53 am »
For me listening to the sounds of the city and the sounds of nature really get my creativity flowing

Klimt Westwood

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2016, 09:10:38 am »
Hi! The more you feel good with yourself in your life, the more your music will be spontaneous and really coherent with who are you, and so, original. The Key is to understand what's the right moment to produce during the day. When I feel more inspired, I compose.. when less, I mix/fix old projects. And if I'm not really inspired I use to take a walk, read books, watch films, go out with friends etc.
Your Music = Your Life.  8)


Grinback

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2016, 09:47:58 am »
What I like to do when I want to convey a particular feeling or emotion, is to start with an inspiring speech/audio from a movie scene... etc... and build the sounds and melody around that. Then eventually remove the voice and stay with the music, and continue the track.
This way the words, the ideas, the voice can give you this little "spark" of creativity you sometimes need. :)

Lastisland

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2016, 10:29:05 am »
Its stupid but for me I often put a pitch shifter on my master bus when I am writing simply so I can get a completely new perspective on my compositions.

BrienWithAnE

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2016, 12:59:29 pm »
I think a really important part of creativity with music is to start with the inspiration you have for a song, and then run with it from there.  Build up as many elements as you can, quickly.  The more you can lay down right away, the more the raw ideas and emotion that the song will hold, get preserved.
~ BrienWithAnE

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2016, 01:06:46 pm »
Last years I was forced to quit production cuz I destroy my computer. (Mistake not because I was angry)

When I got it back, I had so much ideas. So during the all summer seasons, I was over productive and I made 4-5 songs. I didn't release them because they were unclompleted. So I put them in a FORGET folder and move along. Now I'm back with these and they sounds good so far. I'll probably finish those this year.

If you're stuck, stop and move to something else.

Nadav

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #10 on: January 07, 2016, 02:45:42 pm »
Oh yeah, one more idea:

When I write chord progressions I start with the guitar in my hand (disclaimer: I pretty much only write rock music these days). One thing I do sometimes is just make up some random crazy chord by stretching my fingers over random frets, leaving a few strings open. Then I strum it a few times, then try out various picking patterns, all while leaving my left hand in place. I keep doing that for at least a minute.

Hearing the melody created by the picking pattern, and hearing the way the various notes resonate off each other, will usually make all kinds of musical ideas pop into my head.

You could translate this method to pretty much any other instrument. If you don't play an instrument, go start your car and listen to the sound of the engine idling, or go listen to some other droning or repetitive but complex sound for a while.

Note: this method will not work for people who get bored by things.

Nadav

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #11 on: January 07, 2016, 02:48:12 pm »
If you're stuck, stop and move to something else.
I totally agree with this. When you think you've got writer's block is usually just when your brain is amassing tons of ideas. It just hasn't released them to you yet. Robert Pirsig calls this period "lateral drift", and says it's an incredibly important part of the creative process.

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Re: Creativity and Composition (TIPS)
« Reply #12 on: January 07, 2016, 06:26:58 pm »
I find establishing a routine is a great way to get your brain used to the idea of developing work and creating content. Let's say you can only devote 4 hours a day to music production - One hour in the morning, and three hours at night. Your schedule might go something like this:

7:00 AM - 8:00 AM - Wake up, bathroom, breakfast
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM - Listen to arrangements and mixdowns, since your ears are fresh. Make the bigger decisions now.
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM - Life Outside of Music :-(
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM - General Research and Prepwork: Sound design experiments, writing drum loops, analyzing other artists' work, reading instruction manuals, and other stuff like that.
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM - Make Music. Don't critique yourself, don't worry about it being bad, change focus if you get too frustrated on any one thing. Do as much work as possible.
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM - Dinner and personal time. If you feel really inspired, let music making time bleed over (but don't forget to eat!). Otherwise, use the time constraints as a deadline and reward yourself during this time period. If you still wanna do music stuff, use this as beatport/soundcloud diving time, work on your DJ skills, or come onto TPF!
10:00 PM - 11:00 PM - Get ready for bed and go to sleep.


Obviously if you have more time to work with you can divide everything up differently, but having a structure can provide a new way to really focus and channel your workflow into something that should feel more productive than just flopping around without a plan.