I write terrible melodies

NotaMongoose

Or am I?
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I do! Every tune I write itches for a good melody line, but when I try and write one it sounds just the same as the last one I wrote, and is deadly boring and annoying.

Oh well :Smile3:
 
You know when you hear a tape recording of your voice and it sounds all weird and wrong and makes you feel uncomfortable?

You're getting the same effect with your melodies.

Its only boring to you because you know where it came from - to everyone else it is a magic incantation.


I reckon your "subconscious melody writer" is afraid to let the really amazing stuff out because your "big clumsy clod-hopping ego" is going to rip them apart as soon as they appear - calling them stuff like "deadly boring" and "annoying". You can't expect a sensitive soul like your "subconscious melody writer"to bare itself in the face of such harsh criticism.

Try being a bit more accepting of what comes out and allow your confidence to grow.
 
what he said.

i wouldn't have listened to ott's advice until a short while ago when something happened and it became clear to me that the more confidence you have the better the melodies that you write become... no, really. it's that simple.

on the other hand, i suspect that people just generally don't listen to advice until that time when they learn it themselves and only then remember all the good advice they were given.

so, anyway...yeah. what he said :Smile3:
 
LOL or it could just be a crap melody! Get a new one!
(very sorry)

when I'm stuck for something, I tend to just loop a long section of track, find a nice sound and just widdle about. Eventually the conscious mind gets bored and goes back to thinking about girls bottoms while the "subconscious melody writer" grabs the controls and starts to do his thing. The less I concentrate and direct, the better he likes it, and sometimes my concentration wanders to such a degree I make total howling mistakes. Which often sound completely brilliant.
Record the whole lot (cubases stacked recording mode is the thing) and then later, when you're feeling more right-brainy, chop up the whole lot and find the good bits. Resist the urge to do much more than sort out dodgy timing and fat-fingered moments.

well thats what I do
:Grin:
 
tape delay works real well for melodies in logic.. there's an emulator u an get as a vst for other sequencers..
sometimes i it use like this :

take a boring shithouse melody.
put into tape delay and take the mix setting above 50%.
the melody is kinda inverted, depending on your note setting

the inverse of shite is awright....

Andrew
 
Continuum said:
I make total howling mistakes. Which often sound completely brilliant.

studio accidents are responsible for most of my best moments :Smile3:
 
soliptic said:
studio accidents are responsible for most of my best moments :Smile3:

yeah but not like that time I barked my shin on the table, knocked a coffee into the mixer and then bent over to pick up the cup, striking my forehead sharply on the aforementioned table and falling to the floor, bleeding and unconscious.
No good tunes came of that, except maybe in a very generally conceptual way. Actually I just finished a spliff and totally made that up. Duh. Anything on telly?
...wanders off scratching himself...
 
Ott^ said:
You know when you hear a tape recording of your voice and it sounds all weird and wrong and makes you feel uncomfortable?

You're getting the same effect with your melodies.

Its only boring to you because you know where it came from - to everyone else it is a magic incantation.


I reckon your "subconscious melody writer" is afraid to let the really amazing stuff out because your "big clumsy clod-hopping ego" is going to rip them apart as soon as they appear - calling them stuff like "deadly boring" and "annoying". You can't expect a sensitive soul like your "subconscious melody writer"to bare itself in the face of such harsh criticism.

top advice!! *takes it on board......yet again!*

Originally Posted by Continuum
I make total howling mistakes. Which often sound completely brilliant.


studio accidents are responsible for most of my best moments :Smile3:

Try being a bit more accepting of what comes out and allow your confidence to grow.

here here!!!!
 
Use arpeggiators (myabe not the right spelling there but fuck it) on record. When you get a bit you like, figure the actual notes and make it into a proper tune. Kinda like prompting your copmosing brain with a fill in the gaps excercise.
 
sometimes i draw in random notes then fuck about until a sequence sounds remotely good.

sometimes i sit down with a clear idea which is easily executed.

sometimes everything sounds like total aural-cuntery.

but everytime, it turns out it was in me all along... just needed a helping fingertip :Smile3:
 
Having been umming and ahhing over this particular melody for the past 24 hours, and still having got nowhere, I came back here and read all your responses...

And of course, you're all pretty much right. I can write melodies, some beautiful ones have come out from within me over the years. But every time I try and force one out cos I need to, it doesn't work, surprisingly.

I'm going to put some loud music on now and tidy my room. That really needs doing, and until I do I'm not going to be comfortable. I need to be comfortable to sit down and chill, after I've done that, the melody may come, it may not.

But whatever happens, it's all goooooood.

Ott^ you have the knack of making a problem into no problem.

:Grin:
 
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