Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:18 am
Hi BrandyStarbrite (is it okay if I just call you Brandy? LOL),
I was messing around with LMMS this evening trying to come up with a melody for some new lyrics I'm writing and stumbled across something that may help you w/your projects. It's not necessarily specific to LMMS (like plug-ins or "oscilators" or whatever) but more a general music thing that I kind of discovered by accident.
See, I have some great percussion loops (like in my song on the "salsa time" post) but the melody has always been a bit tricky. The reason being, as a piano/keyboard player I tend to think more about what the keyboard is doing than the others; but in salsa the keyboard is basically a rhythm instrument and not melody at all. So just for the heck of it, I created a song with just the trumpets and trombones, then added the other stuff later. What I found was I had a song with a melody that was more than just a combination of rhythms and chords. By letting the brass section "lead" the song, the project was a lot easier to turn into a full-length song. Still a WIP but I hope to put it into the "salsa time" post when it's done.
So my suggestion for you would be, pick an instrument(s) that is your "lead" or high priority, start with that one and work your way down (filling in all the stuff you've got down later). That way, the hardest part is over and the all you have to do is add the stuff you already know how to do well. Like for me, it's easy to figure out what the keyboard would do to accompany the brass, but the other way around is sooo much harder. So maybe prioritizing all those instruments you create will help move things along smoother. Just thought I'd put it out there.
I was messing around with LMMS this evening trying to come up with a melody for some new lyrics I'm writing and stumbled across something that may help you w/your projects. It's not necessarily specific to LMMS (like plug-ins or "oscilators" or whatever) but more a general music thing that I kind of discovered by accident.
See, I have some great percussion loops (like in my song on the "salsa time" post) but the melody has always been a bit tricky. The reason being, as a piano/keyboard player I tend to think more about what the keyboard is doing than the others; but in salsa the keyboard is basically a rhythm instrument and not melody at all. So just for the heck of it, I created a song with just the trumpets and trombones, then added the other stuff later. What I found was I had a song with a melody that was more than just a combination of rhythms and chords. By letting the brass section "lead" the song, the project was a lot easier to turn into a full-length song. Still a WIP but I hope to put it into the "salsa time" post when it's done.
So my suggestion for you would be, pick an instrument(s) that is your "lead" or high priority, start with that one and work your way down (filling in all the stuff you've got down later). That way, the hardest part is over and the all you have to do is add the stuff you already know how to do well. Like for me, it's easy to figure out what the keyboard would do to accompany the brass, but the other way around is sooo much harder. So maybe prioritizing all those instruments you create will help move things along smoother. Just thought I'd put it out there.
