News - News

I'm going to share a little tip that came to me a while ago, which has really speed up the rate in which I produce ideas that I consider to be quality. It's a very simple thing, requires a little bit of self control, and may even sound a bit hard to believe, but I highly suggest you give it a go and see if you get the results too.

The tip is this, next time you've nailed something in your track to the point where you get that F#@K YEAH feeling, listen to it once or twice in it's entirety, and then keep working on adding something new to it, or move on to something else,

If you get your bassline and your kick sitting perfectly, don't sit there looping it over and over, enjoying how good it sounds. Tease yourself! Start adding some new elements (percussion or some synths etc) straight away while it still sounds super cool.

The more you listen to that loop, the less special it is going to sound to you, and that will ultimately decide how you put the rest of the elements together later on. You will be adding things to a loop that is less exciting that it actually is.

You want the people who hear your tune to be hooked when they listen, so if it sounds excellent right now, it most likely will to them too, but if you rinse it out in your ears, it will bring everything down and you will try adding new things to make it exciting again, instead of adding new things to accompany how exciting it actually is.

It's a hard thing to do.... there's nothing like sitting back and enjoying the riff you've created again and again... but save it up for the end. Chuck it on your iPod and listen to it everywhere you go once it's done.

Obviously go ahead and listen to it to try and get new ideas, but for pure listening pleasure, hold yourself back and see what happens.

Challenge!

Comments  

 

#10 sachotic 2010-02-04 06:30

aha I was doing just that earlier today

Quote

 

 

#9 2010-01-26 23:42

and you know what else. you KNOW you are a VICTIM when you wake up the next morning with THAT damned LOOP still LOOOPING and SPIRALING around in your head. arghhhh... I've removed the LOOP button from my SL moments b4 posting. goodbye. from now on i will WEAR OUT my SPCBAR ...like Tom showed me click click click click click-click CLICK clickclickclick pause clic...no.. CLICK

Quote

 

 

#8 2010-01-25 19:47

I fall victim to LOOP syndrome nearly everytime. Great suggestions mate.

Quote

 

 

#7 Wirdness 2010-01-19 01:44

Hello Tom if you din t know i like your music and i posted a Podcast dedicated to you give it a listen if you have a chance. Ho and i also posted a link to your web site publicity is always good no.

Please click the link below to view it.
http://bowltechone.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-01-16T08_02_10-08_00

Dj Wirdness

Quote

 

 

#6 2010-01-15 21:07

You know that certain herbs may influence this type of behavior

Another way around this is to arrange each track in isolation ie. bass, drums, fx etc So you construct a bass line, construct drums at same tempo (obviously) then melody 1, then maybe counter melody, etc. Chop up and then add together and see how it sounds :) This is a quick way to build a track from disparate parts that conform only to key signature. This is best for melody and counter melody/harmony as you get progressions and melodic intervals that you might not have thought up on your own

Quote

 

 

#5 danimami9 2010-01-15 12:38

thanks for putting this into words. i am actually looking forward to my next creative session (i tend to hate them towards the end as I listen to everything too much!)



aksha you don't know how much happy i am to see you say that (i'm not the only one with that problem)i hate my work so hope that this tip will change that a bit
thanks tom

Quote

 

 

#4 danimami9 2010-01-15 12:32

Great idea that just the problem I face every time it takes the desire to finish it

Quote

 

 

#3 YYY 2010-01-14 19:23

ur super right!

Quote

 

 

#2 2010-01-13 19:44

Thanks for the tip, Tom... as you said, it is a hard thing to do. Most of the time, when i get something exciting, i listen to it over and over and wait too long before adding stuff... i will take your idea in consideration on my next tracks... and see what happens ! ;)

Quote

 

 

#1 2010-01-13 08:18

Yes!! You are a legend tom.

I had this exact same realisation a few days ago, after listening to something i had made over and over for about 3 hours. I should turn the loop off, remember what it was and make stuff to work with it while the excitement is still flowing.

I ruined my last track by doing the same thing, to the point where i didn't want to work with it again as it was grossing me out.

thanks for putting this into words. i am actually looking forward to my next creative session (i tend to hate them towards the end as I listen to everything too much!)

Quote

 

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post.

Add comment

Name (required)

E-mail (required)

Website

Notify me of follow-up comments

Refresh

Send

Cancel

JComments