How do you get your own style?

[RUDE]

I've been producing for a couple of years and I always feel that I haven't found my own style. How do artists achieve their own style of composition and own sound?

[Babasmas]

By knowing what they want. Trying, experimenting, etc...

The more you work on tracks, the more you'll want a precise sounding.

[BorderCity]

Honestly, I found my style by accident, but when you find your sound, you'll know.

Keep in mind before this story, I was - just like you - frustrated in not having my "own sound..."

I was p*ssing about with a mate; he makes YouTube videos and needed some background music. He was basically telling me what he wanted the music to sound like and I was doing it for him, nothing special. We had this guitar riff going with an Ableton sample; it sounded decent but we both knew it needed something else. So as a joke, I completely ramped up the reverb and delay to almost max. I was preparing myself to laugh when we both stopped and went, "actually, that sounds kinda good..."

From then on i've just been experimenting basically with drenching sounds in reverb and delay, as well as a bunch of other things I like to incorporate in "my sound."

The fact of the matter is, if I told you how to make "your sound" then it wouldn't be your sound anymore. You just have to keep experimenting. Do things which break the rules if you have to - I did and now i'm very much satisfied

And like I said, if you find something you like, and you listen back a week later and you still like it, and then a month later and you still like it, then you'll know it's your sound

[RUDE]

That's a great story man, thanks for sharing it. That's funny how you found your sound

[Knappster]

For me I was doing a remix contest for trance label Black Sunset. I thought why not try it out. I sent an unfinished track to a few buddies, one guy I especially look up too. He told me that he thought I really had something going and that I should pursue this sound more. I've done progressive house, mel bounce, deep house and some trap(ish) stuff. I felt elated at this encouragement. I immediately had that wonderful emotional connection with the music and I just knew I needed to keep making music like that. It's like all the music I was making took me on a journey to what I was meant to be making. All the experience I had all came together in that moment. I now consider myself a trance producer. Most of my melody work is uplifting and my basslines are fast rolling.    Cool question.

[RUDE]

By knowing what they want. Trying, experimenting, etc...

The more you work on tracks, the more you'll want a precise sounding.

thanks for the tip man

[aaron]

Well if you're anything like mat zo, renard, or any other multi-genre producer, maybe you'll never find one and you'll continue to make whatever you feel like making all the time and no one will have a problem with it. I don't think I have one, and I still just make whatever. I'm happy with that. The only problem is it makes deciding what to put on a release pretty hard, but that's just me.

[FarleyCZ]

Define when something is different enough to be considered as it's own sound. I find this question too subjective to worry about. What sounds fresh to you might sound familiar to others. I had so many piano based dnb tracks unfinished before I found Etherwood. Does that mean I should let them go as they officially became Etherwood-ish? I don't think so.

I agree with aaron:

Well if you're anything like mat zo, renard, or any other multi-genre producer, maybe you'll never find one and you'll continue to make whatever you feel like making all the time and no one will have a problem with it. I don't think I have one, and I still just make whatever. I'm happy with that. The only problem is it makes deciding what to put on a release pretty hard, but that's just me.

...only way to stick out is not to try fit in too much.

[Wontolla]

It develops over time, but only if you let yourself experiment. The biggest thing that helps is to listen to more music that isn't EDM. If you listen critically, you'll pick up new ideas, and want to apply them to your own music, which is where the experimenting comes in.

[KovaK]

Finding your sound is just basically doing something that you want to do in my opinion, something that comes from your mind and that you aren't copying from a youtube tutorial.

Producers go years without finding their "sound" and its all about your connection to music and your opinion of how a song should go, not whats hot or what everyone thinks is cool. If that was the case we would never have musical evolution.

[Marrow Machines]

All these replies are good, if  you have a rich culture in music (like your ancestors), consider looking to the past. You can even apply this mindset to the past as a whole, there's years of great music out there that is applicable today as it was that time.

[ANDRAViDA]

You'll get one eventually...and experimenting with lot of different genres will help you develop your style.

The endgame of this is finding what you're really good at or what makes your tracks different than someone else's and this can be a bunch of different things but if you develop particular production techniques that you like a lot and pair them with how you do drums or use samples then this can make you different.

Using presets is all well and good but you can always take it a step further and resample it or add FX, just keep working!

[Joseph]

Seems like you're still new to producing the, just focus on what you enjoy producing, and you'll eventually consistently create a "style" that you enjoy.

[Steven Gold]

I've been producing for a couple of years and I always feel that I haven't found my own style. How do artists achieve their own style of composition and own sound?

This is an interesting question! Its funny cause some bigger artists have said that they don't really hear "their sound" that everyone says they have. So it's definitely something that happens naturally.

I'm still working on my "sound" but there's certain things I'm naturally drawn to. I've been told my chord progressions (even when they seem completely different to me) have my own style. Using the same sounds & sample selection has a lot to do with it too

[TheAGNO3]

The truth is, it's impossible to just FIND your own style, you create your own style over a fairly long period of time. The more things you expose yourself to and get inspired by, the more unique and interesting your style is going to be. There's a quote I quite like that goes something like:
"Creativity is knowing how to hide your influences"
and I couldn't agree more with that sentiment. A lot of people think I make unique music, but I can almost always point out where I got the inspiration from songs.. Whether it be influenced by another artist, a genre, etc., and that's the beauty of it.
I try to listen to as much different music as possible, and on a daily basis that ranges from indie, to metal, to electronic, to jazz.. and when I sit down now I never feel like I'm making something that's already been made.

Hope this helps!