What does your workflow look like?

Workflow is something I've been wondering about lately. I'm fairly new to music production in general, so I'm in an experimental stage where I don't quite know where my comfort level on everything is. This is just a general question, but what does your workflow look like when you're working on a track? I use a digital sequencer, so I'll end up creating 15 minutes of music, with bits and pieces everywhere, and then whittle it down and pick out what I like the most and try to frame a track that way.

Friends think this is odd. Though they're the type who're into guitar music and stuff, so they see things as intro, chorus, blah blah.

I imagine though that not everyone works this way. People who use analog stuff... I have no clue how music is put together with those things. I also understand, from my very rudimentary understanding of analog stuff, that you can't save settings on quite a lot of stuff, so that limits your in a way.

Digital or analog, how does your workflow go? It would also be good to mention what kind of music you like to make.

I mostly create sounds. Whatever sound I find cool, I save it. When I'm inspired or high in caffeine, I look through my sample library (or sounds I created) and try to mix them with more sounds and create a cohesive track with those. Though most of the time the tracks I make that way end up being 2 minutes loops. Only when I'm really, really motherfucked inspired (or really, really motherfucked high in caffeine), I create decent tracks.

I usually do ambientish stuff. Because I like atmospheres; I like to create and feel like if I'm inside a dark, creepy forest, or space, or a magic castle, or whatever. But, mostly, trying to decipher how her mind sounds ;)

Digital. Typically, I do a lot of work with field recordings (never leave home without my trust zoom h4n), cut / process bits into samples. I use a step sequencer to get my percussive elements going (I do the same thing wherein I get a solid 10 minutes of rough material and then start to trim and eventually end up sculpting both form and content simultaneously. it's fulfilling, but takes a lot of time. i see no reason to change). Then I'll add in either some stuff on my bass or play around on a few sampler instruments i've cropped from the field recorings...

But all that shit aside. I can't stress this next point enough: BE ORGANIZED AND BACK UP EVERYTHING!!!

So super-ultra-wicked serious about the 'backing shit up' thing. Seriously, don't be like me.

As for being organized: be intuitive and concise in both your file naming protocals and file storage structures.

iv'e got a folder in the middle of my desktop labeled "wasteland"

3 years of patching needs to get organized somehow.

play play edit edit edit play play edit edit edit edit

degrade degrade degrade

I just *feeel*, and then it comes out, mang.

I didn't mean how to make music. I was just wondering what it looks like for you. Do you end up with 15-30 minutes of music for a single track and whittle it down to a the best few, or do you have a shorter length and will immediately discard an idea because it wasn't good right away. It doesn't seem to be a matter of right or wrong so much as just preference.

It's cool to see that styles are so markedly different though. There's a style in workflow, I like that.

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But all that shit aside. I can't stress this next point enough: BE ORGANIZED AND BACK UP EVERYTHING!!!

So super-ultra-wicked serious about the 'backing shit up' thing. Seriously, don't be like me.

As for being organized: be intuitive and concise in both your file naming protocals and file storage structures.

I hear you. I've actually just recently been thinking about that... like yesterday. I started making stuff like 2-3 months ago, and my sample library is starting to become pretty sizable.

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I just *feeel*, and then it comes out, mang.

And I use algorithms. We all have different methods.

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I usually do ambientish stuff. Because I like atmospheres; I like to create and feel like if I'm inside a dark, creepy forest, or space, or a magic castle, or whatever. But, mostly, trying to decipher how her mind sounds ;)

You should do a spaceship based ambient song. Those are always the best.

Usually goes something like---

Make drum track to track ideas to

Start making melodies/chord structures

Working/eqing/compressing/micing guitars

Programming synths/effects

Build recorded melodies into intro/buildups/main drag/outro style pieces or just jam them in a random fashion

Spend 2 weeks tinkering with things nobody will hear or care about

Finish out of frustration or lack of ideas with production

Wait way too long to make a new song.

Some days it's a fast process, others it just doesn't fuckin' work out.

Also, I complain about lack of processing gear/nice computer a lot, so that helps things.

Come up with a nice melody, tweak the sounds a bit, maybe add a beat of some kind, add lots of reverb, save track. Done.

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  On 12/28/2013 at 9:04 PM, Friendly Foil said:

lots of reverb, save track. Done.

  On 12/28/2013 at 9:22 PM, Ragnar said:

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once you go modular...

Bang out a mediocre loop. Spend three hours trying to make it awesome. Shut down whatever DAW I was making it in without saving. Never look back.

I generally don't discard tracks, because 1) every track starts with some beatz/melodic inspiration, that I like. 2) if an idea or theme or sound seems to be going wrong, it's just a matter of refinement before it gets good. I don't believe in having bad tracks. I only believe bad tracks are possible when one quits on refining an idea.

Most of my tracks follow pop or classical music type cyclical pattern song structures, so I rarely ever have 50 minutes for one track then whittle it down-- cuz I'm not doing 5 hour long ae/boc emotional yet obscure music.

I start with a theme that I feeeeel, and then I re-listen to my music-- any and all transitions and transformations in tracks are based on my own reactions to what I've already put down. So-- create, listen, react- repeat. I do like to experiment with melodies and do unpredictable shit, but in general, I put down specific sounds that I feel in reaction to whatevz.

Like in this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b2Ex6Y8sgU) vid of mine which I filmed ages ago but just finished recently, at around 1:13 the end part loops, and that was the starting inspiration point for the ending of that vid. Then when looping the voice, I felt strings, so I added strings. I hear more and could make a whole track from that, but basically that's my workflow. Start with a concept, and such concepts generally grow themselves. I rarely ever sit at a daw anymore and be like "soooo what should I do...?"-- it's more like rushing to get an idea down on voice recorder or input midi so I don't lose something I like.

--That being said, there are times in tracks where I write some cool shit early on that I totally want to put-in somewhere, but then the track changes so much that I eventually- unfortunately- have to leave a whole section out. I sometimes use those unused bitz in other tracks.

  On 12/28/2013 at 11:04 PM, deferlow said:

 

  On 12/28/2013 at 9:22 PM, Ragnar said:

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once you go modular...

 

yo where can i download this?

  On 12/29/2013 at 4:03 AM, logakght said:

 

  On 12/28/2013 at 11:04 PM, deferlow said:

 

  On 12/28/2013 at 9:22 PM, Ragnar said:

_

once you go modular...

 

 

yo where can i download this?

 

is it like Audiomulch but in VST?

  On 12/28/2013 at 11:12 PM, Gocab said:

Bang out a mediocre loop. Spend three hours trying to make it awesome. Shut down whatever DAW I was making it in without saving. Never look back.

its good practice. there is more value to production than a rendered file.

I find inspiring sounds patching my synths

> start jamming

> find an inspiring melody

> MIDI record/sequence it in Numerology, have Numerology play it on repeat.

Then I start building upon it, jamming/recording/refining any new melody/beat I might find the same way I just described.

Drums usually comes after I have my lead and bass hooks. Sometimes once I have all my arrangement done.

Once I have a bunch of melodies, I start jamming with the different sequences, finding out how I can combine those elements together in a way that inspire me and make me want to finish the tune.

I compose pretty quickly but produce/mix slowly : I can rework sound-design and mix a 1000 times but will almost never change a single note.

Then it's all in fine-tuning/recording/editing/mixing etc... until the track is done. It can take weeks or months, it depends.

Et voilà.

  On 12/29/2013 at 4:16 AM, logakght said:

 

  On 12/29/2013 at 4:03 AM, logakght said:

 

  On 12/28/2013 at 11:04 PM, deferlow said:

 

  On 12/28/2013 at 9:22 PM, Ragnar said:

_

once you go modular...

 

 

yo where can i download this?

 

is it like Audiomulch but in VST?

 

there is a vst version but I have the buzz version (instrument and effect). the BLOK website itself is down