Question for those who make music

I've wondered this for a while..

When you guys make a song, do you sit down knowing in your head what you want to make, or do you sit down and just let it come to you? I have no experience in making music (i just can't do it) but when I take photos, there are times when I have the exact photo I want in my head and it's just a matter of making it happen. Is it like this when you guys make music?

I don't have much music making experience, but for me I usually sit down with something in mind, but by the time I'm finished noodling with the first element, I completely forget where I was going to take it. I'd be interested to see how more experienced people differ in this.

Little of both most of the time. Sometimes I have almost no idea even what kind of vibe I am going for. It can be trail and error endless experimentation until I figure out what I am feeling the most. If you approach creating music the same way every time I think it would get boring.

FYI this is probably much more suited for the EKT forum BTW

I just mess around until I find something I like/that inspires me. Then it kinda just takes care of itself

Sometimes I know and sometimes I have no idea. Generally I start with something and see how it wants to develop.

When you have a beard and stunner shades like that it doesn't really matter does it?

  On 12/11/2010 at 7:00 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

When you have a beard and stunner shades like that it doesn't really matter does it?

Exactly, I just put on my shades, smoke a bowl, open the DAW, and the next thing I know I'm listening to something new

http://soundcloud.com/hautlle/tetrop-9/s-Souoi

I just smash my keyboard and then I use illformed glitch: is wonderful!

sometimes have a general idea of what genre or sound i want to go for. like sometimes i think I'll just decide "i'm going to write some minimal techno god dammit and i'm going to enjoy it! it's going to sound great and i'm going to do a good job!" then it's no good because i've failed to do the natural thing and therefor the music is truly devoid of soul and it is an abomination.

i think the key is to flow like water when you're making music and let it exist on its own terms.

then there is the truly great method of having it all in your mind clearly and putting in the ridiculous amounts of very real and actually extremely hard work to bring it into existence.

how do you balance the soul and enjoyment with the skill and perfection? you can't work too hard because then you will suck everything out of it, but if you don't work hard enough it will be mediocre

My best songs are the ones that I do in one sitting..like an hour or two.. The one's that I think a lot about and spend a lot of time and concentration on, end up being really stupid and cheesy.

Most of the time I have a certain short rhythm in mind I wanna do something with, and a few little things that would sound good, then add stuff as I'm going. Usually the end result is a lot different from what I planned.

I can totally relate to cardan on this.

At least thats how I am as well. I start something and it will either be hey I like this or no fuck this is a train wreck lets do something new. But I'm a noob.

I've got tons of nameless shit that might have potential but most are just crap... If I'm lucky I'll make something new out of the old but most of my completed songs are shit I put together in a hour or two.

it's weird. after reading this it was sort of on my mind while i was outside having a smoke. so while i was out there this idea came into my head randomly, i guess they always do but usually i don't try to capture them before they disappear. this time, with the thread on my mind, i decided to put out the cigarette and rush to the computer.

the idea, while in my head, sounded incredible. it was a really cool idea and i could perceive every kick drum and hi hat as they happened, and the general timbre and atmosphere of the whole thing. so i put the notes in as fast as possible and it actually somehow worked. all the drum parts and bass and synths came into place easily, but it doesn't really sound like what i imagined.

so i think now that the notes themselves have been placed the new mission is to take it and sculpt it into a completely organic sound, the sound i imagined, which hopefully will take 10X as long as it did to lay down the structure. in the end it should come out nicely.

I usually make it up as I go along.

Usually my music comes from an idea of how to make the music. I'll come up with an interesting way kind process the sound, or an interesting way to use a sample. The melodies and harmonies are just forced to give it structure.

This might have something to do with why I don't finish very much music.

The music is already out there, you just gotta know how to grab it.. experimenting, playing around usually takes me there. It's not a very conscious process for me, I lose track of time and become a different person when I work up a song.

I usually start out with different elements that sound good, but might not sound good together. At some point, some core "feel" is more appealing than the others, I get a "Yes, this is how it's supposed to be", and the rest of the time is spent grinding up new pieces that fit with that one element, brings it out, makes it "sound good", etc.

It's like having an idea, and then justifying the idea's existence by making it sound good.

most of the time i have no idea and i am just playing around, then i hear something i like and try to develop that.

but all my tracks end up the same way:

shit.

  On 12/11/2010 at 3:22 PM, BCM said:

I usually make it up as I go along.

or, you start as you mean to go on?

  On 12/11/2010 at 7:20 PM, mafted said:

  On 12/11/2010 at 3:22 PM, BCM said:

I usually make it up as I go along.

 

or, you start as you mean to go on?

to begin

come up with a bunch of melodies and harmonies then change presets to something more interesting sounding

drums aren't necessarily first

Usually I'll start making a track whenever I feel like it and have something to build off of. But TBH, most of my music making happens off the whim. I'll be jammin to a tune then wonder how it would sound with so and so filters or tempo stretches, etc. Or I'll be takin a shower and I'll just think of a beat that tacks on. Or I'll be driving around and a melody pops in my head that came out of nowhere. I find that these random eureka moments are the best milieu of inspiration to produce from scratch, whereas something I'm trying to work on critically either never gets finished or I'm not completely satisfied. But those random moments are like getting a freshly wrapped present that's worth the effort of opening it rather than actually seeing what it turns out to be.

fuck around till something sounds good and build on that is my amateur strategy

mixture of things:

sometimes i have a solid idea of the tune or the rhythm etc that i want to make so i do that, then play around and see what happens

sometimes i just jam on a keyboard, record everything, choose the bits i like and edit them to sound good

sometimes i have a vague idea of what i want to do, get lost in trying to create a really simple sound and end up doing something completely different

sometimes i just fuck around with the daw and load a few samples and see what happens

sometimes i just steal old songs from eurovision b-sides and hope no-one notices

I let the music tell me where it wants to go.

as nearly random as i can get away with

i put alot of time into my music starting with inpiration and i try to get to

my musical instruments as fast as i can if i don't have my field recorder with

me. if i do and i can sorta hum it and record that, like a melody. then i try

to create a preset with a synth or guitar tone that suits the melody best and

record it when i'm at my daw, i play the drums too but i don't record them much

and play covers mostly for fun, but if i come up with a catchy loop with fills

i record and just program what i've played into my daw. i'm not much of a songwriter

in terms of writing lyrics. before i started making electronic music i listened

to bands most, then i started listening to alot of electronic music and whenever

i made a song with electronic elements the songs would always sound like they

would need lyrics. and the parts sounded like they needed lyrics i just filled the

lyrics parts with melodies or sound fx.