I usually mess around on a guitar or keyboard. My last song's main riff was made when I went upstairs to get something before I left for school. I add in the main part that I just made and in LSDJ I figure out the bass. For about 25% of my songs I just put random stuff into LSDJ and worked from there.
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New Albany Indiana
90% of my composing happens on the toilet so i eat food first to prepare.
Once I am on the toilet, comfortable, I will spend around 40 minutes up to 2 hours just laying down notes until i get something that sounds good.
Then when i am in bed i will spend an hour or so of actual composing.
I will also mess around on a piano making melodies or listen to music to get inspiration.
Last edited by Bit wish (Dec 11, 2013 10:10 pm)
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Brunswick, GA USA
herr_prof wrote:
I made a how-to video:
I can imagine Anamanaguchi doing a cover of that...
My answer for the OP is that I can literally start and end with anything. I will change my starting point frequently to keep from getting writer's blocks and creative ruts, and it doesn't always work.
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Madriz, Supain
I put notes close to other and then press play
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Montana
Bit wish wrote:
I will also mess around on a piano making melodies.
In the bathroom?
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detroit
i always start with beats to gain an overall perspective of how i want homies to nod their heads. then i slap those tone things together in a fashion to make you have feels or some shit.
Last edited by barbeque (Dec 12, 2013 10:00 am)
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St. Charles, MO
I set my BPM (almost always 200), then I compose a bassline or intro. Then make a melody to go along with it, and finish with the drums! (I hate doing the drums though, I suck at beats lol)
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MBR
I rip off everyone's methods posted here!
Well, not really... maybe I should though.
I start with a random beat, bassline, melody, or chord sequence. Looping this, I then additively come up with the rest of the components of the song, ending up with a complete, usually 1-pattern loop. From this master pattern, I subtractively build the rest of the song.
I then proceed to get stuck, hopelessly frustrated, depressed, intoxicated, then depressed. LOL
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D D D Detroit, not the burbs
With a keyboard i shred, though my tracks get little chip sound. Usually just a bit here and there sprinkled on top during the polish phase, im more of a chip lurker then a chip artist.
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Malaysia
A random melody pops up in my head and then I'd record my voice on my phone asap.
from there I just compose it on LSDJ. Instrument adjustments after settling 2-4 lines of intro
Next, I continue on adding transitions that could go well with the type of melody that I'm doing and also making sure some parts like the chorus does not repeat too much (unless it is very very catchy)
If I am out of ideas, I'd listen to some old chiptune songs and figure out what to add from there.
Not forgetting some solo leads~!
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France (au milieu)
well, it really depends, sometimes a bass riff that makes the primal spin, sometimes just the idea of an ''atmosphere'' or style... sometimes (and very often) everything comes out of a single sentence sampled out of an anime or movie, that leads beat, bass and chords
just realised while writing that in 99.9% of cases, chords structure came after Beats&Bass... which does certainly explain the harmonic poorness of my productions^^
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UK
DMGer wrote:
For about 25% of my songs I just put random stuff into LSDJ and worked from there.
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Memphis, TN
This also.
bryface wrote:
either way, before all that happens i start by imagining the emotional effect i want to achieve, and then just sit there for a couple of minutes and imagine ways to make it happen. if i'm lucky, my mind can formulate the various elements to achieve the desired effect - not entire melodies mind you, but pieces of hooks and chunks of rhythmic features. the harder part is to string it all together into something more cohesive.
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San Diego
I normally started with a good riff or melody to set the mood of the song for me. Then I'm able to imagine a beat around that and move from there. Sometimes I change the melody based on how the beat fills out which can totally go a different direction from how the song started originally. It's like drawing for me I guess, I always start with the eyes and nose then work my way out.
Last edited by Vile (Dec 12, 2013 7:42 pm)
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Arizona
somewhat_damaged wrote:
I then proceed to get stuck, hopelessly frustrated, depressed, intoxicated, then depressed. LOL
That basically sums up the outcome of a lot of projects I've started in the past.