how do you guys start your tracks?

[topkat]

just wondering...drum patterns? basslines? melodies?

[krispy]

Drum pattern, at least 4 bars worth. I like to get my drum pattern good enough that I can sit there and listen to it by itself and be entertained. Should be able to get your head bobbing on its own

[cmgoodman1226]

I typically Do the bassline first. but before I make the sound of the bass line I usually write a melody for that bassline. I'll play on my keyboard until something sort of sticks out to me. Then from there I'll start the sound design process on my bassline. Then from there I'll usually program the drums (I find it much easier to hear how I want the drums to sound after I have my bassline layed out). Then typically I'll work on a lead and then go back and tweek the bassline a bit if need be and add in more sounds. Then I'll work on the intro / outro last (those and the transitions are typically the most challenging for me to write).

[mikeyp]

i find that my projects turn out best when i start with an intro instead of just trying to make a beat & bassline and fit shit before & after it
like, a near complete intro with no direction to it, just building up and then after listening to it long enough your ears will tell you what they want to hear next. at least for me.

[ehbes]

I start with drums.. If I can listen to te drums on there own for an hour and they still remain interesting then I'm set to continue

[press]

Drum pattern, at least 4 bars worth. I like to get my drum pattern good enough that I can sit there and listen to it by itself and be entertained. Should be able to get your head bobbing on its own

me too

[Sine69]

i find that my projects turn out best when i start with an intro instead of just trying to make a beat & bassline and fit shit before & after it
like, a near complete intro with no direction to it, just building up and then after listening to it long enough your ears will tell you what they want to hear next. at least for me.

I do the same thing. I find it much easier to make a tune from start to finish instead of starting at the drop then working backwards.

[bl0rg]

i put in a filler 140bpm dubstep drumloop, then i work on the drop bass, and synths. I eventually go back a redo the drums myself.

I do this because i tend to waste far too much time on drum patterns early on.

[Gurnumsbug]

Usually the drums, but lately it's been the main melody that will repeat throughout the whole tune.
It really depends on what i'm working on though.

[lloydy]

Normally intro first,will either work out chord progression or melody or chopping if sample based.Will get something short that i like then work on layering kiks and snares adding some hats on the way then add a already made bline or set out to start something new.i will get 8-16 bars of each then try and work out transition between intro and drop like builds,drumrolls....Once i get something going i will start work on extending intro and go to town on the bass and beats.If i don't get nothing done in a few hours i will either change it up or start something new or end on on the net listening to tunes and waste a day.

[hudson]

Used to start with the main beat, drums and stuff, the bass or pads then everything else, but lately I've been moving to starting with pads or just a main chord progression. It goes back and forth though, which is good I think.

[Electric_Head]

drums, always

[wub]

Ok, I'm going to be lazy and just quote myself from a previous topic on this subject so bear with me...

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.

Basically, starting with the drums is IMO boring as hell. If I start a tune with drums, the tune will be dictated by those drums and anything I add to it after the fact will be added to and around the drums. FUCK. THAT. I'd much rather get some fun stuff going on, samples/pads/synth loops/melodic bits etc, get them looping the way I like then construct the drums around them.

I never listen to a track for the drums. If I'm trying to tell someone what a tune is like, I won't bang my desk to give an idea of the drum programming. Course not, I'll hum the melody, sing a poor version of the vocal, whatever. The fun bits of the tune, basically. And it's for this reason that I'll start with those bits, as those are the bits I want my tunes to be identified for.

That way I'm changing the emphasis of the track from the drums to the more interesting bit. Like thinking of a tune as a sandwich. The drums are the bread and hey, you can't have a sandwich without bread (this isn't an excuse to correct me on sandwich preparation techniques nor is it an excuse to give examples of great sandwiches that don't involve bread so don't bother), but at the end of the day I'm not eating a sandwich for the bread, I'm eating it for the filling.

[Electric_Head]

Ok, I'm going to be lazy and just quote myself from a previous topic on this subject so bear with me...

Basically, starting with the drums is IMO boring as hell. If I start a tune with drums, the tune will be dictated by those drums and anything I add to it after the fact will be added to and around the drums. FUCK. THAT. I'd much rather get some fun stuff going on, samples/pads/synth loops/melodic bits etc, get them looping the way I like then construct the drums around them.

I never listen to a track for the drums. If I'm trying to tell someone what a tune is like, I won't bang my desk to give an idea of the drum programming. Course not, I'll hum the melody, sing a poor version of the vocal, whatever. The fun bits of the tune, basically. And it's for this reason that I'll start with those bits, as those are the bits I want my tunes to be identified for.

That way I'm changing the emphasis of the track from the drums to the more interesting bit. Like thinking of a tune as a sandwich. The drums are the bread and hey, you can't have a sandwich without bread (this isn't an excuse to correct me on sandwich preparation techniques nor is it an excuse to give examples of great sandwiches that don't involve bread so don't bother), but at the end of the day I'm not eating a sandwich for the bread, I'm eating it for the filling.

I do agree in many respects.
Just saying I start with drums only is actually BS.

[highgain]

I've learned to have a template ready for the stuff I find myself using all the time, but most of my tunes come down to sound design as in inspiration from a patch I let it speak to me and usually a song just comes.

[Versuz]

i usually start with my drums and layer, eq, compress them if needed.

[Sonika]

Hey Wub....where can I find and stream your tracks? There's a Wub on soundcloud, but I'm pretty sure he's not you.

Unless your alias happens to be Sebastian Wubben

[Electric_Head]

world wide wub

[lowpass]

What I've been trying to do atm is get a groove going with the minimum amount in my tune.

So start with kick and snare, once those are pounding go straight to baseline and try to get something that makes me move just from those 3 elements. Once I've got that down I start looking into percussion, fx etc

[B-Frank]

Two ways... Either after fiddling with Synths and when testing the noises I accidentaly stumble upon something that works or like most I'l lay down 8 to 16 bars of drums down and go from there.