Finding Your Sound

[Gnuc]

Greetings, my friends!

I have a question: how do you find your sound?

Do you try to sound different each time, of do you have a certain way you want to sound?

I was listening to some orchestral music and was thinking: "More or less the same instruments all the time, but never boring."
But when I make three song, using the same instruments, I immediately go: "It does sound the same."

Are you having similar thoughts sometimes?

Chris

[raymondh]

I think your sound will find you.

Do what you enjoy, whether that be 'more of the same', or continually changing it up, experimenting etc, and enjoy your creative process.

Once you have a backlog of tracks, it will become evident on what your sound is.

Chances are pretty good that you will tend to gravitate toward a particular style or sonic palette, and that is more than ok! In fact you can then embrace that and play to your strengths, even make a big deal about it. That's what Kraftwerk did when they got slammed by critics in the early days as having a very robotic sound!

[motuscott]

I'm originally a drumber, and that's my best instrument
Now I dick around on git and keys, "song writing"...
But I got this swang thang that's just there, always
I hear triplets...

[QVprod]

While I understand the sentiment when people say this, It’s not very good practical advice. Just create what you like. Eventually you’ll develop things that are unique to you. Everyone makes similar sounding songs to older ones at one point or another.

If you want to shake things up though, you could try emulating an artist you like who’s different than you. That’ll force a different creative flow.

[Przemyslaw]

Answer: I write music, I just don't think about my sound, I always want it to be the best it can be. I actually only write music to order, in many different styles. Nevertheless, a person who is sensitive to the music will notice that they have something in common, the sound, the style, that's just the way it is.

I think it's too much expectations, too much thinking; just make more music, develop yourself and have a great fun time, be creative. Yes, it's slogans time but You talk like you're discouraged. Your sound/style is the measure of your many years of experience and the evolution of your ideas, techniques and everything else. And most importantly, it is not something you can plan so be the best each time, take inspiration from the best.

[Chi-Individual]

One thing that helped me was actually taking a long time to create music without listening to other music. No commercial releases or even full songs on YouTube or IG. Just my own. And by a long time I mean like 2 months. That way I wasn’t influenced or comparing. Just creating, good or bad. But that’s when I starting to notice my natural swing, what keys I tended to create in, how I like my drums etc. Then that helped me find better reference tracks for when I started learning to mix. Just my $0.02

[Heigen5]

There's certain possibilities to be able to do, to get a signature sound. Mine mostly is my mastering chain. I also design my own sounds from scratch, even though using FSB is totally fine too.
The bestest advice I could give is just learning your tools, so you'd learn the nature of them. Otherwise you'd just simply mix til you like it.
Ask your ears what to do, and try to pick up the right devices to achieve your goals.

[avasopht]

Just keep at it. Have fun. Experiment. Recreate. Remix. Collaborate.

Whatever. Just keep at it

[Heigen5]

Have fun.

This is the most essential lesson to learn. Never lose this one!

[Gnuc]

Thanks for all the replies.

Yeah, I guees I am more of a preset junkie.
I just do not understand good sound design enough, although I do create my own sound at times.
But mostly I do modify presets that sound like what I have in mind.

Metaphorical speaking:
I guess, as for me, it comes with age: at times I tend to force myself onto defining who I am, and what I WANT to sound like.
Then I remember that the most fun I had/have is when I just let things happen.

But it is always good to have verbal exchanges.

So, thanks again!

[TritoneAddiction]

I would say just write a shit ton of music and eventually/gradually you will develop "your sound" naturally, without even trying. At least that's what I did. I wouldn't think too much about it.

[Mataya]

Don't imitate, innovate...as Jeff Mills once said. And you'll sound like you.

M

[avasopht]

Don't imitate, innovate...as Jeff Mills once said. And you'll sound like you.

M

And yet some of the best innovations came from those who started out imitating.

When learning, none of this matters.

Learning cover songs will develop your skills and music vocabulary. When you come to writing, you can draw on their experience.

When imitating in your DAW, you'll learn how to apply effects and work with sounds to create something with a proven appeal that is pleasing to the ears.

You can even do both - imitate and cover some days, and explore uncharted territory on others

[Creativemind]

I make 3 types of music but mainly 2. The main 2 are old skool house or piano house circa 1990/91 and indie guitar music. I say 3 because I have a friend who likes metal music so have done a few of those using powerchords on my electric guitar with him in mind as he's a singer.

As for old skool house, they do sound very similar to back in the day stuff but without hardware they lack the same production value which is why I'm saving for hardware but because you aren't using melodies in your head (although have done) they naturally fall (using typical piano chord melodies and samples) into sounding similar to those old skool tracks.

Think my indie guitar (mainly acoustic but some electric) will answer your question the best. My main influences are Oasis, The Beatles / John Lennon / Macca / George Harrison, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, David Gray, The Verve, Travis, Charlatans and Supergrass. Some Queen, The Kinks, Bowie and Stones thrown in for good measure too.

When I first started writing songs 23 years ago, I was always trying to strive to write the next The Masterplan, Don't Look Back In Anger, Stand By Me (the Oasis one) or the next Lucky Man or The Drug's Don't Work by The Verve. I was still learning the guitar at the time but by learning Wonderwall, Morning Glory and Beatles tracks such as Love Me Do, All My Loving, Ain't She Sweet etc, it taught me how chords go together, which ones work. Without knowing keys, I just knew which chords went together. If I started on a G, then either Em, C, Bm, F, Am or D could be the next chord. The melodies that came, even though you try to write the next Imagine or what have you, they do tend to come from something within your spirit or soul and although they can sound similar to other songs in places, they have your melody style. Over the years I stopped trying to emulate others and just allowed my own natural melody style to be, let it be if you will lol! I go with the notion that, if you just let your own sound develop, even though your influences will shine through in places, it will sound like you. Then if you do at some point start to gain success, people who like your sound will like 75% if not more of what you write as you'll always sound like you.

Yes that is a rex loop at the end lol!

[Aosta]

We keep looking....

[motuscott]

The Boosh does not lie!

[nickb523]

Back in the day this helped me -

[Creativemind]

We keep looking....

[moofi]

Pleasant sound

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[Gnuc]

The Boosh does not lie!

Never!

[Creativemind]

Pleasant sound

[...]

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Thanks!