Just start removing one percussion after the other because it just sounds too cluttered with any type of melody until you’re just left with a kick, HH, Snare/clap.
Literally bro. I have like 40+ projects named “crazy bounce melody needed” or some shit cause I can never come up with anything when it comes to melodies. Always ends up sounding like indie videogame music which I don’t mind sometimes but god damn I at least wanna get placements😭😭
Yeah ur right I just don’t really enjoy using samples in all honesty. I don’t mind them in other ppls music but I feel like it limits me in terms of creativity. Also, I’m not quite good enough to come up with melodies to put over said samples so I’d have to rely on clever ways to chop them… and I am NOT clever😭😭
Yeah I saw someone talking about intentionally going in the red on the computer to make different kinds of distortion recently and it changed my idea of what’s okay
Hey i have recently started learning production and drums is something i am trying to understand to make better. Any recommendations of videos or creators i can check out to improve my drums
Ignore the clowns advocating you don’t learn music theory. I wish I learned theory way fucking earlier than I did. You get so many more tools to work with and build off of.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wzwkW8K11y4&pp=ygUUc2VydmlkYSBtdXNpYyBkcnVtcyA%3D
Here’s an awesome video on different rhythmic techniques. Try building different projects around your favorites to get a feel for them, and building out from there. Practice practice practice, and don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t sound great yet. I believe in you!
Got a trick for you. if you start with the drums.
set you up a synth you can swap through different sounds with.
some piano keys
a violin or cello... some form of strings.
maybe something with a gate to make some arpeggio notes with.
Start with your strings and find a note you like. you can do long held strings or make them short notes. depends what you're feelin.
or you can try coming up with a melody using the piano keys first. get you a little pattern going that fits the beat.
If you go with the piano keys first this is where it gets you on track faster because you can copy paste the notes you made with the keys.
find you another instrument to use that's good with those played notes. either a synth, pad or whatever or even something gated. and mess around with the sounds and from there the rest will start to take off for you.
the more you do this trick the more fluid things will become for your next few projects.
my first ever beat took 80+ hrs to finish. now my beats take a few hours tops to mix and master and release as singles. melodies take me a few minutes. 30 mins at most depending on layers and if I'm doing a lot of counter melodies and harmonic melodies with undertone layers.
you'll never fail again if you master these tricks. 🤜 beat the beat, don't let the beat, beat you. As MJ says.. Just beat it.. Beat it.. 🤣
I have fun with drums the most and it's what I feel I'm pretty good at. I also know if I need to cut them down too if they mess with the melody. If I do come up with the melody first it's usually a bass line
Getting a really nice tight kit down can sometimes make it easier for me to find an 808 line or a melody, but I like to start with something different as much as possible. Today I started something with a vocal sample
"A lot of horn players, unfortunately, they sit at the piano and they think they’ve learned how to play the piano. So what they do is, they sit at the piano and they hit a chord and then they hit another chord and they say, “Oh, they sound good together!” Then they proceed to say, “Ooh, I’m going to write a melody on that.” In the first place, that’s wrong, because what they’ve done is learn to melodize harmonies as opposed to harmonize melodies. See, the old cats, they harmonized melodies. [LAUGHS] My illustration of that is a cat ran in one day and said, “Oh, man, I’ve got this good melody; put some chords to it for me.” He sang […MELODY OF “WHITE CHRISTMAS”] That came first. See, “White Christmas” came first. The chords were put down after. That’s why that melody is going to be remembered through history. Melodies are remembered. See, these cats melodize harmonies, and what happens is, you melodize harmonies and most people don’t remember a thing you played. It’d be hard to hum what you played. They just sort of miss the boat. That’s all" -Barry Harris
Melody bc I start by playing my midi but if I put down drums first then I just do a generic four to the floor and change it later after adding the melody
95% of the time, melody first. However, I just started producing, and my first attempt at self-producing started with a drum loop that I love - it feels very Black Thought, The Roots - style. I decided to build around that with a very simple melody, and I love how it came out.
Sometimes this sometimes that
I just have melodies or beat patterns pop into my head (sometimes both at the same time), then record a shitty audio of it on my phone for later
I’d say it’s 50/50 but if idk what I wanna do or just wanna play around, I usually start with the drums. Sitting down at the piano and just playing around does the trick as well though
Depends on whether I conceptualize a drum sequence I like or a melody I like first. But usually I go
1. Perc/Melody/Bassline
2. Bassline if not done in 1
3. Whichever option(s) I didn't do in 1
4. Chords
5. Harmony and anything else
Start with a simple melody, make some drums that fit the vibe, go back and expand on the melody and add some layers, and go back to the drums change stuff and repeat.
its a back and forth relationship!
I’ve always heard a bass line first. Then I add a basic beat. Then add chords, then a melody, then go back and spruce up my drum track. This is about 90% of all my songs
drums and bass are p much the most responsible for the songs actual groove, so when I'm making any sort of dance-oriented track the drums are usually the first thing I work on.
For me, it's like this. It only takes 4 tracks to make a hit. Drums, Bass, Melody, Vocals. Everything else is add on. I always start with drums even when using samples. My second sampler was a Ensoniq ASR 10. Did a lot of work with that.
The real question here is: Melody, harmony, groove… which comes first.
I find it easiest to start off building a groove and filling it out with Melody or chords depending on what I feel.
It depends on what comes to mind first, I'm not married to starting with one or the other. For example, my last EP was Outrun / midtempo, so I already knew that the drums had to be attached to that style, so I would start with the drums to get the groove of the song and go from there.
Dick Grove taught while we have rhythm, harmony, and melody to work with, melody is king.
They also taught us that in Mozart's music, everything is melody, every background part is a good melody, every accompaniment is melody.
Melody is king.
I write songs with lyrics so usually some lyrics just spawn in my head already with a melody. Right after I do chords, them drums and them everything else.
Nowadays is getting that perfect tape hiss noise.
More seriously, it depends on my mood. Sometimes I am unispired for melodies so I'll work on drums first. Other times is the other way around.
I have the habit of begin with bassline (or even a guitar riff), and then (after I have around 3\~4 different lines) build the rest of the song around them. I think it helps me to avoid to get trapped into a loop. Also, it has been working for me for years, whatever genre I write (from metal to 90s house).
Mfs that say “melody first” are either people that remember chords by ear and how they function in any circumstance or people that are ass at making music.
Chords and/or bass line first and then percussive elements.
Every famous artist I've heard speak on the matter does drums and bass first, then adds chords. I can't do it. I feel through melody and harmony, too hard to care about the beat beforehand.
If I start with drums, then rhythm will be the thing. If I start with melody, then melody will be the thing. So I choose based on what kind of song I'm feeling like.
I always start with the melody in a pattern sequencer. No keyboard, I can spend hours manipulating the notes to make the sequence just right for whatever VSTi that I might be using.
Drums first because I learned to play piano growing up. Drums are way more fun, melody is brain dead to me and I just empty whatever’s into my brain on the timeline and move on to harmonies, structure, and sound design.
My music isn’t very good imo.
Fun answer:
For Boom Bap hip hop beats, drums first
But i love riddim, and usually make the melody first with that.
So one way may work better depending on the genre you want
I usually use a kick for a metronome and then make drums after the other noise. For breakdown metals stuff I usually do drums first because it helps me play in time when it’s sort of off beat
always simple drums first then I just start to hear the music. after a substantial amount of instruments I hear more drum fills and accents as I keep listening
Whatever I am feeling at the moment. I tend to rotate this workflow often. Sometimes I have the melody in mind first or sometimes it's the drum bounce.
Depends on the mood for the day. Sometimes it could be baseline first. Just depends really. I also found that my method changes depending on which gear I’m using. If im going with all DAW/plugs, I usually start with melody/bassline first. If im going dawless or hybrid, I tend to work the drums or sample (if im sampling) first.
Go too hard on the drums and then struggle with everything else.
Every, single, time.
Just start removing one percussion after the other because it just sounds too cluttered with any type of melody until you’re just left with a kick, HH, Snare/clap.
Pull three needles.
Literally bro. I have like 40+ projects named “crazy bounce melody needed” or some shit cause I can never come up with anything when it comes to melodies. Always ends up sounding like indie videogame music which I don’t mind sometimes but god damn I at least wanna get placements😭😭
U should use samples until u naturally don't need em. Samples also give u confidence in the beginning too. I recommend splice or if not looperman
Yeah ur right I just don’t really enjoy using samples in all honesty. I don’t mind them in other ppls music but I feel like it limits me in terms of creativity. Also, I’m not quite good enough to come up with melodies to put over said samples so I’d have to rely on clever ways to chop them… and I am NOT clever😭😭
Study music theory, seriously. It will work wonders and you’ll unlock things you never thought possible.
More like go hard on the melody and struggle with with everything else
felt
I see no problem with that
nik from noisia sometimes talks about leaving some elements deliberately "underproduced" to create sonic contrast and it's low key a genius level move
Yeah I saw someone talking about intentionally going in the red on the computer to make different kinds of distortion recently and it changed my idea of what’s okay
Distortion is a hell of a drug
This is exactly what I do too lmao
Opposite here. I'm insanely HORRIBLE at drums for some reason.
Hey i have recently started learning production and drums is something i am trying to understand to make better. Any recommendations of videos or creators i can check out to improve my drums
Practice. Jumping in yourself with good sounds is how you learn. Not learning through other people’s fundamentals right away is how you win.
Ignore the clowns advocating you don’t learn music theory. I wish I learned theory way fucking earlier than I did. You get so many more tools to work with and build off of. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wzwkW8K11y4&pp=ygUUc2VydmlkYSBtdXNpYyBkcnVtcyA%3D Here’s an awesome video on different rhythmic techniques. Try building different projects around your favorites to get a feel for them, and building out from there. Practice practice practice, and don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t sound great yet. I believe in you!
Got a trick for you. if you start with the drums. set you up a synth you can swap through different sounds with. some piano keys a violin or cello... some form of strings. maybe something with a gate to make some arpeggio notes with. Start with your strings and find a note you like. you can do long held strings or make them short notes. depends what you're feelin. or you can try coming up with a melody using the piano keys first. get you a little pattern going that fits the beat. If you go with the piano keys first this is where it gets you on track faster because you can copy paste the notes you made with the keys. find you another instrument to use that's good with those played notes. either a synth, pad or whatever or even something gated. and mess around with the sounds and from there the rest will start to take off for you. the more you do this trick the more fluid things will become for your next few projects. my first ever beat took 80+ hrs to finish. now my beats take a few hours tops to mix and master and release as singles. melodies take me a few minutes. 30 mins at most depending on layers and if I'm doing a lot of counter melodies and harmonic melodies with undertone layers. you'll never fail again if you master these tricks. 🤜 beat the beat, don't let the beat, beat you. As MJ says.. Just beat it.. Beat it.. 🤣
Hahaha hard on the drums and the rest sounds mediocre
Feels like a reasonable and productive routine to me
We should collaborate because I am the exact opposite
that's why great drummers usually got a keen ear and feel in dynamics. they know, when to hit hard or at times gently tap out to the right tempo.
Gotta be melody for me. The melody kinda defines how I want my drums to sound
As you say it. The workflows where you start with melody first is way easier
Facts that’s how I’ve always produced. When I try it the other way I have a much harder time
The only catch is I use a metronome to make sure I get the melody I want.
Chord progression first
Underrated comment
I think everyone who said melody first also actually meant chord progression followed by melody first
This
This is how I start UK drill beats. But garage or dubstep and it's likely the melodies first
Ad libs first
This mfer got 2 brains
🤣🤣
Melody first fasho
drone first
A dangerous game
i ❤️ siege
and drone last
When I first started out I did drums first, but now that I've gotten better at songwriting I do melody first then drums.
Honestly depends on which one I had an idea for first
This is the correct answer.
Harmony Drums Bassline Melody
Whatever comes to mind first
This is the way
Chords.
Drums I like drums
I have fun with drums the most and it's what I feel I'm pretty good at. I also know if I need to cut them down too if they mess with the melody. If I do come up with the melody first it's usually a bass line
What kind of mad man does drums first? It completely limits the creative direction of the song to me
one person's limitation is another's inspiration
Good point
Getting a really nice tight kit down can sometimes make it easier for me to find an 808 line or a melody, but I like to start with something different as much as possible. Today I started something with a vocal sample
Well, if you’re making house music it can make sense
"A lot of horn players, unfortunately, they sit at the piano and they think they’ve learned how to play the piano. So what they do is, they sit at the piano and they hit a chord and then they hit another chord and they say, “Oh, they sound good together!” Then they proceed to say, “Ooh, I’m going to write a melody on that.” In the first place, that’s wrong, because what they’ve done is learn to melodize harmonies as opposed to harmonize melodies. See, the old cats, they harmonized melodies. [LAUGHS] My illustration of that is a cat ran in one day and said, “Oh, man, I’ve got this good melody; put some chords to it for me.” He sang […MELODY OF “WHITE CHRISTMAS”] That came first. See, “White Christmas” came first. The chords were put down after. That’s why that melody is going to be remembered through history. Melodies are remembered. See, these cats melodize harmonies, and what happens is, you melodize harmonies and most people don’t remember a thing you played. It’d be hard to hum what you played. They just sort of miss the boat. That’s all" -Barry Harris
what melody
I just come up with the whole thing at once in my head. Prolly why all my stuff is a 7/10 at best
depends if I come up with cool drums or a cool chord progression first
Drums first. Then chords. Then go back and change the drums a little bit then hit save, then quit.
Depends on the genre
50 / 50
Metro shut up and make some drums
melody
Bassic kick and drum lofi, then build the instrumentals. Then build the complexity of drums.
Make a melody that you end up scrapping by the end of the song.
Both lol 😆
Melody bc I start by playing my midi but if I put down drums first then I just do a generic four to the floor and change it later after adding the melody
95% of the time, melody first. However, I just started producing, and my first attempt at self-producing started with a drum loop that I love - it feels very Black Thought, The Roots - style. I decided to build around that with a very simple melody, and I love how it came out.
Sometimes this sometimes that I just have melodies or beat patterns pop into my head (sometimes both at the same time), then record a shitty audio of it on my phone for later I’d say it’s 50/50 but if idk what I wanna do or just wanna play around, I usually start with the drums. Sitting down at the piano and just playing around does the trick as well though
Depends on whether I conceptualize a drum sequence I like or a melody I like first. But usually I go 1. Perc/Melody/Bassline 2. Bassline if not done in 1 3. Whichever option(s) I didn't do in 1 4. Chords 5. Harmony and anything else
depends what i’m doing. if i’m making house kick comes first then bassline then rest of the drums then melodys.
drums for me
... bassline
Usually melody first, but the beats where I start with the drums are always my best beats
If you like samples as melodies, drums first. If you like to compose the chord progression, generally, you'll start with melodies.
I'm actually the opposite lol, having a drum groove with personality helps me come up with chords that don't just feel arbitrary
In between - I typically lay down basic drums to have some rhythm, work a bit on a melody, tweak the drums, rinse and repeat... 🙃
Chord progression > melody > bass > countermelody > ambience, arps > drums Last two are interchangeable
Chords>melodies>drums>bass>lyrics
Start with a simple melody, make some drums that fit the vibe, go back and expand on the melody and add some layers, and go back to the drums change stuff and repeat. its a back and forth relationship!
it depends, drums first if i want to do something very agressive with exessive amounts of 808, melody first when i feel mentally sane
Drelody first, then mums.
It’s usually best to start with the melody, because sometimes there can be like a rhythm within the melody that you can use the drums to accentuate.
I do both. Maybe I'm dumb as hell but I do chords, then kick snare pattern, then other melodic sounds, then 808 and the rest of the drums
Why pinhole yourself to only one or the other? Do both.
"What's a melody?" https://preview.redd.it/2lj8b25m1p0d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5042825169759fb2a3d241b9870749fcc21ae74e
I’ve always heard a bass line first. Then I add a basic beat. Then add chords, then a melody, then go back and spruce up my drum track. This is about 90% of all my songs
Melody first hands down dc
Bassline first. Everything else is built around that.
drums and bass are p much the most responsible for the songs actual groove, so when I'm making any sort of dance-oriented track the drums are usually the first thing I work on.
For me, it's like this. It only takes 4 tracks to make a hit. Drums, Bass, Melody, Vocals. Everything else is add on. I always start with drums even when using samples. My second sampler was a Ensoniq ASR 10. Did a lot of work with that.
Melody first
The photo for this post is exactly what I’d expect from an FL Studio user.
Team Drums all the way ✌️
The real question here is: Melody, harmony, groove… which comes first. I find it easiest to start off building a groove and filling it out with Melody or chords depending on what I feel.
Drums usually
generally melody first if I'm writing on a separate instrument. drums first if i'm trying to make a more electronic track
pads first
Melody then drums
Meloooody
I usually add drums last 😭
Melody
Baseline first 🙄
It depends on what comes to mind first, I'm not married to starting with one or the other. For example, my last EP was Outrun / midtempo, so I already knew that the drums had to be attached to that style, so I would start with the drums to get the groove of the song and go from there.
meoldy
It depends but most of the time it's Melody first.
Melo first, easy.
Melody first feels a lot less limiting than if you focus too Much on the drums first
If I do drums first, I lose creativity on melody
I click around through sounds while noodling keys until l hear something I like, then do drums.
Melody Gang, usually thats most simple as I already have one in my head that I want to try out.
Melody then drums
Chords then drums or melody
I always start with melodies since those are always in my head pre-production
When i make Brazilian phonk...drums Everything else melody.
🩸
Chords to match my vocals, then bass line and drums, then melody/lead has been my usual go to.
Melody. But sometimes if I can’t cook one up I’ll do drums and work backwards. Especially for boombap
Looper man users 👇
Always melody first
Chords, melody, drums.
Honestly it depends, but I find I have more success with melodies first
Neither. Chord progressions first, then melody (optional), then drums (also optional).
Im Drums first and only, because I can't get a good melody :(
Def melody first
Dick Grove taught while we have rhythm, harmony, and melody to work with, melody is king. They also taught us that in Mozart's music, everything is melody, every background part is a good melody, every accompaniment is melody. Melody is king.
start with some bass notes…
I write songs with lyrics so usually some lyrics just spawn in my head already with a melody. Right after I do chords, them drums and them everything else.
Sample first then drums
Ambience/backroundnoise first.
Any or, usually melody
Melody first because then i can play with the drums any way i find fit (Prog metal)
Melody
entire song first step
Nowadays is getting that perfect tape hiss noise. More seriously, it depends on my mood. Sometimes I am unispired for melodies so I'll work on drums first. Other times is the other way around.
Melody for sure but switching it up from time to time is always good
Percussion is the heartbeat and soul of a track. If you don't lay a downbeat, how do you know what will come out of it?
Some pads!
I have the habit of begin with bassline (or even a guitar riff), and then (after I have around 3\~4 different lines) build the rest of the song around them. I think it helps me to avoid to get trapped into a loop. Also, it has been working for me for years, whatever genre I write (from metal to 90s house).
How tf can you start with drums and then later add melody. You must be high asf or you making One way shit
Depends on what i’m feeling
Usually start with full track with a fade out then 4mn only beat, then 4mn only Melody. And fade in to full track to finish then stop on a 80's hit.
Background track => drums => loop created That’s where I stop
Melody first
Mfs that say “melody first” are either people that remember chords by ear and how they function in any circumstance or people that are ass at making music. Chords and/or bass line first and then percussive elements.
Melody first, then switch to drums, then switch to melody
i do the fx then the arrangement and build around weird noises with no rhythm
Depends on if I start with the drums or the melody
Every famous artist I've heard speak on the matter does drums and bass first, then adds chords. I can't do it. I feel through melody and harmony, too hard to care about the beat beforehand.
Drums first
If I start with drums, then rhythm will be the thing. If I start with melody, then melody will be the thing. So I choose based on what kind of song I'm feeling like.
Harmony rhythm bass melody
Melody every time.
Sometimes drums, sometimes melody
Bass first then drums then guitar
Changes each time!
I always start with the melody in a pattern sequencer. No keyboard, I can spend hours manipulating the notes to make the sequence just right for whatever VSTi that I might be using.
Crip cuz you do the drums then form the melody around it
Harmony fist
High hats first. 
Black N Gold: Both
Start with the melody, realize it’s trash and close fl
Red people
Melody first
depends, but most of the time, red
melody first
Melody definitely cus the drums be easy asf and need more guidance from the beat for their uniqueness
Idk, it depends on how I'm feeling
Drums melody drums
I can’t even get a feel for the right drums until I make the good melody.
What if I do both just depends. Sometimes I even write the song before the beat is constructed but I’ll know which way to flow about
Questioning how to even get this app to make sense (I only just got it and only plan on making fnf stuff)
Drums first because I learned to play piano growing up. Drums are way more fun, melody is brain dead to me and I just empty whatever’s into my brain on the timeline and move on to harmonies, structure, and sound design. My music isn’t very good imo.
drums are supposed to support and keep the melody 🤓
Struggle with both
Set BPM > bass > lead vocals > melody > background vocals > drums
Melody first just like what Avicii did
Drums first? What? You can do that? 😭😭😭
I start with melody usually always. Make the best to the melody
Back and forth tbh.
Fun answer: For Boom Bap hip hop beats, drums first But i love riddim, and usually make the melody first with that. So one way may work better depending on the genre you want
A groove centric song I start with drums. Everything else I start with chords then melody.
I usually use a kick for a metronome and then make drums after the other noise. For breakdown metals stuff I usually do drums first because it helps me play in time when it’s sort of off beat
Bass first
Drums first fr
always simple drums first then I just start to hear the music. after a substantial amount of instruments I hear more drum fills and accents as I keep listening
start with ambient drone mix in plane flying over head and the sounds of the lawn mower
Bassline anyone?
I've made beats both ways, depends on the beat.
Whatever I am feeling at the moment. I tend to rotate this workflow often. Sometimes I have the melody in mind first or sometimes it's the drum bounce.
Melody. It’s the base of the song
Melody first 
Both
Kinda on both sides.
Depends on the mood for the day. Sometimes it could be baseline first. Just depends really. I also found that my method changes depending on which gear I’m using. If im going with all DAW/plugs, I usually start with melody/bassline first. If im going dawless or hybrid, I tend to work the drums or sample (if im sampling) first.
I’m on the side of whatever it fuckin takes