What's your process when making music?

[TritoneAddiction]

It's a broad question I know.
Be as detailed/comprehensive or brief as you want.

Just thought a thread like this that focuses on the creative aspect could be a nice contrast to the gear/shopping hysteria that always comes with Black Friday/Week.

[tomusurp]

Usually start with some melody or drums, then I usually get ideas of what to add next or sometimes experimenting and playing around can add an interesting element. Mixing and arranging I do along the way. Then at some point comes time to polish the mix and then mastering.

[Jace Face]

Idea comes. Hum it into phone recording. Get the energy of the idea down in Reason ASAP and build from there. Sometimes it’s a melody or beat or sometimes just a cool lyrics thing, or a whole hook part of the song if I’m lucky. The fun part is capturing and immortalizing that initial high when it hits you out of nowhere. It’s a gift from God.

[PhillipOrdonez]

I know roughly the goal I’m trying to achieve before I start, and then I execute it the best I can.

[huggermugger]

I most often start with a synth I haven't used in a while, and I look for a rhythmic, sequencey preset. I'll mess around with it until it's doing something that catches my ear, and take it from there. Also, if it's a synth I want to get to know better, I'll use the same synth in a few tracks.

[Benedict]

I have written this about and made video series several times for myself and others like Higher Hz so for those looking for more than a one-line answer:

Just the music composing part looking at Harmony (Theory):
https://benedictroffmarsh.com/2023/08/0 ... effective/

Shorter on the composing but longer on the Production stuff:
https://benedictroffmarsh.com/2022/09/0 ... cal-terms/

huggermugger: I most often start with a synth... I'll mess around with it until it's doing something that catches my ear, and take it from there

Most of the time that is where a piece - and then album - starts for me too. I help the Song Gods find me

[Jace Face]

Don’t forget arrangement, gain staging, and good sound from the source. One must keep that in mind from the very beginning.

[Aosta]

I start without a clue in my head of what I want to create and go from there

[Popey]

I tend to have two ways my songs start.

Way 1 is having an idea and then trying to get that idea together in the daw. I still tend to morph the idea a bit when creating the track though and having no musical training means more trial and error to capture ideas.

Way 2 is from just playing with gear. Hooking up some sort of melody generator like quad note to whatever synth I am playing with so I can loop one bar and create plucks or plucky bass and melodies. The whole idea is just about fun and making sounds but usually ends up with a nice sound and melody generated that I the want to put basic drums behind. If the idea is good then I usually run with it and it becomes a track.

[robussc]

My last two songs started from two very different places.

Dead Inside started with the lyric idea and what that would be when translated into music, the rest of the song built out quite rapidly from there.

Army of One started with a chord sequence and a melodic idea. The lyrics were overlaid on top, which made the songwriting much harder IMO (it’s also a more complicated piece so that might have been part of it.)

But I typically start with a chord progression if I’m writing instrumental music as it’s fairly easy to come up with a melodic idea on top of that.

Once the piece is arranged then mixing and mastering is pretty much always the same.

[bitley]

At first I decide I won't have any social life at all so I say no thanks to party invitations, school reunions, occasional dinners and loose friends asking to come over and hang out. Fast forward many years of that and you're completely forgotten. The irony of making music to be seen.

[Benedict]

At first I decide I won't have any social life at all so I say no thanks to party invitations, school reunions, occasional dinners and loose friends asking to come over and hang out. Fast forward many years of that and you're completely forgotten. The irony of making music to be seen.

LOL
It's true enough tho