I often feel lucky to have that ability to transform my creativity into songs, into music, into a legacy that transcends me. What sensation, that many of you will share, more special than listening to your own music on any streaming platform all over the world?
In this new post I want to tell you how I compose my songs, how my creative flow arises and materializes my feelings...
Many years ago, when I was working and composing music for others and for commercial uses on TV or in theaters, I could say that I was not really creating my music. I was manufactoring and syncing music with some images/videos to create and modulate sequences framed within a script created by a third party. That was not my music. I got to know a part of the music industry that made me want to quit all that it carried. You can know more about me in this post.
Now my music is Enimatik, where I can freely express my feelings, ideas and musical creativity. Next I will try to tell you how I do it...
How do I start?
At this stage as Enimatik I feel very fortunate to have the immense arsenal of sounds that my DAW and its powerful virtual instruments provide me. I fondly remember my first keyboard in the early 80s, a Farfisa Capitol organ, which had only 12 presets of very, very rudimentary sounds and 8 rhythms. Now, as I said in this post, I have tens of thousands of high-quality sounds at my disposal and a computer that allows me to use them without problems.
Why did I mention this gigantic palette of sounds? Because, when opening a project in my DAW and starting to compose a song, the first thing I do is load my favorite virtual instruments, navigate between their multiple presets, and pick inspiring sounds.
I think that musicians today are very fortunate to have this large amount of sound resources for our compositions. In particular, I try to choose 2 presets that fascinate me for each of the main instruments of a song, such as bass, pads, leads... right now I am completely fascinated by a pad preset that I would define as gothic-dystopian in my imagination, it´s a sound that I find extremely captivating and inspiring.
Once I have the preset palette more or less defined, I load a piano pad preset to start composing for real. The reason for choosing a piano pad is because it allows me to hear melody and chords with clarity, being a sound with attack on the part of the piano, and with depth on the part of the pad.
Composing
Playing the piano pad preset with my controller keyboard, I try to create an inspiring melody, improvising with the chords to try to find a killer sequence. I can spend hours accompanying the chords with melodies, until I finally find something special. At first I do not distinguish between verse and chorus, I simply try to link them melodically so that the song has continuity. I know music theory at a fairly acceptable level, but when composing I totally let myself be carried away in the search for inspiration, many times I close my eyes while playing my master keyboard. I have studied classical piano, music theory, I know how to play the organ with 2 keyboards and a pedalboard, it can be said that I have a classical musical training, but I am not an interpreter, but a creator.
More than once it has happened to me that a melody pops up in my head without being in front of my keyboard, and I try hard to remember it before I can capture it in my DAW. It's a wonderful feeling, I suppose that thanks to the experience and the time spent creating so much music, my subconscious is able to generate, or at least recreate, originals melodies without the need to play any instrument.
In my particular case, it´s not a process that always has a definite end, it may be that one night I end up outlining a song with a melody that I think is wonderful, but that the next day I am not convinced. But at one point, the combination of melody and chords totally convinces me, and I start with the next step.
Production
At this stage, I usually start by creating the bass line, which I try to play with the chords by creating tonal variations. I usually use bass sounds with sub frequencies, chill-industrial style.
With the bass sequence in place, next I proceed to choose sounds for the pad and for the various arpeggios that I can use. I try to make all the instruments coherent before starting with the rhythmic part, since what marks the character of a song, in my opinion, is the combination of melody and sounds within a personal musical style. Perhaps that is the reason why I make electronic music, I think it´s a style with a lot of potential yet to develop or create new ones, unlike the more traditional ones.
The production stage is the one that takes me the longest by far. I spend hours and hours combining sounds, creating melodies that accompany the main one, developing a powerful rhythmic base that fits with my feeling when listening to the song as it develops...
For the rhythmic part I usually combine loops with samples of kick drum, snare and some hi-hat, putting special emphasis on integration with the bass. I usually process loops with a filter to give them character, either with a low pass filter or a distortion / lofi plugin. And I try to add something special to each track and each part of the song, introducing details, variations, changes to avoid monotony and the feeling of generating a sequence that is repeated over and over again. It is very common for me to record the snare track in a row to try to improvise as much as possible, although later I edit it so that it matches the rest of the rhythm elements and the bass.
Mixing
I know that mixing and mastering are not a creative part when it comes to music composition, but in my particular case they are very important to polish the character of a song with its already defined chords and melodies. Quite often once I have a song finished at the production stage, and mixing allows me to appreciate details that escape me, or it encourages me to create new arrangements or melodies.
It often happens to me that, once a song is mixed, I vary the bass line so that it does not overlap a bassdrum or a synthesizer EQ in the middle frequencies. Or I also introduce small details, such as modulations or variations of picth bend. Or find two synth arpeggios redundant, and change one of them.
In the mixing stage I try to get creative with effects like reverb and delay, especially on solo instruments or vocal tracks. It really is a lot of work behind a finished song, it is hours and hours of effort to achieve the best possible sound and character. I love the new complex effects plug-ins, which combine delays, filters, and distortion. Aside from the ease of syncing them to the song's tempo, these plug-ins allow you to add a very modern and professional touch to a mix.
Be original
I have briefly described my way of working when creating songs, but don't forget that each of you must be able to find your own procedure. We are all in a certain way special, our virtues and capacities are unique, and because of this it is necessary not to try to copy what others do, but to extract what we can learn. Listen carefully to your favorite artists and try to learn from their productions, you will know how to appreciate the work behind their songs.
Always have an open mind to expand your knowledge at all levels, from mere music theory to the most advanced audio technology. Indie artists have the advantage of not depending on the tastes or opinions of others, we are musically free in the broadest sense of the word...
