How do you start off producing a track ?

[alphatonez]

Hey everyone,

How do you start when you are going to produce a new track ?

Do you have any special technique ?

I usually start with percussions/drums, because i don't like the click (metronome) and i can't play to it. So i put together at least a kick, a snare/clap and a hihat in a 1 bar loop. Sometimes i also temporary put a drumloop into the sequencer, when i quickly need a rhythm, because i have an idea for a melody which needs to be recorded, before i forget it again
Then i add more channels to that loop. When i got some channels filled with sounds i like, i start to stretch (arrange) them and add variations.
The intro and outro is what i actually add, when i'm done with the main parts of the music.

So how do you do it ?

Looking forward to your answers my friends.

Kind regards,
alphatonez

[logic]

many times i get inspired by the music i listen. sometimes because of listening a new album i get into a mood and i want to make music
other times i improvise with the midi keyboard and a certain sound. starting with some drums is one of my favorites but not every time leads to a good melody i noticed.
anyways something has to accumulate before i can make a good song/ideea/melody

what i am having more difficulty is this: i have a nice ideea for the chorus(melody) but it's hard to find one for the verse and not be a cheesy one and stuff...

[r00n]

Im on a piano, and i sing a melody and try to harmonise with it. The singing part is given to an instrument and the piano is divided up into four part kontrapunkt . Tis is the most rewarding style of composition for me.

[theBadger]

I decompose,( or what ever the opposite of compose is) music.

That is to say...

I'll lie in the bath, or somewhere else quiet, and an entire tune complete with melody, harmony and intricate rhythm will pop into my head.... But by the time I've gotten out of the bath, dried myself sufficiently that I'm no longer dangerously electrically conductive and padded my way into my studio... I've already forgotten most of the tune.

At this point I will almost certainly have to re-install my DAW software, some audio drivers or mend a broken speaker.

Then, because I have almost no musical skill what-so-ever, I struggle to recreate the sound that was in my head note by note, in crayon, before being distracted by some interesting but unrelated VSTi.

By which time, the fabulous arrangement that was with me in the bath... will have completely evaporated... leaving me with an the awkward and clunky rubbish that I then post here.



On the other hand. On the rare occasions that I have successfully created original music; it has been in a room with other musicians, playing real instruments in real time.


Jamming.

tB.

[dope]

in bed.
literally in bed. with a guitar.
i dont know what it is but when i'm laying down very comfortable and just play the guitar i usually come up with my best hooks.
vocals usually come later... 99% of the time i hear that vocal melody along with the music when it arrives from the midst of my fucking imagination.

either that way...
or

i take some fucked up idea of midi and samples and just start throwing it at the daw... like taking paint and throwing it at the canvas.
this way usually doesnt work as good and takes a hell of a lot longer.
but usually if i do it like this... its very rapid... and after an hour or two .. i stop. turn it off... and wont come back to it unless i have vocal or real instrument to go with it.
that's usually when i have to manipulate the hell out of the original idea to make it "musical"

all though both of these ideas have worked for me in the past. i'm hoping to avoid them in the future.
i want to work with other people in a jamming type atmosphere. i hope when i get moved to find people to do this with.

[moose]

For me there isn't a specific way.
Sometimes I hear a song or a piece of music which springs something in my head so I grab the guitar and try to follow that stream. Other times I follow up a mistake I made while playing a piece because that mistake sounds too musica to be ignored and calls for development.
Sometimes I am dead bored with all that I already know and wander my fingers on the fretboard looking for ideas. A couple of pieces I wrote/recorded were suggested by some Amplitube or GuitarRig presets. And (finally) sometimes I try my hands on the keyboard.. and (rarely) I hit a sequence of chords which beg to be turned into a whole piece... to which I oblige