First step in production?

[KILLTHENFEED]

What do you guys start with when you're creating a song from scratch?

Drums or synth (or other)?

Intro to the song or the body part/drop?

Just kinda curious how other people start off.

[Lokie]

This is something that has changed constantly and still does depending on what mood/genre im working in. I started out creating the drum beat and then playing melodies in and would almost try to create the whole track in chronological order. I found out quickly that I would just lose the flow and take forever trying to build something that sounded rich and full, then just scrap it cos I got sick of it.

Now I set up like a 16/32 bar segment and start with the melodies, get about 3 or 4 synths interacting nicely and have an idea of which parameters im gonna automate to create tension, then il move to the kick drum/bass, and then onto percussion. The whole idea is that this 16/32 bar segment will be the track at is very fullest. Then once that is done I don't have to worry too much about being creative, its more about being subtractive and working on the arrangement. I gotta mention that this is my process for house music and is the most successful method for me.

I have only just started to venture into Dubstep and am still learning, the track below is a Dub kinda style but its 170bpm and pretty rough. For this one I actually did the percussion first and then worked on the Kick/Bass relationship (I always do this part together), and then went from there.

Another thing which I just started doing which has worked really well is to listen to like a 30-minute DJ set of whatever style tunes I want to create, open up my DAW and start playing some synths over what im listening to. I find that I can get some good melodies just by improvising over other peoples tunes, like a jamming session but your playing over an already complete track. I dunno if that will work as well with Dubstep cos its more Bass/Kick/Percussion orientated but il soon find out if it works for me and let you know....

[smile]

Drums i guess.

I start by getting that nice kick and snare sample that can carry a track. Either I find one or I make one from scratch. Then i make the drum structure, add cymbals and percs. Finally I spend a lot of time balancing and revisiting everything.

[Dahneboy]

make shure your drums are ready even if they are shit, and do your stuff with your basses at the drop

[JBE]

Depends on what I'm working on. Where ever the idea starts is where I start.

[wub]

This thread has been done many times so I'll cut & paste my standard response;

Another thread on this = another cut & paste;

I've ranted on this enough, so am going to be lazy and do a copy paste of a previous rant;

This is copied from a previous thread we've had re; workflow...

Ok, I'm going to be lazy and just quote myself from a previous topic on this subject so bear with me...

Got my main template already set up with several different buses, routing etc etc. I'll usually start with messing around with something. Whatever that something is changes every time I start. Sometimes a vocal sample, a crazy ass effect I've been working on, some synth patterning with modulation, instrument loop from a dusty old 50s record I've sampled, whatever.

I'll play around with that for a bit, loop different bits, chop it up, add effects, bounce & reimport, create some basic patterns etc, find out what works and what doesn't. Once I've got a nice little pattern looping for about 16 bars or so that won't drive me crazy on listening to it hour after hour, I'll start to construct the tune around it. Place the drums where the sample dictates they should be placed, or apply the bassline so that it evolves organically around the sound.

Generally once I've got that done, will work on tidying up the drum programming a bit more, making a few variations of the patterns, spread them out over the course of the tune. Same with the bassline, add some variations, plenty of automation to give it some movement. The tune programming should be evolving organically at this point, as it becomes apparent when listening where the necessary elements should change or drop in/out of proceedings.

I'll usually add a few bells & whistles at this point, incidental sounds, echoey bits, heavily reverbed hi passed sirens, vocal snippets (nb; I mean spoken word samples in this case, not actual vocals), maybe some white noise sweeps etc etc, extra layer of ambience, stretched our snare sample over 64bars to give some background grit, working it into the arrangement to keep things interesting.

Once I've got a rough arrangement of how the overall tune is going to be, I'll bounce out a rough copy, burn onto CD then go whack it on the main system in my lounge. Get myself a cup of tea, sit down on the sofa with a notebook and listen to the track on repeat. I'll make notes as to what I like/don't like, what needs working on etc, then I'll go back to my studio machine and make the necessary changes.

Then it'll just be a case of doing a basic mastering job (not too fussed about mixdowns, these generally get done as I'm working through the tune), and jobs a good 'un.

Basically, starting with the drums is IMO boring as hell. If I start a tune with drums, the tune will be dictated by those drums and anything I add to it after the fact will be added to and around the drums. FUCK. THAT. I'd much rather get some fun stuff going on, samples/pads/synth loops/melodic bits etc, get them looping the way I like then construct the drums around them.

I never listen to a track for the drums. If I'm trying to tell someone what a tune is like, I won't bang my desk to give an idea of the drum programming. Course not, I'll hum the melody, sing a poor version of the vocal, whatever. The fun bits of the tune, basically. And it's for this reason that I'll start with those bits, as those are the bits I want my tunes to be identified for.

That way I'm changing the emphasis of the track from the drums to the more interesting bit. Like thinking of a tune as a sandwich. The drums are the bread and hey, you can't have a sandwich without bread (this isn't an excuse to correct me on sandwich preparation techniques nor is it an excuse to give examples of great sandwiches that don't involve bread so don't bother), but at the end of the day I'm not eating a sandwich for the bread, I'm eating it for the filling.

Taken from here - http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=252959

[fragments]

I start with about 40 ounces of malt liquor.

[nameless133]

I open the DAW first.

[blinx]

Usually things go like dis:
1. 16 bar Skeleton Drum beat in 3/4 different variations
2. Bassline Melody/Drop
3. Lead Synth over drop.
4. Start arranging song.
5. Deconstruct bassline/Lead/Drums for intro/breakdown/outro repsectivly
6. Add sample/fx/ambience/pads
7. Tweak bassline/Chop Bassline make sure the BASSLINE ISNT BORING!!!
8. Mixdown
9. Master
10. Render Master

[rockonin]

I always do my drums first. Create a melody. Find out the key/root note of the song. Find all the chords in that scale, create chord progressions then add more lead melodies or vice versa.

[Kronix]

I'll almost always begin with creating a solid 8 bar drum pattern. From there I'll add some mid range bass tomfoolery, then layer a sub underneath that works with the midrange bass. After that maybe some kind of dubkeys or single synth hits to give the track some groove. Pads or string risers and incidental chord hits come next, followed by abstract FX bits and pieces.

From here I'll duplicate that and change up a few bits for variation, then work an intro into that 1st piece. From here, it's working on structure and keeping the track fresh. Finally it comes down to fine tuning the mixdown before completion

[Marzz]

start it in your mind first...dont put it down digitally till its done naturally...

imo