Songwriting

[RmoniK]

Lately i've been trying to take a different approach to music: Writing comes first, production comes later. I've noticed most of the famous guy do it like this, but i have a real hard time coming up with decent stuff. I'm kinda stuck in a rut, i keep playing the same chords on my piano, ... Any recommendations on how to get better at this?

[PillowFight]

Lately i've been trying to take a different approach to music: Writing comes first, production comes later. I've noticed most of the famous guy do it like this, but i have a real hard time coming up with decent stuff. I'm kinda stuck in a rut, i keep playing the same chords on my piano, ... Any recommendations on how to get better at this?

I invented a new system of notation that differentiates from standard musical notation with certain sort of squiggles etc. for different types of things such as sine waves, filter sweeps, pitch bends, etc. to sort of give myself a different perspective and a way to write out an idea whilst away from the computer.

Also, try playing things on different instruments, covering songs from bands you like, or just listening to other genres of music for inspiration.

[wub]

Late i keep playing the same chords on my piano

Try a different scale;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mu ... _and_modes

Iwato scale, for example.

[outbound]

Listen to music outside of dubstep. When you're listening to production heavy music that relies on mainly sound design and production to make the track it's hard to get out of that mind set. Listen to music where the production doesn't really make up a lot of the track and it's mainly based around just the music. (Jazz, classical etc)

Oh and brush up on your music theory, that never hurts

[Exhilant]

fuck, i don't even have a midi controller. i find my writing surfaces through experimentation. just how its always been for me. i just sit down and start spilling in notes, if im not feeling it, i go work on something else.

[RmoniK]

I know loads music theory, i studied jazz piano at one point. That's not the problem. Also listening to other music is pretty much all i do, i listen to everything out there besides dubstep lately, it kinda bores me right now. I just have a hard time coming up with something that isn't directly ripped off from a song i like and is catchy.

[PillowFight]

I know loads music theory, i studied jazz piano at one point. That's not the problem. Also listening to other music is pretty much all i do, i listen to everything out there besides dubstep lately, it kinda bores me right now. I just have a hard time coming up with something that isn't directly ripped off from a song i like and is catchy.

So rip off the song and call it a remix/bootleg

[outbound]

I know loads music theory, i studied jazz piano at one point. That's not the problem. Also listening to other music is pretty much all i do, i listen to everything out there besides dubstep lately, it kinda bores me right now. I just have a hard time coming up with something that isn't directly ripped off from a song i like and is catchy.

So rip off the song and call it a remix/bootleg

This

[Eat Bass]

if i try and write, produce, and collect sounds all at once i end up with a 8 or 16 bar loop and thats it.

the only times i've ever completed a song are when I get an idea for a track and start gathering samples. I start the project and collect all of the drum sounds, a lot of ambience, make like 3 bass patches, 2 leads, a pad, and some vocals or what have you. I then usually do a quick mixdown on everything just like high passing, doing some minor eq surgery, tad boosting, and even compessing to get the drums punchy so they sound good stragiht away.

then once i have all or most of my sounds ready to go, i begin the writing process on a fresh day. sometimes i may start by tweaking or making a bass patch just to get me in the mood. but yeah i find if you have all of the sounds ready to go and sort of pre mixed you can just write and get a general structure in one day. if i dont get the main parts for my drop, second drop and maybe some other melodic elements in the breakdown and intro, i usually get stuck...60% of the time, every time...

[kaiori breathe]

It's a case of perserverance really I think. You've just gotta keep at it and stick to the grind. Reading about music theory will help a lot too,i.e., standard chord progressions, key changes, writing techniques such as call and response...etc.

[Kit Fysto]

A fun thing to do is to watch a movie that facilitates a vibe you're interested in on mute and try to write what you think the appropriate bg music would be. I tried this with the dark knight movie and it was really fun.