Composition *SHARE YOUR TECHNIQUES*

[Ambioun - Techno Man]

How do you start out a composition. Do you jam until you find something that works. Or do you have a plan for what the song is going to be?

Share your methods here in this thread!

[Vercengetorex]

I jam a LOT, making sure that different elements work very fluidly together, as well as alter those elements to allow me to take things in new directions very quickly. Then I leave that set alone for a few days, and come back and jam on it some more. This process is repeated untill I know a set so intimately I can flow he peices together without looking at the screen. Once I am to this point, and feeling inspired, I hit record on an analog deck, and thats a song.

[A DJ]

* just bang away and record it and than listen to what u can use ...work from there

* listen to ur fav tracks and look for inspiration


at leats thats what i would do
havent composed since my ST dropped from my window and smashed on the street

[A DJ]

u beat me Vercengetorex

[supster]

1 - start making sounds, keep the ones that are workin together, drop the rest

2 - get something going that makes you rock out, then stop the music for a while: listen in your head for where it should go next

3 - then go back and make what you heard, as close to they way you imagined it

keep repeating these steps over and over and refining your track - during the process you are learning more and more techniques that make Step 3 go better for ya

.

[ethios4]

I've always been a big fan of the "Jam until somthing clicks, then structure it out" school. As I've gotten deeper into composition I find its often more effective to start with a plan, the big picture, and work out from there. I end up with more cohesive compositions, work flows faster, and I can avoid the dreaded "where do I go from here" syndrome. Like if you want to paint a portrait you don't start painting a nose and work out from there, you sketch the whole thing out and then start filling in from there.
You can get deeper into the process this way too. Like you can take a rhythmic concept of tension and release and apply it over the entire longterm structure, then work within that framework.
There's a great book, Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy that talks about this in relation to composers from the past. Beethoven wrote huge intricate structures that could never come about through random fiddling around. He would draw up a huge wall-sized map of the entire composition before and during composition. Mozart would often draw out the structural sketch using cliched melodies to mark a general idea for the bass and upper voices, then fill in the middle voices and flesh out the actual melodies later. Of course, sometimes he would work out the entire arrangement in his head first, but thats a different story. Point being that the great compositions usually aren't created by pure jamming. Even the Grateful Dead had a general structure to their improvs that they worked within. Even John Cage spent countless hours carefully structuring how to remove himself from his compositions.
The crazy part is that working with structures and self-imposed limitations can actually be far more enjoyable than freewheelin it!

[mikemc]

if you like any of these tracks, then you can get an idea of hoe you do your own. If you think they stink, then you know which techniques to avoid

There is the "tune comes to mind then I hum it then put words to it then chords then beat/song structure" thing. That's how this one was done (site uses Flash player):

http://www.garageband.com/mp3player?|pe ... aSkYli1YG4

In arrangment mode, set up a beat on one track and then pull in harmonic/melodic clips over it till something sounds good, then loop that. While the loop is running, go over to the next bars outside of the loop, and drop some other things ing, extending some of the clips from the previous loop and adding new ones, transposing as needed. Then slide the loop window over to cover that area, then add on to the right soime more. At some point a section emerges which will gets copied for repeating later on in the track, then I need a bridge or breakdown. I try to do this as fast as I can, so the loops don't repeat overmuch as I'm building the sub sections and sections. Then maybe play a guitar or synth line over the top, then scatter effects throughout. That's how this one came together:

http://www.garageband.com/mp3player?|pe ... aSkYlCxZmA

Other times put down a beat, make up a progression, sing a melody over the top, making up the lyrics as I go.

http://www.garageband.com/mp3player?|pe ... aSkYlSxZ2g

[Angstrom]

Although the points made about musical structure are valid, Jamming does have an equally valid place.

Often I will just strum about on an acoustic guitar and stumble across a voicing that sounds really good- a sequence of inversions that really works, or a strumming-picking-tapping motion that would be near impossible to represent via a conventional harmonic theory and notation approach.

Remember that the Jazz improv dudes were trying to liberate us from all that 15th to 19th century stiffness that just paper composition brings.

I often jam a component that I think 'wow that sounds really good' then later when the moment has passed look for ways to build it into an interesting structure. That way I can make the most of modern technology and the freedom of 'letting the spirit move me'.

You can bet Mozart and Beethoven twatted around on the piano a bit too, before they put those experiments into a structural form.

[udp]

I firmly believe that ethios has some great advice. Particularty the book reccomendation. I working my way through it. It is enertaining as well as educational, but not exactly light reading. Even the aforementions Jazz improv dudes followed structural confinements. With out a map the listener offten loses interest. Even though I find it a part of intellectual laziness, the reason pop is so popular is the fact that it has a well established form. As long as the artist doesn't stray too for from that form, he can break some of the other rules(like being able to carry a tune).

[Chalupa]

lately ive been creating scenes of midi loops
and jamming those into the arranger
then i go in and do some editing to make a more cohesive finished result

[djadonis206]

I like threads like this

lately

I've just been recording beats into Ableton and playing the mix and match game

I just picked up a O2 at the Remix hotel in Florida for dirt cheap so I've been plucking at the keys until something nice happens

bouncing all down and going from there

[manukaontoast]

I work both ways (composing and jaming). Basically it doesnt matter how you get your ideas be it from listening, intention or literarly jaming around. I usually start with an intention of harmony or rhythm mood or colour. with live ill set drop a beat and then build up a series of loop ideas. then jam over these and find some form as i go. normally id spend a great deal of time concerned with the structure of a piece but when iwork with live i take a more instinctive aproach. because the loops become self contained motifs ill try out different beat placements by switching the quantize value to 1/4note or smaller.

Ive found live a very liberating compostion/performance tool but id definately say that my composition and improvisation experience is what i draw on when shaping my ideas.

Final point, Jazz cats spend thier lives studying musical structure in order to have total freedom when they improvise, at any point in time over any passage a great improviser can justify their choice of note both from theory and also from artistic etc.

I hope more people add to this thread its cool to see how other people write with live

[kennerb]

I too start with the drums. I have made many, many drum beats in impulse and my mpc2000. These are done with a style or project in mind. Then I go back to my drums and either play bass live or from the keys. Sometimes I'll have a couple friends over and we'll collectively see where it could go and jam it. Once there is a few tracks of different instrumentation the work really starts. I pull sections out that I think would be a good hook, theme, chorus, etc and build a skeleton. Once this is done I may find that the notes are right for something but the sound isn't. If it's VST then I change it up. If it's live then we try it out with different instrumentation. Then we practice around the framework. If I really like it I'll burn it to cd and work that into the sound. I throw it on a cdj and work it over. It's great being able to scratch or mess around with your live instrumentation on a cd while it is also being played live.

This method keeps my A.D.D in check.

Sometimes I just like a sound or sample and it builds from there.

Reading the Dance Music Manual really helped show me how things can be structured.

[womoma]

i usually do drums then bass then strings then lead but the best tracks ive done have been thought in my head first.. little jingles in my head while walking my dog that i have to get down in a frenzy as soon as I get in the door.

Unfortunatly, I cant just sit around waiting for inspiration, or worse, go looking for inspiration. It often just happens.

[Komplex]

2 aspects.

Sound design and composition.

Sometimes i'll spend time sampling shit and creating synth patches and building a library of sounds.

When the inspiration strikes, its time for composition.

When composing/sequencing its a combination of everything I know and there is no single way that it's done for every track. There is no order of doing things either. Sometimes its a jigsaw puzzle with blank pieces and sometimes I know exactly what will be done, how and when.