Composing with your eyes

[Dissidia]

I just got a crazy idea, what if you made a song, while completely deaf (everything related to making the song muted-)?

If anyone tries this, please post it here.

[Hemophiliac]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE-sS_1JQZI

he did this most of his late life.

[Dissidia]

Yes, and he is well known for a reason. I also don't think composing is comparable now to then. How many composers here actually write whole pieces of music with notation by hand?

[Hemophiliac]

Yes, and he is well known for a reason. I also don't think composing is comparable now to then. How many composers here actually write whole pieces of music with notation by hand?

...I write with notation. Also what's different about writing music now in concept that's different now then it was then? aside from technology (computers)...you're still sitting at an instrument and crafting or improvising a piece.

[Moseph]

I write sketches on staff paper sans pitch reference in coffee shops sometimes.

[Dissidia]

...I write with notation. Also what's different about writing music now in concept that's different now then it was then? aside from technology (computers)...you're still sitting at an instrument and crafting or improvising a piece.

Nowadays you can preview songs, I think that's the largest difference. I don't think this idea is very fun or useful for someone who already writes songs in their head/mind. That's the whole point of it. Kinda like drawing with your eyes closed, you could practice it until you can draw accurately without looking. Do you get my point?

[Rozovian]

I've done it before. The first time I forgot to unmute the tracks when I exported it.

[Jason Covenant]

I just got a crazy idea, what if you made a song, while completely deaf (everything related to making the song muted-)?

If anyone tries this, please post it here.

I had to write several songs like this when I was deaf. I don't think this is all that unusual.

[Dissidia]

Maybe it's more common than I thought.

- Prophecy: do you remember if the result varied much at all?

[Jason Covenant]

Maybe it's more common than I thought.

- Prophecy: do you remember if the result varied much at all?

http://compo.thasauce.net/rounds/view/PRC145

I made the arrangement while deaf, and worked on the mix as I was beginning to get a little bit of hearing back. I botched certain parts of the mix because of my bad hearing (especially the vocals, they sound soooooo fake) but I think the arrangement portion came out fine.

I suppose the way I write music is kind of unusual to begin with though. I don't play an instrument proficiently enough to compose, I don't hear music in my head, and I don't really know any music theory. Instead I "see" the notes in my head and I input them into the sequencer. Regardless, I'm sure a lot of people, once they are able to hear (or see) music in their head can compose completely deaf.

If you'd like some originals that were written while deaf, I could upload some somewhere. There really isn't any difference between them and what I normally write though.

[WillRock]

Protodome, halc and I did this very thing as a collab... the source was wind scene from chrono trigger, the result - http://tindeck.com/listen/lluj

[Dissidia]

Prophecy: that's impressive. I actually like the flair of the vocals too.

Willrock: Interesting, very few notes are off, not bad at all. Haha that ending, FL samples ftw.

I don't think I am at the level where I can compose with my eyes 100% but it's interesting. I am going to try some right now.

Edit: after around 10-15 minutes I got bored of the silence and decided to just export it. And this is how it sounds apparently. In the first part I played it back in my head, for the strings I just put in notes without "listening" how they would sound.