go for a long walk (1-2 hours) put your earcans on and listen to a new mix/playlist in your genre.
Your ear is gonna pick up all kinds of new things while walking on autopilot. I feel like you hear more details that somehow stick subconsciously.
Example I´ve purchased stutter edit to spice up my drums fills. Listening to a particular song led me to using it on vocals/vocal chops and boom - shitload of new ideas and inspiration.
It´s different to just lying down, shutting your eyes and listen to music. Both have their benefits. I slowly start to prefer walking.
I´ve heard that Mikky Ekko and Ryan Tedder go for long runs and listen to music. And thats how most of their great ideas were born. I´m not a runner. I´m a walker. Texas Ranger. So I walk.
It´s like the most simple thing in the world. If you´re a writer you read the greatest books. If you´re a painter you copy the greatest. Same with music. Listen to a lot of music - even outside of your genre.
Pick the ones you like most and that resonate with you. Take them completely apart. I mean destroy the songs. Listen to it hi/low/band-passed at 100/200/500/1000 Hz, write out the chords, their harmonic rhythm, transcribe melody lines, try to recreate their sounddesign, even read and analyze the lyrics (content, topic, structure, rhyme scheme), get a hang of arrangement and instrumentalization, what is the focal point of the song? What makes it so special to you and/or a broader audience aka pop/mainstream? Listen to the instrumental and acapella in isolation. I can´t tell you how boring most instrumentals sound. So pay a lot of attention to the vocal melodies and how they are stacked/harmonized. Just rip the song apart.
Then implement techniques that you´ve learnt immediately to your songs.
The end.
Submitted December 10, 2016 at 07:27AM by 6december2016 https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/5hjkde/if_youve_trouble_coming_up_with_ideas/?utm_source=ifttt
Javier Rodriguez
Saturday, December 10, 2016