Tip of the Day: How to envision your Sound - 3 quick Tips
Yes, sometime you just start clicking some notes together with no real intentions and create a cool song. But if we are honest, that does not happen too often and is mostly up to fate - and music follows rules.
In most cases though, you have an idea that you have been whistling on your way home or a song that inspires you, to come up with a similar sound. In rare occasions you even have your song already laid out in front of your eyes and ears and you just need to put it together - train that situation!
Instead of just using trial and error, practice your imagination and start composing your song in your head!
By envisioning the soundscape, the mood or feeling or even the instruments supporting your song, you will get much faster results, because you do not have to start at point zero.
Tip 1: feeling first
By recognizing the feel you want to go for, you can already dismiss a lot of possible instrumentations or sounds. That saves you time and energy and the risk of getting lost in flipping through synth presets.
Tip 2: orchestrate your ideas
Follow your inspiration, but set limits in terms of the arrangement. Try to hear, where your pads need to be in the mix, before you place them around randomly. Listen to a reference track for guidance.
Tip 3: prepare your project
If you have a custom preset for different moods, feeling or styles, you will achieve your goal much faster.
Take a rainy sunday to prepare project presets with pre loaded synths, samples, you name it, to dive right in, instead of setting up the necessary and lose your ideas.