coming up with melodies

[amisane]

Get yourself some whiteboard pens.

Figure out a chord or two that sounds good.

Draw a mark on every key that's in your chord sequence.

Press record and play around for 10 minutes or so, just using the notes you've marked.

Chop out the good bits and tidy them up.

[rendr]

[spencertron]

kinda funny all this musicianship esque talk...having taught melodys and scales etc to budding muso's and having being taught/trained as as a musician (classicaly)...unless there's a specific idea...here's how i now deal with coming up with melodys (atleast for most of this year)...random note/pitch module with reaktor sequenced synths...(not suggesting this is a good idea...but i have found gold working like this, change the math parametres etc.)



render a section...mangle, process, see what happens

[piecore]

hey everyone, thanks for your feedback, some helpful suggestions for sure.


I would like to know more about how people get into that state of mind that gets them producing good songs, and less about music theory (not that mt is unimportant). Where do you get your inspiration from? What kind of atmosphere do you work in that gets you productive/creative? How do you keep things fresh?

cheers

[deadly_habit]

hey everyone, thanks for your feedback, some helpful suggestions for sure.


I would like to know more about how people get into that state of mind that gets them producing good songs, and less about music theory (not that mt is unimportant). Where do you get your inspiration from? What kind of atmosphere do you work in that gets you productive/creative? How do you keep things fresh?

cheers

i dunno i listen to alot of jazz and ambient pady stuff, also on the flip alot of hip hop and hardcore/metal/punk/grindcore
if i'm ever lacking inspiration i listen to the score from donnie darko or the bladerunner soundtrack
inspiration can come from anything walking around, a bike ride something that gets your juices flowing/hearing beats in your head
generally messing around with sounds i've pre engineered and building a bassline or melody that gets me going is all the atmosphere i need (plus some booze )
keeping thing fresh... not repeatedly using the same drumkit/breaks/sounds in new projects i guess and whatever mood i'm in while producing (makes the difference from making something with an upbeat light feel or the opposite)
a stressful day at work may help me to lay down some angry/hard stuff where as a lax day off the opposite

[bobby_dozen]

sing to yourself. seriously. in the shower, even! ba-ba-doo-doo-bu--bah, etc.

Absolutely! Even though it's embarassing, I record little ideas on my phone, whenever I get an idea and then sift though them when I get back to the studio. But writer's block man... it sucks and we all go through it