Can You Share your Tips and Tricks To Create? (I don't create enough music)

taeo

Peep “Making Music” by Dennis DeSantis, free on Ableton’s site. The whole middle section is about developing the loop. https://cdn-resources.ableton.com/resources/uploads/makingmusic/MakingMusic_DennisDeSantis.pdf

Montreal_Music

I tried something. I'm not sure it's a full song. Only 1:12. But you all helped me. Thank you. Any piece of advice is welcome.

michael_m

Stop creating loops. The more you do it the less likely you are to structure a longer work. Sit down with whatever instrument you play, and create something long form, and don’t stop to just work on a short piece of it - work on the whole thing until you have a performance you can commit to tape.

Fingolfinzz

I do a lot of loop based stuff and can usually work those into songs. My method is to get something going on like koala or something and then once I have a loop I like, I make another one and another and then just find ways to link those together through transitions where each loop is a part of the song and then transitions link them together and then I just assemble that into a DAW into something more linear and do some refining and then mix it and I’m done

JudasZimmerman

@Montreal_Music said:
I tried something. I'm not sure it's a full song. Only 1:12. But you all helped me. Thank you. Any piece of advice is welcome.

IMHO:

This is a good start! It is certainly a song, and you have a lot of elements to make it longer with. Personally (and that's just me) I would do something like this:

1. Keep working on the intro (the bit until the first arpeggiated section starts). This could be longer and start "slower". The bass line works fine as an intro but can be extended so it leads into the first main section. Also I wouldn't start the bass drum until the main section. I think the intro is the weakest part right now, and since you want the song to be longer, that's somewhere to add stuff.

2. Around second 17 after a few iterations of the arpeggiated bit: Here you can reintroduce the bass from the intro again; and you can make this longer too before starting the "full" part at 22 seconds. Then this will be like a pre-verse before the "main part" of the song. You can probably extend this, at least if you add some elements to it.

3. The quiet part from second 34: Keep it, but start even quieter (like, just the synths, the way you end the song currently) and then add elements iteratively, quiet drums, the bass line from the intro again and so forth, everything except the bass drum, the arpeggio and the bass line from the "main part". Very close to what you're already doing here. You end on this with just the synths, and that would be a good thing to have just before you restart the main part again.

4. Then, at what is now the 1 minute mark or something, restart the main part of the song. (ie, the bass and drums from the section starting at 22 secs, plus the arpeggio and so forth. Loop this until it's "done", maybe adding some elements if it feels right (a top melody line or something).

5. Then play the quiet bit for an outro.

I think you can at least double the length of the song with the bits you have already.
Again, this is just what I would do in this situation.

sevenape

@rototom said:
song form is slavery!
outdated capitalist exploit idea.
musik is sound is nature is looooooop

Definitely yes!!!!

AlmostAnonymous

Wait....

You guys don't just give someone 50$ on fiverr to write you a tune, slap your name on it, sell it to Drake, and stone cold chill on a beach with your royalties check while he's out working his ass off for the next year being your PR intern?

Some of you actually write music?

Whoa

senhorlampada

@taeo said:
Peep “Making Music” by Dennis DeSantis, free on Ableton’s site. The whole middle section is about developing the loop. https://cdn-resources.ableton.com/resources/uploads/makingmusic/MakingMusic_DennisDeSantis.pdf

This book is amazing. Always good revisiting.
Something was happening with a few tracks and I just had an "aha!" moment by opening it right now...

This...
Whenever working on daws (as opposed when i just recorded stuff to portable recorders), things get too square and blocky regarding structure

senhorlampada

@Montreal_Music said:
I tried something. I'm not sure it's a full song. Only 1:12. But you all helped me. Thank you. Any piece of advice is welcome.

Dude... really digging this. what apps, instruments, gear, etc. are involved?

Montreal_Music

@JudasZimmerman said:

@Montreal_Music said:
I tried something. I'm not sure it's a full song. Only 1:12. But you all helped me. Thank you. Any piece of advice is welcome.

IMHO:

This is a good start! It is certainly a song, and you have a lot of elements to make it longer with. Personally (and that's just me) I would do something like this:

1. Keep working on the intro (the bit until the first arpeggiated section starts). This could be longer and start "slower". The bass line works fine as an intro but can be extended so it leads into the first main section. Also I wouldn't start the bass drum until the main section. I think the intro is the weakest part right now, and since you want the song to be longer, that's somewhere to add stuff.

2. Around second 17 after a few iterations of the arpeggiated bit: Here you can reintroduce the bass from the intro again; and you can make this longer too before starting the "full" part at 22 seconds. Then this will be like a pre-verse before the "main part" of the song. You can probably extend this, at least if you add some elements to it.

3. The quiet part from second 34: Keep it, but start even quieter (like, just the synths, the way you end the song currently) and then add elements iteratively, quiet drums, the bass line from the intro again and so forth, everything except the bass drum, the arpeggio and the bass line from the "main part". Very close to what you're already doing here. You end on this with just the synths, and that would be a good thing to have just before you restart the main part again.

4. Then, at what is now the 1 minute mark or something, restart the main part of the song. (ie, the bass and drums from the section starting at 22 secs, plus the arpeggio and so forth. Loop this until it's "done", maybe adding some elements if it feels right (a top melody line or something).

5. Then play the quiet bit for an outro.

I think you can at least double the length of the song with the bits you have already.
Again, this is just what I would do in this situation.

Great comment, thank you I will rework the song.

Montreal_Music

@senhorlampada said:

@Montreal_Music said:
I tried something. I'm not sure it's a full song. Only 1:12. But you all helped me. Thank you. Any piece of advice is welcome.

Dude... really digging this. what apps, instruments, gear, etc. are involved?

Thank you. I used a little bit of Koala sampler for inspiration. I recorded a guitar part in AUM that I removed, but will add it later. Maschine software for a couple of sounds.

seonnthaproducer

@Montreal_Music said:
I tried something. I'm not sure it's a full song. Only 1:12. But you all helped me. Thank you. Any piece of advice is welcome.

Hey, great job on this.
I’d rather have a song be short, and contain well thought out arrangements, than a long track. But that’s just personal preference. Plus, a lot of modern day listeners give a song 10-15 seconds before they listen or skip.

All I’ll say for feedback is to add a vocal track. It could be a snippet of an audio, a one shot sample, a vocal loop, or lyrics to match the melody. For me, I find that it helps make the song more relatable. Plus, it’ll help you think of how you want the song to progress.

Overall, great job.

bygjohn

Some potentially useful advice in this video from about 4:26:

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