Sound design stage complete / moving to arrangement (stuck)

[credit_agro]

Hi,
Ive a good few ideas laid out in ableton now at the moment.

There ok ideas (I think) but its laying them out and making them dramatic thats killing me. I know it takes practice but
I just don't seem to be learning anything new over the last few days. Im just going to really start listening to other music to learn ideas from. Im finding this the most difficult part of all. In comparison I find coming up the the ideas (synth programming
and stuff) easier. Did you find this part very difficult?? and how did you get past it?

[fl0w]

and how did you get past it?

never :-(
good luck!

[aallvor]

Arranging is def. the hardest part. Most people spend years trying to perfect this part of their skill, so don't give up just yet!

[northernlight]

if you use ableton, and you got a midi kontroller, assign some of the keys to start and stop the clips in the session view.

then jam around for a bit. look which parts work good together and what kind of sequence creates dramatic moments.

when you are familiar with the different possibilities of your song, hit the records button and start to jam. record yourself jamming the clips for 15-20 minutes, whatever you think is enough.

then cut out the best moments and put them together.

just one method.

[plaster]

imagine ur stacking lego. that's how i do it sometimes.

[aallvor]

imagine ur stacking lego. that's how i do it sometimes.

For the ultimate lego experience, I recommend FL Studio

[skept]

Hi,
Ive a good few ideas laid out in ableton now at the moment.

There ok ideas (I think) but its laying them out and making them dramatic thats killing me. I know it takes practice but
I just don't seem to be learning anything new over the last few days. Im just going to really start listening to other music to learn ideas from. Im finding this the most difficult part of all. In comparison I find coming up the the ideas (synth programming
and stuff) easier. Did you find this part very difficult?? and how did you get past it?

yeah definitely difficult and not so exciting. i have tried to start "playing" my songs a lot more than point and click arranging them. seems to take out the monotonousness (is that a word? spell checker says yes). but the best advice anyone can give is persistence. just don't quit and force yourself to do it. it is the key to accomplishing anything. after that your success from that track will drive the next. making music is work just like anything else and it takes determination and is not always fun.

but if you have to extinguish the fire you have no choice.

[plaster]

i'm learning arrangement for like 6 years now and only this year it started to shape slowly to what i want. best advice would be, go listen to a whole lot of pop/rock music. the best arrangement methods are there.