Finding your own workflow
When starting out, we all listen to our favourite artists and wonder how those incredible sounds come together. Take Dutch supergroup Noisia, well-known for their innovative sound design. As discussed in our In the Studio sessions, they have a very specific method for designing and compiling sounds: they spend entire sessions synthesizing and sculpting all types of sounds, with no aim of using them in a track. As they go along, they’ll compile the various permutations of their custom creations into organised folders labelled by date. They’re essentially designing a steady stream of bespoke sample packs that they can draw upon. In contrast, amateur producers fire up their DAW wanting to lay down an entire track from a blank page, but then get distracted when it comes to designing beats and synth sounds that sonically compete with artists like Noisia.
Our point? Well, firstly, remember that the listener only hears the end product, not the processes that went into a song’s creation. Therefore, if you spend your time hunting down ‘sound-a-like’ tutorials on YouTube with the aim to recreate your favourite artist’s sounds, then you’re only going to make tracks that sound like them – not you. There’s nothing wrong with seeing how others work, but it’s more important to try and create your own unique sounds (or combination of sounds) that sound different to anything else out there.
Secondly, like Noisia, it’s essential you develop your own studio workflow. Not all of us want to write technical D’n’ B, so the strict sound design/writing compartmentalisation approach won’t be suitable for everyone, but you still need to be aware of your music making habits and then adjust your time management accordingly.
Also: practise! Although this feature will hopefully inspire your musical creativity only you can ultimately take charge of your own musical output. Just like learning any skill, improvement in production takes years of determination and effort… so get to it!