I thought folk might be interested in this as a little insight into the gribbles creative process. Received wisdom is that you shouldn't share your stuff until it's all done - finished, produced, mastered and tied up in a nice red ribbon. Meh. I'd be interested in what folk I like are doing, so I thought I'd share. :)
Normally when I write, I'll sit at my computer and fiddle away surfing the presets in the many virtual instruments I have until I stumble across something I quite like. I'll then improvise around it, grabbing or recording segments that sound OK, and s..l..o..w..l..y.. I build up a short loop (usually 8/16 bars) of something usable.
I'll then start to work around that loop. Quite often leaving it and coming back. Many times. Over time, tracks that are going to work develop, others sort of fall by the wayside.
Monday morning was different. I decided to sit down at my computer at 6:30am. Was aiming to write a sort of hauntology track. (I often do this as well. But my muse almost never goes where I'm trying to guide it. As you will hear...)
Started of well, I really liked the pad and affected voice drone. Then I added the simple bass synth. And in my head I heard it picking up. Popped in the brass part, and stumbled across the arpeggio. Hang on - this isn't staying in the slow, synth hauntology box.
I thought I'd add drums, and at that point it was game over - this track was going where it wanted to. So just shrugged and started jamming over the top with a classic 70s lead synth.
My, it was fun - always a good sign when you're just getting into playing for sheer fun of it. Thanks to the 'Capture MIDI' button in my music software, I have a load of material to cut up and get other bits of solo lines out of.
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This little button is invaluable - it 'remembers' all the stuff you've just being playing and captures it. Brilliant when you've just been faffing ab out without pressing record, but have stumbled on a 'good bit'
I went back and tweaked the drums a bit, added the rising piano piece (I quite like how I've got that to sound close to the piano in early Peter Gabriel albums...)
I love to add samples - so I went to an absolutely brilliant sample library I've found recently full of clips of American preachers in various states of excitement. Man, there's some good material in there. I suspect it's going to be in a lot of future gribblytunes...
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Some gribblywibbling on a synth. I'm sure there's some good bits in there somewhere...
So - contrary to the way I usually work, by 7:30am, I had the skeleton of a track. I thought I'd share, as it might be interesting to compare this with where it ends up. So here it is - pretty much as it came out - very quick arrangement (just me clicking on clips to get a simple structure), pretty much no mixing. No fancy mastering to get it to sound right. Just raw.
https://soundcloud.com/gribbles/210308-demo-version-unmixed-unmastered
There's a lot I want to do. Tweak the drums to make them more 'mine' (it's a stock loop I grabbed just to get me going). Extend the lead synth stuff. Get more of an arrangement in there - I think I want this to be a journey, - there and back again. Slow/haunting at the start, moving gradually to the upbeat middle, then coming back again. Maybe.
But it's not bad for an hour or so's work...even though I say so myself.
I make music!
Find gribblymusic & gribblystuff here --> https://flow.page/gribbles
I would love to learn production. For now I only use FL studio as a DAW, and as a hobby.
Exactly where i started years ago with a copy of Cakewalk. Just keep playing away. As long as you enjoy what you are doing, that's the most important thing. You'll learn stuff and pick things up along the way...
I'm still not much more than a hobbyist musician in lots of ways. :wink:
Ughhh, I want to learn more from you.
This is such a great track to get ready to go to bed to.
Thank you for sharing you freakin' rockstar.
My pleasure - I may do more of these work in progress things - or even some videos recording my faffing about so you can see how basic my process is! ;-)
But in terms of learning - the best advice I can give is just keep on keeping on. It's how I learnt the vast majority of what I do. I watch a few YouTube vids that catch my eye and every now and again, I'd dip into the manual or simply search youtube if I want to find how to do something specific.
But it's mainly just been rolling up my sleeves, and creating a lot of rubbish on the way to the occasional tune :-D Yesterday morning, I was just lucky I think...
Anyway - rough gribbles rule of thumb - The more you 'do', the more you'll be able to do. ;-)
Or, as Yoda would put it: Do more, you must. So that more you can do.
(Can you tell I'm avoiding going back to the email I was writing for work...? grin)
You are up early. Sounds good for such a short time of working on it.
I'm usually up around 6am, regardless of when I go to bed. But had got into the habit of hitting social media and just farting about for a couple of hours before work. Which is not a good idea. Doomscrolling before breakfast does not put you in a good state of mind for the day.
So, I thought I'd try to do at least a little bit of something creative. And that tune fell out! I was a s surprised as anyone. I have so many unused/unusable little loops and hlaf-ideas. I generate a lot of chaff, for the wheat that actually makes it 😁😉
And this morning I wrote the above post.
With the mornings getting lighter, I ought to start to get out for an early morning walk as well.
Fair enough. I am usually awake around 7 and not into lying in bed too long, but I have got into a bad habit of checking all the socials on my phone before I get up.
It's a thing, isn't it. So tempting to do....
He starts working when I got bed sometimes
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Well, I'm not staying in bed when you get in it.
what about my cuddle?
After what happened the last time?
Dream on.
Nice one interesting to read people’s work process
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Hey man, nice track. I play around with FL studio 8(ancient, I know) and have made the odd “good tune”. Sometimes find it so frustrating to just get started on a track and I know I’m missing some fundamental knowledge on building tracks ie beat count, and hardware, such as midi equipment. Great to read how you work and how even experienced producers hit and miss. Thank @gribbles
There's a phrase in the photography world that goes something like "The best camera for the job is the one you have in your hand" (or pocket, or something)
I think it's broadly analogous to music. I know I've been guilty of getting hung up on gear and approach. When some of the best music I've heard has been made by one man and a guitar (go check out Roy Harper. Incredible work)
But it's art - there are no rules, really.
As I've said below - just keep doing. Give yourself little challenges just for yourself. Don't think about making music that others will hear - take that pressure away, and have some fun.
Think of silly things like Make a track exactly 60 seconds long just using 1 drum kit, but you have to use every sound in the kit.
Write a theme tune for an imaginary children's show. No more than 3 tracks allowed, and just 1 instrument.
Choose an instrument, hit record and just mash the keys or paint random notes on the screen. Then you have to edit it to make it sound good.
It's surprising how quickly you pick up little bits & bobs that you then remember when you come to write.
Oh - and don't be afraid at all of ripping someone else's beat/bassline/tune/etc off. If it gets you going, that's cool - you can then go back and tweak it using some of the stuff you learned while being silly. 😁😉
Nice one, buddy. I’m looking forward to trying out these tasks. Sounds like solid advice, much appreciated.
You're more than welcome.
I just made them up off the top of my head - it's just the sort of shizz I do when I get a bit stuck. Coming up with daft stuff to try can be fun. :wink:
But giving yourself silly restrictions forces you to think/work differently and you quite often learn stuff.
I’ve been doing the opposite and overloading myself with different sounds/instruments and then just getting in a mess which often leads to a rage quit 😂
I’ll try keep it simple from now on and build from there. Thanks again
Heh - yeah. Been there. Still visit occasionally. 😉
I used to just get overwhelmed with all the choice. I'd flick from sound to sound, playing little bits with each - bet never getting properly started.
It's the synth equivalent of wanting to watch a film, but then spending 30 minutes just browsing the Netflix menu! 🤣
You got that right!
Always find it strange how when you’re in the zone everything seems so easy and it all just flows. That’s what makes it so addictive I guess.
I would love to learn production. For now I only use FL studio as a DAW, and as a hobby.