Workflow & Creativity: Thoughts & Questions

[Randall Rothenberg]

I’m 56 years into my musical journey but only three years into digital music composition & production. In my recent experiments, I’m getting to a workflow (I mostly write jazz-inflected songs) that keeps me creative. But I’ve got questions, and I’m wondering how others do it. Here’s my workflow - questions follow:

1. In my DAW (Studio One Seven) I’ve got a template with 7 plug-in tracks: Scaler 3, EZ Keys II, a percussion track with ADSR Sample Manager, a vocals track with SynthV, and three tracks, each with a separate instance of Kontakt 8: one loaded with NI’s Upright Bass, a melody track loaded with NI’s The Grand piano, and a guitar track with an NI Strummed Acoustic.
2. I always start with Scaler 3 to experiment with chord progressions. Even if I know my basic harmonies in advance, I always use Scaler to find interesting chord subs. I’ll sometimes use Scaler to test out various motions, bass lines, and articulations, but the more I use it, the more I find myself using it mostly for harmonies.
3. EZ Keys II is usually my second stop, especially if I’m working on a jazz tune or a standard. I find its vast array of accompaniments very inspiring.
4. Bass is usually my third stop, because it helps establish or reinforce the groove. I had been using EZ Bass, but now I’m using NI’s basses. Their selection of patterns is a bit more limited, but I find them less cumbersome to use than EZ Bass.
5. Melody is my fourth stop. I’m a guitarist, not a keyboardist, but I like to use piano to write my melodies because of its clarity and neutrality. I almost always write my melodies in the piano roll.
6. I might at this point decide to switch my main accompaniment from piano to guitar, which is why I pre-load the guitar. (Sometimes I’ll start with the guitar, if I’m composing a rock song or folk tune or something else I hear that way.)
7. Synth V vocals are next. My process is to type the lyrics into my melody track in Studio One, export the melody and lyrics as a midi track, then import that track into SynthV. I’ll rewrite the lyrics and melody in SynthV as I go along, but I’ll always save and re-export the midi along the way so I’ll always have that midi-melody-vocals track.
8. Percussion is my last compositional stop. After experimenting with Impact and EZ Drummer 3, I now mostly deploy loops, because they’re more varied and diverse than anything I can conjure on my own. Managing loops remains a pain. Neither ADSR nor Kontakt 8 can index Presonus’s built-in loops; Studio One doesn’t do as good a job on Kontakt’s loops as Kontakt 8 does. I find myself switching back and forth among those three loop platforms.
9. After my basic composition is done, I’ll arrange it - with the proviso that at this stage things might change dramatically. I might decide that a chorus is better as a verse. I might replace the piano with a synth. A cabaret number might turn metal. I use Studio One’s chord track to mediate between Scaler 3 and my other plugins - that is, I’ll drop my Scaler progression into Studio One, and use that to drive other instruments. (I had been doing a lot of this “compositional arranging” using multiple tracks in Scaler 3, but I found it difficult to keep a clear view of a full composition in Scaler because of its layout limitations, so now I’ve reverted to using my DAW for the arrangements.) My go-to’s for instruments are NI and East West’s Composer Cloud, the latter especially for brass and background vocals.
10. When I’m mostly done, I’ll do vocal harmonies. I’m finding the new Studio One Harmony Wizard add-on a great tool for this, and a lot of fun to use.
11. I will occasionally use Band-in-a-Box to create a solo break. Sometimes, I’ll use loops and samples. On rare occasion I’ll cut my own samples. Sometimes I’ll solo myself on guitar.
12. Recently, I’ve begun using EZ Mix 3 to mix, and I’ll always go to e-mastered to master. Mixing is a weak spot for me.

Questions:

• For other Scaler users, to what degree do you use or not use its built-in motions, either for inspiration or for final production or both?
• Also for Scaler users, to what degree are you using it as a DAW-within-a-DAW - i.e., using multiple tracks in Scaler to compose and produce, vs doing that part in your DAW? If you are using Scaler for this, what’s your workaround to get a full view of your composition?
• How do you manage loops? Have you found a satisfactory way to index them all together, or are you using two or more separate systems?
• After two weeks of experimenting with Kontakt 8’s new tools - Chords, Patterns, and Phrases - I’m finding them less useful than what Scaler 3 already has built-in. In fact, I’m pretty much persuaded that they’re primarily built for live performance and beats-makers, not for songs or composition. Has anyone found broader uses for the new Kontakt 8 tools?
• I’m only beginning to experiment with macros and shortcuts in Studio One. I’d love to know which macros and shortcuts song composers (as opposed to orchestral composers or beats composers) find most useful.
• I don’t use melody tools - I use my ear. Are any of you using melody tools for inspiration, and if so, which ones?

I’m posting in three favorite forums (Scaler, VI, and StudioOneForum) so apologies if you stumble across this in multiple places.

 

[Retrodbryant]

I’m 56 years into my musical journey but only three years into digital music composition & production. In my recent experiments, I’m getting to a workflow (I mostly write jazz-inflected songs) that keeps me creative. But I’ve got questions, and I’m wondering how others do it. Here’s my workflow - questions follow:

1. In my DAW (Studio One Seven) I’ve got a template with 7 plug-in tracks: Scaler 3, EZ Keys II, a percussion track with ADSR Sample Manager, a vocals track with SynthV, and three tracks, each with a separate instance of Kontakt 8: one loaded with NI’s Upright Bass, a melody track loaded with NI’s The Grand piano, and a guitar track with an NI Strummed Acoustic.
2. I always start with Scaler 3 to experiment with chord progressions. Even if I know my basic harmonies in advance, I always use Scaler to find interesting chord subs. I’ll sometimes use Scaler to test out various motions, bass lines, and articulations, but the more I use it, the more I find myself using it mostly for harmonies.
3. EZ Keys II is usually my second stop, especially if I’m working on a jazz tune or a standard. I find its vast array of accompaniments very inspiring.
4. Bass is usually my third stop, because it helps establish or reinforce the groove. I had been using EZ Bass, but now I’m using NI’s basses. Their selection of patterns is a bit more limited, but I find them less cumbersome to use than EZ Bass.
5. Melody is my fourth stop. I’m a guitarist, not a keyboardist, but I like to use piano to write my melodies because of its clarity and neutrality. I almost always write my melodies in the piano roll.
6. I might at this point decide to switch my main accompaniment from piano to guitar, which is why I pre-load the guitar. (Sometimes I’ll start with the guitar, if I’m composing a rock song or folk tune or something else I hear that way.)
7. Synth V vocals are next. My process is to type the lyrics into my melody track in Studio One, export the melody and lyrics as a midi track, then import that track into SynthV. I’ll rewrite the lyrics and melody in SynthV as I go along, but I’ll always save and re-export the midi along the way so I’ll always have that midi-melody-vocals track.
8. Percussion is my last compositional stop. After experimenting with Impact and EZ Drummer 3, I now mostly deploy loops, because they’re more varied and diverse than anything I can conjure on my own. Managing loops remains a pain. Neither ADSR nor Kontakt 8 can index Presonus’s built-in loops; Studio One doesn’t do as good a job on Kontakt’s loops as Kontakt 8 does. I find myself switching back and forth among those three loop platforms.
9. After my basic composition is done, I’ll arrange it - with the proviso that at this stage things might change dramatically. I might decide that a chorus is better as a verse. I might replace the piano with a synth. A cabaret number might turn metal. I use Studio One’s chord track to mediate between Scaler 3 and my other plugins - that is, I’ll drop my Scaler progression into Studio One, and use that to drive other instruments. (I had been doing a lot of this “compositional arranging” using multiple tracks in Scaler 3, but I found it difficult to keep a clear view of a full composition in Scaler because of its layout limitations, so now I’ve reverted to using my DAW for the arrangements.) My go-to’s for instruments are NI and East West’s Composer Cloud, the latter especially for brass and background vocals.
10. When I’m mostly done, I’ll do vocal harmonies. I’m finding the new Studio One Harmony Wizard add-on a great tool for this, and a lot of fun to use.
11. I will occasionally use Band-in-a-Box to create a solo break. Sometimes, I’ll use loops and samples. On rare occasion I’ll cut my own samples. Sometimes I’ll solo myself on guitar.
12. Recently, I’ve begun using EZ Mix 3 to mix, and I’ll always go to e-mastered to master. Mixing is a weak spot for me.

Questions:

• For other Scaler users, to what degree do you use or not use its built-in motions, either for inspiration or for final production or both?
• Also for Scaler users, to what degree are you using it as a DAW-within-a-DAW - i.e., using multiple tracks in Scaler to compose and produce, vs doing that part in your DAW? If you are using Scaler for this, what’s your workaround to get a full view of your composition?
• How do you manage loops? Have you found a satisfactory way to index them all together, or are you using two or more separate systems?
• After two weeks of experimenting with Kontakt 8’s new tools - Chords, Patterns, and Phrases - I’m finding them less useful than what Scaler 3 already has built-in. In fact, I’m pretty much persuaded that they’re primarily built for live performance and beats-makers, not for songs or composition. Has anyone found broader uses for the new Kontakt 8 tools?
• I’m only beginning to experiment with macros and shortcuts in Studio One. I’d love to know which macros and shortcuts song composers (as opposed to orchestral composers or beats composers) find most useful.
• I don’t use melody tools - I use my ear. Are any of you using melody tools for inspiration, and if so, which ones?

I’m posting in three favorite forums (Scaler, VI, and StudioOneForum) so apologies if you stumble across this in multiple places.

How do you manage loops?
- I don’t really manage my loops anymore as I have several TB’s of sounds and samples. These days I’m using splice and finding things as I need them. It also helps to keep my sound fresh.

Macros:
Seriouslyyy, this is my most used feature in S1. Of my favorite ones include remove tracks, hide & disable, transpose up one semi tone, transpose down one semi tone, bounce selection, rename events, detect temple, separates, stems, and my absolute favorite / most used…clean up and quit.

Macro’s have sped up my workflow 10x!

 

[Randall Rothenberg]

Thank you for this thoughtful+helpful reply. Two questions: Why is Splice better than using your existing tools to explore your tens of thousands of loops?

Second, on the S1 macros - I apologize because this may sound stupid - are you creating hotkeys for the macros you use the most? I’m asking because I can’t quite see the workflow time savings on macros when the command is already in a first-tier dropdown (e.g., remove track, bounce a selection). Thanks in advance!

 

[lokeyfly]

Thank you for this thoughtful+helpful reply. Two questions: Why is Splice better than using your existing tools to explore your tens of thousands of loops?

If I may, splice isn't better, as much as the point is made that for Retrodbryant, this is something he chooses to use, "these days."
Many will refuse to use splice altogether, including myself. Perhaps one way will serve some as faster. Others will resort to their sample libraries.

​

Second, on the S1 macros - I apologize because this may sound stupid - are you creating hotkeys for the macros you use the most? I’m asking because I can’t quite see the workflow time savings on macros when the command is already in a first-tier dropdown (e.g., remove track, bounce a selection). Thanks in advance!

As you further delve into Studio One, macros will be very well served, because they are or can be a collection of many key commands. Sure, there are some dropdowns that have macros already implemented, and for that, absolutely use them. Only they may not meet all of your needs. Let that settle for now, and explore or create macros as you need.

Randall Rothenberg wrote:

• "I don’t use melody tools - I use my ear. Are any of you using melody tools for inspiration, and if so, which ones?".

Not an instrument per se, but something Studio One utilizes similar to an outboard instrument or chord generator for writing out chords in the early part (or section) of your song, is the chord track. I continue to be floored by its possibilities. Especially when altering audio which you may not find an equivalent anywhere! You could for example create some triads, or basic chords. Then drag them to the chord track. Be sure on that track to open the Track Inspector, and select to follow chords. Determine if you want parallel, chord, or whatever to transition you're looking for from the inspector. It's not as thorough as Scaler, but it can be an alternate way of trying out different musical ideas.

As an arpegiator, you could also try Stepic (Devicemeister), which has some brilliant controller and randomization features to send and receive on. Its automation features are whack. ; )

Another cool arpegiator is based around Arturia's synthesizer, called Pigments 6. You can send its sequencer out to other MIDI or virtual instruments.

The important thing to remember is Studio One plays nice with all these other VSTi's and hardware based controllers. Generally speaking, its rare that you'll have an issue.
Hope that helps.

 

[John Vere]

These were my old workflows-
For backing tracks I would find a crappy midi file and I will then replace the GM instruments and edit the midi or replace them.
For the last year I would start with the original song, use stem separation and convert the bass track to midi and replay the drums and keyboard parts.
For original songs I would start by finding a drum groove that fits the idea and I record a rough version of me singing and playing guitar.
I then add a real bass that often gets converted into midi.
Then I add drums using either controller or my digital kit.
Then my favourite part is keyboard parts. I tend to use Organs and Wurlitzer type stuff. In other words it was a lot of midi editing.
Then I redo my vocals and last the lead guitars.

Now I have retired from live gigs I no longer need to waist my time making backing tracks.
I will focus on original songs and songs I like to play. And I will stop using a lot of midi and dust off my drum kit and not be lazy and convert stuff into midi just because it’s easier to fix my sloppy playing. I am looking forward too learning S1 and using it as a 16 track tape deck! So the new workflow has yet to be developed. First I need to finish the studio renovation.
But I’m leaning towards
1- play acoustic guitar and sing song live and only use a tempo count in.or option of using a guest drummer at this point.
2- extract tempo map.
3. If no drums recorded yet Lay down the basic drum part using the click track which will drift naturally. Or ?
4. Bass
5.Keyboards which will be the only midi part.
6. Vocals and guest singers
7. Guest instruments
8. Lead guitar

 

[Randall Rothenberg]

This makes complete sense. I end up doing live last, preferring to perfect the song as much as possible in the DAW with synth instruments, including vocals. That gets me the arrangement I can play and sing to.