Electronic Music 411 - What is your process? - composition, process, method

EM411.com
Electronic Music Production, MP3's, Live Shows, Blogs and Community

Share your music and get feedback.

mechp's emID

MPLS, Minnesota, USA

Message me

View my emID

What is your process?

StoreTags: composition, process, method

Author: mechp on July 06 2006

Viewed 2681 times. 13 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.

People who enjoyed reading this: oerfil, bleen, soft, jdg, khoral, FailedSitcom, Plissken, bla, papergoose, emulsion, Bonz, dynamo, Roshi

--> I'm sitting here, unable to sleep listening through a bunch of music and I was wondering: What is your process? How do you start, continue and/or finish music? Is it the same each time or does it change?

I am a samples man personally. Most of the time I start with a sample that inspires/informs the track. I then add, layer, change, chop, etc until the track has evoloved into it's own animal. I have been slowly, but steadily collecting more instuments however and I expect this will affect my process (I recently picked up a wooden flute in Mexico fo $4, which I am teaching myself to play).

Digg it | Delicious

Read mechp's other blogs.mechp's Recent Blogs

monster island (Tags: monster, island, art)

Scan Records, Listen (Tags: scan, your, records!)

Optigan?

The end of an Era (Tags: bye, bye music, :()

Deadelus (Tags: willy wonka, monome, dope)

Comments

1 | 2

07/06/06 + mechp

p.s. made a little illustration for this blog, peep that shit!

Recent blogs: monster island, Scan Records, Listen, Optigan?

07/06/06 + soft

nice pic.

i just make some noises with synths/fx and stuff and turn it into a beat/noise. then add stuff as i see fit.
thats the basic thing but its different every time.

ive recently balls'd up me computer so i might bust out the rm1x and my samplers and make a tune GASP without - a - computer!! old school style ;)
and actually work on it till its finished, instead of starting a billion others.

Recent blogs: stranded in berlin!!, STFU arrangements Heidelberg, i joined the darkside

07/06/06 + Squeal

I wrote a guitary folk song yesterday. I wrote the lyrics at work. The feeling of impending doom should anyone see that I am writing poetry kind of hastened the process. Then last night came up with a nice chord progression and a chorus. It's a waltz.

Recent blogs: Take this job (school) and SHOVE IT

07/06/06 + license

Lately I've just been noodling with whatever gear is available. I haven't come up with anything good in a while but I'm still trying.
At my most productive, I'd noodle around on the SQ80 and when I came up with a good riff or chords or whatever, I'd record it and then later "translate" it into other sounds, sometimes using the SQ80 and RY30 and sometimes on a tracker.
Sometimes I go from start to finish on the tracker. A couple months ago I had a spurt of this and it was fairly productive, I even got a mixit submission in. But it seems that I can make chords and melodies that are a bit more emotional when I use the SQ80. Computers are so sardonic and the SQ80 feels really sincere and earnest. Which I guess can be bad sometimes, I haven't made a "joke" track in years and I definitely see that as a bad sign.
A couple years ago, I did a lot of noodling in Fruity and I came up with quite a few beginnings of songs, but never completed anything. Same with Buzz. Though I think I had more snippets that resembled songs in Fruity whereas I got closer to completing songs w/ Buzz.

Recent blogs: Signing Off, Audio OS?, suspended

07/06/06 + astroid

you're telling me that "pho" track was serious, license?

i've been getting better about fleshing rough outlines out to the end, and then using those as starting points, rather than trying to take the whole composition on at once. think about it- if you can do an interesting chord structure/melody/beat that's simple, that you can get through in a 4 hour session or so, and be happy with, then you can go back in and fill it up with detail and flow. it's easier to do that, and supply a nice framework than it is to make something totally perfect working linearly-easier to get distracted.

yeah, lately, it feels more like being a painter or an architect-having a broad foundation and working on making the joints stronger, and then challenging the assumptions of the piece more when it's complete. or, like a chuck close style painter, going from a blur of color and getting smaller and more detailed until the finished product crystalizes.

concretely, i do a lot of sampling my nord and evolver these days, and finding crusty drums to slop over it-i also try to add some suprises which are surprising to me somewhere along the line.

Recent blogs: california gay-friendly folk looky here, if tubgirl were immortal, ten year goal reached

edited: Jul 06 2006 + khoral

First I write a song, that is, lyrics+melodies+chord progression - I'm rehearsing this over and over, developing a mental idea of what I would like to hear when it's all recorded and mixed
Then I will usually program some beats, often just tempo reference beats to help recording the instrumental parts
Then I record the instruments, a lot of them, just recording whatever comes in mind, on-the-spot... I very rarely prepare sounds first hand, but tweak previous sounds and improvise parts right away
Then I'm getting a mass of sound in which I'm gonna cut like a sculpture, getting rid of parts, expanding others, adding new instruments... broadly speaking, I'm mixing along with the recording
Then I record the vocals
Then I finish up the mix

Recent blogs: Prophet 08 mini-review, Two new albums (and some gear stuff), Farewell Rick Wright

07/06/06 + Adjective

i make disconnected 4-8 bar sequences and then force them together.
this usually spawns more 4-8 bar sequences to help glue them together a little more gracefully.
then i fall back and strip away or complicate certain sections to keep the story interesting.
then i stand in front of a mirror with a cardboard cutout of tom cruise saying 'my beats are slammin, my beats are slammin'
when i sit back down the last half of the song is written and the track has been completely mixed and mastered.
i never ask questions

Recent blogs: Scattered Senseless, pen / ink, my MC505 crush

07/06/06 + Plissken

I went through a long period of laying down a 4-8 bar section and then building tracks on top of it until I got a chorus together, then writing a bridge. Then, I wind up liking the brige more than the rest of the song, so I throw the rest of it away and build up a new track based on the bridge. Then I write a new bridge... repeat ad nauseam.

Obviously that wasn't working so great so I tried out new methods. I've settled on a much more sample-based approach that I think was the result of trying my hand at a few remixes. It basically goes like this:

1. Hoard a bunch of possibly good music to sample
2. Listen to it all, pick out fragments that sound ripe, prep them in peak or recycle
- oh yeah - another parallel process involves going through a collection of classic breaks and isolating drum hits
3. either in reason or live, lay in the sample, mess around with it to varying degrees
4. lay in a beat - rough style
5. bassline
6. maybe a couple more parts
7. pretty quickly, I try to come up with some variations on the above to see if there's enough material to make a song. If not, I let it rest and revisit it in a few weeks to see if I have any new ideas. If it's working, I get into more detail - finessing the drum sounds and patterns, trying out some sounds over top of the different sections, and on to an adequatastic finished product! and beyond!

I think the limitations imposed by basing tracks off a singular sample is helping me be more decisive and avoid spiraling out of control with neverending permutations. However, the limitations will eventually become, er, limiting. But my plan for that point is to change directions and impose new limits: make some tracks with no drums, make some tracks with no harmony or melody, some tracks with only drums. I think it's really helpful to change up your working methods to avoid getting stuck in ruts - it worked for me, anyways.

Recent blogs: The DJX blew my mind, Congo Bongo, Studio monitor question

07/06/06 + papergoose

I wish I knew...
Usually, I just start with a sample or a melody and work from there. It's pretty organic from that point. If I have some vocal files I want to use (from Ice Cream Creatures) or guitar, I'll play around with different slice and patterns and harmonies until I like it. . . from there I just "make it work" ... or not. I just kind of hear in my mind what comes next, then write it. Not much else to it... I'll edit over the next few weeks or so, listening to it again with fresh ears and tweak bits and add bits and chop out sections... but mostly... I just hear it.

Recent blogs: Personal Contract for the Composition of Music, BIROTRON- The 8-track Mellotron Clone, SiCKO

07/06/06 + jdg

i spend many moon, making samples and sounds.. geeking out with synthesis, making tons of patches, recording all the output.. trying all things dumb.. just to make some sounds.. recording everything.

then if i'm ever in the mood, i wade thru it all and edit it down, and chop it up, and put it into a sampler or whatever and make a song from that.

Recent blogs: speedy j steals the mixit, cmj loves fredo, What is your favorite track that you've made?

07/06/06 + xik

I usually start with a few bars of drums used as a BPM / style / vibe placeholder, then work out a melody or a riff - something that really speaks 2me, or I'll record a live instrument and then go back and chop up the riffs that suit the vibe.

Focusing on discarding anything that doesn't really move me, cutting as much out as possible, pitching things so that every part works in conjunction with tone, locking everything in a supportive manner rather than layered.

Then I'll go back and add in some fills, working with levels, pressing on quirks flaws and fckups ignored as long as the vibes there.

When inspiration ends, or say sample isn't cutting it, I'll save and then hack through working on something new using the old trx like a template.

Half the time I'll take old tracks and then erase the main song tracks leaving the patters and just copy / rework things to save the hassle of worrying about a drum sound.

Recent blogs: Env tutorial for Midines (FL Studio), Electronic Distributor Links, CHIPSHOW Hollywood

07/06/06 + bleen

when i have my drums set up for a session, i'll usually take some time and just track a bunch of random stuff while it's mic'd up. this gives me some raw materials for loops/smaples/etc. i'll also spend some time programming sounds either on my nord or various VIs when i have some free time (never...). then, when it feels like time to write, i have a palette of new sounds to draw from and i'm not distracted in the writing phase by programming sounds. although, sometimes while i'm programming sounds, something in them will lead me to a riff or phrase and i'll record it right then to come back to later.

Recent blogs: Lessons in "beat mixing", MacPro is coming..., Bent Tesla coil instruments!

07/07/06 + foosnark

I experiment. I just toy with stuff until I hear something I like. Then I keep messing with it until I get sick of it (and start over) -- or I get some kind of vibe or impression from it. Then I focus on that and finish it.

I used to start with a percussion track or a little bit of melody, but I'm making dark ambient/glitch/noise now. Some rhythm or melody might enter later in the process if it seems natural, or it might evolve out of what I'm doing on its own.

07/08/06 + n9

my bandmate and I play 20-40 minute improvised sets with live instruments and loops and samples on live on our powerbooks. We record 4-10 stereo tracks on a third computer, also running live. All the computers are synced (via Midi over wireless.)

We go through the tracks looking for the good bits, edit them, mix them and then send them to jdg for mastering.

I've never really been able to make anything that I like unless it is improvised.

Recent blogs: totally amazing my bloody valentine live vid, Bootleg of first My Bloody Valentine show in 16 years., i'm back + two new tracks

07/09/06 + mechp

A lot of times I'll build an 8 or 16 bar loop and just keep layering on top of it, then mute some parts and layer more, mute more/other parts layer more, etc and then just spread the layers across the timeline like butter. I suspect I work in this method because I started on drum machines and I always used to work by building up a super thick pattern with too much, then copying it a bunch and deleting, rearanging and rewriting parts across the different patterns.

Recent blogs: monster island, Scan Records, Listen, Optigan?

1 | 2

You must be a member to reply or post. signup or login