starting a project

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 3:45 pm

i was just curious what rituals, habits or techniques everyone has when starting a new project.
Be it, writing a new song or collection of songs, or the first thing you do when you go to record something for the first time.

for instance, i know personally when i sit down to start something new almost all the time i start out with drums. This, I would say, is more of a habit than anything, because I've had just as good results starting with other instruments. But I'm sure some of you must have a "regular" way you go about starting something.

football players pray. gamblers carry dolls. what do you do?

I'm still super novice when it comes to music. I know there are some really talented people on these forums and am curious what strategy's or ideas other's use when sitting down to begin the creative process. whatever form it may be(recording or writing or painting or sculpting or playing sports?)

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:57 pm

I usually have an idea in my head for a melody of some kind and I record that and then just start adding random things. Then I go from there editing, adding, and deleting things. Then again I usually end up starting a few different projects and never really finish older stuff I start.

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:05 am

honestly, i try to feel out the things that inspire me to create music. it seems to help by making the sounds more meaningful. at the same time, i make most of my music alone. sometimes i record others' projects; not typically a combination of the two, just the way it's been working out lately.

i like to pick an instrument that suits the tone of the idea or feeling that i want to express and modify its sound to suit the tonal context of the song. and then i play with it on different instruments and just dig the hell out of it! TURN IT UP!

turn it up loud

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:42 pm

my latest song came to me literally in 15 seconds. the whlole thing was practically finished by the time i powered up my pc to lay down a sketch of it. the song before that has taken 2 years. a few take a week end. sometimes its a groove, sometimes its a word or a phrase. one time the combination of the timbre of my electric shaver and the sound of my beard gettin stuck in the blades got me thinking of a bassline. being a writer and a singer and a musician, i have a variaty of how it happens. it is really different for everyone. but i think that the more time spent in the studio, or with your main instrument(s), or "thinking in sound" (as i like to put it to my girlfriend-who thinks i am insane) the probability increases that good stuff will happen sooner or later. i also suggest sitting quietly outside listening to the sonic texture of our environment. the birds, planes, cars passing by, wind chimes in the neighhbors yard; they will all get your mind's ear active. just my 2 cents

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:35 am

werd up.

the reality of our surroundings is the shit.
I love just sitting in what one might confuse for silence.

i think i need to put the pot down. It seems to have a negative affect on my motivation. I can sit and pluck around on the guitar for hours, or do the same with the piano. But say i come up with a slick little riff and want to build off it, this seems to be the point where it ends.

i got the cool riff in my mind but from there i have trouble expanding upon it. building past the 1 riff, partly because i cant remember longer than a single riff. I've tried just plugging my guitar in and recording, but that seems to steal all my creativity, and i start trying way to hard.

also being that i'm mostly playing alone, i have to piece things together 1 track at a time.

How do i get an idea for a song on wax/paper/solidified enough so i can leave and come back to it and not be back at square 1.

Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:31 pm

write it down in a way that you can remember it?

'i think i need to put the pot down' might help too lol

what i do is practice my songs, then start just playing other random chords. somehow it works out and i can get them pretty quickly. i think one thing that people dont realize is that you can make anything into a song. i mean, Chicken Noodle Soup? wtf? its not my thing but tons of people love it.

Today I wrote a song after seeing two ducks sleeping by a pond while i was walking to class, and i wished i had been sleeping.

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 9:46 am

Hey, there Fast2gg!

For me, I write the words first. Usually I have an idea of what I want the song to communicate, then I write words. I try to get them to rhyme. I like rhyming. Sometimes a line is just one word. Sometimes it is X amount of syllables, which is helpful if I want to keep a rythm.

I stare at the words then sing them. If I don't like it I sing them different. I try to find some sort of melody. Ususally the Chorus starts to take shape first, then the verses. Then I find a bass line or chord progression that compliments the melody. Usually the "bridge" is the last created. Often I'll forget the melody, then come across the words a week or so later and have to start over. I do have one tip I learned from Tommy Lee (yeah, that Tommy Lee). While he was in jail, you know, for beating up Pam before she died, he said he would call is answering machine and sing stuff to that over the phone. I actually do that a lot with my cell phone voicemail. It helps me remember melodies until I can work them up more.

Sometimes I'll start with a chord progression, then ad-lib some words over the top of that, you know, "Robyn Williams" style. But I like to have words first. If you know what you want the song to say, that dictates the feel, groove, and mood.

Yet to sell one CD,
CHAD

P.S. Also, yet to release one CD.

Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 10:09 am

Fast2gg.. I am with you about coming up riffs and then not being able to expand on them. Happens to me ALL THE T I M E and it is really frustrating. I'm beginning to conclude the reason this happens is because UNLIKE my father, and many who have posted here, I don't sit down and either write lyrics or work on a melody. Instead, I sit down to "jam." I build up these great 4 and even 8 bar loops, but I can't get them to transition into anything else. So I now have several thousand of these 4 and 8 bar loops sitting on a hard drive. Sad

I need to start writing melodies and lyrics and taking it from there. Thanks for all the advice on here, guys

Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 7:59 pm

m203,

You need a DigiTech JamMan. It's great for coming up with loops. Just hard to use live for me. I've asked about on here and nobody has any help. Again, GREAT for jamming riffs and loops. You can store 6.5 hours with a 2Gig flash card. That's lots of loops, plus you can transfer the .wav file to the computer via usb.

Get a dry erase board. It's a great tool for me to help in coming up with lyrics while jamming. Sing a line over and over, then scratch it on the board, rinse and repeat!

CHAD

Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 11:09 pm

It really depends. A lot of times (since I'm a guitar player) it will start off as a guitar riff or an idea for a song, like a verse or chorus on guitar. From there I usually end up with an idea for the bass and/or drums in my head. I then go with the flow from there.

Other times when I'm feeling creative, I will go in FL Studio or pull up Xpand! in Pro Tools and lay down a drum beat, then a bass line. From there I'll listen to that and usually find some sort of inspiration.

I have been known to sing melody likes and then find the chord structure and work it out from that as well.

I guess I don't have much of a method after all.

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:00 am

I try not to get hung up on a method, but certain patterns just work.

It usually works best for me if the lyrics are already done. I wrote quite a few tunes like that for a guy who wrote musicals. I usually start out on acoustic guitar or piano. Sometimes I just have a riff on electric that suits the song and build it from there. What gets me going is "hearing" a melody.

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