Song writing Vs Producing

[nitz]

What's up peeps,

I don't know if i have put this in the right content but, are you a song writer first, so you focus more on the music composition and the melodies and harmonics in the song. Or, do you focus on the production aspect, so getting the sound selections right, sound design etc ?

Of course if you are a electronic producer (almost all of us) you have to do both things, but what do you focus more on when making a song.

[Ongelegen]

More the production aspect, sounds design etc. I suck at composing

[Lurka]

definitely the production side tbh! i tend to find arranging etc a real chore. It might be because i make too many short loops that when it comes to make a flowing progressive tune i find it very difficult to keep that flow going through out the tune without getting boring! also i think i prefer the production side cos im a fucking geek

[kaiori breathe]

First and foremost I'm a songwriter. The production just helps me express whatever I write in an effective way.

There's no point having amazing production tech if you can't write a song with it. The production tech is just a tool to me. Sounds pretty cold; I do enjoy producing and tweaking pads and getting all the nuances of a sound just right, but I'll always consider myself a song writer first.

[nitz]

definitely the production side tbh! i tend to find arranging etc a real chore. It might be because i make too many short loops that when it comes to make a flowing progressive tune i find it very difficult to keep that flow going through out the tune without getting boring! also i think i prefer the production side cos im a fucking geek

Interesting. Am the other way around. Am a song writer first, then production comes in play. I find picking the sounds something to be a chore. I think things to get progressive in a song, so once its drops in the chorus, i would like that maybe the second drop would be different. So of course this involves more or less / different riff's to be added/removed. Of course you could change the sound design things around, so have a different snyth etc.

Some times i tend to write most of a song all in a piano sound. So everything its playing on a piano, its gets messy at times but it work for me. Then, from there i start to add the sounds to replace the pianos.

[nowaysj]

are you a song writer first, so you focus more on the music composition and the melodies and harmonics in the song. Or, do you focus on the production aspect, so getting the sound selections right, sound design etc ?

I don't think that is where the distinction is.

I think song writing is all about arrangement, basically taking all the sections and putting them together to create some type of engaging arc.

I think production is about sound design, which in today's music is integral to melodies and harmonics and such things.

I would absolutely say I'm a producer, rather than a song writer. I have very little interest in writing songs. All of my music is created by the sounds themselves.

[back2onett]

I'm definitely a songwritter but I can't write EDM for shit so I'm a producer on that front

[3za]

i always flip between the 2.

i got in to music (noise tbh) as a kid by messing about with gameboys, electonics and, tape recorders. then i got a guitar learned to play it. then i started running other stuff thought the amp. then i found the internet and found out you could get software to make music got audacity, hammerhead, rubber duck, and other stuff i can't remember. i was just making noise. i had very vert limited knoledge on production and, music. i was more of a mad scientist. then i got FL and started to take my production a little more serious. read up on about stuff like eq, comp, synths ect. then i got a midi keyboard, and it just sat on my desk getting in the way. so i got a few lessons and started reading about chords ect. then i start getting my room all up together monitors, interface, ect. now i just write and produce music.

don't know why i just posted the last 7 years of my life in this thread it just seemed relevent.

i think song writing is the most important but, the production is more fun.

[narcissus]

they are one and the same. there are no notes, only sounds and feelings. i arrange these in a way i find pleasant.

[deadly_habit]

think of it this way
take someone like goldie
he has ideas for songs and composition
he has an engineer produce them out while he sits there describing it

[Lurka]

think of it this way
take someone like goldie
he has ideas for songs and composition
he has an engineer produce them out while he sits there describing it

i always wonder about this! Being in the game for as long as goldie and being surrounded by some of the best producers in the scene for such a long time, you would have thought goldie could do it himself by now? its not a slight on goldie i just would have thought he would have got tired of telling someone what to do rather than just doing it himself!

bit blazed i hope that makes sense ahaha!

[Sharmaji]

probably half the time i write a song, and then take 75% of the ideas out of it to make it into dubstep focus focus focus, no bridge, turn up the drums.

[upstateface]

Really torn on this one. Tbh i'm prolly halfway between each.

[jsills]

i produce. ive had the mindset of a producer since i was a child. i cant play shit for instruments. ive forgotten everything ive ever learned about theory. im good at programming drums, synths, sound design, mixing, arranging, etc. this is why i like collaborating with someone who plays keys well. if i have someone there who can play whats in my head its game over.

[nowaysj]

i produce. ive had the mindset of a producer since i was a child. i cant play shit for instruments. ive forgotten everything ive ever learned about theory. im good at programming drums, synths, sound design, mixing, arranging, etc. this is why i like collaborating with someone who plays keys well. if i have someone there who can play whats in my head its game over.

I don't think writing phrases is song writing though. Song writing to me is the arrangement of all elements into one linear cohesive whole.

edit: and to that blazed dood that would rather do it himself, hell no, I'd rather have someone do it for me. Have you ever watched someone play video games, and the person that is playing misses most of everything on the screen, but you looking over their shoulder can see everything, or had a friend in a relationship with a total skag, and you can see it and he can't because he's up in it. That's how I view production. When I'm driving it, sitting at the controls, I'm like focused, I'm too close. I'd rather be looking over someone's shoulder with a wider view of what is going on, and what needs to happen. I guess at the end of the day, I'm not that great at realizing my own vision w/ my equipment.

[yamaz]

Production/Sign design first for me....

I got a wild introduction into making noise while on acid when I was 26 and I can't stop. Its pretty hard not having any background in musical instruments my entire life but I think I have an ear for sounds and its never too late I need to up my compositional skills more than anything at this point but I'm still searching to find my sound first as well...

[Basic A]

Soninaut exploring the auditory universe currently stationed in tempo ranges 135-140 however on routine intelligence missions to ranges 70-100, as we are gathering intelligence on this squadron and planning to invade. Recently the galaxies are experience a barrage of strange weather patterns (reversed strings, atonal basslines, tube saturation) and forecast from central command says its looking like things are only going to further detach from the work of the rest of the squadrons through the soniverse.

Also, I think the left, creative side of my brain is angry at the right, logical side these days. Everytime I attempt to explore the soniverse, or even if Im only working here on the station, I hear them arguing constantly. I fear, the creative side is considering foul play, and Im not sure if this could get detrimental to my health...

[daft cunt]

Of course if you are a electronic producer (almost all of us) you have to do both things, but what do you focus more on when making a song.

70% of my effort goes to sound design/sample selection.
I find to frustrating and difficult to write catchy tunes/patterns/melodies with simple sounds so sound design has became more and more essential with time.
Much respect to people able to write great tunes with simple/basic sounds (the song writers I assume), that takes a lot of talent imo.

[nowaysj]

Soninaut exploring the auditory universe currently stationed in tempo ranges 135-140 however on routine intelligence missions to ranges 70-100, as we are gathering intelligence on this squadron and planning to invade. Recently the galaxies are experience a barrage of strange weather patterns (reversed strings, atonal basslines, tube saturation) and forecast from central command says its looking like things are only going to further detach from the work of the rest of the squadrons through the soniverse.

Also, I think the left, creative side of my brain is angry at the right, logical side these days. Everytime I attempt to explore the soniverse, or even if Im only working here on the station, I hear them arguing constantly. I fear, the creative side is considering foul play, and Im not sure if this could get detrimental to my health...

And thats the left side of your brain that is logical, and the right that is creative. Seems like there has already been some foul play.

[sofaking]

I don't do enough sound design or collaborations to be a proper producer. I think a producer is one because he can professionally produce at least some different styles of music. I can 't, I can only do my stuff. I sure as hell am not a songwriter either, there's no writing or planning involved.

i guess i'm just another beatmaker, my process is more like the way a punkband jams. Toy with some sounds for a minute untill something sticks and construct a track out of that. It's all very intuitive, i guess it limits me as well. If I had the time i'd try some more intelligent approaches... maybe.