What's your approach to writing a track ???

[Sc1C]

For me, the approach differs depending on where the idea came from - e.g. if it was a musical idea (riff, chord prog etc..) then i'll get them down asap and just throw in a very basic set of drums to be replaced later. If it was more drum/bass inspiration then i'll just concentrate on that and pad out if required...

All of it is an organic process though, don't let your ideas get bogged down in detail too often - I usually find it much more productive to get a rough song idea and go back and polish/replace the pieces than to get an amazing 8 bar loop and try to build from there.. although sometimes the opposite.. lol

I'm partial to the odd smoke, but i always mix down when i'm totally sober. Arrangement differs, usually i'll be sober but interesting ideas can happen late at night (especially with progs like ableton where you can record a remix as you play around and go back edit in arrange window) ... I find my most interesting synth sounds are created when i've had a few

My 1 piece of wisdom is save often. If you think about saving, save immediately! ... doesn't happen much at all now, but i remember lots of work at college getting lost because of a crash when i thought "I'll just add one more riff/beat" :eek: .. I also tend to keep a progression of saves as different versions.

[nemo]

I always start with the beats. For techno its very simple:

KxxxKxxxKxxxKxxx
xxCHHxxxCHHxxxCHHxxxCHHx
xxxxCL/SDxxxxCL/SDxxxxCL/SDxxxxCL/SD

Then I add a bassline, with sidechain compression from the kickdrum on the Bassline.

After that I start to fiddle with melodies or pads. Normally pads come after melodies. But sometimes its the other way around.

I find its the easiest way to approach producing a track.

Samples and drum loops come last normally.

Hope that helped

K = KickDrum
CHH = Closed HiHat
CL/SD = Clap / SnareDrum

[fro1156]

http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Tools-Powe.../dp/159863898X

this is the POWER he speaks of.. they make books for all the DAWS and for some soft synths etc. It is a VERY powerful resource if your willing to sit down and grind though the book. Im sure others here on the board will agree!

[Lambox]

I don't usually sit down as say to myself "okay, I want to produce something now."

A lot of times I'll accidentally come up with some melody, synth setting, or beat that inspires me to develop this small element into a project. There's no specific order that I do things, but as soon as an idea comes to me, I have to get it out either into FL or even onto paper before I forget it.

I've only recently gotten better at basslines, so those generally come last.

The biggest leason I've learned during production: if you feel like you're forcing yourself to finish a track and you're just doing things to "get by," then stop. Come back to it later, or abandon it. Nothing that I've had to force myself to finish has been worth hearing. Everything that I've been happy with has all come out naturally. This may not be true for everyone, but that's just my experience.

[wrong chris]

i found these Rusko Masterclass tutorial videos that are really helpful for teaching a good workflow. It's dubstep ofcourse but I think his tips apply to producing most types of dance music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4rDC1kuHtc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eLFb...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGJMh...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AZ1R...eature=related

[Lambox]

^ Man those videos are so cool. I guess because I'm really a fan of RUsko's work it's weird to see him putting a song together step by step.

[MisterMoleyMole]

Don't you just love when out of the blue one of your old threads gets reborn

[alien2k]

Don't you just love when out of the blue one of your old threads gets reborn

Yes its great! This thread is quite good so it was going to happen soon or later.

Just wanted to add a great tip that I have been applying since a couple of months and have worked very good for me, and also for my youngest brother who started his own studio now...

My tip is the following:

Leave everything on!!
What I mean is that if you want to write a track you need to have easy access to the software and studio area in which you are working. This is to keep the creative flow alive and don´t loose any good ideas.

Example:
Suddenly your head comes with a great idea for a part of the track, lets say something as simple as a snare hit that you thought might add something good. Imagine if you needed to go into your studio area (room, office wherever you have your gear), turn the lights on, then the pc on then the interface... software.... external hardwares... etc (you got the idea) you will end wasting 20 minutes just to add on snare hit.
The most probable thing is that you will wait for the next time you sit infront of your pc to make the change and the chance that you forget about this one idea is very probable.

This is how you loose lots of goods ideas that you could try with your track.

So btm line: easy access to the media indeed will help you to improve your track and include what you really think is best and not what you could come up with in the time you assigned to song writing in front of the PC. This way you also have time to mature ideas in your head, think and decide if it is the best idea.

My approach now is to have my studio at home and I go in and leave the room several times a day, not forcing my self to do anything in a certain time. If I am planing to write a track I just try to keep a freedom of ideas so they can flow very quickly to the actual composition and don´t loose them.

Just an advice that is working great for myself