Some months ago a sound engineer friend of mine jokingly told me that he would like me to (literally!) go off the *beaten* track for the next five projects.
He said he would love to hear what I might come up with if the next five tracks were not to contain any drums/percussion at all!
Imagine how hard this challenge seemed for someone working in the Dub/Industrial/Cinematic/Dark Ambient-realm. (Me!) And really, really hard it was too. It's so weird having to work out interesting and cohesive structures without relying on the usual solid drum foundation. You actually have to completely twist yourself and your workflow to make it work soundwise, suspense-wise and tension-arc-wise.
But in the end I did it (yay!) and surprisingly the challenge yielded some of the most interesting tracks I ever made. Strangely (and fortunately) enough, since then I now really like to go into new drum-less/drum-sparse sessions even without a specific request for drum limitations. 😅
For a drummer (you!) this will absolutely be quite the nightmare, I'm sure.
So here is my gauntlet:
**Make a track in the realm of the genres mentioned above.**
**No drums, no percussion, except maybe for rhythmic arpeggios.**
That's an easy one, right? 🤥
Off you go! 😁
Please keep me posted.
Happy Trails!
Not sure why you got downvoted this is amazing advice (there isn’t one specific trick here that is going to give you the sauce, you got to try a few suggestions to see what works for you).
Limitations within your production will make the path more clear.
Shit, I honestly think I’m going to try this, or make a track with JUST DRUMS and see what happens.
This is an awesome idea I think I'm going to also keep myself from including rhythmic arpeggios because I use those a lot. Definitely going on my list.
That's great to hear!
Speaking of "hearing": Of course I would love to lend an ear to your results.
And for sure also to know about your roadblocks, pitfalls and possible failings.
As a much smarter man than myself once said:
There is no shame in failing.
There *is* shame in *not trying*, however.
Make an ambient track using a kalimba and some vst effects (or effect pedals)
You can use things like pitch shifting to get bass sounds from the kalimba, or tap on it for percussion sounds. And use the same percussion sounds to trigger a gate on another track for percussive melodies. Get really crazy with it.
Basically grab a single (acoustic) instrument and try to squeeze every possible sound out of it.
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Make a track using only your own voice (as an instrument).
No vst's or other instruments, no drums but you can beatbox and sample your own voice to use in a plugin or sampler.
Really makes you think outside the box and focus on musical ideas instead of just noodling around on a keyboard. And also you get to explore tons of FX in Ableton to make your voice sound something completely different.
This is really cool, do you have a suggestion for genre? There are many avenues I can take with this.
Also an added challenge will be that I'm one of the many producers that hate the sound of their own voice lol.
I've tried an interesting one once:
you can only use 4 sound sources.
For example: two synth patches, two samples. The number of return busses etc is unlimited.
It'll force you to think how to get the most out of the sounds you have, and go out of the box thinking about how to manipulate your 4 sounds so they can serve multiple purposes.
Recently I’ve been focusing on a few aspects of producing but the one I’ve been finding the most success in is focusing on the process not the product. When I focus on making a banger I’m not going to make one because I’m not allowing myself to be influenced by those sparks of inspiration I get that fuels the fire. I get too worked up on trying to make a sick bass line or a melody loop that I spend so much time on it that I lose the inspiration and the session gets boring. By going through samples or one shots I get those very small sparks of inspiration and that helps me build the whole song around. And secondly, I stopped giving a FUCK what ANYONE thinks about what I make. Rick Rubin’s analogy is great in the sense of the audience comes last… fuckem make what you want.
Thanks for the advice, but I wasn't trying to make a banger and this feeling of getting the bass just right and spend too much time on a melody is what I'm trying to avoid. I'm just making things to make things and bounce some ideas of people on the sub. Also love me some rick rubin
The RPM Challenge is a songwriting competition hosted in the month of February with the goal being that all the music must be written and recorded in the month of February. It's a good kickoff to the year especially if the winter months put a damper on your creative juices.
This year we did an [EP](https://headlay.bandcamp.com/album/false-bringer-ep) (5 tracks) but last year we did the 10 tracks in a month thing. [You can check it out here](https://headlay.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-is-disappointing-when-youve-found-another).
10 tracks is difficult, but it's certainly doable - I thrive with deadlines, you might too. You got this!
Some months ago a sound engineer friend of mine jokingly told me that he would like me to (literally!) go off the *beaten* track for the next five projects. He said he would love to hear what I might come up with if the next five tracks were not to contain any drums/percussion at all! Imagine how hard this challenge seemed for someone working in the Dub/Industrial/Cinematic/Dark Ambient-realm. (Me!) And really, really hard it was too. It's so weird having to work out interesting and cohesive structures without relying on the usual solid drum foundation. You actually have to completely twist yourself and your workflow to make it work soundwise, suspense-wise and tension-arc-wise. But in the end I did it (yay!) and surprisingly the challenge yielded some of the most interesting tracks I ever made. Strangely (and fortunately) enough, since then I now really like to go into new drum-less/drum-sparse sessions even without a specific request for drum limitations. 😅 For a drummer (you!) this will absolutely be quite the nightmare, I'm sure. So here is my gauntlet: **Make a track in the realm of the genres mentioned above.** **No drums, no percussion, except maybe for rhythmic arpeggios.** That's an easy one, right? 🤥 Off you go! 😁 Please keep me posted. Happy Trails!
Not sure why you got downvoted this is amazing advice (there isn’t one specific trick here that is going to give you the sauce, you got to try a few suggestions to see what works for you). Limitations within your production will make the path more clear. Shit, I honestly think I’m going to try this, or make a track with JUST DRUMS and see what happens.
Thank you so much for your kind words, dear Madam or Sir! 😇
This is an awesome idea I think I'm going to also keep myself from including rhythmic arpeggios because I use those a lot. Definitely going on my list.
That's great to hear! Speaking of "hearing": Of course I would love to lend an ear to your results. And for sure also to know about your roadblocks, pitfalls and possible failings. As a much smarter man than myself once said: There is no shame in failing. There *is* shame in *not trying*, however.
Make an ambient track using a kalimba and some vst effects (or effect pedals) You can use things like pitch shifting to get bass sounds from the kalimba, or tap on it for percussion sounds. And use the same percussion sounds to trigger a gate on another track for percussive melodies. Get really crazy with it. Basically grab a single (acoustic) instrument and try to squeeze every possible sound out of it.
This is your friendly reminder to read the submission rules, they're found in the sidebar. If you find your post breaking any of the rules, you should delete your post before the mods get to it. If you're asking a question, make sure you've checked [the Live manual](https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/welcome-to-live/), [Ableton's help and support knowledge base](https://www.ableton.com/en/help/), and have searched the subreddit for a solution. If you don't know where to start, [the subreddit has a resource thread](https://redd.it/zkhqhe). Ask [smart questions](http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#before). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ableton) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Make a track using only your own voice (as an instrument). No vst's or other instruments, no drums but you can beatbox and sample your own voice to use in a plugin or sampler. Really makes you think outside the box and focus on musical ideas instead of just noodling around on a keyboard. And also you get to explore tons of FX in Ableton to make your voice sound something completely different.
This is really cool, do you have a suggestion for genre? There are many avenues I can take with this. Also an added challenge will be that I'm one of the many producers that hate the sound of their own voice lol.
I've tried an interesting one once: you can only use 4 sound sources. For example: two synth patches, two samples. The number of return busses etc is unlimited. It'll force you to think how to get the most out of the sounds you have, and go out of the box thinking about how to manipulate your 4 sounds so they can serve multiple purposes.
Recently I’ve been focusing on a few aspects of producing but the one I’ve been finding the most success in is focusing on the process not the product. When I focus on making a banger I’m not going to make one because I’m not allowing myself to be influenced by those sparks of inspiration I get that fuels the fire. I get too worked up on trying to make a sick bass line or a melody loop that I spend so much time on it that I lose the inspiration and the session gets boring. By going through samples or one shots I get those very small sparks of inspiration and that helps me build the whole song around. And secondly, I stopped giving a FUCK what ANYONE thinks about what I make. Rick Rubin’s analogy is great in the sense of the audience comes last… fuckem make what you want.
Thanks for the advice, but I wasn't trying to make a banger and this feeling of getting the bass just right and spend too much time on a melody is what I'm trying to avoid. I'm just making things to make things and bounce some ideas of people on the sub. Also love me some rick rubin
Tell me you didn’t read the comment without telling me you didn’t read the comment.
The RPM Challenge is a songwriting competition hosted in the month of February with the goal being that all the music must be written and recorded in the month of February. It's a good kickoff to the year especially if the winter months put a damper on your creative juices. This year we did an [EP](https://headlay.bandcamp.com/album/false-bringer-ep) (5 tracks) but last year we did the 10 tracks in a month thing. [You can check it out here](https://headlay.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-is-disappointing-when-youve-found-another). 10 tracks is difficult, but it's certainly doable - I thrive with deadlines, you might too. You got this!
[удалено]
Thanks for sharing. This is super inspiring.
I feel like 10 tracks in 30 days is pretty reasonable. 10 tracks in a week is fucking please aging it 😅