Are your productions being restricted by musical inbreeding?

[outbound]

It's a thought I've had at the moment as I'm really trying to push the creative songwriting aspects of production. (compared to the technical, lets see how good we can get the mixdown etc etc) and It's struck me how the style I write in seems to be very narrow. When I write a new song I tend to pick a song I'm interested in and base my ideas around that before branching off from it and making it my own. But the songs I pick (and listen to) are by very similar sounding artists and I feel this is seriously restricting my creative palette.

My new aim is to try to write something in a different style each day (it doesn't have to be complete) but just to break free from the usual "I need to use this synth to get this sound and use these samples to make that drum sounds again" and look for new sounds I can make.

My question is this:-

"are there anybody doing this to a great extent (and by that I mean consistently writing in new styles) that have found their music has benefited from this? has it made you more creative? has it helped make the writing process flow easier?"

[JTMMusicuk]

Music is a progression, it slowly changes. If you stray too far from the guidelines then people cant handle it and it all becomes very abstract and turns into art that only an artist can appreciate.
I believe i have my own unique style but it is still based loosely on dubstep/bro

[daeMTHAFKNkim]

Lets look back at all the tracks I've made.....they all sound uniquely different from each other...I've never made a track sounding alike but I'd say they all follow the "bro/mainstream dubstep" category/music whatever. I think it helps a lot trying to rub off other peoples styles and creating your own within. It helps you find your style 100% and lets you improve with your own production.


EDIT - This thread is not an excuse to post a half dozen of your own productions.

[nowaysj]

Do whatever works. If your workflow is not producing results u like or the process itself is tiresome change it up. I occasiOnally wOrk in different styles and it can be awesome. But I'm kind of hot on the trail of something so am like lazer focused. But each genre has a world of conventions around it and many people w/in that genre have worked very hard to master those conventions. Good chance your work will sound like a neophyte or a dallier. Can be good or bad, can cross pollinate and bring new life into stail genres like when Britney started doing dubstep, Lolz.

[Filthzilla]

Lets look back at all the tracks I've made...

Usually wouldn't appreciate this but not bad mate. Some killer lines in there.

[daeMTHAFKNkim]

Whoever edited MY POST is an asshole .

I don't have an artist page/any songs for sale/or even more than 2 songs FINISHED. So if you think I'm going for exposure/wanting "plays" I truly don't give a F U C K.

Just trying to help a fellow dsf user....

EDIT: Thanks FilthZilla.

[joshisrad]

lmao what the FUCK @ whoever edited out dae's track postings. Such poor moderation.

In before I get banned for "excessive trolling" again aka not being afraid to call out the mods' bad behavior as I see it.

[Filthzilla]

Whoever edited MY POST is an asshole .

This, put his tracks back you overzealous mod. He was helping out.

EDIT: Thanks FilthZilla.

You're welcome.. I wish I had some of your melodic bits... they'd go so well with my basslines.

But yeah, I recon that's all you're lacking mate, your leads and synths are dope but the modern talking basslines don't do em justice.

[wub]

Whoever edited MY POST is an asshole .

I don't have an artist page/any songs for sale/or even more than 2 songs FINISHED. So if you think I'm going for exposure/wanting "plays" I truly don't give a F U C K.

Even so, posting a half dozen Soundcloud links to your own tunes is a bit on a excessive side

[Huts]

Every track I've made has been different from the last, and I think each track I've made has also been an improvement in one area or another from the track before it. You said you like to start by picking a song and basing your ideas around it, I do the exact same thing. However I'm sure you, like me, have a whole host of different genres/styles of music you listen to that you can pick different tracks from. If not, then that might be where the problem lies. Just earlier I watched that FL studio 10.5 preview and was really digging that house song the guy was performing, I've now got the barebones of a funky-house type thing going for my next track.

I think a lot of it also has to do with the fact that I've yet to define 'my sound'. If I'm feeling the vibe of a track be it DnB, hip-hop, glitch-hop or whatever I'll head to logic and start with that as my template without having to worry about how this tune might match my last tunes vibe. I'd like to think that being able to touch on different genres has made me more creative, because every time I go to make a track I bring new ideas and techniques that I wouldn't have known had all my tracks been of the same style. This also lends to a little easier writing process because there are never any restrictions as to what you can do with and within each track

[Static D0gma]

I'm kind of the same, as in I basically have a "reference track" whenever I'm producing. Usually, the track I'm making turns into something completely different than what I had in mind.

[nowaysj]

Oh, forgot to mention that producing tracks and even just sections of songs in other genres is a great way to generate samples for your main thrust, whatever that is. It is like your sound design is already done, or half of it is already done, and you just have to flip yourself.

[Killamike49]

I love trying to recreate melodies from old ass songs, failing, and coming up with something new in the process.

[deadly_habit]

honestly avoid the majority of edm be it dubstep dnb or going out to nights for a few months has done wonders for me creatively
it's also funny to see how fleating a trend can be tune or style wise and how easy it is to have no clue who made what when it comes to the charting tunes since it seems all the artists frankly sound the same now

[Hircine]

I usually produce whatever I feel like. I get hits of inspiration and produce three tracks of the same style using a new found technic. Then I drop it and move to something else. Went from ragga to ragga jungle to experimental techno to dungeon, remixed a hip hop artist, now I'm writting 130 stuff and remixing techno. I need to clean up my soundcloud now and then, so much different stuff going on there. As long as I can enjoy it, it's good enough for me.

[InternetSlaveMaster]

I've got the opposite; I write in so many different styles that occasionally I get a nice melody and have no clue what genre I want to use it in.

I write dubstep (aggy and deep), drum n bass, electro house, trance, 8bit, chiptune, synth pop, IDM, ambient, shoegaze, and simply guitar driven stuff that doesn't have a lot of electronics. All of this under the same alias. Marketing my stuff can be a bitch but I think I've got a little bit for everyone.

Writing in one genre bores me, but it's something I admire. I wish I could just be "That guy with the dubstep", but I was a songwriter before I got into EDM so I think a lot of other pre-EDM musicians can understand where I'm coming from.

(FOR DEMONSTRATIVE PURPOSES RELATED TO MY POST, NOT PLUGGING MY CRAP)
Here are my three most recent tracks I've done:

Track for my band (I did all the production, my friend sang):
Soundcloud

Synth Poppy Stuff:
Soundcloud

Dungeon Tune:
Soundcloud

My tip to anybody is to simply branch out, even going as far as buying a new instrument you've never played before and learning it. There's more to music than what you can make on a computer and I believe you are shorting yourself by sticking to a specific niche.

I feel weird giving advice to outbound, but yeah, just try new things. Don't even try to get the same feel as other tunes or whatever, or even try to make a tune based off something you wouldn't normally listen to.

As for your question, I'm not sure if my music has benefited much from writing in all sorts of styles, if anything I think it rather hinders me (as I occasionally get stuck like "Which direction do I take this in?", or more specifically, "Which style should this be?") but it's definitely more personally fulfilling knowing I've written in so many genres and styles. My small fanbase is a very diverse group, and I think it's rather interesting.

At the same time, someone may love, say, one of my dubstep tunes, but hate my ambient and chiptune stuff. This is something I worry about, having a fanbase that both hates and loves my music, but I don't wanna limit myself based on what other people might think.

Either way, best of luck

[InternetSlaveMaster]

And also, I'd also like to see other DSF'rs takes on other genres and styles and what not (without this turning into a free-for-all plug fest).

[Static D0gma]

I have to make slow stuff, If I try to make anything fast, it turns out shitty. </3

[narcissus]

i used to be very much a dubstep inbreeder. i made some cool stuff but it was horrible. it's like everyone was just trying to outdo each other making the hugest filthiest dirtiest most ridiculous horrible sounding drop. and that's why i got out of making dubstep for a while. because i know it still goes on and is even worse now. so now i cross-pollinate (to keep with the metaphor) from all over the world and i like the direction of my music a lot more now. you dont hear a lot of people mixing trance and DnB, but i can't see why not because it's perfect. i mean of course liquid is a little like that at times, but usually has more jazz influence than trance.
i always keep my ears open, because every little bit of influence makes a difference. i like the metaphor of genetics because it makes a lot of sense. you mix lots of traits and you're more likely to find something that is going to work in the long run, not just keep breeding the same (subjectively) desirable traits ever stronger. it ruins EVERY genre. and then everyone realizes it a few years down the road and it's all very embarrassing and so they start putting out decent music until the same clusterfuck happens again. lol.

[hutyluty]

As someone said, the musical inbreeding, as it were comes about by lots of producers copying the same sounds and using the same tutorials. A lot of people seem more interested in being an 'insert genre' producer rather than simply creatively expressing themselves. I'm not just talking about brostep either, its been happening slightly with the 808 housey stuff and to a much greater extent in the dungeon sound.

I'm not saying i'm different btw, but the difference is that like lots of people in this thread i make generic pieces from loads of different genres, Ive done techno, house, footwork, whatever ( soundcloud link in sig
)
The best way ive found to move out of your comfort zone is just to get a load of new samples and vibe for a bit, see what comes out. The way to a song which sounds generic is to make your production a structured thing, having an ordered way of setting your synth up, same samples or whatever. If you continue experimenting and trying new things each time you sit down, producing will be more fun and your music will be far more distinctive.