What’s going on, friend – Ash here.
Just like any good dish, your brand new song needs the proper prep work for it to be the best it can be. By implementing this type of practice – you’ll see yourself improve as a producer/musician/songwriter faster and gain an advantage over everyone else who is still “guessing.”
These are the 5 steps personally use, to help me not only start a brand new song, but also stay motivated to finish it.
1. Listen to music.
This is my favorite step. And not cuz it’s easy. It’s because it’s SUPER enjoyable.
I mean, you love music right? You live and breathe it. It’s your passion right?
If not, then why are you here?
Get it? Got it? Good.
Start with finding a playlist of a genre you love and just listen!
Maybe, open your mind and try listening to a genre you’re not too familiar with.
If you’ve got a Spotify account use Spotify Discover! It’s is a great place to start since it pays attention to what you’ve been listening to and gives you suggestions of what you might like. If you’re stuck, I found a great article that shows some other, creative ways to find tunes you’ll actually like: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-find-new-music-youll-actually-like-1824562710
The goal of this activity is to find something– anything that sparks your inspiration. This way, you’re not just waiting for the next time motivation or inspiration comes, you’re seeking it out instead.
2. Find a song you REALLY like
If you’ve done enough of the first step, then you’ll eventually make it to here. The magical moment where you find a song that you’re into. I mean REALLY into.
The type of song that you listen as both a listener AND as a producer.
You might love the lyrics and melody but you’re also picking apart – everything about it. From what chords they used to what key it might be in. Maybe you go even deeper and think about how each sound was made and what context each sound has. Think about how nicely the kick and bass are mixed together. Or how that snare cuts through JUST right. What about that drum groove? Or the percussive noises in the background?
Don’t just listen. LISTEN.
You want to really get into it. That part shouldn’t be hard for you. And MAKE NOTES — all those thoughts, make sure you write them down somewhere. You’ll need those if you’re feeling stuck and need a little boost. Especially if you’re experimenting with a different genre.
So, cool. You’re here — you’ve found inspiration. You’re about ready to begin. But, “Oh no”, you say, “I have all these ideas but I have no time.”
And to that I say, “REEEEEEEEEEE”
3. The most important step: Make some time
Here’s a fact. You have enough time. Don’t make excuses like, but I have work/school/obligations. Do you enjoy making music? Are you serious about getting good at it? Think about it this way – it’s not that you don’t have enough time. It’s that you’re not making it a priority.
Even if you worked a 9-5 every single day, and had after work obligations. Guess what, there’s probably a HALF hour you can carve out every day just to do SOMETHING music related.
Trust – even NOW. I’m working 35+ hours each week at my normie full time job, yet this week I was able to to film and edit this video, get the artwork figured out for the singles I’m about to put out for Nah Mean, come up with a release strategy for those singles, start a brand new lo fi style song in Ableton, and cook dinner for the rest of the week
Don’t be a wasteman and tell me “I don’t have enough time.” You probably work part time so you have more free time than I do. Get off of Fortnite, quit jerking your meat, stop scrolling Instagram. Even for just a half hour. If you can’t do this, don’t complain about not being “good enough” as a producer.
Getting good doesn’t magically happen. It takes hard work and time.
It just depends on how much of a priority you’re willing to make it.
Don’t “find” time. MAKE time and open up that DAW.
4. Make or find some sounds
Congrats and welcome to step 4. You’ve made time. You’re staring at a blank DAW during one of your music sessions stuck on what to write.
My personal suggestion is to use specific music sessions to either hunt for new sounds (by buying preset packs) or spending a few hours designing sounds.
Either technique works!!
If you’re going to be an elitist “presets are for chumps” then get outta here. If you’re starting out, there are going to be people who are MUCH more talented at designing sounds than you, so use this to YOUR advantage. You wouldn’t build a brand new guitar every time you write a new song, so why go through all the trouble of making every single sound from scratch?
Plus, you can do the clever thing- use the presets, figure out how the sound is made, tweak it and make it your own. This way, when you get to the songwriting stage, you have a library of sounds to choose from, which will help spark ideas and make your overall workflow much faster.
The fastest way to do this is base the sounds you make/find off the songs that have been inspiring you lately. Add them to your favorites, date them and keep organized.
Time to create.
5. Create a skeleton
Finally, now that you have your DAW open. You want to drag in the track that you’ve been bumping from step 2. If it’s EDM, amazing – copy the structure. Label each section with each part of the song. Now, here’s the hack that I’ve used to really give your future song a backbone.
Copy the drums.
That’s it. Even just the kick, snare and hi hats. This gives your future song a skeleton that you can simply add sounds from your presets to.
Yeah that half hour you just carved out. Hella productive.
Now get to finishing that song.
If you’re having trouble with that step, I’ve put together a Checklist as part of the FB2B Starter Kit.
It helps you go from idea to finished song using my time tested step by step method — the same method I’ve used to finish songs!
Download the starter kit and get weekly tips from me directly into your inbox!
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See you next time
Ash