Music Composition - Professional Workflow Secrets

1. Your Journey as a Music Composer: welcome to this course and congratulations for choosing to level up your productivity creativity as well as speed up your workflow. When you compose your music, you will learn all my best methods for unleashing your true creative powers. My special techniques, tips, tricks and secret methods I have developed during my years off composing and producing music. Essentially, you will be a more efficient and creative composer. Composing music is a noble craft. You create something that cannot be seen or felt by your hands and hit the instrument's sounds and notes off. Your music story carries so much emotional power. Your mission as a composer is to turn your ideas into an engaging story, a story told with instruments and sounds, because that's what music is a dynamic and compelling story or emotions. And you are both the writer as well as the director off this story. After these cores, you will have a complete arsenal off super powerful workflow methods. Mind opening creativity, boosters, an incredible inspiration, tricks at your disposal that I want to give you the opportunity to level up your creative powers workflow speed and increase your sources off inspiration become a more efficient and forced working composer so that you can finish more music in less time. So let's continue this journey in the next video. 2. Quick Win: Mike's 5 Bonus Tips: I want to give you incredible value from this course right from the storage. That is why I will now share my most powerful advice on mastering your creativity, inspiration and productivity as a music composer. All right, let's dive right in. Here are my top tips for your professional journey as a music composer. One. Live your life in music. As a composer, you are different from the 99% of all people that simply consume content without much afterthought. You are a creator, a director of music stories. To become a good writer, you need to read a lot of books, and it's the same with music to advance. As a composer, you need to constantly feed your creative mind with new ideas, new perspectives for new stories. So make sure you listen to a lot of music all the time. In all kinds of genres, I recommend to mostly avoided the radio stations and instead actively look for new playlists and create once for yourself off all kinds of music styles. Because as a composer, your life should be full off music and sounds just like a writer is surrounded by books and words to follow the flow off freedom. The most common reason for creative block, in my experience is when you try to force an idea when I get stuck, I have found that it is much better to immediately take a break. Then try out any of the inspiration and creativity boosting methods I teach in this course and attack the problem from a completely new perspective. And as soon as you get the flow back just for it, don't put a leash on your creativity. Instead, let it free. Three. Limit your choices. I always go back to the basics when starting new compositions or when I am in the middle of the track and want to come up with a new Milady theme called Progression and so On and for me personally, the basics or piano, perhaps strings, guitar or any other off the classic instruments. Because we have developed a two edged sword in this technology advanced world we live in as composers today in our D. W's on our computers, we have millions of choices for instruments, sounds, effects and so on. Science have shown that having too many options and choices will actually work against your mind by overwhelming it. So every now and then in your composing process, I advise you to limit your choices down to the very basics home. Simply go back to the foundations and core elements of music. Four. Always have an open mind. Experimentation, invention, science. The biggest discoveries. They were all born from having an open mind. In fact, that is the very essence of science. And as a music composer, you should be full of passion for experimentation, trying out new combinations and not knowing what the result will be. You should listen to all kinds of music without prejudice and no judging while you listen. Either in the middle of a music project, you should ask yourself questions like I wonder what happens if I do this. Granted, it helps to have a big overall vision for the track. But I have found that keeping my mind open as I compose is so much more satisfying for my creativity, happy accidents or so incredibly wonderful and immediately sparked new ideas. Five. Expect the unexpected. Ever since I first started composing music back in 1998 I have made a very important realization, a simple single truth that always seem to repeat itself, and that is my very best ideas for music in the form of cool riffs, amazing motives, groovy rhythms and so on. They almost always came to me when I was not sitting in front of my d. W here in my studio. Basically, creative ideas often come when you not expected. For example, when you're out for a walk when you exercise, when you do the dishes, folding the laundry and so on. That is why you should always have a way of recording your ideas. When those unexpected creative lightbulb moments come to you, simply make sure you expect the unexpected I recommend to use on Audie recording app on your smartphone. The important thing is to catch those great ideas when you get them. Amazing. Now you have learned my best advice for boosting your creativity and inspiration as a music composer and your productivity as a result of this, these tapes are based on my own experience. From all the years I have been composing and producing music, I recommend that you pause this video to write them down, reflect on each point and truly take these tips to heart because they have honestly made a world of difference to my own composing journey. So here they are again. Leave your life in music full of the flow or freedom. Limit your choices. Always have an open mind and expect the unexpected. Great start, my friend. Now let's continue your adventure in the next video. 3. The Elements of Music: as a music composer since 1998. I always get back to the most important Listen in music. I repeat this lesson in several of my courses because to me, this is the secret key to all music. Now pay attention and truly learned these by heart. The foundation off music, the very ingredients that he used to build your music story with is made up from only three elements ridden harmony and melody. It doesn't matter if you create a mellow campfire song, a powerful rock track or a grand orchestral composition. This will still be true rhythm, harmony and melody arranged and performed by various instruments, vocals and percussion. So let's analyze these three core elements of music rhythm. It can be your drums and percussion, but all instruments have Really You can, for example, right a driving pals on strings or synthesizers. You can add rhythm with a strumming guitar or calm piano. In fact, you cannot write music without rhythm because all nodes must have a length and a timing so you can think of rhythm as the cool off music. For many, it can be a simple as the baseline that drives the track by adding the harmonic route off the storyline of your music or the courts played by your company instruments like piano, guitar strings or any kind of military instrument. It can also be a harmony line to extent, your main theme and melody. You can think of harmony as the depth off music melody. It can be your lead vocals, lead guitar strings, breast or any instrument that will carry the main focal point of your music. This is like the lead actor over a movie where you shine the main spotlight to guide the listener's attention throughout your whole composition, you can think of melody as the focus of music. So let's repeat the elements of music. And I recommend that he paused the video to write these down because it really is that important. The three elements of music or rhythm, the cool off music, harmony, the depth off music and melody, the focus off music. When you mix and blend these three elements, you create a full composition. This is when your story gets really exciting and engaging for the listener. I must confess that in the post, I used to over complicate what music is but it really is this simple. And when I got this insight, it truly felt like I had found the key to open up the secrets of composing music. That is the reason I really want you to take these listen to court. So remember the elements off music ridden harmony and melody. Now I have a specific practice routine for you, and this will help you develop a natural instinct for the three elements of music. I want you to compose the piece of music using only three tracks, one per element, for example, a drunk, it playing a beat for the rhythm element strings playing the courts for the harmony element . And finally, a piano taking the port off the melody element. Start by creating three tracks in your d aaw and named them rhythm, harmony and melody. There a sign and instrument to each and have found composing a track using only the core elements off music. The more you do these practice routine that more efficient you will become as a composer because you will soon become a master off the foundations of music. Congratulations. You have now learned what I consider to be the most important lesson in music learning by heart. Practice it daily and make it a part of your core instinct. As a music composer, my name is Mike, and I will see you in the next video. 4. Your Instrument of Power: Now we will learn something that most composers often forget, including myself. I will teach you how to use your instrument off power to set the complete creative range of your musical mind free. I am talking about this single, most versatile dynamic and emotional instrument in existence. The human voice Playing on instrument is hard learning how to add expression, movement and emotion in a performance. Well, that is really hold and takes time and practice for years. But you already have an instrument that you were born with, an instrument that you practice is using every day for as long as you have spoken words. And not only that, the human voice is still the most dynamic, expressive and powerful instrument to create sound and music with. You don't have to be a great singer to be able to hum, beat books or creatively riff with your voice. So how do you use your instrument of power when composing music? Well, you simply start by creating an audio track in your D W. And call it, for example, vocal ideas or voice theme or simply the O for voice Over. Next, you have two options. The first option is to start recording your ideas by humming or singing without a backing track. It'll basically starting a new composition by letting your imagination completely free using only your voice. The second option is to use the vocal ideas track to record ideas for melodies, hooks, riffs and motives. As you listen to your backing track, the backing track could be minimal or extensive. Anything from Onley, some drums and percussion to having a baseline called Progression Drive and so on. I will now show you a live demonstration of using the instrument of power to have more creative freedom when composing music instead of getting stuck, trying to get a good performance playing an instrument or your midi keyboard. Because if you cannot feel the music when humming or singing it, it probably was not that good of idea to start with. In fact, it's a good practice to actually check the harm ability factor for your main theme and leading melodies. All right, so here is how you set this up and use your instrument of power to unleash your full creative potential. First, create an audio track and place it at the top of your D. W. they make sure to route it to the correct input which he used for the vocal mic on your audio interface. Next, you put it to record enable as well as input monitoring so you can hear what you hum, sing or if with your voice after that you can simply start recording whatever ideas you feel coming to you. All right. So I am on my vocal microphone now. So I will just hit record and then start trying some vocal ideas by humming Let's start with a lyrical melody first So I will just sing some random vocals When I tried to find a melody that works all right, I will sing some random notes to create and melo d I don't know where I will go but I know where I want to be And I'm not kidding I just made that up But the automatic lyrical melody I got from this I can hear it in my head now on and on And ah, so that is one way you can come up with new abilities. You can also try to hum anymore re for who core motif like way like this. Turn and turn, turn turn Turn to 10 and 10 an intern and 10 10 and 10 10 10 10 10. And now 1/3 way to use your instrument of power could be to do some kind of beat boxing and re thing with your voice to add more rhythm into your vocal idea. Let me give these a go as well, stated it down stated E Maintain Tainted and 10 dio. So what is the point of all these singing, humming, riffing, beat boxing and all the crazy things you do with your voice? Obviously, it is not to use this track some random No, in your final composition. The point is to use your instrument of power to kickstart new compositions with ideas that come freely and don't have the restrictions that come with recording on a midi keyboard or an instrument like a guitar, because you are much more creatively free. Using the instrument you were born with, everyone can hum a melody and make some kind of rhythm with their voice. If you need some help to kick start your inspiration, I have some tips for you. My first typists listen quickly to a music composition that you like stop it in the middle of playback and then directly start humming to watch a video clip or image that inspires you at the same time as you record your vocal idea. And three. Start by doodling something on another instrument, like piano or strings in your DW just to start your musical engine. Congratulations. You have just learned a super quick and easy technique for boosting your composing workflow that simply works. And as a bonus for using these method, your melodies, motifs and hooks will automatically get mawr lyrical and memorable. Why? Well, because you used your voice and thus made sure your ideas or hummable and sing worthy. So take action now and practice using your instrument off power. Get back to the basics and get complete creative freedom when recording ideas for your music, have fun composing with your voice and I will see you in the next video 5. The Golden Combination: I'm limited choices. It sells great, but often it is in our way as composers. That is why I seem to always come back to the golden combination. All those plug ins and sample libraries with thousands and thousands of presets. All the incredible possibilities for sound shaping, designing and sculpting your instruments and sounds can be so fun. But have you noticed how much time that actually consumes? I have experienced this phenomenon myself countless of times. I sit down in my studio with the mind set on starting a new track. Suddenly I realized several hours have posed and all I have done is browsing through presets, experimenting with sound design on not even go to my new compositions started. One of my solutions to this problem is to rely on the golden combination as a composer. So what is the golden combination? It is a mix off, a grand piano and orchestral strings. Let me show you how incredibly effective and liberating this combination is for your creative mind as a composer, - here is how you set this up. First you choose a great sounding piano plugging in your d w. And then you choose a string in the sambal sound. Then you simply stack them together in a group so that you can play both sounds at the same time as you heat a key on your MIDI keyboard. Basically, you layer them together. Then you can simply name this golden combi nation. Or in fact, let's just call it gold, and I always want to have. I comes to get a better structure and organization in my projects. So for these golden combination, I want to use Ah, my local type, which I have have added here as a custom icon, and that's it. Then you can simply play this as a group, and you can see the piano and strings are playing at the same time. Now, instead of just one at a time, there is also a second option you can use for creating the golden combination that doesn't rely on using a channel, group or track stack, as it is called here in logic, and that is to use a single instance of contact. So let's use this one. Let's try this out and let's go into contact, and here we can see the string is all men right now, So you simply browse through your libraries here in contact to find a specific piano that you want to use for your golden combination. So let's try out the giant click that and drag that in as a second instrument in the same instance of contact. But now, as I play, it is still on lee the strings because that is this option Here, every instrument inside the instance of contact has a media channel signed to it. And the default is that it? Simply if I add an instrument, it goes up in numbers. So it starts with one, and then you see two here. So if I click here, choose port A and one. So it's the same. A one a one. Now both these instruments will listen to the same media channel, which is this one here. So if I play now, right, so I can barely hear the Giants. So I need to dial down the expression on the string. So let's check this now again. Here. Now you have successfully created the golden combination right inside one single instance off contact. So you have it available on one track here. Call it Gold Peak. Some kind off I come, let's go with my local type again, and that's it. Make sure you can use the mode real on your media keyboard to control the expression on the strings like this. So why is the golden combination so powerful when composing music? Well, it is because the grand piano and the orchestral strings complement each other incredibly well. The strength of the grand piano comes from the full 88 key range, with maximum velocity range from P P P two f f f, meaning the dynamic range goes from the very soft to the really powerful. The piano also has a very distinct attack in the notes, which makes the musical ideas mawr clear. The strength off the orchestral strings comes from the amazing expressiveness, movement and motion you can achieve. That means that when you put them together, you get both incredible dynamics with a distinct and clear tone, as well as amazing expression and control over movement and motion. That is the true power of the golden combination, and that is why many professional composers go back to this classic do when starting in new piece of music, piano and strings. Now it is time for you to take action, go into your D A W and create the golden combination. Choose your favorite piano, and then you're orchestral string insolvable and mix the two together, save it in your template, and then start practicing, using the golden combination as one of your main sketching tools. As a composer, I personally use it for every single project. That is how great the combination is, in my opinion. So go ahead and create the golden combination in your D. W. And I will see you in the next video. 6. The Sketch Method: Now I'm going to share with you my super amazing technique to kick start new music compositions. It is basically like pumping rocket fuel into your creative and musical mind. I call this the sketch method. Think of it as a painter who starts by doodling a sketch before starting the real painting work. But compared to these painter, you almost have limitless options to sketch your music as a composer. Because not only do you have access to thousands of different instruments and sounds to experiment with, you have the power to mix and blend coolers at the same time as you sketch. That is, in fact, the essence of my sketch method. Now, let me give you a live demonstration off how incredibly powerful the sketch method can be for unlocking your creativity and inspiration. How well, by blending many different colors into one single playable instrument, - Yeah . So how do you use the sketch method in practice? Well, let me show you this live. All right, so I'm here inside my D w. No. And up here I have a group folder called Sketch. The way the sketch method works is that you first creating group called sketch. Then you add all the various colors you want to blend, meaning different types of sounds. So if I open up this group folder, which is called a track stack in logic, you can see all my instruments inside. First, I have to hold you tracks here, one for harming in ideas and one for playing in ideas with my guitar. Then I have added all my software instruments I want to use in my sketching folder. First, I have my golden combination called Gold Here, which is a mix off a grand piano with orchestral strings. Then I have a bass track. Andi, I have said it here in logic, so the base will only listen to median. Put up to the note. Be one because I don't want to trigger the base with higher notes as I play on my media keyboard. Then I have a track called Orc, which is short for orchestra. No, the fantasy creature. This is another contact instance where I have a stack of orchestral instruments. Finally, I have a track called Rhythm, where I have added an instrument called ominous fear with a rhythmic preset. Now, if I selected the group folder. I can play all these instruments tracks at the same time. And, of course, this is only a starting point. Personally, I like to have the golden combination and the bass track in the D Fold sketch group. Then I simply switch out, remove or add other instruments and sounds into the sketch folder. So with the power or video editing, I have already switched out some of the instruments in my sketch folders. And these are completely new colors that I want to blend into the mix. So I went for a electric piano called Dream Tizer, which sounds like this. Then I went for a very dirty, mean synth sound inside the distortion category off Illness Fear, which sounds like this, and finally, an ambient soundscape type of sound, which is in the textures and soundscapes category. Also off illness. Fear sounds like this, and I can promise you that this will be a completely new final colder. So that is the true power off the sketch method, because when I play this now and I haven't tried it yet, I know that I will get completely new creative ideas for all kinds of things. For new music, So let's try out this new blend of colors. Now let's start with an F. - So the power off the sketch method basically comes from layering and blending different colors , and every new final caller you come up with will kick start your inspiration, creativity and come up with new ideas for chord progressions, motifs, themes, etcetera. I recommend that you focus on mixing and blending very different colors, not stacking a lot of the same color. Remember, you are not trying to flesh out a complete track here. You're trying to spark creativity and inspiration to get new ideas for your music composition. So I personally like to use one track per cooler. I want to add to the sketch method. For example, one track with a plucky sound, one track with a pad sound, another check with a rhythmic pattern and someone the true power off the sketch method, in my experience mainly comes through when you mix and blend very different colors together . Now, as an extra bonus for you, I will give you a list of examples off specific colors, meaning types of sounds you could add to your sketch folder. What colors are you going to mix together. Amazing. Now it's time for you to have some fun. Take action and implement the skits method into your DW template. Then start experimenting by blending and mixing different colors to kickstart your creative ideas to new music. Have fun and I will see you in the next video. 7. The Blocks Method: Now I am going to show you a really cool trick. I have developed on how you can really speed up your composing and arranging process when you create your music. How? By using pre made and organized ports for your composition, it is time for you to learn the power off the blocks method. So what is the blocks method and why is it so powerful? Well, I'm sure we are well aware of the fact that many things are used again and again when composing music things like chords, harmonies, bays, rhythm and many other essential elements or music. Now imagine that you have a complete Bankoff, these different elements that he can instantly use when composing new music by simply dragging and dropping them into your arrangement. Wouldn't that be extremely convenient and save you a lot of time instead of losing your creative flow by, for example, programming in 1/16 notes Solero. You can simply drag and drop it from your books folder, and it then adjusted to your liking. And what about courts and cool progressions? If you already know what course you want to add to your arrangement, why spend a lot of time trying to record with your media keyboard or using the tedious and boring click with your mouse method. Why not simply use your court bank that you have already made for your blocks folder? All right now you have learned what the blocks method is and why it can save you so much time as a music composer and more importantly, keep your creative. I will show you how to use the blocks method in practice with a live demonstration. I almost cannot believe I am sharing this method with you because it is probably my biggest secret for composing and arranging music at rocket speed. Now look here. I have a folder called Books. Let's open it up and see what goes inside. So as you can see, there are plenty of things in here. Let me quickly go over each track root blocks. Here I have a book for every note over two octaves. There are also duplicate notes for all black Keys, since they can be named either a short or a flat, depending on the scale. I used these books mainly for base, but I could root book because I can use it as the harmonic route on any instrument court blocks. This track is empty, as you can see when I start a new project, because basically I use it in kind of the same way. A shift organizes his ingredients before starting to cook the meal. So here I prepare a book for every chord I will use in the track. So when I sketched out my ideas as soon as I add a new chord to the chord progression, I add it here and that way it is easily accessible for arranging to various instruments in the composition. And as soon as you add a new court to your court blocks, make sure to name it, probably because that is the essence of having all these books neatly organized for quick and easy access. And I want to recommend three different ways for adding new courts to your court blocks track here. The 1st 1 is to simply add a empty midi region and then go into it and manually writing the notes for the cord with your mouths and computer keyboard. The next method is to use the step input Ah, mold. Ah, if your d J W supports it set it to a full bar in length chortled except median. Put and then simply play the cord on your midi keyboard like this. And then you have the cord right here in one look and the third and final method I recommend for adding courts into your court blocks track. Here is this the Midi Court Bank and this is actually something I already created for various types of courts. I have created individual MIDI files for each key like this is 1/7 chord, dominant seventh. And these are all the major triads. So you simply take the A here dragged that media file right into here. And you can do that for every court you want to add into your project. So this entire court, Bank of midi files you will get as a bonus in the end of this course. Then we have the Harmony block strike here and here I have prepared all to note harmonies from minor second, all the way up to a perfect octave. After that, we have the rhythm blocks. And on this track, I have prepared various kinds of rhythmic patterns that are used so incredibly often this standard 16th notes and eight notes, for example, quarter notes as well as eighth note triplets. And finally, I have the transition blocks, and here I have added scale runs in the major scale, going up or down, and the same for the relative minor scale. Now on important thing for you to learn from. All my examples is these are the types of blocks I personally want to have inside my Blocks folder for quick and easy access. To speed up my composing and arranging workflow, I am sure you can come up with several more ideas for yourself. So what are you going to use the blocks method? For now, there's an extra bonus for you. I will give you a list of examples off specific books you could add to your blocks folder. I think I just gave you one of my most powerful secrets. As a music composer, you are welcome. Now take action and try this out for yourself. Create a books folder at the top of your D W project and start adding building blocks that you want to be able to quickly drag and drop into your arrangements. Make sure to save it into your D w template so that you can easily have it available in every new music composition You start, start building your big bank of books and I will see you in the next video. 8. The Design Method: Do you like sound design? Do you like to use specific instruments and plug ins to create your own unique sounds and effects to use in your music? Well, then I am sure you will love learning about my D sign method first. What East? The design method. Basically, it is based on the fact that we have specific sounds and effects that are used again and again when we compose our music. Of course, you can always use sample packs with already created audio files to drag and drop into your project. But if you prefer creating your own sounds and effects in your music, you can instead use the design method to always have your favorite sound design tools ready and prepared For all the kinds of sounds you repeatedly used in your music, let me give you a couple of practical examples things like reverse sounds. Tension builders like rice er's sub drops, hates and impacts the power off. The design method is to always have the plug ins, instruments and tools set up and ready for sound, designing these various types of sounds quickly and easily. Now I will give you a practical live demonstration off using the design method in your d aaw project. All right, so here I am in my d w again and look, what do we have here? It is my design folder where are implement the design method by adding all the different plug ins and instruments that will be used as a sound design temperate. To be able to quickly create and customize all the usual sound effects are used in my compositions. So let's open it up and take a look. All right, here I have 1234567 tracks in here. In my current template for sound design, let's go through each of them record. This is a temporary audio track which I simply use to record the sounds too. And when I have recorded them, I simply drag and drop them into the project. Let me show you how to set this up. Step one. I have chosen the input for this channel to be one off the audio buses. Normally, you used an input from your audio interface for audio tracks to record a microphone or an instrument. But instead you choose a bus here as the input for the channel I will use the very lost bus in logic number 256. Step two, add a send on the design group to send to the bus. Do you have just chosen number 256 then dialled the knob to Ciro, which is the same input volume as the output volume from the instrument you want record now , To record the sound effects you create, you simply temporarily mute the record track. Set it to record enable Go to the track you want to record. I will use these hits designer as an example here. Then you press record and play the instrument on your media keyboard. And now we can see that not only did you record the Midi, but you also got the old you recorded at the same time on this record track. This means you do not have to mess around with bouncing the media parts to order you. You can now simply drag and drop this old report right into your project. Congratulations. You have now learned the practical way off setting up and using the design method. Now it is a matter off choosing what kind off instruments and sound design sit ups. You want to include as tracks in this folder, So let me go through mind to inspire you and give you some practical examples. Hates Here is where I design all kinds off one short hits and impact sounds anything from low, deep booms to thundering impacts, slams, stomps and so one. At the moment I have an instrument library called sculpture here, but in the next track I might switch this out for a completely other instrument. But the main thing is that it should focus on hits and impact kind of sounds rhythm. This track is for designing rhythmic textures and underscore type of sounds. So as soon as I feel the need to add a rhythmic texture to my composition, I simply go to my design folder, select this track and go into the instrument I have preloaded in it to design the sound I want. Currently, I have an instrument called gravity loaded here, but again, I can change these instruments on any of these design tracks as long as each correspond to the specific type of sound. I named these tracks transitions. This is where I create those risers, rice and hits and tension building sounds. Currently, I have a dedicated instrument for this that is actually even cooled rice and hit ambience. This design track is for creating ambient background sound scapes. Drones underscores etcetera tension. This design track is for adding tension type of sounds to my compositions like decent orchestral effects, creepy sound effects and so on. All right, so these design tracks or what I use right now, you can use whatever type of design tracks you feel represent the kind of sounds you use often for your music. So the main benefits of using the design method and creating your own design folder like this is to both save you time when composing music and also to be able to design your own sounds to use in your project easily and quickly by having all these design tracks preloaded with instruments for the specific purpose and sound type. You name these tracks as an extra bonus for you. I will give you a list of examples off specific types of sounds you could include in your design folder. The choice is up to you. Congratulations. Now take action and go on a sound designing adventure. Start by creating your own design folder in your DW and then add the sound design tools and effects for each type of sound you've ought to have available when composing your music. Go create your sound, designs it up, and I will see you in the next video. 9. The MC Method: Now you will learn about a special work thought that I have developed for composing music. Lightning fast, the mock up composing method. You know how we as composers and producers tend to spend way too much time trying out different instruments plug ins, browsing endlessly through presets, experimenting with sound design effects and so on. That might be super fun, but it will definitely break your creative flow. Well, what if you could compose the cool off your new music compositions in a fraction off the time it usually takes you to complete a full song? The solution is using the moke up composing method. It works like this. You purposefully choose to avoid all of those creative experiments on time trainers and instead go back to the basics off music. And as I always teach in my courses, music is simply a mix off. Three main elements rhythm, harmony and melody. So essentially you create a folder in your D w. Name it. For example, Moke up and in this folder you are going to compose the foundation of your complete composition, using Onley, the main elements of music. So the bare minimum is to have one track to represent the rhythm, another track to represent the harmony and a final track for the melody. As instruments for these core element tracks, I recommend using something that is very common and familiar to you. Here is an example drums for the rhythm track strings for the Harmony Track and a piano for the melody track. I have personally chosen to spice up my mock up folder by adding a few more tracks for example, one for the base and another one for the drive basis, of course, self explanatory. And for the dry frank, you can use, for example, a rhythm guitar or ostinato strings. Now let me give you a practical live demonstration off. Using the mock up composing method. You have already learned how to use my other professional of workflow methods for composing music like my Skitch method, my design method and my books method. Well, for the mock up composing method, I actually use both the sketch method and the blocks Method s port off the quick composing process. Let me show you what I mean. So as you have already learned, the Mo cap composing method is based on focusing on the core elements of music and having only one track per element inside the Mocha folder. Now, what element you start with for your new composition is completely your choice. Sometimes you might start with a beach with a drum kit. Other times with the chord progression and sometimes, like I most often do, you might start with the leading melody, which I call Theme, and to open up the flow of creative ideas. You have also learned to use the sketch method. So that is what I recommend. Start by sketching your ideas with the sketch folder and then record the ideas you like and drag and drop them into the corresponding track in the Mo Cap folder like this. So you simply start by Dooling on this sketch folder until you find an idea you like for a new melody hook, cool progression or whatever you want to add to your composition. So let me turn on the Metro home now and I will click record and play a melody here on the sketch folder. All right, so here we have it. Let me turn off metal home again so you can now simply ah, drag and drop this down to the theme inside your mock up folder. And then you can continue adding the other main elements off your music composition here inside the mocha folder. So that was using the sketch method to speed up your mock up composing workflow. Now I'm going to use the blocks method as well together within woke up folder. So if you listen to this, if you want, you can go in and check Ah, what bass notes you used. Or you can simply listen back to the media on, then mimic its to find it on your medical board. And then you know that these is enough. Just make sure to watch out for cats on the media keyboard, and as soon as you have learned the root note or bass note for what you have recorded here in your mock up folder, you simply go to the Blocks folder and look here route books. Now this is the most amazing port. You know that the first part is an F. C. Simply click the F here, hold down the old or option key on your keyboard while you left, click and drag this onto the base track here and now we have, and then you can simply either cope with this and let the base north play twice because it was a full bore. You can make a loop sweet place twice like that, or you can stretch it if you hold down the old key again and over your mouths. Here in the bottom part, you see that I can now stretch out to a full bore, and now it's one note. Now you can do that for the opposite direction as well. Pull down the old key, make it 1/4 bar. Let's see. Is that 1/4 and then lose that. And now you have 4/4 notes, no okay or whatever you want. But the main point is that you can now quickly get the base line or the root note for the mock up that you create in the Mocha folder by using the route blocks here. So you simply do this and choose the correct route note for the entire progression. So the most amazing thing about all these methods and secret tricks I have been teaching you now is that if you use them together, you multiply the results. For example, let's say you want to, Eddie, drive to your Mockup folder. You can go to rhythm blocks, and if you have created blocks for various kinds of rhythms, let's say you want at a 16 north pattern to the drive. Simply hold down the option key to cope it down to the drive. Now you know that this is an F. So you seem to go into here and let's move it up to F. Probably retire like so, and now we have playing together with it all on. You can go in and adjust the velocity to mark the accents and serve on. But basically you are using all these methods in combination with each other to maximize the power and speed off your composing workflow. And the main thing about this mockup folder is that he should be able to solo this group and have everything recorded on the main elements of music inside it so that if you listen to this, you get the cool, the essentials, the foundation of your full composition. Then, when you have the foundation of your music composition, you use your mocha folder and all the tracks inside it to arrange your full composition with all the tracks you have in your full project. Now I have an extra bonus for you. A complete list of examples off specific track types and instruments suggestions that you could include in your Mocha folder. You can use these examples to choose what you will end up using in your mockup folder for composing and arranging the foundation of your music. Great. Now you have learned about the mook up composing method what it is, why it can save you tons of time and how you use it in practice. So go ahead and take action. Now, create a folder in your DEA W template and call it, for example, moke up. Then add the core elements of music and use any of the examples for instrumentation you got in this video or come up with your own instrumentation in your mock up composing folder. Have fun composing music lightning fast and I will see you in the next video 10. The Chain of Music Creation: in this video, you are going to learn a very important rule about mixing music in relation to other production steps in the process of making a final piece of music. Do not fix it in post. I'm going to explain these using another analogy. And this time is from the film industry, because a film said is a very hectic place and mistakes are made all the time. This fact has created a cle she phrase that's being used so many times when there is no time to correct. The mistake on Set will fix it in post, meaning that they leave it to the post production team to try to solve it. Of course, the post production guys are so tired of this, but it has become part of the process, so they just accept it for what it is. Well, mixing music and mastering for that matter or the final stages in a music production. So when you mix your music, you are essentially in the same step as the post production guys. For movies, making music is a chain off tasks. It starts with an idea continues with the composing step, then to the recording off instruments and sounds than arranging and then mixing. And finally, mastering every chain is only as strong as its weakest link. You should not fix things in post, meaning the mixing and mastering stage. If you're mixing your own music, you are in complete control. And even if you not makes your music, you can often contact the artist and suggest changes to improve a recording. The arrangement, etcetera. It is always better to correct things earlier in the chain. Let me give you an example. If you have a vocal recording that sounds too bright instead of correcting it with EQ you in the mixing stage, which we can call the postproduction states. It is much better to try out different microphones until you find it better, one that suits that vocalist and song. And in some situations you might actually want to change out the vocalist altogether. Let me make another example. Let's say you have too much going on during any part of your song. Well, instead of trying to correct that mess and mud in the mixing stage, change it in the arrangement and the composing process instead. So remember music production is a chain off steps that are all important and must be treated with care. Don't rush through any stage because it will badly affect the end result. Another important thing to remember is that this chain is not static. As a music creator, you can and should jump back and forth to any port of your chain to make changes and improvements. Don't let any step become superior to another. All these steps all of equal importance. Remember the chain of music production, and you will have a much easier time mixing your music to achieve a professional sound. My name is Mike, and I'll see you in the next video. 11. The Canvas of Music: In this video, you will learn my special concept off professional mixing off music, which is based on the five D canvas of music, and you or the painter mixing music versus painting. This is a concept I have developed for teaching professional mixing, and it is also a great guideline to having the back of your mind when working on your mix. It is based on the analogy off painting. And don't worry. You don't have to be Leonardo da Vinci to mix your music into a professional production, but I believe the painting analogy is great for developing a sense off perspective. Off music. The painter has strict boundaries to work within when creating his art the size of the canvas, the brushes and the tools use of the colors he can produce with his palate. But even within those limits, a painting can become a true masterpiece. The thousands of individual strokes of the brush, all the layers of paint and it picture and mix of colors all work together to make up the final painting. What murders is the impression you get when you stand and watch the final painting up on the wall? Any complementary frame. Now let's compare these two music. As with painting, you have restrictions based on physics and the rules of the digital domain, which makes up the audio recording of your finished production. An example of such a restriction is the human hearing. There is no reason to make music outside off the range our ears can hear sound. Your mission is to paint your music within the range and boundaries you have available for audio and sound. So when you mix music, you can imagine yourself as a great painter, a Leone arable DaVinci. But for music, so what is the five D canvas of music? Well, it's not paint or colors, but compared to a physical painting, you actually have a larger domain in music for painting your final most appease of sound. I call this the five D Cameras of Music, which stands for the five dimensions. When mixing your music production, let's go through them one by one dimension one time the first dimension to paint your music in its time. If you have two different sounds, you can have them play exactly at the same time, or you can align them slightly off each other and you can even separate them entirely in the time dimension. The time dimension has the strongest impact off the separation between instruments and sounds in the mix. The biggest control over time is in the arranging stage, which is mostly handled by the composer. But he can, for example, a line audio all media tracks after the pieces finished as a producer and mixing engineer. And, of course, many music makers these days do it all themselves, from composing to arranging to producing and mixing. Even slight variations in timing can have a great effect on the clarity and separation between tracks. For example, let's say you have to percussive zones starting at the exact same time. You can simply drag one of them slightly earlier in the greed of your D W and the other slightly later in the greed. Now the two cells will have some separation in timing off the starting point for percussive sounds. It can be a matter off milli seconds to create that separation dimension to frequency. The second dimension off the five D canvas of music is frequency. You are limited to the range of human hearing to paint your music in the general rule is 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz or 20 killers. For short 20 Hertz is the lowest bass sound humans can hear in average, and 20,000 hertz is the highest frequency. We can pick up the music Earth but is made up from 12 notes that are spread over several octaves. Every note represents a different fundamental frequency, going from the very lowest base to the highest pitch. And when composing and arranging music, it is very important to be aware of where in that frequency range you're placing all your instruments and sounds in the mixing stage. I believe the frequency adjustments you do to each instrument and track is one of the most important elements you have control over in the final canvas of your music production. You have several tools available as a mixing engineer, such as equalization, Hi Paul's and low post filtering, multi bad and compression etcetera. Dimension three level. The third dimension you have available in the five D canvas of music is level or volume, if you will, since we are working in the digital domain. When mixing your music, you're restricted by the boundaries off the digital audio scale the level of audio, meaning the volume at any single moment in time is described by a digital value. And these value has a roof on absolute peak level, which is Ciro decibel. Nothing can go over that limit, and if you try, it will only cut the audio away form straight off at that peak level. Like his samurai sword or even better analogy is to think of the DD two audience scale as a glass of water. You can Onley pour a limited amount of water into that gloss before it is full. The full gloss represents zero decibel in the digital audio scale. If you try to pour more water into it, that water will spill all around the edges and created mess. But the actual girls will still have the same amount of water in it. When mixing your music, you can balance your instruments and sounds to be more or less in focus by adjusting the level off all tracks. This is mainly done by using all those level failures in the mixer, but he can also use to, such as dynamic compression, sightseeing, compression, limiting etcetera to shape both the peak level as well as the average level off all individual tracks in your mix. Dimension four. Panning In the old days of music, everything was recorded in mono, and in fact, there are still devices that Onley place out in model today. I know it's terrible, but sadly, it's true. Of course, the best listening experience of music comes from adding the dimension of stereo or even surround sound, in some cases placing the instruments from left to right or, in the case off, surround even from front to back. For these, you use a panning knob in your mixer, and it is very important to learn how to use this dimension. If you have two instruments that are fighting a lot with each other, such as a calm piano and a rhythm guitar, for example, when play together, you will hear how much they compete, which is drastically decreasing the separation and clarity of each instrument. But by simply adding variation in the panning dimension, you will enhance the separation and clarity a lot, so let's do some panning on the rhythm guitar track as well as the comm piano track, turning them in separate directions and let's take a listen If you listen to this on a stereo system, you could clearly hear the improved separation between the rhythm guitar and the calm piano track. However, you should be aware that if your personally since to the track on a moral system, for example, on a radio, a phone, etcetera, that separation will not be present. So don't rely on panning alone. Dimension five Space The final and fifth dimension off the canvas of music is space, and by space, I mean acoustic space. All audio can have various degrees in kinds of acoustic rooms. Sound embedded into the sound. For example, your voice will sound very different in a bathroom compared to a bedroom. This is because of the difference in audio reflections in the room, the room size materials, etcetera. The musical term for these is reverberation or reverb for short. Now in mixing, you can use this fact to create separation between tracks by applying various degrees and styles of reverb sound on different tracks because variation creates contrast, which in turn makes it easier for our brain to separate each sound. In fact, you should remember the word contrast. It is part of the essence of music production and mixing. Compare these two painting again a year. Low object in the painting will stand out even more if it is placed against a blue background. Because if you know some color theory, you know that blue and yellow or what is called complementary colors, which means that they are on the opposite sides of each other in the color real. Basically, the contrast ratio is as high as it can be between the colors. So if you have a very dry sound meaning minimal reverb, it will feel even more focused on punchy if played at the same time as a sound with a high amount of river. Amazing. Now you have learned the very important concepts off mixing your music professionally, the five dimensions off the canvas of music. So remember these five dimensions. Write them down. Take a moment to truly Litton, sink in and use them as your guideline. The five dimensions of the canons of music, time, frequency level panning and space. Because when you mix your music productions, you or indeed, the Leonardo da Vinci or music, I might, and I'll see you in the next 12. Visual Candy Method: Mike here again, and this video is about the dreaded blank canvas. Let's sort right now. So we all face this monster as music composers. You know the feeling right? Whenever you are going to start composing a new piece of music, you're so excited and ready to create some amazing music. You sit down by your computer, start up your D W. Then you look at this empty space, the dreaded blank canvas, and suddenly your mind gets Blanca's. Well, it is like you faced some kind of ghost or monster that sucked your creativity out of you. All composers and artists must find a way to slay this fearful monster every single time you start a new project, but how? Let me give you my secret weapon worthy off heroes. I call this the visual candy method. Don't stare into the eye of the dragon. Instead, make sure you have set your DW up so that you can play it in the background. Selig track in your project where you have loaded any kind of instrument you want to use for sketching. My personal favorite is using the Golden combination, which is a grand piano mixed with an orchestral string in Psalm Ble. Then you simply switch app. Focus on your computer into something more inspiring to look at one example that I personally use often or images that spark my imagination. I can recommend going to a website that has high resolution desktop wallpapers. Find a category off images you want to look at for inspiration and then download some of them that you feel that you get that creative spark from, or simply do a Google image search on a theme you find inspiring. Make sure you get a good bank off inspiring images in a folder on your computer. Then when you sit down and start a new project in your D. A. W, open up this folder and go through your images one by one until you find that special image that resonates with your creative mind. At this very moment, maximize it on screen and finally start playing with your skits. Track in your DW in the background while you watch the image at full screen on your computer monitor. What if you prefer video over images? Well, then seem to go to YouTube. Find a movie clip or any style video that inspires you in the moment. Newt the audio track off that video, maximize the screen, then start sketching your music. Using your creative imagination, you get without fearing the dreaded monster, also called the blank canvas. Now let me show you a live example as I use the visual candy method to sketch ideas for a new music composition. Step one. Select your skitch track in your D W. Step to switch app. Focus, for example, to your Web browser to find inspiring images. Step three. As soon as you have found an image that you want to use for the visual candy method downloaded to your computer step for sit the image to full screen mode and step five. Start playing. - Now it is action time. Try out the visual candy method yourself used inspiring images or videos if you prefer. And if you enjoy this method as much as I do, go ahead and start building a bank off inspiring images in a computer folder, which you can always go to for kick starting your musical inspiration when you're about to start a new music composition, so avoid staring into the eye off the dragon and I will see you in the next video 13. Pedal First: every composer I know gets stuck. Sometimes I'm sure you can relate to this as well. You see it in your DW trying to come up with a cool riff, majestic theme or beautiful cold progression, and you get nothing, no creative ideas. So you just sit there and stare at the blank project or perhaps endlessly browse through prison off the preset in the hope of getting some sparks. I know of this feels, however, over the years I have been composing music, I have tried to find tricks and remedies for the dreaded writers book, these specific technique I call pedal first. And of course I'm talking about the sustain pedal on the piano or keyboard. Let me demonstrate this special trick that I personally love using for kick starting your creative musical powers. All right, so now let me show you how the pedal first technique works. It's almost the same as having a pedal tone or a drone in your D W to start from. Basically, you want to set a very strong harmonic route and in grain it into your mind to kickstart your creativity. So I have chosen to start with E and to set the harmonic route really deep. I will play octaves with my right hand and octaves as low as it goes on my left hand together. So then you simply push down the sustaining pedal on your piano, so drinks and then you hold it down and let it ring out until you feel those creative ideas flowing into your mind. So let me show you. Now let's play the just let it ring. Did you feel something? I will start a plane out on. I will go in the e major scale. Which is this? All right, let's do this, Theune. As you can hear, the tone is starting to ring out. You can press those octaves again. Hold the sustain pedal steel. And as soon as you started feeling annoyed idea forming, you can start to elaborate on it. So that's the pedal. First technique. Tried out for yourself and see how it works to kickstart your creativity. My name is Mike and I will see you in the next video. 14. Shake and Bake: Hey, friends Mike here and I have a composer tip for you, which is about the Metrodome without a soul. Let's start right now. So the metal room is great, for one thing, keeping your timing when performing and recording your parts of your music composition. But the big drawback is that it sucks out your inspiration like a vampire that's being on diet for too long. How do you solve this problem? Easy. Get rid off that blood sucking vampire called a metre room. I mean, just listen to this ticking sound. Don't you just feel like you're so is drained from every tick? I have found a solution for this. Use a rhythmic percussive loop or any rhythmic instrument or sound instead off the metal. Not only would it feel more inspiring since an instrument will have the human quality to it , you will also be able to get into the groove. No, just the strict timing. I call the Z Shake and bake method because I personally like using shakers for this. Let me show you. So I've added this track at the top of my project, and I call it grew. I personally use a shaken library for these, but you can use a percussion loop or drumbeat preset, for example. I have been programmed a straight pattern inside the instrument here, but also marked the accents. Then I simply set it to sink to host, which means that as soon as I hit the play button in my d. A w, this pattern will start playing in sync with the greed of my production. Awesome, right? Can you feel that with this more organic rhythm going, you instantly get inspired by the group? I can already hear musical ideas popping into my head. I feel the need, the need for speed. Ah, I mean music. Now why I call it shake and bake is because I bake in different rhythms on the Shakers for different sections off the fact, because that foundation off the group is a much more human way to keep the timing and rhythm. Compared to a straight ticking sound. The specific library has key switches for different patterns, so I basically just changed it up for a section so baking different rhythms into different parts off the track. You can use any kind of percussion or rhythmic instrument as your Metrodome substitute many drum plug ins like this one. Have a sink to D. Aaw option speaking. Just click the play button in your D W, and you will hear the beat, and many also have a dragon drop media feature. So when you find a beast you like that you want to base your groove back on, you simply drag it into the track on top, and now you have sink to your temple or even just laying out of rhythm right in your sequencer to work as George Maternal. Now, take action and try out the shake and bake method instead of that dreaded Metrodome click. Have fun shaking things up. 15. Mimic Method: a friend's mike here, and this video is about kick starting your creativity while automatically learning secrets that famous music composers use. Let's start right now. We are surrounded by simple pop music. All day long, they played on radio, in stores, on TV and so on. So when you finally sit down as a music composer in your studio, it might be hard to open up your mind to something more interesting than three or four basic chords because you have been brainwashed by that nonsense pop music. Now I have a secret, powerful tip for you that will make you able to unleash your true creative power. I call it the mimic method. The trick is to kick start your creativity by listening to great music that you love. That has more musical complexity than simple pop music. But that's not all, because the real trick is to listen to it while you sit down by your midi keyboard or piano and then analyze the court progressions, melodies and rhythms. This is how it works. You start up Spotify or YouTube or wherever you listen to music. Then you start your G A W. Load up a piano patch and set it so that you can play while your d A. W is in the background. Then you balance the volume between your piano and Spotify, and now the creative power session begins. You simply play a short snippet off a track you like to learn from. Then you find the melody, the courts and the rhythm on your keyboard and play it. I have chosen one of my favorite movie themes here, composed by Patrick Doyle for the first Thor movie. It has such a noble vibe to it. And of course I love the movie as well, since I am a true Swedish Viking. Well, a nerdy Viking, at least. So now I simply listen to a snippet off this theme, and then I will try to mimic it on my MIDI keyboard. All right, so I have loaded up a grand piano patch here in logic, and I'm using my favorite piano, Pugin Addictive keys, which sounds like this now, Onda, as you can hear these sound, is maybe too hard. And the tumbler is to hold as well. So I'm gonna try to mimic the sound off this once again. Ah, which, of course, is played by strings. But if I reduce the snow beers from making it more soft and the tumbler as well, it will get a more noble and mellow character. Listen now, So now I'm just gonna find the first chord off this theme. Let's listen again. DVD. OK, it starts with a So let's test it in a minor. No. Then let's move down to an F, which also has the a note in it. Almost. There s so let's test the F in the in an inversion here by moving down the pinky here they see down an octave to this. Oh, yeah. Ah, there you have it. So this is the mimic method. You simply play a snippet at a time, find the cords, the rhythms, the melodies and the theme off the track. And then you may make it on your midi keyboard, and before you know it, you will be able to play the fool theme like this. If you practice on the media keyboard using the mimic method every day, you will soon be able to pick out any theme court progression and melody from all of your favorite tracks. This is my mimic method, and it has several advantages. One, you will begin to learn the tricks your favorite composers used for creating interesting court progressions, beautiful melodies and complex rhythms to you will improve the range off ideas you can use when playing your midi keyboard or piano. And three, you will have a great way to kick store new soul ideas because as soon as you stop mimicking, you can use the inspiration. You just got to let you creativity free. My name is Mike, and I'll see you in the next video. 16. Compose Music on the Go: Hey, friends and music makers Mike here again, and I love composing music so much that I can't stop. Do you feel the same way? Well, then this video is for you because it's about composing music on the go. All right, so you are not always in your music studio, even though it's hard to leave sometimes. But the funny thing is, I always seem to get the best ideas for new motifs, riffs, rhythms and musical phrases. When I am on the goal. Well, I am glad we have smartphones and tablets today because I don't know how I would cope without them. And there are actually great APS for these devices that lets you create and save your musical ideas quick and easy. Let me share some examples. Music at one. Music Minerals This app is super simple but effective. It is basically a dictation style recording up, but with some extra features. First and most important, as soon as you record a new musical idea, it saves it to your iCloud so you can access it. When you're back in your studio on your Mac computer. I can then listen back to these ideas and use them as song starters and even import anyone off them into my d a W, which is logic to use as a reference when starting the composing session. The second cool feature is that the APP analyzes the way form and suggests chord names throughout the recording. There's a built in tuner in the APA's well on, even though I mainly use these up to hum in my musical ideas, it actually works great to record as you play on your piano or guitar, if you wish. Music. Yep, to court a bolt. I love this up. It's great for sparking your creativity When making new chord progressions, you simply choose a key signature to start from. Then add one chord at a time. You can choose the length that court is played for in what range and even choose a specific inversion off the court. What makes this up so fun is that it comes with a library off comping styles that you can use on your core progression. So as you switch between these styles, your court progression stays the same. But the playing style changes, which makes a huge difference for the character and vibe. Let me demonstrate this. I have a chord progression lorded here, and let's listen to how this comping styles sounds like thing. Then you can go into the comping styles up here and choose one of these styles. Let's go for this one. Let's listen to how it sells now, as you can hear completely different. One of the best features of these up is that it helps you create new court progressions by showing you courts that might work as the next court in your sequence, the most suitable or marked in green on the not suitable or marked in red. Then there's also some courts in yellow that are Portia Lee working for the scale of your song. But wait. Now comes the very best part of this app, which is the export feature. Yes, you can, in fact, export. You're finished chord progressions, including all the tracks of your chosen playing style too meaty. Simply go to export, then choose export media file, and I personally always save them to my Dropbox folder. Then, when I am back in front of my studio computer, Aiken drag these MIDI files into my D W and use as a starting point for a new track. It's awesome and I love it. Music EP three GarageBand This video would not be complete without mentioning the Garrett Band, probably the most used music making app of all time on. And while it is very easy to dive into, even for beginners, you can actually expand into almost a full scale music production in the APP. Sure you want to. I have it installed on my iPad, which I then connect to my digital piano via a adapter cable. This means I can actually record meaty directly into garish band on my iPad when I sit in my living room and play my Roland digital piano. I love this because it takes away all the millions of choices I have in my studio. Going back to the basics is open a great way to open up your creative mind. But what about on the go? Well, you can easily use GarageBand on your iPhone as well. On the best part is whatever you produce in the garish Ben app you can open in logic Pro X , If that is the d. A W. You use all right, those are my main music abs. I use personally for making music on the goal, from recording simple ideas to creating full court progressions for new tracks and even creating many projects in, for example, a notation music. So don't limit yourself to your music studio. Do you want to be able to record your amazingly cool ideas for melodies, rips or rhythms when ever you get them, I Mike, and I'll see you in the next video.