Preface: my way is not the only way. Just one, relatively structured, way that may help if you're stuck. NOTE: eq, compression, limiters, sausage fatteners, etc. come at the END in this workflow. focus is on getting musical/feels good first, engineering good after.
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go to [hooktheory](hooktheory.com) - create a new chord progression using the tool. If I'm feeling extra stuck, I'll borrow a chord progression from another song and change around the key/individual chords until I feel a feeling/vibe that I like.
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now I have the chords, (still in hooktheory, but you can in your DAW) I'll start adding stable notes to the melody at the start of each chord change.
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Now that I have a relatively solid musical foundation for my song, I bring it to my DAW either by exporting MIDI or just looking up chords and creating them in piano roll.
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based on the feels of the song, I'll choose which instrument/synth/sound to play the parts. e.g. legato strings for slow and sad, short stabby synth plucks for energetic, etc. each instrument should serve a musical purpose, otherwise...it's just taking up precious headroom.
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now that I have the general feels of the song, I'll take it up a notch by adding the "special sauce" in between the stable notes of the melody. This is just pure experimentation for me, keeping in the back of my mind to maybe throw some "unstable" notes right before stable ones to increase tension in places where it makes sense. Again, mostly just experimentation. But it's fun experimentation because it already at this point sounds kinda good musically, now you're just making sound really good.
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Make it come together. Add percussion, transition fx, vocals, etc.
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make it a sound good on speakers. eq sounds where needed, compress sounds where needed. where needed, to me, means there is no hard and fast rules for anything. it's listening to my music, and my ears saying "jeez, there sure is a lot of low end coming from my high hats...is that valuable musical information? in my case, no. so I will low cut." this is pretty open ended, which leaves room for more creative block, but remember you've already got a viable fetus of a song, so you're just polishing it up a bit.
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FUCK IT ALL UP. rearrange the melody notes, change the octaves of your chord progression notes, add lil john WHATs every five seconds I don't give a shit just FUCK THAT SHIT UP. this is your explosion of secret sauce all over your track. own it and make it yours.
Hope this helps.
Submitted January 30, 2017 at 12:29PM by musicstuffz https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/5r1eex/my_workflow_for_musically_sound_creation_from/?utm_source=ifttt