What should I do with this?

http://soundcloud.com/hermann-3/just-a-little-riff-to-be-the

Ok so I came up with this little riff today, which I would like to use as the basis of a new song. But I then found it difficult to know where to start and where I want to go with it.

I decided it would be interesting to ask the wonderfully talented WATMM community! for some ideas and desires for how you would like this track to sound.

I´m still even undecided on whether to use a beat in this song or not, so pretty much all is open to debate!

Go ahead and inspire me, if you can ;)

Nice track, personally I'd put a lead over the top of it, something a bit BOC-ish?

I agree, a lead would be nice. Maybe even a sparse beat comprised of chopped samples. Classy chops though.

just start layering. drums, bass, little melody then maybe some filter work on the main riff and you'll be there.

ha, i would start by adding a beat!

Don't add any beat, Turn this into a melody/harmony/intervals overload, wailing high/mid/low-pitched strings, maybe some bells, lots of layers all over the spectre, a subtle organ, I don't know, stretch it out a bit let the notes really breath, don't rush it try to make it sound more abstract without it turning into something completely irrelevant. make each note count is what I'm trying to say here. Make it sound Arvo Pärt-ish know what I mean? I have a feeling adding a beat would only make it sound full of cheese if you don't speed it up, percussions tend to sound ...forced (I don't know)... over these(this) particular kind of melodi(es) or tempo(tempi)

Or put a beat on there whatever, your call.

Thank you so much everyone for your ideas!

(Especially Barbe, much appreciated and valued points there)

I will definitely take all these into consideration and try to make something from what I´ve understood :)

Yes, a kind of soft lead over it is definitely something I´ve been weighing over in my mind.

And I would of course like it to be a "melody/harmony/intervals overload"!

Arvo-Pärtish, I like that idea too ;)

Okay, I´m still open to more suggestions, but now I´ve got something to work on.

(I will probably upload the finished version of the track here too, if anyone wants to know how it turns out).

I would love a subtle beat but i can just picture how cool this would sound with cascading melodies that in themselves will create the main "rhythm" of the song - perhaps with a nice "shuffling" feel?

Either way i like it so far.

This synth could stand as a good basis for a track because it settles a particular atmosphere. For me, the melody lacks of meaning, but I suppose that's because I don't have any idea of what will go with it. My advice would be to work on other synths which would accompany this one, in order to give more meaning to that melody. What I mean is that you should imo start to superpose several melodies in order to create chords.

Then it's up to you to add a beat or not, but if you're not sure about it you should indeed try to do without it because working on a beatless track seems to be a very good exercise ! (though I only experienced it once).

Another thought : this synth sound pretty flat and if you want to keep it like that, chances are that you'll be limited in the number of other sounds you can use before the track becomes a total sonic mess. That is a constraint but it's a very interesting one to work with.

  On 3/24/2012 at 11:09 PM, Barbe said:

what I was thinking of when I mentionned Arvo Pärt

Maybe you were thinking.. "Arvo Pärt is reaally nice, I wish this could be as nice as his music".

I don´t know, II´m kind of drunk right now, and I don´t think I can make anything as nice s Arvo Pärt, bu t I will fucking try my hardest!!!!!

Maybe thats what you were thinking.. No probably not. But I lurve Arvo Pärt, and I definitely see his music as an inspiration when I write my music.

Oh yeah, thanks Antape for helping me out ;) and searge too! Anyone have any ideas for an intro ? (I wouldn´t have asked that if I were sober, I´m just kind o f curious.)

Meanwhile I´ll leave this for everyone:

It needs a beat, that´s for sure. Some glitched stuff would do this good. An atmosphere that surrounds the main melody would be good, too.