Getting Creative Momentum & Output Speed

heyo, per request i had a question about my creative process so i’d like to explain to you how i begin to attack a track.

this process of course varies differently from day to day, and certainly from producer to producer. but typically it starts with a sound, loop or melody or anything inspiring enough to get the ball rolling, then just build around that.

for example, in most cases i find vocals the most inspiring part of the song, so especially with melodic songs i start with finding an acapella somewhere and just writing around it. vocals typically need melodic support, so i will start with mid-range elements such as synths, piano, strings, etc., the drums and fx to come later. and there’s no particular order for that latter part, again it always depends on what i find inspiring the most to put down first. it’s important to note that especially in cases where i feel stuck on a track. when i remember that i kind of realize i’m shooting myself in the foot by focusing on the difficult sounds first. 

i find the looping/jam process is really important in melodic and danceable music. i feel like producers should benefit from considering their background is more technical than it is instrumental. i’m talking about having a sort of jam mentality, something that comes from instrumental jam sessions or playing with a eurorack where the sequence is often always running. it typically involves having music constantly being played in the background, then working on your part while using that as context. to explain better, when i already have 8ish bars or so to loop, i have that play while i jam on a bassline or lead until something sticks, and i also tweak it until it’s catchy and groovy enough to a point where my head starts bopping. the opposite of this jam process would be to not have music running and tweak a sound or melody when it’s soloed, which i find not as productive in the conceptualization process because you’re depriving yourself of the context of the music.

if i’m in a situation where i’m trying to make a track that is heavy on sound design (i.e. dubstep or shit i would make under isqa), i actually find it useful to do the opposite of jamming to something. i will typically go about 30 minutes to an hour jamming on a synth or resampling something to shit with a lot of effects, and record all the results - so what comes out is this really long wav file full of things that can be used as basslines, drums, fx fills, etc. what makes this process great is that whenever i feel like i need to fill a certain space i can always see what this long wav sounds like when layered over the composition, then just chop and arrange wherever it sounds best.  fracture (glitchmachines) and portal (output) are excellent tools i use to create experimental sounds.

for the most part there isn’t a rhyme or reason for what sounds i start and finish on especially in what order, but i’d say the rule of thumb and biggest advice is to put down or make anything that feels inspiring to you in the moment and build around that. i know that sounds cliche so lemme give you an example: if a track needs drums but you can’t hear drums in your head yet, lean your focus to a sound that you can hear in your head.

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as far as how my typical production day goes, i’d say i would be working from 10am to 10pm. i typically skip breakfast because mornings are a time where i feel like i NEED to get a ball rolling in the studio because i feel like that ball gets heavier the more i wait to move it. my breaks are just whenever i get hungry so i’ll cook lunch or dinner and eat, or just want a snack. if i’m hitting a wall (can’t get anything new down in 10 minutes), i’ll go out and walk/run or do some sort of exercise.

since i started doing more sync work and working on others’ production, i’ve felt the pressure to finish tracks a lot faster. these days i am working on 2-3 tracks in a production day. if this rate was perfect throughout a year i’d be rich, especially if all of them were finished. but in reality, for example in last month, i worked on 27 demos and maybe half of them got finished. whether they get placed or planned for a release is a different story. anyways, a good way to train for that is to focus on working horizontally as opposed to vertically. what i mean by that is, work on structure and length of the song (horizontal) as opposed to details or quality of the section (vertical). you can only best work on the vertical material when you have horizontal material as context. Of course, you will need SOME vertical material before you move on, but i guess my point is you don’t need to get a section to 110% before moving on. get it to like 60 or 80% or until you get close to a wall, then start working on the structure of the track.

also i must stress that even at my stage there’s a lot of value to quantity over quality (you didn’t misread that, quantity > quality). one of the biggest lessons i learned in my high school art class is to draw something fast as possible so you get the concept down, and this applies to my working horizontally method when producing. but not only does quantity over quality apply to individual piece output, but to the quality of your pieces in each iteration. you will learn how to produce a lot faster, and learn more through each project you go through. for example, stuck was a song i made at julian’s house and we each took 15 minute turns on the producer seat and providing input to the composition - the song was practically full length in 3 hours. in a recent session with longstoryshort, we did the same practice but we didn’t want to spend no longer than one hour on a song. we came out the studio with 3 demos.

anyways hope that provides some insight at least, i think everyone’s different when it comes to production. i’m certainly prolific but i can’t say my work life balance is perfect lol. so set your bar accordingly.