The Creative Process

I usually stop at number 2

I write poetry, then make music that accurately captures the emotions of the poetry. Then I record the poetry over the music for myself, and release just the music without vocals for my Soundcloud.

>>61576151
Yeah that method works best for me

>>61576167
Kek i use to do the same, working on my vocals though so i can havw the balls to sing infront of folks, not having much luck tho

>>61576167
This is similar for me.

It depends on the piece in question, but most of my strongest work starts as a poem or lyrics with a vision for what the music is supposed to sound like before actually writing the music, which I've been told is a shitty way to do it but I got some of my best songs out of it.

But then, sometimes I just lay down a guitar track to a metronome and flesh out the rest of the song over it, starting with secondary guitar tracks, then drums, then keys, then bass, then lead vocals, then background vocals.

If it's for my conceptual work, I usually try to get the lyrics/vocals done first because they're the backbone and emphasis for what I'm doing.

But a lot of my good stuff starts out with me laying down a guitar idea and going from there. I try to keep my rhythm section layered and the primary instrumental focus.

I write in open tuning on guitar, so I build my rhythm guitar section on double octave chords so that the rest of the parts of the song can build off that octave tonally; it's a more simple and straightforward way of guiding the progression. The rhythm guitar will play simple octaves so the leads can determine what mode the rest of the piece follows; if one mode doesn't work, I can scrap it and choose another without tearing down my rhythm section.

>>61576303
Damn anon thats pretty impressive

1. You should NOT be writing lyrics first (shouldn't even think about them)
2. Have or get a keyboard or anything with keys)
3. Learn the scales and basic theory
4 stop playing the guitar you look like a buffoon

>>61576333
>61576333▶
>1. You should NOT be writing lyrics first (shouldn't even think about them)

Fuck off.

>>61576333
Hey u faggot quit shitting up my thread

>>61576340
What's wrong with that I said ?
>>61576350
That was the first post I made ITT and I really don't know what was wrong with what I said

>>61576330
To be honest I kind of stole the open tuning approach/octave chord approach from Devin Townsend so I can't take too much credit but I definitely advocate building off octave-based-progressions, just pick what key you want to write in and write a progression based off octaves of the root note, you'll have such a wide area to work with, seriously. Hope that advice helps someone here, it helped me loads.

>>61576303
I'm really trying to grasp the concept but I'm having a really hard time imagining what it would be like, wish i could hear an example, it sounds really good

>>61576366
Well, it's not so much what's WRONG with what you said as what the implication behind it is. It's like you're saying lyrics don't matter and completely discounting an entire writing style. Someone could read your post, be like "Oh shit he's right" and lose a possible method for writing.

I write lyrics first for a shit ton of my songs, and honestly some of them are my best songs. As long as you have an idea of what the accompanying music is supposed to sound like in your head, there's nothing wrong with writing lyrics first. In fact, it can even help you more accurately flesh out how you want the 'story' of the song to go by focusing on refining the instrumental aspects to fit the lyrics.

>>61576366
>What's wrong with that I said ?


>1. You should NOT be writing lyrics first (shouldn't even think about them)
gay
>2. Have or get a keyboard or anything with keys)
good advice but not related to the creative process
>3. Learn the scales and basic theory
good advice but not related to the creative process
>4 stop playing the guitar you look like a buffoon
gay

>>61576388
Lemme find an example from my discography real quick.

The way I do things is kind of improv-ey. I don't actually know how I do things, I just look at it and I'm satisfied.
I'm pretty sure most of it is sample related but it doesn't really show.

It's hard to explain but I'm pretty sure people like it, I think.

>Play for hours until something sounds good
>.....
>Stop there

>>61576388
Alright, so if I were to re-do this song I would change a lot of shit (I'd definitely re-do the vocals, my god why did I think that was a good take? also I would have done the drums a bit different, they're way too fucking repetitive and and the production is dogshit) but this is kind of what I'm talking about, since this song is built on a simple octave chord progression in open tuning (CGCGCE):

https://tearsofchronus.bandcamp.com/track/respite

>>61576438
Oh, and here's my sc if anybody's interested (doubt it)
https://soundcloud.com/windowlistener

I just fool around with instruments. Sometimes while i do that i figure out an emotion i want to convey. I have yet to finish a song though.

File: 12105747_888309661251224_4540685429636538824_n.jpg (25KB, 495x361px) Image search: [Google]

25KB, 495x361px

Would anyone be up to say a few things via vocaroo for a song I'm almost done working on? I wanted to make a vocaroo thread but my net is too slow or something and it won't let me. Pretty please, anyone will do, especially if you have a filthy voice.

>Tom turned into a turnip, his turnip turned into nipples, his nipples turned into Tom. What body part did Tom lose in the process? It doesn't matter, because this was the only way to defeat Russell for good
>The first rule of Nasty City is: You do not talk about Nasty City
>Wake up ...wake up....wake up

Just these, if anyone's up for it

>>61576415
Learning theory is absolutely related to the creative process
It makes you a faster wrighter and you start hearing things in other people's music like choice of interval

Once you learn theory you will start with something and it won't stop because of your knowledge!!!

i pick up my guitar/bass and mess around. if i end up with any riff or chord progression i develop it and record it into my phone for proper writing and stuff. if i don't end up with anything i put my instrument down and come back another time

>>61576484
Oh okay im getting it now thanks anon, really good song btw redoing it would work wonders

>>61576496
This is actually true as fuck and one of your points that I agree with strongly. A lot of people say "fuck theory, I just wanna do what I wanna do" but even if your goal is to eschew/defy traditional theory, the best way to accomplish that is to understand how theory works; how can you break rules efficiently if you don't even know them?

People get too intimidated by it, when in reality musical theory is just a matter of learning the language of how music is arranged and comprised; once you learn it, it's completely up to you what you do with that knowledge. All theory is is just a matter of elaborating on things we "know" by listening to music and why certain things "work" or "don't work"

>>61576333
I was only bothered by your last statement and mistook it for shit posting, oh and the implication I dont know theory or scales, thats pretty retarded

>>61576490
You got really interesting music, something you can trip to

>>61576587
Thanks man!

But to counter the "Don't write lyrics first" statement, I wrote this as a poem initially and only months after finishing it lyrically did I even touch it musically and, production aside, is one of my proudest accomplishments:

https://tearsofchronus.bandcamp.com/track/beneath-the-waves

It's just a matter of how you arrange it all in your head.

>>61576607
10/10 would listen to again

>sit down, stare at wall and absent-mindedly fiddle with guitar
>something sounds good
>figure out exactly what that was, apply lyrics

eh

>>61577262
Sounds pretty comfy desu

>>61576170
I dick around on guitar, and write something down (on staff) if it sounds good and mess with it. I constantly search for weird inspiration. I'll sing a random melody and play it on guitar. Sometimes i'll even write random notes on staff, play it. And see what happens.

>>61577458
>tfw when you're a music theory student and know how to read/write sheet music but don't bother with it

I use to do the "write random shit" method in tab/sheet music software though, I highly recommend TuxGuitar and MuseScore for anybody writing on guitar.

I almost always record something, put something on a piano roll and make it sound weird, or fiddle on the guitar/keys/synth and see if I can come up with something. I almost never make demos, because if I write something that sounds nice, it's getting recorded. I almost never write down chords.

Lyrics are completely different. I write lyrics a lot less than I do with music. I always try to think of shit in the shower, because even though it sounds cheesy, it's the easiest way to generally get ideas and come up with words and concepts.

But yeah, I usually think of a sound, pattern, rhythm, chord progression, something like that, and start from there. It's really random most of the time.

>>61577540
I just use it because my memory is shit, and like i said, it is a source of weird inspiration. Not my predominant method. It can be useful to analyze where to go from what you have already made though

>>61577567
(cont)
I think the only real reason I still write songs is because of the desire to find new sounds/timbres. Chord progressions are practically the same thing every time (even with music theory knowledge), and shit still sounds the same. I just try to sound as weird and original as possible, really. It's becoming harder and harder to do that, though.

>>61577601
Yeah originality is hard to do when so much has already been done

>>61576138
Bamp

1. ask robot to write some tunes
2. take its credit
easy

>>61580200
Come on /mu/, you cant be treating /r9k/ so mean