Understanding electronic music composing.

[roman.i]

Hello KVR members,

I need some help with general understanding and approach to the electronic music composing.
I started with electronic music few months ago, learned how to use the daw, the theory behind mixing and effects, sound design, and finally reached a certain level that I'm comfortable with.
Now I'm trying to compose a full track, but struggling with actually putting the "right" scores into midi clips. I found the suggestion to always start composing with chords, so I learned piano basics, bought the Scaler plugin and created few nice chord progressions and tried to use them to create a track, but found that the chords were too "overwhelming". What I mean by that is that if we're talking about modern progressive or techno music styles I usually don't hear tracks so "complex" musically. Actually, I hardly hear electronic music with chords, maybe because I don't have musical hearing or there are really no chords but only baselines and melodies.
Also, I heard a producer on youtube talking about importance of midi in modern music, that in a past it was a major way to make the track interesting, but today we have all these synths with endless possibilities for creating a unique sounds, so midi became less important. And I actually heard some tracks follow this trend, that doesn't have any music but the full song is built on one note with a lot of effects and sounds.
So back to my issues, I would appreciate to hear some thoughts and recommendation how to continue and what skills to develop to make a progress.

Thanks!

[Forgotten]

Who suggested to always start composing with chords?

[DJ Warmonger]

Chords may work for trance or house, but certainly not techno. Melody, if any, is often not very harmonic and not build from any common chords.

It's all about the rhythm. Better check euclidean rhythms.

[Mushy Mushy]

What music do you make?

I’ve been doing this for 20 odd years and still have NFI what a chord is. Does it plug into the power socket?

[DJ Warmonger]

I’ve been doing this for 20 odd years and still have NFI what a chord is

Chords make normal people enjoy the music without drugs.

[Mushy Mushy]

I’ve been doing this for 20 odd years and still have NFI what a chord is

Chords make normal people enjoy the music without drugs.

Metal fans are always on drugs? Who knew.

[thecontrolcentre]

I’ve been doing this for 20 odd years and still have NFI what a chord is

Chords make normal people enjoy the music without drugs.

Metal fans are always on drugs? Who knew.

Never heard of power chords?

[Mushy Mushy]

I’ve been doing this for 20 odd years and still have NFI what a chord is

Chords make normal people enjoy the music without drugs.

Metal fans are always on drugs? Who knew.

Never heard of power chords?

Oh f*ck it

[Robmobius]

I guess it's different for everybody...

But wouldn't you be better with a bassine? And then build a melody around it?

[roman.i]

Who suggested to always start composing with chords?

I found this suggestion a lot on the internet, then I watched a video made by dead mouse and he also suggested this approach. The idea to start with the chord progression, then the bottom note of each chord is the base note, also the melody may be from the chord, for example an arp from this chord. So the whole process is made around chords.
Didn't worked for me.

I don't have an answer for the question what type of music I'm making, because I'm still not making any music , but the direction is melodic techno, I guess this is the closest, maybe electro.

[anomandaris1]

In electronic dance music we have RHYTHM>MELODY>HARMONY (this means that drum patterns, accompaniment figures like chord stabs/arpeggios and basslines are the most important elements in a dance track - the actual pitches of chord accompaniment are not very important as long as they don't clash with the melody or bassline )
In modern pop music - MELODY>RHYTHM>HARMONY; in old pop music (like easy listening, lounge, jazzy and similar - MELODY>HARMONY>RHYTHM)
In background, ambient music we will have the harmony or the sound design as the most important element.
I suggest the OP to learn to play some songs that he likes and to try and create his own compositions by copying some genre elements - like typical chord patterns or instrumentation choices etc.
About how to start and actually finish a composition - there are no right or wrong answers... anything works as long as you are good.
Btw, the deadmau5 guy is a total amateur as a musician, but also a millionaire - a living proof that you don't need talent or much skills to succeed.
Melodic techno - learn to play melodies then??? Start from children songs, then progress to trance, pop etc until you can play baroque music (it is more techno than techno - I wonder why trance people don't incorporate more oldschool classical music techniques that fit perfectly into quantized 4x4 music)

[roman.i]

I'm not convinced how this relates to playing the music, I'm not a musician and not going to play a piano for anyone. If I can express this in a piano roll with a mouse, I prefer to take this shortcut.

[anomandaris1]

I'm not convinced how this relates to playing the music, I'm not a musician and not going to play a piano for anyone. If I can express this in a piano roll with a mouse, I prefer to take this shortcut.

It is harder to create good music with piano roll than playing it. Something like Akai Fire or Ableton Push is easier than piano, because you can play custom scales without "wrong notes" (and piano fingerings are actually hard beyond few basic keys like B major or C major). While you can just input the midi mechanically, 99 % of the people get stuck in a 4-8 bar loop (instead of actually writing something interesting with beginning, middle and end, and actually contrasting melodic sections).

[Forgotten]

Who suggested to always start composing with chords?

I found this suggestion a lot on the internet, then I watched a video made by dead mouse and he also suggested this approach. The idea to start with the chord progression, then the bottom note of each chord is the base note, also the melody may be from the chord, for example an arp from this chord. So the whole process is made around chords.
Didn't worked for me.

It probably didn’t work as it’s not very good advice. Chords are not the start point for composition, they are the accompaniment; a result of harmonizing the melody.

My suggestion would be to write a melody then harmonize it as you feel appropriate.

[donkey tugger]

Who suggested to always start composing with chords?

I found this suggestion a lot on the internet, then I watched a video made by dead mouse and he also suggested this approach. The idea to start with the chord progression, then the bottom note of each chord is the base note, also the melody may be from the chord, for example an arp from this chord. So the whole process is made around chords.
Didn't worked for me.

It probably didn’t work as it’s not very good advice. Chords are not the start point for composition, they are the accompaniment; a result of harmonizing the melody.

My suggestion would be to write a melody then harmonize it as you feel appropriate.

Must be doing it wrong. I've never started out with a 'melody' in me bloody life. Just sing some shite on top of the chords.