Workflow and organization

[Kaleb.G]

Anybody have advice or tutorials for Reason in terms of:

- composing/arranging workflow

- instrument sample organization

- file management

- effects applications

Basically I just want to know what a good overall process is for creating a song from start to finish. I'm trying to compose in a way that's well organized so I don't end up with a mess that's harder to deal with later. I want a good sample workflow to follow.

Thanks!

[avaris]

Here;s a good place to start:

http://www.sgxmusic.com/tutorials.htm

Check out Siamey's page as well.

IMO make a separate 14:2 mixer for each of your "groups." Then route each of those mixers to another final 14:2 mixer. Each "group" would consist of says percussion, leads, bass/kick, pad type sounds, FX, etc...

This way when you add a new instrument it just gets added under your group. This also make mastering a helluva lot easier.

If you want your mix to sound clean here is one simple trick. Use 1 type of long reverb (big and lush), 1 short reverb, 1 short delay, and 1 long delay. This will help make sure everything sounds like it is being played in the same space, which will in turn make things sound MUCH cleaner and bigger in fact.

Good luck dude!

[anosou]

Use the colors for clips and name them so you know what clip contains what (assuming you use Reason 4). When you do a certain section (drums or similar) have all devices close to eachother in the rack so you have it organized. If you make long fx chains (delay>filter>distortion or similar) group them in a combinator to reduce screen clutter. If you have many external refills it doesn't hurt to make a "favorites" folder in the Reason file navigator with some of your favorite patches for each track, helps you found what you need fast.

When it comes to song writing, I personally tend to start with the main melodic hook but that's uncommon. Most people star twith drums/bass to make sure they work together as a foundation.

[Kaleb.G]

These are all great suggestions and just the type of things I'm looking for. Thanks!

Mattias, I also prefer starting with the melody. I find it easier to layer the drums/bass over the melody than vice-versa. It's kinda how I envision music in my mind, so that makes more sense to me.

One thing I'm doing is, for most of the normal instruments, creating a Combinator and creating notes on the sequencer track lane for the Combinator itself so I can easily change the enclosed instrument to an entirely different device if need be (such as a Thor, NN-XT, or Subtractor) without having to modify anything on the sequencer. It seems to work well for me. Has anyone tried this or have anything to say about it?

[anosou]

These are all great suggestions and just the type of things I'm looking for. Thanks!

Mattias, I also prefer starting with the melody. I find it easier to layer the drums/bass over the melody than vice-versa. It's kinda how I envision music in my mind, so that makes more sense to me.

One thing I'm doing is, for most of the normal instruments, creating a Combinator and creating notes on the sequencer track lane for the Combinator itself so I can easily change the enclosed instrument to an entirely different device if need be (such as a Thor, NN-XT, or Subtractor) without having to modify anything on the sequencer. It seems to work well for me. Has anyone tried this or have anything to say about it?

Actually you can have an NN-XT, record something in the sequencer and change the instrument to whatever without changes. Just open a new patch and choose "all instruments" instead of just for example ".nxt" or whatever it would be. Saves a lot of time and let's you listen to the sequence while browsing through instrument. I use it a lot.