Author Topic: Ideas  (Read 7155 times)

MOTY

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Ideas
« on: June 15, 2016, 12:25:47 am »
So I started a project that I felt pretty strong about, started the introduction, and now that's started I have no clue where to go with it. What do you guys do when you just get stuck? I mean I literally have about 20 seconds of a song that I absolutely love, but have no idea where to go with it at this point.

Mussar

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Re: Ideas
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2016, 12:41:39 am »
1. Reference! There are tons of people who have thought up tons of ideas that you can use for inspiration. Pick one or two songs that you love that fit within the genre of the song you're trying to make. Pull them into your project and use them as guidelines for anything you feel unsure about. Arrangement, FX, orchestration, even mixing (ESPECIALLY mixing).

2. Get as close to a finished song arrangement as possible. Take everything you have and duplicate it out to your desired song length. Mark off the different sections of your song, and ask yourself what sounds would not be in the various sections. Delete whatever's unneeded, and you'll start to see how the track is supposed to flow.

3. Render the song out as a WAV file and load it on your phone. Get out of your studio or away from your computer or just out of the house in general. Change your location, and bring a pencil and notepad with you. Go sit down and listen to your track. Write down three ideas that come to mind for you to try, and estimate how long it will take to complete those ideas. They don't all have to work, you're just trying them out. Set a deadline for the song to be completed, and a deadline for the next session - using the time frame from your ideas as a reference. Shut out ALL distractions, and get to work.

Marrow Machines

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Re: Ideas
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2016, 12:42:22 am »
i wait and create in different phases until it all comes together.

i almost always start off making drum sounds. Then i move onto writing bass lines for the drop, then i move onto writing intros and outtros.

incorporating every thing from the different section in one way or another also helps feel out what you might want to put into the track as well.

since you've made an intro, i'd suggest seeing what sounds you can use for the meat of the song (verse/chorus) and then add what you don't have.
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Lydian

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Re: Ideas
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2016, 04:27:06 am »
Aside from the standard "subtractive" method of arrangement in which you just mute instruments and slowly add them in, keeping at least one element constant from the previous section makes transitions much smoother. It also allows you to add new instruments instead of just muting some and keeping the same instrumentation.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2016, 04:28:48 am by Lydian »
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Red X

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Re: Ideas
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2016, 07:19:48 pm »
So I started a project that I felt pretty strong about, started the introduction, and now that's started I have no clue where to go with it. What do you guys do when you just get stuck? I mean I literally have about 20 seconds of a song that I absolutely love, but have no idea where to go with it at this point.


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