Creating Music

I've been trying to create original music, as in composed by me, but I don't seem to be very good at it. That's why I make orgs of pre-existing songs. Does anyone know how I could improve? Or does it just come with practice?

 

Well, let me answer that question with a fun fun fact. See, Pixel, despite his awsome music, has absolutely no experience in music composition. He simply puts in a bunch of random notes and tweaks them until he gets the result he wants. My advice: do exactly what Pixel did and experiment.

 

Well, let me answer that question with a fun fun fact. See, Pixel, despite his awsome music, has absolutely no experience in music composition. He simply puts in a bunch of random notes and tweaks them until he gets the result he wants. My advice: do exactly what Pixel did and experiment.

I never thought about that. Thanks, I'll try that.
Haha pixel you silly

 

It should be noted that all of pixel's songs are very well written and obey the rules of music theory, so I'd just guess that he has a natural knack for writing songs. If you don't have that you might find it hard to write with no musical training whatsoever.

 

I find it hard to believe that Pixel didn't know much about music theory, since he's a friggin musical prodigy if he made the whole CS soundtrack without learning about basic things like the circle of fifths. MagicDoors is not a musical prodigy, it would seem, so I wouldn't recommend winging it. There are websites that will teach you music theory, and I assure you that you never know enough. Most importantly, keep practicing. Everyone sucked at some point, except maybe Mozart. Anyone who makes good music has made a whole lot of bad music.

 

I've been trying to create original music, as in composed by me, but I don't seem to be very good at it. That's why I make orgs of pre-existing songs. Does anyone know how I could improve? Or does it just come with practice?

Hey Doors, I'd be happy to share some tips. I'm a freelance composer that is in the indie games industry. My latest project is currently on steam greenlight, (and getting ready to launch on the iOS market) we could totally use some more upvotes, so feel free to check it out! And if your looking for a song reference, the music that plays in the trailer is an original song written by me.
http://steamcommunit...ls/?id=92916662
Anyway - enough of that - the tips:

1.) Listen to music. A lot of it. If there is a particular genre or type of song you want to do, try to figure out why it sounds like it does. Figure out how to emulate it with the resources you have available. If something sounds 'awesome' or gives you chills, figure out WHY. Is it the instruments? the composition? in many cases its a combination of everything.

2.) Join a community of fellow musicians and get as much feedback as possible. Harsh criticism will always help you improve. Speaking from personal experience, It took me a good few years to get to where I considered myself capable of composing anything respectable. I highly reccomend 'ocremix.org'. They are honest-to-goodness one of the best free places to get started with 'creating original music'.

3.) A strong community is helpful, but it's no substitute for proper education and schooling. Going to college or taking lessons on your own will help a lot. Learning how to read sheet music or learning to play an instrument is huge in the is area. You can definitely wing it - but know that your skills will always be limited by your knowledge of music and music theory.

4.) It's easier than its ever been to get into writing/mixing music - there are so many tools available that many, many artists can scoot by and produce a 'nice' sound with minimal knowledge. The downside is that its much harder to get noticed these days. Your stuff has to stand out and be especially good to get noticed.

5.) Getting more in the area of composition: When trying to write something original, I try to figure out a time signature and a basic chord progression before I start writing anything else. If you jump in and just start writing notes everywhere, its not going to work out and probably cause you headache and earache. After that, I move into bassline/drums, then the mids/chord area - and the lead or solo part is generally the LAST thing i write.

6.) One last quick tip: always try to think in terms of a songs 'flow' - like: intro>chorus>climax>chillsection>ending. Keep the song structured. If you listen to the trailer that I posted above, can you find where the song climaxes? Thats the 'flow' im talking about. always think in terms of where you want the song to go, not just in terms of 'what does this part sound like'.

I could go on, but these 6 are probably the most helpful tips I can honestly come up with on the fly for someone who is just starting out. Hope it helps Doors.

-Dusty

 

Listening to music for long periods of time is not very useful at all for composing. I've listened to music my whole life and it didn't give me squat for composing ability.

The key is to learn the rules of music - Music Theory. These will make your songs sound like actual music.

http://www.musictheory.net/lessons [Music Theory Lessons]

[Excellent Piano & Piano Theory Lessons]

 

Thanks, everyone! Seems I really should look into some music theory. You guys are a huge help.

 

I find that listening is great for getting certain sounds in my ear and I often draw inspiration from other pieces that I have been listening to. But there's also a catch here—I often find that the most valuable listening for compositional purposes is analytical in nature. If you want your listening to help your composition, don't just have music on in the background—give it all of your attention. Take note of the structure of the piece, where climaxes happen and sections start or stop (a lot of the things that kwixmusic mentioned). Yes, having a basic knowledge of music theory and formal analysis techniques will probably be helpful here, but at least as equally valuable will be your aural skills—how well can you hear all of the theoretical musical principles in practice? Developing a good ear can be difficult and takes lots of time and practice, but it is also one of the most rewarding pursuits a musician can undertake. Having good aural skills means that you don't need an instrument to make or understand music. It means that the music is inside of you.

In a similar vein to listening analytically, you have already done a lot of work by transcribing or arranging other people's compositions. Study them. Find out what makes them tick, whether it's a really great melody, a rhythmic groove that makes you wet your pants, dramatic contrasts between sections and textures of the piece, whatever. Find out what it is that you like about certain pieces, and emulate that character in your own compositions. Pretty soon, you'll find that you are coming up with musical ideas that you want to hear on repeat.

Finally, another thing to keep in mind: there is no "one way" to compose. Many of the pieces that I have written have had slightly different compositional processes. Sometimes I start with a form diagram and generate the piece based on predetermined climactic points that I want to create. Sometimes I'll have a chord progression and work from there. Sometimes I just throughcompose a piece. Occasionally, I might have a tone row or pitch class set if I'm going for something less tonal. Personally, though, I am very much a rhythmic and melodic thinker. I often do the opposite of what kwixmusic suggested in (5) above. I often start with a melody and play with it in my head for a while. I might take it to a piano or my horn or whatever to jam on it some more. I might explore ways that I could vary the melody or connect it to other ideas. When I'm composing in this manner, I usually harmonize the melody later, sometimes in conjunction with writing multiple countermelodies or repeated (ostinato) figures.

All that said, composition is a craft and it takes a lot of work. Like modding, start with something small and simple and work your way to more and more complex compositions from there. Also, be sure to enjoy what you do.

Also, another good theory (and aural skills!) website is http://www.teoria.com. My professors often recommended it to us for extra practice when I was in college, but it's very helpful and accessible.

Happy composing!