Building Story into Your Music

Have an urge to learn, or a calling to teach? Want to share some useful Youtube videos? Do it here!
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Benedict
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27 May 2020

I have many videos & articles on Story and how it must drive your music - both Composing & Mixing. This is a new one where I build a small piece showing how I incorporate the ideas to help drive the music that is written. This helps undo the stranglehold from too many external formulaic rules about what should be done over what YOU want to do.



Yes sadly the audio coming from the WDM Driver has turned out to be choppy. All my vids are done live in one take so sometimes :poo: happens. It was toss the baby with the bathwater or simply accept that life is never perfect and carry on (part of the lesson methinks).

:-)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
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Jagwah
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28 May 2020

This is very useful for people stuck in the loop and others like me who can put a bunch of things together but then lose sense of direction and how to progress with it.

Any art I can think of is telling a story or creating a scene of some sort, and in music it can be fairly straight forward to have a singer sing and tell you that story - but what about when we just use our instruments - how do we tell a story with just those tools? This question is tackled here and in Benedict's other videos on story. I highly recommend.

@Benedict - Thanks for expanding on this topic. I find your Youtube channel an invaluable resource, I would be devastated if it was taken away somehow or if you did a Hydlide and took it all away from us (please let me know if you are ever going to do that, i will rip it ALL). :)

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Benedict
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28 May 2020

Jagwah wrote:
28 May 2020
This is very useful for people stuck in the loop and others like me who can put a bunch of things together but then lose sense of direction and how to progress with it.

Any art I can think of is telling a story or creating a scene of some sort, and in music it can be fairly straight forward to have a singer sing and tell you that story - but what about when we just use our instruments - how do we tell a story with just those tools? This question is tackled here and in Benedict's other videos on story. I highly recommend.

@Benedict - Thanks for expanding on this topic. I find your Youtube channel an invaluable resource, I would be devastated if it was taken away somehow or if you did a Hydlide and took it all away from us (please let me know if you are ever going to do that, i will rip it ALL). :)
Thanks Jag

I may come and go but I have no plans to do a Hydalide - even tho the last few days have been very disheartening - but I fully understand why he did what he did. I assumed he was Autistic like me and while he could be blunt and even sometimes seem a bit mean, he knew a lot and put a lot of work into sharing & helping. I respected him. I knew that once the get the other guy was completed the Witchfinder Army would turn on him. It happened faster than I expected. At that point, it is not unusual for Spectrum people to simply say stuff you all seeing they cannot balance the conflict and leave the building totally. I just hope that in both those cases it wasn't enough for suicide.

Anyway, that is a whole other story.

:-)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
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Arjanders
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28 May 2020

All the vids and website of reasonexperts are still online right?

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Jagwah
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29 May 2020

Arjanders wrote:
28 May 2020
All the vids and website of reasonexperts are still online right?
I would assume so, in the past they had been removed on a few occasions.

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Jagwah
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29 May 2020

Benedict wrote:
28 May 2020
I respected him.
I have nothing against him and I hope he is well.

I just wish all 'forum type' users could gather here in the one place, especially a power user like Hydlide.

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Benedict
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29 May 2020

That was supposed to be the idea but sadly not everyone wants to see where our stories intersect and can grow.
Some want to control the story (the only one they allow) which pushes others away.
As I have written, normally the best (most productive) are the first to go.

Rather than talking about Hydalide and the ugliness Forums can support, has anyone else watched the video?

:-)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
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Jagwah
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30 May 2020

Benedict wrote:
29 May 2020
...has anyone else watched the video?
Well I have and I applied the technique to a new track and set up a story around some complex and emotional issues happening in my life right now. I feel the piece is oozing with emotion and I can't wait to share it with you when it's complete. I also look forward to writing some fictional stories this way!

I highly recommend you guys reading check out this video, it can be like a revelation and help you find your own strong sense of direction when composing a piece.

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TritoneAddiction
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31 May 2020

Nice video Benedict. :thumbs_up: I agreed with some things you talked about while other things I had different views on. That's totally fine though. I still got something out of it. Most importantly it made me reflect on my own values and what qualities I look for in music, both in my own and in other peoples music.
Might even make a thread inspired by this video, not specifically on musical storytelling, but more about ones values regarding music overall. Something like "What do you look for in music?" type of thing (where storytelling might still be a part). We'll see.

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Benedict
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31 May 2020

Thanks Mr Addiction

I don't expect everyone to agree with me all the time. That we think about things and come to considered conclusions is a great thing itself.

Interested to know what you think so look forward to seeing your thread on this.

:-)
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TritoneAddiction
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02 Jun 2020

Benedict wrote:
31 May 2020
Thanks Mr Addiction

I don't expect everyone to agree with me all the time. That we think about things and come to considered conclusions is a great thing itself.

Interested to know what you think so look forward to seeing your thread on this.

:-)
Still working on my own conclusions. :) But here's the thread if you're interested.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7517982

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Benedict
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02 Jun 2020

TritoneAddiction wrote:
02 Jun 2020
Benedict wrote:
31 May 2020
Interested to know what you think so look forward to seeing your thread on this.
Still working on my own conclusions. :) But here's the thread if you're interested.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7517982
From what I see listed so far, I'd still call them Story.

:-)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
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TritoneAddiction
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02 Jun 2020

Benedict wrote:
02 Jun 2020
TritoneAddiction wrote:
02 Jun 2020

Still working on my own conclusions. :) But here's the thread if you're interested.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7517982
From what I see listed so far, I'd still call them Story.

:-)
I guess a lot of things overlap. I think a lot of it is subjective interpretation. Sometimes words can have different meanings to different people. Like the word "story". Maybe I'm more rigid in my way of thinking about that word.
Like I said I still haven't sorted my thoughts out properly about this so I might change my mind. But just to give you one example. For me I don't attach that much to "stories" in music (or at least I think so). Usually I'm looking for a certain type of feeling or some sort of visual image in my head. Like say I listen to Cannibal Corpse, I don't care at all about the story of the song (lyrics and so on). I'm just after the raw aggression and the sheer power of that music. As soon as I've had enough of that particular feeling I'll turn it off. But of course if one choose to look at song development/arrangement or a visual image in ones head as "story" then it would definitely fall under that umbrella. So again I think it's about how we interprets things and where we're coming from. Maybe we mean the same thing but use different words.

Feel free to share your musical philosophies in the thread btw. :)

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Benedict
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02 Jun 2020

The official term is Narrative but I wanted to use something else simply because narrative can so easily seem too tied to all the negative preconceptions about Arty wankery. Tho I fear that people apply that straight to what I say anyway = often before even listening enough to understand.

Yes that CC give their special brand of fun is Story indeed. I commonly use them as an example. That you gravitate to it when it matches your Story (and need to feel heard so you can move on) is proof of that.

As I say, Story doesn't have to be as literal as "woke up this morning, fed the fish..." Some songs are that direct on the surface like "Sunday Morning Coming Down" but they still point to something larger about ourselves as humanses (or they would be worthless).

:-)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
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