The first attempt can serve as a sketch and contain all possible elements. After that it is best to listen again some days later with the necessary distance to recognize and reduce disruptive elements.
That was unexpected
The standard drumbeat can easily be made interesting with a few offset beats. But remember; less is more!
Coincidence is the cosmic power that can bring us wonderful things if we surrender to it.
It’s not just about perfection
A soulful piece played 98 % perfectly usually sounds much better than its 100 % sterile version.
Let yourself drift
I always allow myself room for experimentation and can also be distracted in other directions. If I’m working on an orchestral theme and it accidentally turns into a synth ambience track, then I let that happen and I’m happy.
„The strategist“
A strategic approach as a decision-making aid: what frequencies should my piece have and how do I want to generate these frequencies?
Hidden worlds
An electromagnetic microphone (EMF microphone) opens up a previously hidden world of interesting sounds. It is very easy to make yourself (e.g. “telephone coil”).
The „chiptune“ era
A good source of inspiration is undoubtedly the music from the video game industry and in particular, the brilliant compositions that were created for games consoles in the 80s. A trip to the classics of this era is always worth your time and the chiptune style can be copied today with simple means.
I am also relatively certain that none of my tips will lead to a “chart breaker” and I think that’s a good thing.
Re-interpret existing pieces
A good theme often sounds no less interesting in a different style. Sometimes it is even more effective with other elements.
Many styles benefit from their relationship and themes can be easily adapted. After all, it can happen that certain “adjusting screws” are clarified and suddenly a “triplet arrangement” of an element may feel significantly „more correct“.
Mindset
As in many other areas of life, we encounter the fear of failure in music from time to time. It’s something completely natural, but it slows us down and robs us of motivation: “I can’t find an approach and I’m just wasting time!”
The feeling with which I go into my project is often controlled by my expectation and my expectation depends on my point of view.
At this point, there is an important adjustment screw and simple strategies that make it easier for me to develop a positive principle, but the most important thing first: it is completely normal to fail. People have to fail in order to improve and everyone fails from time to time, so welcome to the club!
I make music because I enjoy it and a healthy outlook ensures that it stays that way.
Thought experiment
Imagine the atmosphere of your live show from the audience’s point of view. Light show, fog? Is there an intro and how does it sound? What will the audience get? I am standing in the audience of my own show…. what will I experience? Absorb the essence and realize it. And maybe you’ll even remember the riff from the first song after this thought experiment.
Small rituals
Perhaps a stick of incense or the fragrance of green tea?
Small rituals convey to mind & body “now I am safe in my creative environment”.
In the hall of eternity
The workflow usually starts with writing a theme and then finding the right preset for it.
On the other hand, taking the time to actively listen to all the presets and cataloging the useful ones can also lead to new results.
With a bit of luck, a new idea can emerge from a play around with the right sound.
And what will happen if I switch effects to it now …
Show me yours and I’ll show you mine
Exchange instruments and other peripherals with your musician friends. You don’t necessarily have to master an instrument to get a sound out of it.
A running system
Even when searching for something new, there is no shame in taking inspiration from genre-redefining grand masters.
Movement in the mix
Which elements from your track are ideal for movement in stereo space?
#panning #automation
What you cannot rule out …
I completely CONSCIOUSLY invest time in less promising approaches. The worst thing that can happen is that I can rule out this approach for myself in the future.
Teein and caffeine increase focus, but too much makes your hands shaky!
Without a „click“
Simply switch off the click and free yourself from the constraints of the bar line.
Especially in software-supported music production, quantization naturally makes it much easier to carry out any editing. Between the grids, however, there is a whole world that remains hidden to many musicians.
The cards for how long a certain chord is held or a note is emphasized are completely reshuffled. The dynamic interplay between the instruments is changing
BPMs no longer exist; only you conduct. This gives the piece a noticeable, personal characteristic.
The “ emotional” component is much more strongly represented.
This helps ambient tracks to develop “natural textures” and it is a particularly good technic to add realism to symphonic libraries.
On a small scale, this effect can also be created in a controlled manner by giving the entire timeline a wild zigzag of continuous speed jumps.
Depending on the genre and speed, +/- 2 to 3 BPM can feel noticeably more natural.
Musical themes are like colorful bricks for me. It sometimes takes me years to find and assemble several of a certain color, but that’s totally OK, because I build something else nice in between.
Fits the mix
In order to be able to use the effect of the elements within a composition in a more targeted way, you should have a rudimentary knowledge of the basic principles of audio engineering. Which instrument focuses on which frequency range, what is suitable for filling a frequency gap and which elements in combination should be toned down later in the mix?
What for?
It is not insignificant to be clear about what motivates your own composition, when you start your outbreaking into self-realization.
Where is this journey headed? Is it my own little “salvation”? Do I want as much positive feedback as possible? Or perhaps something in between? What am I doing here?
Doubts are just unnecessary ballast on this journey. Throw them overboard and set sail.
This is where the magic happens
Very few people have a window in their room with a dreamy victorian garden from 1918 in front of it:
Plants, pictures and posters can do so much more than just decorate the workplace. Sometimes you can see the mood of a picture and get an idea of what it must sound like.
There are many platforms where talented concept artists showcase their skills in the form of inspiring works.
Riff of the week
Create the “riff of the week” challenge for your friends! This can be a fun ritual. Who knows, maybe a riff makes it into the recall and is processed further later.
I know you’re in a flow right now, but you should drink something in between
Field recording
Field recording is an almost meditative activity. It sharpens the senses and trains the perception of what surrounds us.
Controlled breathing for the perfect recording and 360-degree awareness demand something of the body and the often dulled ear of modern man is trained for active listening.
Of course, there are already countless libraries on the market that cover a wide range of sounds. But to underlay your synth ambient track with gentle rain that you have recorded yourself in a warm summer night is a completely different feeling; an emotional connection.
I can only recommend everyone to get into it, because once you realize the versatility of these recordings, it can quickly become a fulfilling passion. Field recording not only encompasses the soundscapes of nature with all its sweet spots, but also offers the opportunity to collect and sample unique sounds.
Sound FX are used in video games, films, radio plays, but also in music.
Creating your own sample libraries (for example via the free Kontakt player from Native Instruments) not only offers a good option for structuring the sounds according to your personal ideas, but also the opportunity to design your own instruments and refine them with effects.
Creating SFX assets for the gaming industry requires more than just creativity. In addition to skills, you also need the right concept and a lot of hard work to meet the requirements of the platforms.
It often takes a bit of luck but as the portfolio grows, so does the chance of a regular source of income.
Your own recordings can also be used as impulse response samples to create reverb tails (for example with the free reverb plugin “Avid Convology XT”). When applied to a synthesizer instrument, the resulting reverb can provide an interesting and natural character.
If you have the opportunity to use a good friend’s industrial warehouse or workshop on a quiet Sunday, let him unlock the door and tell him “You can pick me up in 4 hours” – such a place has great potential for collecting sounds. Chains, neon tubes, the warm-up process of a printer …. you never know what you can make out of it later.
My tip: always carry a mobile recorder with pop protection!
If you want to dive deeper into the subject, you should definitely pay a visit to Marcel from “free to use sounds” on the web.
Order in chaos
Focus on a simple basic line that runs through complex themes.
The contrast for that special something
Finish your song with a different style of music.
New influences
There are countless experimental sample libraries to tinker with out there – often even for free.
By the way: putting effect pedals on all kinds of instruments is always a good idea, whether analog or digital.
Low-budget instruments
Most instruments don’t need a master to get a sound out of them. Instead, they encourage experimentation and expand the scope for the famous “I want to try something” that was at the beginning of many great ideas.
There are now some really good and affordable brands for very different instruments to add many more possibilities to your arsenal and even if the quality can’t usually keep up with sample libraries, it offers enormous flexibility and individual texture.
96 khz to 44.1 khz downsampling
By downsampling a sample made at 96 khz to an audio resolution of 44.1 khz, the speed is almost halved (54.17 %) and the pitch is reproduced approximately 6 semitones lower.
This effect is particularly useful for creating interesting samples. For example, a clanging sheet metal can easily be transformed into a heavy steel beam. Experimenting with this method often produces exciting results and the 44.1 khz still offers CD-quality resolution!
What could an intro for a social media channel sound like?
Old patterns
With synthesizers in particular, it’s easy to come up with a thousand presets and it’s very tempting to pick your all-time favorites, but that’s not what your personal book was written for.
The mighty book
Organize yourself with a sound diary to note special effect chains, software presets and samples, possibly with comments on style, character/impact and maybe the speed.
„And this personal book is allowed to be pretty; we’re not at school here!“
A walk in the park.
The process can be quite exhausting, so plan in some breaks to recover and consciously do something else in between (coffee, a walk, etc.).
Start a jam!
Jam sessions with friends or via a call at a university, music school, local club.
Save for later.
A pool of unused themes with suffixes for mood, style, key, verse/bridge/refrain and BPM makes it easier to find useful combinations later.
#Metadata #UniversalCategorySystem
With open eyes…
Recognize the talents around you and motivate them. Sometimes all an outstanding amateur singer needs is a little recording technique and the right opportunity.
But completely different fusions can also arise.
Disharmonic sounds
Poorly tuned instruments are generally outlawed by musicians. However, some tone friction can create an interesting touch, give a more natural texture and bring an instrument a little more into focus without straining the mix – of course, it’s all about the right balance.
The western trained ear perceives tunings outside the usual scales as interesting. It has happened to me more than once that I took an acoustic guitar out of its hibernation that had been parked for a long time and played around with the strings for half an hour before finally tuning it.
… progressive approaches provide more small moments of success in between and therefore ensure motivation.
More than music
Developing complex concepts outside the domain of music can be very inspiring. A fresh idea can build on a single thought written down years before and grow into a solid project. Short film, video game, installation in an art gallery, … ? There are plenty of overlaps between different media disciplines. And they all have one thing in common… .
Because … why not?
Which project would you like to score? A movie, a video game, a radio play? Maybe a theater piece or a concept album? Imagine it and treat it like a “commissioned work”.
What scenes are there and what music would you use to accompany them?
It’s a well-known fact that music usually makes up more than 50% of the mood in a movie. The right music is therefore an essential element.
Not today…
Don’t waste all your creativity on finding a sound. Use fixed days of the week to work on your sound.
„change a running system“
You often only get an impression of how a repositioned table can affect your mood when you sit in front of it.
Game saved
Save those steps in between your project which may allow you to pursue other musical directions.
A suffix with style or character in the name is easier to remember later.
#Clouds_V4_Cybervalkyre.logic
Templates
Working with templates in the DAW is useful to be able to start creating straight away. But make sure that the template doesn’t dictate too much.
#Structure
„With IMAGINATION I can be anything I want!“
Put yourself in the shoes of instrumentalists whose instruments you can’t even play. The melody arises in your head, your imagination gives you the sound costume and for a few moments you have an exact idea of what it feels like to play this instrument. Sometimes this can also help to “ground” your own expectations.
MIDI as a sketch
Think of MIDI files as a kind of sketch.
Sometimes you have a good melody in your head but just don’t have the right sound …. that slows you down.
In MIDI format, on the other hand, you can treat the growing composition like a sketch.
A neutral piano preset is a good place to start in order to get a good focus on chords, melody, etc. Later you can try out the effect of different sounds, octaves, see what works for the song and finally bring everything together.
This approach can be a game changer in terms of efficiency, especially with orchestral themes.
Re-tuning instruments
Re-tuning string instruments not only opens up new frequency ranges, it can also be an easy way to create interesting chords and tone sequences.
Obviously, guitars are better suited to this than other instrument groups.
Paradiddledooo!
Try shaping your riff into a paradiddle groove.
A classic symphonic loop and a nasty drum beat almost always go together.
Who’s birthday is next?
A bit unmotivated? Have a look at the calendar to see who’s birthday is next. Usually a song always goes down pretty well. If the required seriousness doesn’t want to show up, then leave seriousness at home and use lyrics by Klaus Kinski instead – carefully edited from an interview and reassembled into an aggressive declaration of love.
When it comes to finding ideas, you can also invest your trust in less musical friends … the workflow can be a legendary time.
Variations for the main theme
- Especially in classical compositions, a main theme can of course be kept alive over a longer period of time or even taken up conceptually in different pieces. To a certain extent, this can also be applied to other styles.
Repetitions of the theme with different groups of instruments, variations in the accompaniment or the second voice, a different key or speed, or an interesting chain of effects, provide more variety without changing the theme.
Day trip into other musical styles
Take a day trip to another musical style to get to know the individual compositional schemes and techniques. A basic understanding gives you more diversity in your own compositions.
Be a sponge.
Curiosity is a good drive to immerse yourself in different genres and soak up influences.