How do you begin your compositions and/or productions?

[DamianC]

I was having a chat with an old friend of mine about how some producers that have been mainly into electronic music typically start their productions with beats while live rock musicians start with a bass or guitar. I know this isn't really true, but it made me curious about people's workflows and how they start and what they do after the first step. I haven't produced in a bit because I was playing in bands, but I quit to pursue my solo project and get back in the production game.

So tell me whats your workflow like? Do you start with a beat? Sound design or composition first?

[Piplodocus]

Usually my productions begin with a beer.

It can then be any way around. Sometimes I start with a beat and experiment with tunes that go with it, others the tune starts which implies a beat or rhythmical properties. I really don't agree with the "producers that have been mainly into electronic music typically start their productions with beats while live rock musicians start with a bass or guitar" except that it's more likely a rock musician is more likely to be a guitarist/bassist and begin with a "riff" as a result, whereas electronic producers are usually more "beat" oriented. I don't think it makes any difference other than people in general begin with an instrument they're most comfortable at playing/composing on. So yes and no. But it really isn't because it's the best way to begin with one or the other for a particular style.

[Tone Deft]

drums then grab a guitar or bass and see what I'm inspired to play. take whatever I have, double it, maybe put a break in the middle, play with the drums to make breaks and change things up. then add some synth stuff to fill out the parts. maybe a deep sine wave in Operator to fill out the low end. then get sick of hearing it and start all over again.

*always save your songs from time to time as revisions. always use Collect All And Save.*

'electronic music' is a huge genre as far as the types of sounds, I doubt Aphex Twin has the same flow as Tiesto.

[Moody]

The bass is my muse.

[Evengy]

normally i start with a 4 or 8 bar chord progression. from this chord progression i can "easily" create different basslines, drums, melodies, arps etc.

sometimes i start with a stabsound rhythm, an athmospheric sound. another starting point is to create drums and bass first to get a feel for the rhytm.

very rarely i have a melody first.... maybe in 1% or something like this mostly its a chord, drums & bass or stabsound rhythm!

[heppareppana]

this is what i used to do:

i bought 12 sided dice and threw it for a chord (C=1, C#=2, D=3, etc). After that i would throw the dice again to see how many measures would each chord last (in 12 sided dice= 1,2,3=1 measure, 4,5,6=2 measures, 7,8,9=4 measures, 10,11,12=8 measures). I started doing this after reading too many David Bowie discographies and being a Brian Eno-fan.

Now i would have the keys of the chords and how long they would last. Then i would specify the chords just by ear, what chord would be minor, what major what would have added 7th what would be aug9add13. This would be my first step where i would be able to choose something.

After this i would pick up an instrument (guitar if i would have time, but usually a keyboard) and i would try to do something that would carry the whole song as an idea (like a pad), something that would give me a general feel for the track (I usually would ditch this track in the end, because having a celestial synth pad on on the background for the whole track is rather boring).

After all this i would just add stuff, usually i would do drums last (because i hate doing drum fills for some reason).

But now i just try to pick up a guitar and strum something cool and build my stuff around that. It allows more freedom in thought, easier to be "artistic" and not just focus at what you personally think are the rules of making music.

[DamianC]

Wow all very amazing formats! Especially you heppareppana. I love brian Eno and I actually use his Oblique Strategies on an app on my phone. My biggest weakness is actually drums believe it or not and I'm primarily a bassist when it comes to live instruments.

I don't actually agree on the electronic music stuff being so beat driven to where most producers use beats first and I saw this because I was always so dead smack in the middle growing up listening to Nine Inch Nails and evolved to many styles as I grew older. Nine Inch Nails is a great example of having both sides of the coin on that and yeah great reference on Aphex Twin! That is another dimension of production and composing.

[perplex]

this is what i used to do:

i bought 12 sided dice and threw it for a chord (C=1, C#=2, D=3, etc). After that i would throw the dice again to see how many measures would each chord last (in 12 sided dice= 1,2,3=1 measure, 4,5,6=2 measures, 7,8,9=4 measures, 10,11,12=8 measures).

wat

notsureifsrs


anyway this is how i do it.
i start out with a lead, maybe further pursued by my vocal humming to drive myself to find a catchy melody. Then i enter my dark bathroom and say candyman 5 times in the mirror, and plead the Bee king for his mercy to find the ultimate hit.

[Pasha]

Drum Loops then guitar / Keyboards.
Lay down some chord progression in various ways (i.e. scenes)
play overdub with bass or guitar and little by little build
a skeleton 1 to 3 scenes.
If the mood is good that will become a song, if not it's
digital rubbish. In this process launchpad is used extensively..

- Best
- Pasha

[hacktheplanet]

My stuff always starts as a melody or rhythm in my head. Usually when I'm riding my bike, drunk, or else in a dream. Yes, in a dream. My best stuff (in my opinion) has come during dreams. It's really weird.

From there, I usually start with the most energetic part of the song and build around that.

[LeifonMars]

I start with an idea. Sometimes I listen ideas I've recorded to my phone (humming melody and bass lines) while I'm driving in my car.

[oddstep]

1) i build patches with arps and step sequencers playing samples or synth waveforms and go through the classic cadences until I hit something that releases the potential of the synth patch
2) i like a chord sequence or melody that i play on a guitar or keyboard.

if its solo work then I develop the track based on my own aesthetics.

if its colloborative I observe my partner's responses and filter out the bits that they're not resonating with.

basically I relax by playing music and listen to what I'm doing.

[xzusa8ky]

I start turning on the computer!

[Saxer]

idea first!

if there´s no idea what to do it´s wasted time.
without a new idea i go working on other stuff... mixing, editing, vocal cuts, sorting sounds etc

i write down new ideas on paper... chords, melodies, words, concepts... even sound things i want to try.

[perplex]

I start with an idea. Sometimes I listen ideas I've recorded to my phone (humming melody and bass lines) while I'm driving in my car.

i do the same thing lol. if i am humming a great tune i came up with, ill pull out the old iphone, hit the recorder app, and record it really quick.