What part of a compostion do you start with?

[mickomoo]

When you first have an idea for a song, what part do you usually tend to work on first? Do you find working on specific parts before others easier than others? Personally I usually get a melody in my head, sometimes with a bass, but mostly not. What's killing me is that it's sometimes harder to think of rhythm or basslines for that melody, so I get something that will not have any particular form and my timing's off when I record it. Anyways, what works best for you?

Oh yeah and have you ever attempted to record something based off a title you came up with for a song? I'm actually thinking of doing that now to stimulate my creativity.

[Jason Covenant]

Honestly, I typically get the whole song as a complete idea. But, when I start with a fragment it's typically broken down like this:

60% of the time, the melody comes first.

30% of the time, the chord structure comes first.

10% of the time, the bassline comes first.

[Dissidia]

Chord progression then melody. Most common approach for me.

[JH Sounds]

For me I suppose it's a tossup between melody-first-chords-second and chords-first-melody-second. It usually depends on the situation: If I'm out and about, I may come across an idea in my head, usually a melody. Whereas if I'm at the piano trying to generate ideas, it's usually something chordal at first that I build off of.

[eilios]

Chords and rhythm. Melody diverges from there. Bassline soon follows, then a looong period of refinement.

[SonicThHedgog]

Ehh drums, for me they set the tone of my track.

then i would do chords, and if its a guitar solo, the chords would be 5th's so i can have some freedom with guitar solo/melody depending on what i want.

then the bass which i also think sets the tone for my tracks (but when i get to lazy to make a bassline for my prog house tracks i just boost the sub and low end very high on the chords. )

Then melody that goes good with my chords and bass then last add silly effects and after touch intruments that make it sound pretty.

well i dont actual follow that order because its very random because the order i start depends on how i want my track to sound like, but most of the time i start with drums.

but unless im going to record a mainly audio track(guitar/bells/sample games/noise i find outside...yes i do that) then i would do the audio recording stuff first then do the rtas/vst based stuff after just to save cpu .

i just realized i dont post my other tracks on workshop

[GarretGraves]

Oh yeah and have you ever attempted to record something based off a title you came up with for a song? I'm actually thinking of doing that now to stimulate my creativity.

I've planned for a concept album simply by the title alone. Well, that and where I heard the phrase from. But if you and I are thinking of it, chances are many musicians out there have done that.

As for where to begin, as a prog rock/metal person, rhythm or melody are almost always the first out the gate. Very rarely does a bass line begin the creative process for me. More often than bass lines I'd start with some weird ambient sound I found while rumaging through FM8's library of stuff. Kind of a pass time for me is going through sound libraries and take notes on which ones I can use.

But melody and rhythm are almost always first. Drums tend to follow from there. So an and so forth.

[Squint]

Speaking from a strictly pianistic point of view...

If I'm working on something that's completely original, the first thing I tend to do is have a loose guideline of what kind of form the whole piece is going to take. Some sort of classic form (sonata, rondo, fugue, etc.) or something more free form. Since getting out of college, I've done a lot less strict form writing (not necessarily a good thing...), and have opted to do stuff with less "rules."

Then I'll usually try to write out a simple melody, followed by other phrases or counter melodies that may have roots in the original theme (inverted, same notes different rhythm, same rhythm different notes, etc.) or may be completely different but complement it somehow. Then I will build off of that, depending on form, and add harmonic progressions (not necessarily chords themselves) to the mix. I like to keep a small motif in mind that I can sprinkle in here and there to keep things coherent throughout the piece.

It's funny, I was just thinking of this the other day. When I'm doing an arrangement off of a videogame, my compositional process is a lot less organized. It's basically write from beginning to end. Meaning, I write the first measure, second measure, third measure, etc. (with some exceptions, but not many). It's weird, too, because I didn't really notice that I change my compositional style like this until after two or three arrangements. I honestly don't know if it's a good thing or not, but I've convinced myself that it's just a natural occurrence since the themes are already there.

[Nabeel Ansari]

I just bonk something out on my old non MIDI 20 year old keyboard, and then I put that in FL Studio and start from there.

So really, it's usually the riffs/chords that I start with. Never a bassline, and also a lot of times with melodies (but I don't write music very often).

Sometimes I get inspiration for an orchestral piece in my head and I actually come up with all the parts at the same time (vertically, meaning I think of strings and brass and percussion, but no real arrangement. I'm just given a section of the piece by god, the rest is up to me to write down), so I just transfer (or attempt) it to my computer using my lovely Kontakt samples. :3

[Rozovian]

It completely depends on the type of track. If I need a track driven by a bassline or lead, I'll usually just write a basic drum backing and start messing with said bassline or lead. If it's a drum-driven track, I'll write some basic non-drum backing and then get to the kick and snare, followed by other drums and percussion. If it's a track based around just cool chords, I'll start with those chords first.

And if I have no idea what I'm gonna make, I just start with whatever I recognize as good when I play. Usually this comes out of experimenting with new sounds. Random preset, see how it sounds.

[erineclipse]

I have a problem that whenever I don't include drums or bassline at the start, it's really hard for me to put them in later, especially bass. Sometimes I have songs with no bass at all lol.

[WillRock]

My mixes usually start with some sort of short build up, so I just put in the first instrument when I get an idea, and go from there... there is no rule I have like "bass first". I just put in stuff as it comes to me.

[mickomoo]

I have a problem that whenever I don't include drums or bassline at the start, it's really hard for me to put them in later, especially bass. Sometimes I have songs with no bass at all lol.

I'm having that problem with drums actually. If I don't start with bass, I end up having a lower pitched instrument playing part of the melody's progression in a different order or something, not my ideal but it kinda works lol

[Rockos]

I usually start by the main part. So I toss in the full melody in 8bit with bass and drum and I make this sounds the best I can. After that I replace the 8bit by any coresponding lead sound and then I build up the end and the intro.

[erineclipse]

I usually start by the main part. So I toss in the full melody in 8bit with bass and drum and I make this sounds the best I can. After that I replace the 8bit by any coresponding lead sound and then I build up the end and the intro.

I was watching a documentary one day and someone said the opposite, that you should build the sounds first then the song. This works for me, and you always will get a song that matches the sounds quite nicely, without having to force them into the song, but there is one problem with this. You have to wait till you finish choosing your sounds to think of the song, so if you already thought of the song beforehand it's too late.

[Nabeel Ansari]

I was watching a documentary one day and someone said the opposite, that you should build the sounds first then the song. This works for me, and you always will get a song that matches the sounds quite nicely, without having to force them into the song, but there is one problem with this. You have to wait till you finish choosing your sounds to think of the song, so if you already thought of the song beforehand it's too late.

The problem with thinking like this is that it encourages an "electronic" quality to music.

By that I mean, you end up being more concerned with the sound design than the writing, which is why I generally don't decide all of my instruments first, I just pick whatever fits the bill of the frequency range I want it to take up.

[Damashii!!]

I have a problem that whenever I don't include drums or bassline at the start, it's really hard for me to put them in later, especially bass. Sometimes I have songs with no bass at all lol.

I always save the best for last... therefore I usually record bass lines last.

[warfighter67]

I start with whatever comes to mind first.