producers Beat Creation?

[Roymega]

Where do you guys draw your inspiration from when creating new beats/instrumentals? I tend to focus on an emotion and get the drums sounding good and then go from there but I'd love to hear some of your guys' process! 

[Jay Jackson]

I myself get a lot of beat's inspiration form Things I hear in life weather its a conga riff or a Train going past even from Animals or How wind sounds.Then I try and Get The Beat down On a Guitar, I don't own a  Drum yet But it reminds me to Buy some sticks. Oh What about abstract syncopation 

[Roymega]

I love syncopation! But it almost always happens by accident rather than intentionally, for me at least.

[Capo3tanya]

Hi Roymega, wanted to add my 2 cents to this lol.  I've just recently realized that the stuff in my head is percussion centered.  When I find a cool ditty on the guitar I usually go through the measures divided into 8ths (unless it's 6/8 whatnot) and play with which downbeats or upbeats to accent.  Then I go through it again divided into 16ths and listen for cool rhythms and dotted note placement. But I've always done this all in my head! Finding it a real challenge to break into the DAW. Syncopation ROCKS. Maybe I should have been a drummer lol. 

Edited October 4, 2018 by Capo3tanya

[Roymega]

13 hours ago, Capo3tanya said:

Hi Roymega, wanted to add my 2 cents to this lol.  I've just recently realized that the stuff in my head is percussion centered.  When I find a cool ditty on the guitar I usually go through the measures divided into 8ths (unless it's 6/8 whatnot) and play with which downbeats or upbeats to accent.  Then I go through it again divided into 16ths and listen for cool rhythms and dotted note placement. But I've always done this all in my head! Finding it a real challenge to break into the DAW. Syncopation ROCKS. Maybe I should have been a drummer lol. 

 

Very interesting method of madness you have there Tanya lol, what DAW do you use primarily?

[Capo3tanya]

4 hours ago, Roymega said:

 

Very interesting method of madness you have there Tanya lol, what DAW do you use primarily?

 

Primarily? Hehe, you're funny!  I just got Studio One 4 Artist the end of August.  I had never touched a DAW before that.  I'm not discouraged though, just need to be patient 😀

[starise]

I mostly get my rhythms from a stringed instrument and transfer that to real drums. My tracks are not rhythmically complicated though.

I have a shaker and an Irish drum in my studio and sometimes that's all I use.

 

With an instrumental I just play until something speaks to me. If it does, then I develop it further, or I might like it raw just as it is. I haven't made any "productions" in awhile, meaning larger than life kinds of things designed to dazzle an audience. Those take a lot more time which I haven't had.

[Capo3tanya]

3 minutes ago, starise said:

I mostly get my rhythms from a stringed instrument and transfer that to real drums. My tracks are not rhythmically complicated though.

I have a shaker and an Irish drum in my studio and sometimes that's all I use.

 

With an instrumental I just play until something speaks to me. If it does, then I develop it further, or I might like it raw just as it is. I haven't made any "productions" in awhile, meaning larger than life kinds of things designed to dazzle an audience. Those take a lot more time which I haven't had.

 

I think your music and skills are quite lovely! 😀 They dazzle me lol. Very nice!!! 

[starise]

Well thanks a lot for that comment Capo3tanya. I'm sure you'll do fine once you figure out the ins and outs of the tools.

 

I sat down last evening with BFD3 and tried to fit one of the included loops to something I'm working on. I must have sat there for an hour just playing loops in different tempos. Nothing good came of that. Mt tempos seem to be WAY different than the average song writer, either that or I'm tempo illiterate. I simply didn't like any of it for my particular project. All of these loops sound amazing all by themselves. Just not as good combined with my stuff 

 

Some of this might have something to do with the drums being the focus in many songs. I don't really want the drums to be the star of the show. I want them to add to the whole thing but not stick out too much. 

[Capo3tanya]

1 hour ago, starise said:

 

Some of this might have something to do with the drums being the focus in many songs. I don't really want the drums to be the star of the show. I want them to add to the whole thing but not stick out too much.

 

That's the beaury of good percussion though, REALLY good percussion. It doesn't stick out but the song would be lifeless without it. I was messing around last night myself making a pattern from scratch. Sounded.... Interesting 😉

 

Hey do you like prog rock at all? Rock in general? This Christian concept album "One" by Neal Morse is AMAZING. It's one of my favorite albums of all time! Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater does the percussion, it's just fantastic music, and fantastic journey from creation through the fall of man, separation and rebellion, then finally reconciliation. Just a brilliant album musically. Plus Phil Keaggy lends his legendary skills to it. 

[Capo3tanya]

Hey @starise, If you have time, check this out. Start at 8:15, the music is so exceptional and I think it might actually line up with your taste! And then the next song, cradle to the grave is quite a beautiful "father and son" type song. This album truly is a masterpiece ❤ start at 8:15 though i think that's the part you might really enjoy. If you want if not no worries! I would just love to share this with someone who might appreciate it 😃

 

 

 

[Tory]

On 9/12/2018 at 3:28 PM, Roymega said:

Where do you guys draw your inspiration from when creating new beats/instrumentals? I tend to focus on an emotion and get the drums sounding good and then go from there but I'd love to hear some of your guys' process! 

I mostly write lyrics and melodies (they come at the same time), but when I sit behind the monitor with nothing but me and my studio, software and hardware, things come to me. I may start with just a couple notes, add a horn or strings,... It has to be mood and time because things created are never planned. This is just me. No overall generalization. But for me my rhythm tracks are moment inspired.  Funny I can't put lyrics to my rhythm tracks. Who would have thought?

Tory

Edited October 9, 2018 by Tory

[Roymega]

2 hours ago, Tory said:

I mostly write lyrics and melodies (they come at the same time), but when I sit behind the monitor with nothing but me and my studio, software and hardware, things come to me. I may start with just a couple notes, add a horn or strings,... It has to be mood and time because things created are never planned. This is just me. No overall generalization. But for me my rhythm tracks are moment inspired.  Funny I can't put lyrics to my rhythm tracks. Who would have thought?

Tory

3

 

I wouldn't go as far to say that things created are never planned. I know what you're saying though. Today's DAWs are so fluid that you may think you're not planning your creation, but that's exactly what you're doing, in real time. The planning is happening between your ears  😉

[Capo3tanya]

Sorry I squirrelled on your post @Roymega lol ❤

[Tory]

6 hours ago, Roymega said:

I wouldn't go as far to say that things created are never planned. 

I just meant for me and beat creation. It is probably because I'm learning still. 

 

 

[starise]

Capo3tanya- Never heard of those guys. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. They are very talented. I was big into Rush and groups similar to them at one time. Ever hear of Dream Theater?  Most of the things I did with beats were more pop/rock, though I would love to make something like prog rock. Being primarily a keys player it's been a dream of mine. One of my friends who is an ME in Australia added drums to a track I called Zaphon. Lots of symbolic significance in that track It's a more Tangerine Dream kind of thing which I liked too.

Here's some of my :poppish rockish stuff- These beats are drum programs but I might have made the rhythms myself. Older mixes and certainly not radio ready.

 

 

[Capo3tanya]

2 hours ago, starise said:

Capo3tanya- Never heard of those guys. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. They are very talented. I was big into Rush and groups similar to them at one time. Ever hear of Dream Theater?

 

That's so awesome!!! And funny because Mike Portnoy the drummer from Dream Theater did the percussion on this album 😃 I LOVE Tangerine Dream, cool!!! You should definitely like this whole album then that's so awesome 😀 It's a beauty 💐 can't wait to listen to your song! 

[Capo3tanya]

Those were awesome Starise!!!

[MikeRobinson]

When I watched musicians on documentaries like the excellent It Might Get Loud, I noticed that the musicians reflexively turned on a tape-recorder.  Sometimes it was reel-to-reel(!), sometimes a phone, but when they sat down to "just noodle around," they always turned on the tape and left it running.

 

I think that there are definitely two parts to songwriting:  "inspiration, and perspiration."  😀  But, I'm actually serious.  First you have to get the idea, and somehow stick a pin through that pretty little butterfly and attach it to a board.  Then, you have to develop it into a song, or part of one.

 

And that process might go through any number of "drafts," all of which you should keep, even if at the moment you're persuaded that they're just garbage (and even if they actually are).  You're exploring your way to a final musical treatment of the material, and you might well come up with more than one.

 

No matter what it is that I'm creating, one thing that is always beside me is a loose-leaf notebook and a set of number-two pencils.  I keep a diary of sorts.  I was going to say "I don't trust my memory," but I've forgotten where I intended to go with that.  😉

Edited October 9, 2018 by MikeRobinson

[Roymega]

On 10/9/2018 at 5:07 AM, Capo3tanya said:

Sorry I squirrelled on your post @Roymega lol ❤

 

No worries, I'm glad I could stir up some constructive conversation 😎