How do you start a track?

[ChillingSpree]

How do you guys go about starting a track? Do you go for drums first or synths? Do you try to get a bass sound down before anything? I like to start with my drums, but i want to know how others go about making their bangin ass beats??

[curmee]

i start with mixer settings,busses and send efx..

[brianisdead]

^^^ most of that stuff is in my default project, but I start in ableton session view with a drum loop and usually chords, maybe bass. I would imagine the big guys start with drums and modify them if the need arises to fit the bass.

[wub]

Got my main template already set up with several different buses, routing etc etc. I'll usually start with messing around with something. Whatever that something is changes every time I start. Sometimes a vocal sample, a crazy ass effect I've been working on, some synth patterning with modulation, instrument loop from a dusty old 50s record I've sampled, whatever.

I'll play around with that for a bit, loop different bits, chop it up, add effects, bounce & reimport, create some basic patterns etc, find out what works and what doesn't. Once I've got a nice little pattern looping for about 16 bars or so that won't drive me crazy on listening to it hour after hour, I'll start to construct the tune around it. Place the drums where the sample dictates they should be placed, or apply the bassline so that it evolves organically around the sound.

Generally once I've got that done, will work on tidying up the drum programming a bit more, making a few variations of the patterns, spread them out over the course of the tune. Same with the bassline, add some variations, plenty of automation to give it some movement. The tune programming should be evolving organically at this point, as it becomes apparent when listening where the necessary elements should change or drop in/out of proceedings.

I'll usually add a few bells & whistles at this point, incidental sounds, echoey bits, heavily reverbed hi passed sirens, vocal snippets (nb; I mean spoken word samples in this case, not actual vocals), maybe some white noise sweeps etc etc, extra layer of ambience, stretched our snare sample over 64bars to give some background grit, working it into the arrangement to keep things interesting.

Once I've got a rough arrangement of how the overall tune is going to be, I'll bounce out a rough copy, burn onto CD then go whack it on the main system in my lounge. Get myself a cup of tea, sit down on the sofa with a notebook and listen to the track on repeat. I'll make notes as to what I like/don't like, what needs working on etc, then I'll go back to my studio machine and make the necessary changes.

Then it'll just be a case of doing a basic mastering job (not too fussed about mixdowns, these generally get done as I'm working through the tune), and jobs a good 'un.

[AxeD]

I start with an 8 bar drum part > lay a bassline over it > 2-3 melody bits (main and a pad) > add effects
blips etc.. All this over that 8 bar drum rhythm, then I start with laying all those pieces out and building
a puzzle.

[Sparxy]

Usually starts with an idea in my head. Often I have a ruff idea of the vibe or sound im trying to achieve and build a tune around it. Starting with drums usually and then have a go at synthesising my sound, and getting down a riff thats in my head.

Sometimes I will just lay down some drums and start jamming out on the keyboard. Other times I will just make sounds, spend a day making basses and stuff doing sound design and often ideas come from there.

[Fowles]

I usually start with drums and some sort of riff, then i build on that until i get enough parts for a song. Once i get the main drum beat and riff workout out, i usually have an idea on how it should progress

[mitchAUS]

by stealing subscapes laptop

[Gurnumsbug]

Vinyl Crackle & other ambient noises

[antman]

Man lately I've been feeling a bit when I go to produce.

Im not great at all, but part of the learning process is to just keep making tracks and learning. But for some reason lately I can't get anything started!

I don't really feel like its "writers block" because I have lots of ideas in my head but when I try to put them into a track, I just get frustrated and discouraged because I'm not sure how to start?

Some people say start with drums, a simple kick snare pattern or something like that but lately that doesn't even work for me.

So, how do you guys START a track? Thanks guys.

[mikeyp]

lately I've found starting with an intro works best for me
no ideas, just messing with some samples and sweeps and pads and build up from there

[lyons238]

drums. then sometimes either start the intro or go straight to the drop. if i dont have ideas for the drop i work on the intro based on the atmosphere i want to portray. then that usually gets me vibin and gives me ideas for the drop.

[bozoy]

That's been happening to me alot lately and the thing i tried was to just be very abstract. Messing around until I came up with a cool bass-line and then built the song around that. Sometimes I would use that bass-line as an intro and build on that or I would keep it for the drop and make a simple very subtle atmospheric intro leading into it! This way whatever I think up becomes the "theme" for the song and ends up being the whole song. It also makes making the song itself much less stressful.

[ephyks]

I usually dick around with massive patches and try to get a couple basses down. Then I pretty much make some drums and try to go balls out crazy with my newly made basses. Works well for me at least. I never make drums first. I feel that only works for more instrumental tracks like hip-hop and house.

[Towany]

Yeah i just open massive standalone or fm8, and start making weird noises and basses and stuff. Then the next day I would come back to them and whack em into my daw and put a looped drumbeat under them and try to get them into a sequence and make the basses/noises sound good. When thats done delete the looped drums and make the your own actual drums. Then its the process of elimination of what basses fit together and stuff.

Dunno if this is the answer you were looking for but its a pretty helpful for when i'm trying to come up with new tunes and what not!

[Sine69]

The intro or drums are always first for me. I find that if I start the song at the drop, i find it impossible to go back and make the intro.

[wub]

I'm going to merge this thread with a very similar 'How Do You Start A Track' thread for a day or two ago

[Dreadfunk]

Almost always with a basic drum pattern, and then I start on my main lead. I can't really put synth sounds in context without some sort of drum beat.

[dmisreal]

i start with drums then i will ether get an idea for a bass or the lead so i build off one of them and just let it keep going.

[nutrician]

i uasualy start fiddling with a synth to find the main sound/bass of the track. Then i lay down a basic melody with it. i find when i start with a kick or complete beat its harder to find fitting sounds/melody or basses to go along with it. its easier to match a kick with a sound you already made than the other way around

Dubstep is heavy bass music with alot of sounds going on in the lower regions and that's why its important that your kick sits nicely with the rest . There are alot off people that sidechain the kicks with almost everything else that is going on in the track. but if you choose the fitting kick it is alot easier to mix