Inspiration Headed into 2023... (Patreon)

Big changes this year...

As we kick things off here in the new year, there is a lot of optimistic energy in the air. Even though you might not feel like you’re moving forward, in your mind and heart is all the inspiration you’re going to need to sail you through another year of creativity and music making. I know there are many of you out there who are still sitting out there searching for that “next thing” in your creation process. Whether it’s a new tool to help you instantly translate the music that you have in your head on your timeline, or it’s the key to unlock that “next step” when it comes to building tracks in the first place. So…in true S1gns fashion, I thought I’d get things going by offering up a few creative ideas on how to push forward and get going on your ambient journey this year…

Try Something New…

One of the best ways to get a track started is to start by experimenting with either a synth, or a creative tool (plugin and/or processor) and see if you can create a sonic texture or soundscape for your next track to live on top of. Sound design is one of those endeavours where you can quickly get something going that sounds good or you can quickly go off the rails. But that’s the fun of it, just seeing what works and what doesn’t and if it ends up going south…it’s just audio! You can destroy it as easily as it was created. One of my favorite ways to experiment is to start off with a tone, it doesn't matter what source. Let’s say it’s coming from a synth. Then take that tone (or single note) and start trying to manipulate it, whether it’s through adding effects, manglers, or other effects processors. Essentially creating a drone…but seeing how far I can stretch it until it becomes unrecognisable. Then taking that result and running it through a large reverb, like Supermassive. See what you did there? You just made something out of nothing. Turn the volume down on that…lay an existing pad on top in the same key and you’ve got the perfect bedding to lay down your next track on top of.

Layering for Texture…

Speaking of layering! I know there are many of you who ask about this topic…what comes “next” when you juxtapose two or more sounds next to each other. When I’m composing, I’m always thinking about the frequency spectrum in the back of my mind, whether I choose to monitor it visually with a tool (SPAN or Vision 4X) or just by playing a flat parametric EQ on the channel that I’m working with. I actually think to myself ‘I need a good bass pad here’ and ‘It would be nice to have something in the upper region’ here because you need to always be thinking about how you’re balancing things out in the frequency space. If you can do this, both on a technical level and a compositional level, you’ll find that at any given moment, you only need a few sounds that play together, especially when you’re adding on tons of delay and reverb. 

Just one sound alone is enough to create space, but then when you add a second sound…think about how you can settle that sound next to your original source and have them still be SEPARATE. This is why I think ‘bass pad’ or ‘mid range’ because I’m playing with the frequency space. I’m also thinking about sound as TEXTURE the same way you would lay paint onto a canvas or paper. You can’t overlap too many colors at once. Likewise, sounds tend to lose their potency when there are other sounds competing for frequency space and loudness. Separate and integrate. This should also be a big goal of yours headed into this new year!

Develop Your Identity

And finally, this should already be a big part of your plan, especially in the first half of 2023 but this year is going to be crucial that you come out of the gate developing or claiming an identity for yourself to move forward into the future. 

It may not happen in the first few weeks of 2023, but after that point on until late May…this is a fantastic window of time for you to figure out who you are as an artist and at the very least, start to identify with your new (or more realised) identity so you can push forward into the new year with confidence about who you are and what you are doing. This is such an important step, whether it’s developing an artist name or coming out with a few release…it might even be your first ever release! Either way, this is a great time to focus on that and make some huge strides into becoming the artist that you’ve always wanted to be.

I hope this has helped you in some way! Here's to a very productive 2023...

Cheers,

Chris | S1gns Of L1fe