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.

[JaceFace]

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

[JaceFace]

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

[Rising Night Wave]

mostly i start with the drum loop.
then add further synths for that drum loop.
firtstly i am creating a loop.
then when the loop is satisfingly done i start to create song.
before that i mostly set up my mastering res/vst so i can alredy, if i may say so, enjoy, let's say final sound.
when the construction is finished i do a loudnes levels
fine tune mastering
and more or less this is it

if vocs are applied i do it in most scenarios at the end of construction process

i am avoiding eq-ing since it is nerve tearing becasue of boring an repetitive nature
so i am lately using izotopes ai for that

that's it

[integerpoet]

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

In addition to what everybody else has said, I adhere absolutely to this iron principle:

Never finish anything.

[Benedict]

I adhere absolutely to this iron principle:
Never finish anything.

Oh that is just sad

- unfinished/unpublished music doesn't exist -

Perhaps you jest (kinda). Why not finish?
If you can't finish, why not involve someone else?

[integerpoet]

I adhere absolutely to this iron principle:
Never finish anything.

Oh that is just sad

- unfinished/unpublished music doesn't exist -

Perhaps you jest (kinda). Why not finish?
If you can't finish, why not involve someone else?

I do jest (kinda).

But I also have lots of unfinished projects and I "release" one very rarely.

If I were going for any discernible style or genre then I might have found a collaborator by now.

But mostly I goof around aimlessly until I stumble onto something I like and can build on.

For example, lately I have been jumping between an angry gothic/industrial thing and a ridiculously cheery synth-pop thing.

I would need an army of collaborators ready to mesh with my meandering whims.

I would also need to get past the eight-bar problem and stop getting bogged down in mixing prematurely.

Sometimes my process is more like mediation than progress. "The journey is the reward", etc.

I have a feeling this is pretty common, but it's just a feeling.

[motuscott]

It's the process, not the product. I also almost never end up with a "song".
I'm comfortable with it, my younger self would not have been.

He's not here to fight me. Could prolly whip my ass...

[Benedict]

For example, lately I have been jumping between an angry gothic/industrial thing and a ridiculously cheery synth-pop thing.
I have a feeling this is pretty common, but it's just a feeling.

To me, those are very complimentary. if you said Death Metal and Avocado Sandwiches I might wonder how they mesh (or is that mash). This divisive obsession with genre is doing no one any good. Country & Goth, yep; Metal & Pop, yep; Industrial & Disco, hell yeah.

I do get that many are using synths etc like train sets or stamp collections. This is fine but not productive as such. So decide what your intended end-game is:

• If it is to sit in a room of flashing lights, then do that. Meddling with synths is the end in itself.

• If you desire to have published songs, forget rooms, synths, compressors... and write and publish songs. Bringing in a person or people when needed as all that matters is the result - the published song. Everything else must only exist as much as needed to get the song on Bandcamp, YouBoob etc.

[integerpoet]

So decide what your intended end-game is:

• If it is to sit in a room of flashing lights, then do that. Meddling with synths is the end in itself.

• If you desire to have published songs, forget rooms, synths, compressors... and write and publish songs. Bringing in a person or people when needed as all that matters is the result - the published song. Everything else must only exist as much as needed to get the song on Bandcamp, YouBoob etc.

"Decide"? Bwa ha ha ha! Never!

Seriously, getting distracted by trying to perfect the mix of the first eight bars I've written is really a matter of procrastination. And also the flip-side of that: Not wanting to walk away even though I know the ideas have stopped coming for the day. Such a waste!

I'm merely trying to shake myself out of it. Have done pretty well today, actually.

[Benedict]

"Decide"? Bwa ha ha ha! Never!

Seriously, getting distracted by trying to perfect the mix of the first eight bars I've written is really a matter of procrastination. And also the flip-side of that: Not wanting to walk away even though I know the ideas have stopped coming for the day. Such a waste!

I'm merely trying to shake myself out of it. Have done pretty well today, actually.

Aah, deciding not to decide is a decision in itself. Sitting on the fence is like sitting in quicksand. We then justify that with all manner of excuses that seem valid but in reality are just fear keeping you safely in danger of never doing anything at all.

Creativity is not an all-day thing. You have a creative idea. After that, it is a case of working it. Not with rules but with feel and experience. Blips of creativity have you do unexpected things like adding grace notes that make the piece spark.

As for Mixing. That comes only after you have the piece. You can work sound design as you work. Making a love song when your guitar is set to Megadeth can be a bit offputting. Alter the sounds to suit the Scene & Story but don't get too caught in mixing or you cart the horse before the put and it all gets muddly which confuses the already fearful mind. Scene & Story. Arrangement to make it more Story than Scene alone. Then mix it to achieve the aims of the piece*

Why not consider sharing a piece with me as I am in-between seeing my projects are done for now? I will become the finisher. It will be interesting - a challenge if you insist on not letting go - amazing if you put aside the ego and let the Song lead.



*the piece has no real aims before it is done. Think of a song like Guns N Roses "November Rain" how could you ever mix that without a feel for the whole!?! Doing so would just have you make it 17 mins of one 5-second slice of an irrelevant song. That would kill the most amazeballz eva song before it got made.

[integerpoet]

Why not consider sharing a piece with me as I am in-between seeing my projects are done for now? I will become the finisher. It will be interesting - a challenge if you insist on not letting go - amazing if you put aside the ego and let the Song lead.

That is a fabulous idea, but of the two tracks I have been swapping between lately one (synth-pop-cum-disco-muzak) is now done and the other (angry goth/industrial) is awaiting a guitar part from a friend with whom I would not want to set up a competition.

And yes when I confessed mixing too early that was another ploy to get myself to stop doing it!

[Benedict]

That is a fabulous idea, but of the two tracks I have been swapping between lately one (synth-pop-cum-disco-muzak) is now done and the other (angry goth/industrial) is awaiting a guitar part from a friend with whom I would not want to set up a competition.

No worries. Maybe another time

[integerpoet]

That is a fabulous idea, but of the two tracks I have been swapping between lately one (synth-pop-cum-disco-muzak) is now done and the other (angry goth/industrial) is awaiting a guitar part from a friend with whom I would not want to set up a competition.

No worries. Maybe another time

Oh, I have loads of other unfinished tracks. I'm just pretending they don't exist right now in hopes of being able to finish one of these two. The mixing and mastering for the synth-pop-cum-disco-muzak one is getting really close!

[motuscott]

I just get in there and kick up some dust. You never know where great ideas start.
It helps to have everything going with a couple of button pushes. Reason is good for this with templates and all.
Guitars are within reach, keys, vocal mic: ditto, drumbs are several blocks away but ready to go with a few button pushes.
Don't know what I did to be so lucky...

[mimidancer]

Wait. Are we supposed to have a process?