How to Develop a Musical Idea [Full Length Real-Time Tutorial]

hello everybody um it's just coming up to half past nine in the morning and what i'm going to do today is give myself a couple of hours to write a piece of music something you know two and a half minutes something like that to give you the answer to a question or at least an insight into the answer to a question which uh we get asked quite a lot which is how do you take that initial four-bar phrase that little initial idea and develop it into something slightly larger i have no idea what i'm going to write um but here's a preview of how it turned out i should really bring something else in there actually that's where it needs a little bit of a lift so you now know what i'm about to write and i don't how weird is that and i'm walking along as though i've got somewhere to go but i really haven't i'm on my way to the shed to start writing that piece of music you just heard oh loud dog [Music] pausing merely to pick up a cup of tea on route [Music] let's get going okay time to put my proverbial money where my mouth is right what we're going to do is we're going to load up an empty cubase project and the thing about writing finishing what you start which is partly what this blog is about and it's partly about um you know productivity is you need most people uh don't have enough ideas um to sustain a piece which goes like three minutes it's going to take more than one idea so we're going to have an idea and then we're going to have to come up with another idea which is a closely related which is closely related but different so then we've got a sort of a and a b section or something something along those lines and then we can start working various techniques to do sort of effectively theme and variations do you think do you think this is how rachmaninoff and paganini and people can work i've got to get a blog out by three o'clock no i don't think so i don't think who knows anyway um i'm not starting with a template today i'm just starting with um a completely empty um completely empty project and then we'll just add some stuff in and i have look i genuinely have absolutely no clue what this piece of music is going to be like i bet i mean i watch it it's el castro i want to do something different okay um well different me asking quite a lot under the circumstances right um what do we start with well we're going to get a piano up because this is a you know it's i know i just said let's do something different and the first thing i do is load a piano which is about the most obvious thing you could possibly do um so we're going to start with uh yeah it sounds like a piano to me you know i've been up this quite a while and i can tell you that's a piano right we're going to need i'm going to get some drums up as well and what am i going to use today i'm going for battery i like battery uh here's battery it's uh from native instruments and it comes with billions of kits [Music] oh that's all all that seems to be uh all right entire kit of uh well that'll do for the time being um we're gonna have what else am i going to load up well i'm sure we'll use contact so i'm going to put a couple of contacts in let's have five of those and we'll have a bit of dune because i like june june's really good uh it's my favorite uh synth of the moment um and where is it it can be quite cpu hungry but i forgive it that because it sounds lovely uh there we go hello june somebody said something about don't talk to your instruments it's a bit weird okay so i'll do my level best not to right okay so here is uh the beginning of our piece now we're gonna have to come up with an idea i can prevarigate no further right okay um um what are we gonna start with are we starting with a melodic idea [Music] i'm just i'm not really having i'm literally just looking for a motif which has [Music] i've written that before actually [Music] that's all right [Music] i caught that okay what is that chord there that chord there is a c sus4 if you go c f g there you go there's the sus 4 bit so there's a normal c so that is c with the fourth suspended i leave the fourth there and i put the and i put that up there and suddenly it sounds well i quite like it but then i'm very easily pleased okay that works [Music] right let's see where this is going i hope i like this right so we've got our first little element in here uh here we go [Music] okay what are we going to do underneath this what this isn't this is a half an idea [Music] um i'm just i'm honestly [Music] i'm just largely looking at random here two three [Music] [Music] i like that that sound i like so you noodle about and you come up with [Music] okay and now we're going to work out how to quantize that so that it's nice and regular [Music] that'll do now we're going to add an effects track because we're going to have reverb up comes cinematic rooms which is as you know my new favorite reverb um what are we going to go with there's tons a friend of mine was asking what's your favorite room what's your favorite one you know to be honest i haven't had it very long and i haven't really got into it yet but there is so much in here you know not just the big kind of ambient stuff uh live room uh bright live where's the there was a wooden one uh where's wooden stage i quite like wooden stage let's give that one a go a run for its money um okay let's go to send from the battery to it's no it's not right the wooden stage is not right for this uh i need to go back to a classic hall i think [Music] okay right okay this is this isn't an idea this is an idea coming together this isn't a complete idea yet obviously um so it's got elements in it but it's not by any means there yet um what about this you know uh what are we gonna what we got going on in the synth world um i prefer not just you know if you're trying to do something fast you tend to go back to your sort of default settings and my default settings tend to be sort of fairly sort of cheesy orchestral stuff but let's see what goes on if i try and avoid that i'm just you know we will get some orchestral elements in here no what i try and do is i find i find it i i find uh a sound which i quite like and then i modify it no not feeling it let's find it no uh i'm looking for i was trying to click on pads and i missed there we go [Music] okay i quite like that and then i'm going to put a little kind of effect on it where is it there we go we're gonna it's gonna you you choose you you've seen me use trancegate before uh from my friend at kilohertz killer hearts i should say um it's very very good uh [Music] don't want it that quick i want it that quick and i want it to fade in and out like that what i might need to do with this is to adjust the timing because [Music] that's nice [Music] okay so far we've got two thirds of an a idea we haven't got anything else going on yet but this is not the worst start ever i'm thinking of putting some delay on that i know don't get bogged down in the detail yet [Music] right now um i quite want a base uh i want a simple base of a simple synth base and i'm going to go for uh uh pro one and here it is hello you hey pro one don't ever since somebody said don't talk to your finger i every time i just go oh hello guy how are you doing i just suddenly realized that's my many wine cakes will come and take me away i often start with first base and then i'm going to take the envelope amount out where is this ah filter amplifier there we go okay let's see how i'm not quite sure how this gonna fit in we'll find out [Music] [Music] [Music] okay um what often happens is you start playing and the idea actually comes along later [Music] do okay so i think um this is starting to come together so we're gonna have a bit of a i like this june thing this works for me um now we're not gonna bring everything in at once uh so we're gonna this is this sort of beginning section so the little piano works i'm going to start that synth bit a little bit earlier so that's the first thing you hear then in comes the stick [Music] tell you what um i'm going to add to that a little i don't know a shaker loop or something i think some extra little percussive layer in there might help um so we're going to go for up comes splice splice is very good for those of you who don't uh know it it's a uh sound library where you'd whatever you want you can have basically uh let's uh so you put in shaker and um it's great so i want to shake a loop i want a loop not a single event what have i got that's slow but not quite like that and that's tambourine is it gonna fit open it up click this little button here which will adjust the timing so that the timing now fits with the rest of the track see what it sounds that's better i like that [Music] right well we can't do that for three minutes um obviously so look um okay what we're doing at the moment is just building up one idea and then we're gonna work out how to extend it and what else i need to add into it um to make it um grow into something slightly more substantial i've let my tea go cold classic error terrible terrible mistake right let's crack into this so do we need hmm what do we got it sounds like a backing track waiting for something else to happen [Music] i have no idea what this one does low-fi glow i'll go for some load fire glow i don't mind yeah go on go low-fi guy [Music] oh [Music] okay thank you for that loafer [Music] now [Music] adding little elements as we go [Music] how could you get something as simple as that wrong guy um a lifetime of practice yup that's the one okay so okay this is not the worst thing ever so far um [Music] okay and now we need a bit of a kick what are you writing guy i said when i started 9 27 40 minutes ago 30 minutes ago something like that i had no idea and i still had no idea okay let's i just want a nice dull 808 kind of kick um what have we got no no i want a subby sort of kick really but i don't want a sub i want something no no and deep kick anyway that's better that'll do i can work with that [Music] what's that one yeah it's that one now how long is it probably too long a lot of them are too long so oh no i didn't mean to do that oh goodness what have i done right uh click to the quantize right snap two right so we're gonna make it a little bit shorter um so then that goes on each beat but it's not gonna start there i don't think or maybe it is [Music] do you know i didn't imagine i was going to write this today but you know it sounds like a vocal should come in [Music] okay so now we need to build this up right let's put this in context let's go back to the beginning and listen to it from the start we need some reverses and things like [Music] that [Music] okay tell you what i said vocal now a little while ago um i got a library which i really like the sound of um let me just oh hang on what's going on here that's not where it is um let me just bear with me a second i'll just find it here you go zero g aetheria uh vocal phrases clara let's choose clara see what she sounds like because she might be great i don't know i don't know who clara is so what do you think is this going to be any good i don't know oh blimey hello clara [Music] hmm oh it's nice it's very minor though uh come on then let's see how um danielle does [Music] yep i thought it's gonna be a woman that works [Music] again it's a bit minor but oh hang on hang on guy what am i in it's all minor but i didn't mind that phrase that phrase was good [Music] that's good that is good that'll work and that becomes a little feature of this piece um but it's not coming in there is it where do i introduce my little idea with the shakers [Music] foreign okay so so far so i mean i don't know what this piece is i have no idea what this piece is um tell you what that vocal sample is really good um so i better look it's a library called aetheria and it's got all these vocal stuff it's got lots and lots it's got the legatos and all kinds of stuff i mean really uh i mean obviously it's you know ethereum it's ethereal isn't it but you've got all these incredible little phrases in there and it looks like if i spent more than two seconds trying to work out what's going on uh you've got an a lot of control over stuff so what happens if i have scripted legato daniel does he do legato apparently daniel does the legato it says here so let's see what his legato is like is that going to be of any use in this little kind of uh piece yep he does legato all right blow me all righty he looks a bit serious come on lighten up mate give us a smile [Music] that might come in useful um is there a [Music] gold bone okay let's see vocal synth let's see what vocal synth comes up with i should have looked at the manual i have no idea what's going on here okay layer one [Music] that's quite an interesting sound it's going to get more interesting when i add some oh yeah what are we adding to this um i'm looking for what are you doing guy you're just messing you're just messing [Music] [Music] oh [Music] okay i like this let's pan them left and right oh yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] oh this is gonna work hang on what haven't i done recently i haven't saved my work at all have i ever not since i started this piece uh however long ago that was um so maybe that wouldn't be the best idea in the world okay so we're gonna create a new uh folder for it and i'm gonna the best way of backing up stuff is this is whatever friday tune um yep friday tune in you go select folder call it ft one i use the backup facility because it puts everything in the same folder and that's nice and easy now um let's now start we're starting to get some enough elements that i'm gonna have to start thinking about structure okay i think we're getting there i think we're getting to a point where we're gonna put a little sort of droppy thing in i quite like bringing this in early i think [Music] i like that but that's that's a bee idea that's a not a bad idea [Music] hello [Music] food [Music] um [Music] [Music] i'm going to keep this going but we're going to put in some form of drop in a minute at um this is kind of it's working isn't it i mean it is well you know i have no idea what this piece is it's starting to get a little right i'm going to let you see from the top this time and i'll try and talk you through so what i'm doing i know that the the essence of this is it's got this sus4 thing going on for it um and so i'm starting with a c sus4 which is that and then i'm just kind of messing around with it two three four and i'm using the mod wheel here to bring it in very subtly let him do his thing sus2 [Music] foreign [Music] okay um should we have another one of him yeah why not where are we going to stick him whoops whoops okay what are we gonna do we're gonna stick him on a beat aren't we gonna where does he come in what beta he's on the downbeat of the bar um so we're gonna move him up here somewhere why don't you go there mate okay then we're gonna have to introduce a little droppy thing [Music] foreign so far so good sustains [Music] okay so about 15 seconds in um about bar 25 i'm gonna i'm gonna go into a b idea [Music] uh what are we gonna pull out well the kick obviously uh [Music] and the base [Music] um or we just simplify the base like that let's see what happens no it doesn't work so do we leave the base in no and we need something else in there don't we um what happens if i do we keep going with our maybe we keep our vocal thing going this one [Music] not like that though [Music] no that's not right either so we need another idea okay we're also going to start needing to put some of these reverses into finesse some of these little transitions because this is not working quite right yet um what am i going to do for my uh what do i want for a reverse this time um you can use absolutely anything obviously um too let's let's load up some percussion in abbey road one and see what happens or something like that um we're gonna go for there's percussion and we're gonna go for i just load the whole percussion thingy see what happens um i have no idea um oh soft boom bass um okay what what i sometimes do if i don't know what any of these are going to sound like backwards i will just run through the whole lot bounce it to audio that'll do for now then i render it as audio i run it backwards and then i see which one i like that's all right for a kickoff that's that works uh that sort of big rushy sound i quite like that and that one they're all quite good actually so far that's a no okay um not wild about these two but other than that they're pretty good so i take them all like that i select the whole lot put fades on the front and then call them reverse or just rev and then i uh bounce them in place so that they become um individual audio files um and they'll be useful um i need something more wacky than that though these are very straight you know so you can put them in this one's the nicest i think it's nice and simple but it works um right let's make it shorter that way it's exactly one beat right and let's turn these off for the moment and take that [Music] so that's going to lead up to the drop and we're going to put we're gonna put it in back here to lead into that [Music] okay the end's not quite right so take the end off like that rebounce it and put it there now i find it easier to line this up to a grid like that so i know i can drop it on the first beat of the bar and it's always going to be in time there we go that's all right i think we need something else though um am i just going to drop these at random or am i going to just use them in special places special places guys [Music] i need something else in here i need um electric piano or something i need something in here there's something not quite all together about this yet um well i love that lo-fi thing was great though i really like that tyrolean harp that wouldn't strike me as the first thing i think of but it is an interesting [Music] that is not a bad sound that is a nice sound because it's a different sound so interesting isn't it [Music] let's uh it doesn't sound the same as everything else because it's got a slightly worldy feel this kind of little track we're doing [Music] i'm just messing here trying there's way too much reverb on it sounds like it's the other side of the universe [Music] um do i put some delay on it as well i could do can i let's see what comes up [Music] so [Music] um something in there is gonna work um i'm not sure any okay who would have thought i still think we're lacking at sort of a main event yet [Music] do we need a tune yes we do [Music] that's going to help now i've got something to work against [Music] i'm going to move that one so it doesn't clash with the tune and move that one so it comes up i think we've got too many of these now [Music] okay [Music] hmm [Music] [Applause] [Music] um i we're nearly there there's something not quite right here what happens if i take whatever is going on in this vocal part and extend it so because it seems like quite a long system oh how many bars were you planning on doing that for guy [Music] okay okay that's gonna work [Music] we need a piano reverse as well right what am i going to play backwards [Music] that [Music] okay played in and up there there it is render it reverse it [Music] okay let's now put that in there so we got this little drop okay right okay um that works then it's going to come back in and when it comes back in something else has got to be going on [Music] and we're gonna get uh then we're gonna add to this um a loop in comes audio uh it's a stereo yup in goes that we go loop and we're going to go to splice and we're going to pull down a splice special so we want drum loop i don't know what i want really uh loops if if you can't spell drum you can't expect supplies to come up with anything [Music] uh no obviously obviously [Music] not [Music] where are we in the circus i don't think so travis please take a deep breath [Music] oh my lord what's that going to sound like if i drop that in i might be able to work with that because it's going to go a lot faster by the time i uh drop it in says 105 it's just the tempo it could sound terrible you never know it's going to come in there isn't it [Music] i know i've got the kick going underneath but that's still not going to work i like these vintage loops i'm going to filter out the kick but as a top loop yeah i like that right now let's do something with this uh that's me luke am i being blind oh yes you are guys there right solo it uh let's get into the world of plugins so first of all we need some eq and we're going to take the bottom off and that'll do so we go where is my how do i turn this how do i turn this into a lotion that's what i want see if that works um apparently nothing's happening okay right let's just loop that random round let's compress it there's my thresholds on oh there slow down that attack okay okay now let's whack up the volume a bit okay take that off [Music] that's quite nice [Music] right what else is coming in here which isn't in the first bit [Music] take that out i could try making this a lot longer so it wobbles [Music] right now this is now into the b section are we boring you i mean oh it's cold in here actually right so what time is it 11 o'clock so i've been going for an hour and a bit and it's okay um [Music] hmm [Music] foreign um okay um now um i think i can draw right what's going to come next [Music] [Music] this is where we need a new idea [Music] why don't i go back to etherea because that did me really well before and then build something around it rather than trying to add it in later [Laughter] what is going on [Music] [Music] um let's see what else i've got in this amazing [Music] blimey [Music] [Applause] i can transpose that i think um so what i'm going to do is render it um and then i'm going to pitch it's d and i want it in c so i'm going to take it down the tone and i'm going to turn off time correction if you turn off time correction you then get uh something which isn't distorted that's not gonna fit it's not gonna fit [Music] okay let me well as this is going so well let me do i ah look at what i can do there's a d minor in there's an e minor uh c minor cinematic [Music] [Applause] [Music] let me just put this piano back for a moment so that i've got something to [Music] reference [Music] tell you what i've just had a thought what happens if i auto auto-tune this to a major scale [Music] blimey he had his shredded wheat okay [Music] come on come on autitune where have you gone there you go right autotune input alterna uh graph classic format uh where's the expression that's me where's the key where's my key oh chromatic there we go major [Music] [Music] [Laughter] reaching speed fast [Music] i think what actually i need to do is just edit it [Music] unless i go back in let me just go back in to wherever a theory has gone ethereal earth i didn't expect that oh no no of course it didn't come up as part of it's uh okay what have we got gold phrases vocal chops scripted legato daniel clara synth clara see what clara's got to say for herself there she is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh my lord that is amazing that wasn't a phrase that was me playing that [Music] okay [Music] yep this is gonna work [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] wow that is incredible i really like this it sounds amazing [Music] let's record it again though [Music] my [Music] that is extraordinary render um [Music] i'm wondering if i'll duplicate it offset it i can have a kind of [Applause] i'm getting sort of multiple layers of it i wonder if that's going to work or is it going to sound really [Music] naff [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Applause] [Music] [Music] that's amazing [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay new idea um what i'm gonna do is i'm gonna go to a b flat then down to an f over this early bit this seems to work [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay that works i like that blimey this is turning into the world's most epic bloody video okay it's gonna render the whole of that synth out to start with um so crikey what's going on how long have i been going an hour more i've totally lost plot eleven o'clock ninety yeah just over an hour so we're kind of how far into this how i mean we've got an a section now we're building the b section um [Applause] [Music] okay what i'm going to try and do here [Music] what i'm looking for is a way of coming up with a piano line which fits where the other one was [Music] um okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh nearly there nearly there nearly there [Music] so [Music] so [Music] okay [Music] now where's my base gone [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] nearly let's try this again [Music] no [Music] oh it's i know what's going on here [Music] [Applause] [Music] nearly [Music] what needs to happen is um one to keep on saying nearly is it's the balance between a rhythmic bass line and uh the sustain one and i want the sustain one to come in [Music] so i'm gonna go on offbeats here [Music] and to see [Music] now to the sustain [Music] right now we have a viable a section and a viable b section there's lots of tidying up to be done but we're certainly starting to get somewhere and then we can go back to our a section again let me just [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] right how long have we been going in terms of uh duration how far into this song are we because now we're going to go back to um so we're only a minute in when we hit the b section [Music] [Music] then take the drums out [Music] then that's not the end okay [Music] [Applause] 120. [Music] so where we go [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] right now we can reintroduce [Music] okay re-save right look i'm going to stop for a moment and go and get a fresh cup of tea and then we'll reconsider where we are in this what is turning into this utter epic but nonetheless um i think this might you know we're getting somewhere out we've got an a section we've got a b section and now we just need to work out so we're halfway through i think um so we started there okay let me just see second wise how far we're going because i said we were going to do three minutes didn't i um so we're starting there uh and we've gone up to oh okay we're in sight the three minutes is up there so we've got about as much to go again so look this is where we are and that's probably where if we're going to go for a three minute track we're going to go up to there so we now need to start using some ingenuity to try and work out how we're going to make this last a bit longer see you in a minute [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello everybody welcome back um so yes so that took that little gap took rather longer than expected um so now i'm back and i'm going to listen to it through and i'm worried that what actually i've written uh is like uh some kind of travel commercial or something it all sounds a bit kind of i'm not sure anyway we're going to press on with this and we're going to make it happen um it's uh okay let's let's have a little listen let's have a review of where we are with this piece and what we think of it okay turn that down turn that up here we go [Music] like the start [Music] light the vocal [Music] this is where it goes all slow-motion people by the pool [Music] anyway we're stuck with it now [Music] [Music] [Music] right now now we're gonna get and now we're gonna okay there there get rid of all that stuff and i've got a you can hear there's a hanging controller oh you can't see that sorry there you go uh you can hear that hang you see that sustain which is still on that's because uh it's a thing called controller 64 and controller 64 would have gone on and i've just deleted the off and so it just sits there hanging in space like that so what i need to do is drop it into record and go there you go and drop in a little controller 64 off or i could have drawn it with a pencil either way right now come on let's get this done um are we going back to the beginning idea again i think we are right where's the beginning idea there's the beginning idea [Music] uh let's uh now bring that back to let's turn the snapping on he used snapping to beat and see if it [Music] okay and then so this time we're now going to yeah we're going to take that back out we're going to have some more of that we like that and we where's the throbby one where's the little kind of pulsey thing which one was it oh there i like that [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] i think we're going to go for something we're going to change things up here and we're going to change things up by what are we going to do ah what i could do um arrangement wise i wonder if this is going to work uh if we put this piano part down here on the tira leonhart what's going to happen that works [Music] and then i can swap it over so i'm the structurally it's starting with section a it's then going to be it's now going back to a again but i'm just changing up the uh so the development is by swapping around the lead instrument putting what was the lead doing the accompaniment and painting the lee and what was the accompaniment on the lead so therefore as i go through this you'll hear then if i do if i stick to this idea [Music] [Music] except i seem to have lost the ability to play uh it's gonna work i think [Music] and now we wanna uh we're gonna have something else going we're going to get a different synth in there so i'm going to disable that one and i'm going to get uh i want a throbby one i want one which is going but i don't want that one i want oh sport for choice spoilt for choice um i don't know let's just pick one around and see how it comes out this is uh matrix from what no i don't want to do that thank you [Music] oh my lord [Music] that's a bit should i go for a pad [Music] i'm not feeling the [Music] no i'm not feeling the love for this i'm gonna go back to safe territory hello dune no i know what i'm going to do oh no no no i'm going to okay i've just had an idea i'm going to get um straight light or one of those up but first of all we're going to look for actually sometimes sometimes i use a lead and then roll the top off it and make it a bit less that's not bad [Music] okay tell me [Music] okay i've still got merge turned on hence you were hearing two of me playing badly at the same time even better than one of me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] little day [Music] right are we going to put any throbbiness in there i'm i almost always put a bit of throbbiness in there to be honest i'm go to my default throbby thing i mean there's plenty of others oh no it's not that um which do the same thing lfo tool tremolo uh what's it called there's a sound tools one as well soundtoys one and they're all good um i just happen to like this one some of them are clicky some of them are clicky and you know and when it opens and closes the gate that's okay so we're going for this that works i like that [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hello [Music] i'm going to try doing what we were doing with the with the girl doubling him up [Music] this is going to work you see actually to be honest i'm preferring this bit of it to the um rather less less attractive side of some kind of dodgy commercial right now we need to pan things around [Music] right what we got we got that contact one okay so here we go [Music] okay um i think this is all working as i say i prefer this bit to the end [Music] okay [Music] i like this canon effect i think [Music] right let's get back to the piano what happens if i play oh no not that one no that one there we go i'm sorry i'm just there we go that's just bringing this little thing down back to life over here right um so we're gonna [Music] i think i'm going to just do some kind of big suspended chords okay that'll work um are we gonna duplicate this or add a track um i'm not okay no we'll keep it all in the same track go to merge mode right here we go [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] oh where's mr lo-fi mister where we've not we've missed a trick here with mr lo-fi because we like mr lofi didn't we uh where has he gone [Music] kick it i still i'm in two minds about whether to reintroduce the kick up here oops let me put it there and i can always get rid of it i'm not sure if this is the as i say i have a feeling this kind of slightly obvious dull thought [Music] so [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] okay [Music] ah hang on hang on hang on hang on um i'm just sort of rearranging things on the fly here as you can see but where is where is the girl's voice gone i wonder if what happens if we if we layer them up so that we end up with a cacophony that could be what's about to happen that works [Music] [Music] [Music] okay um that it's it works to a degree i mean it like a lot of these things actually what you end up doing is possibly starting again i'm taking the best ideas out of this and [Music] shall we put a low low piano note at the end [Music] okay there's so much wrong with this but doesn't matter look it's okay let's right now with this okay this thing down here rather than just make it stop what i'm going to do where where where does this piano note go on to let's just drag that and find out so that's where the end of the piece is 79 so what i'm going to do is i drag that back in i put the natural end of the note around 79 then i drag that back out and then i cross fade them where you won't notice and then [Music] okay so what's happened here is what often happens and is what i was implying a moment ago which is you start with an idea and some of them work and some of them don't and as you go through you start working out the bits you like and the bits you don't and there's ideas in here i do like it does sound a does as i say it sounds like a bloody advert for a holiday company or something anyway look let's let's uh let's run this through and see what we think okay where does it actually start oh it just starts before that isn't it right here we go [Music] [Music] it's that tune isn't it [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] um it needs to pick up the energy [Music] okay i'm just gonna drop in i'm gonna go back with so we're gonna recap [Music] [Music] okay so we're building into this end bit here uh sort off [Music] okay [Music] [Music] okay um [Music] [Music] right i've had another little idea but what i can do is i can put in some of these vocals and reverse them so then they mysteriously change from so they crescendo at the end as opposed to dying away so that one will do there we go back and what about uh aetheria here are we gonna uh are we gonna take her and whiz her about and things like that i think we are you never know i mean it might be a subtle thing but it might be something [Music] also i i wanna one of those to run backwards [Music] nice and long that'll do now we go to that one and render it normalize it reverse it and run it down to its own little track and call rev p there is something fundamental missing from this track i'm not quite sure what it is inspiration talent i don't know [Music] [Music] that works i like that um okay save so we've done a two and a half minute piece of music it's taking a bit longer than i expected to be honest and it's not great it's all right it's a bit middle of the road but in miley but [Music] let's fade that in more subtle i could spend here mixing for and faffing with this for ages [Music] so [Music] so [Music] a bit more kick [Music] so [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] the end's a bit ragged but it's look i mean uh it serves a purpose okay what have we got going on here this is too short i want a longer haul than that maybe i'll just go back to the amethyst hall because i like it let me just make sure it hasn't covered everything in wetness suddenly but yeah that's nicer [Music] so just talking you through it so we've got the intro so now we're into the a section with the dodgy little tune i should really bring something else in there actually that's where it needs a little bit of a lift then up to here it's suddenly gonna we hit a little drop then we're gonna here we're gonna go into the b section where it goes from that c sus4 down to b flat down to f back up to b flat again down to air now we're going back to call one c [Music] [Applause] [Music] then it's got this kind of it's like a second b section but i've taken out a lot of the rhythm it's a short b and then back into the a a but with a different arrangement [Music] the pianos are doing the piano is doing its kind of these [Music] i like those chords pull out the drums this contrapuntal vocal bit [Music] wonder friendship [Music] how about this [Music] yep that works do we need to take these vocals out hard [Applause] [Music] yes we do [Music] should really filter those that's it we're done um so that's it i mean it's all right it's i mean but you see the process so and you see you see you do need quite a lot of little ideas inside each idea to make it all work um you know there's because if you on okay you say okay this basically goes a b b a uh and that's your that's the there's two and a half minutes but actually if you unpack that a there's a piano part there's a heart part there's all kinds of other little sort of macro bits of the um of the composition going on in there um so to get and this you know this only limps towards two and a half minutes it doesn't exactly crest the line with all guns blazing does it i mean so you re and really i could put in loads more ideas in there little subtle things which just make it more interesting and a bit more a little bit less like a travel commercial anyway look this has been epic and long and i hope you've enjoyed it and found it useful and um i will be back with more stuff before you possibly know it so thanks very much for your company see you soon okay update this is day two i know i said two hours but when i came back and listened to the piece again the next morning it just sounded like a slightly naff travel commercial i mean honestly it's not okay and i think the problem is that little tune that little tune on the harp so i've had another bash and i've taken i've i've that's all i've changed i wasn't you know i could pull it around for hours and what you often end up doing um is writing a piece of music like that in a couple of hours throwing the whole thing away but thinking okay i really quite like some of those vocal things i thought that was quite cool so maybe i'll keep that and i'll try something else and so it's an evolutionary iterative process but i couldn't send this one out the door sounding like that so i've now gone back in changed that harpline so it's less strongly melodic less hooky and less twee and cliche i mean still a bit tween cliche it's it would not feel out of place on a cruise line commercial but i think it's a couple of steps better than it was last night i'll share it i mean right so what exactly have i been up to um let me just have a little uh let me show you probably the easiest thing is if i just play it through for you so um the bit i've chosen uh i've changed is this bit here um the tyraelian heart oh here we go let's stick my headphones on well you're here here we go let's just run it through so this is all the same so that little piano you know piano riff which holds the whole thing together in a way remains exactly the same income the voice [Music] then in octaves then some little eighth note slow runs which sort of work as a counterpoint against the rest so i'm not hitting people over the head with this tune it doesn't come back again that's it i could make it come back later but and then after the drop i keep this little run going because i quite like it it sort of glues it together now into b [Applause] and there's the piano doing its thing at the top coming up to another change ready two three four two two three four [Music] back to a [Music] but without the earlier theme i don't think it needs it [Music] drop some stuff out here you can see the kick's gone then it's gonna come back in here two three four [Music] so it's all it's it's multiple layers all layering up [Applause] [Music] get rid of that ready one two three four two two three four okay there you go that's it i mean it it still sounds a little bit like um an advert for a cruise to be brutally honest but i mean that i think it's a bit better i mean so there are times when you are better off not having a strong you know a hooky kind of motif or at least not that hooking the teeth and so this piece is built more in sort of little sort of sort of layers and things like that anyway look i hope you found this useful and you know enjoyable and it's given you kind of some ideas of the ways you might be able to develop some of your stuff as well so look um if you've enjoyed this um then there's stuff to download you know good stuff which you might enjoy uh just underneath the video and if you're new to the channel very nice to have you along consider subscribing uh special offer this week it's completely free to subscribe to the channel to er you know it's always free look thank you very much indeed once again for your company and i really look forward to seeing you again very soon bye

Channel: Guy Michelmore

Views: 142,494

Keywords: thinkspace, education, music, composition, composer, guy michelmore, guy, michelmore, thinkspace education, how to finish a song, how to write music, musical development, electronica, how to produce a track, guy michelmore music theory, how to make music, music production, music production for dummies, music production tutorials, music production school, music production for beginners, music production tips

Id: Q3HdQVkw1Qk

Length: 123min 43sec (7423 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 05 2021