Arranging

[Degree]

Whenever I begin a remix I have ideas for certain parts, but I can never decide where to start.

Is there an ideal place to begin?

I usually just start with the intro to the song. Is putting down a bassline or drums more helpful first?

I just can't really get into any remixes. I have ideas, but I just give up eventually.

Any ideas?

[zircon]

I personally work linearly about 95% of the time. So, I start with the intro and go from there. Reason being, I don't usually have any ideas beforehand. Once I get into the swing of things, ideas tend to come to me. The rare times when I do have ideas before I start mixing, I might jot them down first. But that's unusual.

I think a good way to start a mix is by focusing on one part of the chord progression and/or rhythm and repeating that for a bit as you introduce layers. Jumping right into the melody is usually a bad idea and copying verbatim from the original is too. Play around a bit with the harmony elements from the source to create the mood/style of your song.

[V___]

Depends on the song really.... Usually however, I make the lead riff and acouple of additives just to see if I can write the song the way I want it to sound, then jump back to the begining and lay down the intro, bassline progression first. I used to attempt to beatbox to the song too, to hear what type of drums I want, what sounds good where. Then Malcos released his Vocal Refil for Reason, and so I use his loops to give me an idea of texture if I get stuck.

Im in a similiar situation with you: I have ideas, but never really get into the mix. I feel too limited... I end up making like a 8 second section which mixes some song, then it becomes more of an original, just ignoring the source's progression and themes, and doing what sounds good. But its still good practice.

[Dr. Rod]

I actually tend to do the beggining and end first.....fill in the middle last. I guess this is just because off the jump I have an idea of how i want a song to start, and how to end, but usually Im stuck on the middle for a while.....

[-RK-]

As far as original works go, I really dont have any solid way of starting, those just flow I guess.

Remixes however are a totally different story. I always start by mapping out (usually by just playing in some piano parts with a controller) all the melodies and progressions I want to use from the original song. Then I usually write original stuff around that, get all my basic sounds loaded into the project, and write from there, usually starting with the main section of the song, then going back and writing an intro up until that point.

It might be and ass backwards way of working, but It's how I work.

[SSB]

I generally start with the main theme of the piece. Once I have that built, I can take it and change it and base the intro and outro off it.