Hey everyone. This one rings true for a lot of people that are trying to continue their compositional pursuits even when they’re feeling down, sick, or otherwise just uninspired. Let’s give it a listen then pop into the discussion.
Listen here:
This whole track is just two chords: Dm and Bb major. Here is an image of what I ended up with in the end – as well as a list of all the software instruments I used:
You can see that I looped/repeated a great deal of material and then just proceeded to stack different melodies and sections on top of each other. It says up in the centre that this is at 76 BPM (correct) and that it’s in 4/4 time (correct) but also says it’s in Cmaj (incorrect), because I didn’t bother changing the project section as it doesn’t hold any relevance to me in this scenario.
How did I write this?
I started out with, as is the case with a great deal of my synth-related tracks, just the default software instrument which is “Classic Electric Piano” and I replaced it with “Classic Suitcase Mk IV” because I liked the sound slightly more. I then just plucked a chord with no time, found a rhythm, then figured out what tempo I was playing in – I originally guessed 71 but it was 76 that ended up feeling right when I made the drum beat.
I then made the “808 Flex” drum beat that is just a super basic beat with a slightly off-beat bass drum and a constant 16th note high hat with the snare on beats 2 and 4.
After the beat and the harmony was laid down, I wanted to thicken up the harmony a little bit with a pad of sorts; so I selected “Synthesizer” then “Pad” then I found one that worked for me which was, in this case, “Infinity Pad” which is found about half way down the list.
Now that I had a strong foundation, I literally just started searching through different synth and orchestral sounds until I found some I liked and then proceeded to write melodies. You can see all of the instruments I used in the above photo, but we’ll list them here as well:
- Classic Suitcase Mk IV – first one and laid down the harmony
- Celesta – provided a nice little quarter note ostinato
- Infinity Pad – thickened up the harmony with the Classic Suitcase
- Bright Synth Brass – wrote the first melody with this one
- Clarinets – wrote the second melody with this one
- Clarinets – harmony up a 3rd and panned hard left
- Clarinets – harmony up a 3rd again and panned hard right
- Violas – another melody that I started with in “Full Strings” then switched to “Violas” because it blended in better with everything
- Full Strings – provided root notes fairly low in the register
- Vowel Pad – used at the very end to enhance the final chord and fade-out
- Basses – provided root notes at the lowest audible/working register without just being a muddy soup of a sound
- Full Strings Stacc(ato) – used this to thicken up the harmony again and provide a different texture and panned hard left
- Full Strings Stacc(ato) – same thing but panned hard right
- Full Strings Pizz(icato) – again, same thing but it added a different texture; panned hard left
- Full Strings Pizz(icato) – same thing but panned hard right
- 808 Flex – trusty electronic drumkit I used to create the drumbeat that underpins the whole track
Parting thoughts
Honestly, you don’t need to do a ton to make a song/track/composition. Just start with something, a chord and a rhythm, then build on it. Just find a way to enjoy the process of creating something that didn’t exist before; then be proud that you made it and try to share it with others. Try to think like a child and enjoy and take the time to explore the sounds available to you.
If you enjoyed this track and would like to have some more in-depth instruction and guidance on how to make your own then contact me or send me an email and book a lesson. I’m happy to help and I provide lessons on a sliding scale to help reduce barriers so people can play and create music. Everybody both has and deserves the ability to make music, and finances shouldn’t be something to hold you back.
Thanks for your time and have a great rest of your week.
All the best,
– Matt