Simple concepts that help you break your standard jamming routine?

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

When I jam I got basically two modes:

  1. Laying out a basic four to the floor and build on top of that with samples and synth sounds.

  2. Strike a couple of chords and do some droning/ambient, twisting those knobs and fiddle with envelopes and lfo’s, mostly with one (multitimbral) synth.

I hardly record any of this stuff. Since I am getting a bit bored with these routines, I was wondering: what are your favourite approaches when jamming? My setup consists of DNK, OT, MM2, Minilogue XD, Erica Synths DB-01 and Ableton for the sparse recording. (usually I pick one or two machines max).

#2

Two approaches to breaking out of habits that I use:

Grid pad set to some scale, use it for melodies, bass, chords, drums.

Analog sequencing, no pitch quantisation just do it by ear.

Other ideas:

Sample a record, build around it, then throw away the sample.

Sample the radio, chop it up.

Random sample loading.

Use only 1 sound for everything.

Limit yourself to selected gear/sounds/number of tracks/number of parts etc.

10 Likes
#3

Great ideas. Re. that last point: I was considering a while back to delete all my 16 gigs of samples, after I picked 20 each (kicks, hats, bass etc.). Even just limiting myself to 909 and nothing more.

#4

Maybe wind back on your four on the floor a bit ? E.g

  • kick on 1st beat of bar only, snares on 2 and 4
  • kick on 1st beat plus accented closed hihats (pretty much as metronome)

Then add other drum/perc hits where you typically don’t place them.

2 Likes
#5

Roll a dice to determine a key. Then flip a coin for major/minor.

Set yourself some arbitrary limitation. Eg No hi hats. Only use major/minor chords. No use of presets. Only use one synth for all sounds etc etc.

Give yourself a time limit. This helps me commit to something then move on.

Sample the loop you create, chop it up then use it as a jumping off point for another jam.

Learn to play another instrument. Guitar leads to much different ideas than keys in my experience.

Record EVERYTHING you do. There will be good stuff in there, and you never know when the good stuff will hit.

All the above helps me keep things fresh. Hope it helps. :+1:

5 Likes
#6

I think I can do a lot with these tips on my incoming Polyend Tracker. Maybe also sell some more stuff.

#7

When I jam alone, I rarely use 4/4. I’ll create a quick 5/4 or 7/4 (or whatever) drum beat and jam over that. It is not as boring, as well as a good way to come up with something new.

3 Likes
#8

This is my fav. It’s a subtle technique, but sometimes you end up with something miles away from what you started with or something close. Another tip, is to make a song with a sample, and then throw a different sample in there but keep all your settings the same. Odd/weird results.

3 Likes
#9

If you struggle with creating complete 4-7 minutes tracks (blank canvas syndrome), record 5-10 minutes of ambient noise (nature sounds, traffic, voices, etc.) with your cell phone or using a dedicated audio recorder, then import it into your DAW timeline as a sonic bed for jamming/composing a complete song.
It’s amazing how filling that initial, intimidating void with field recordings helps with the creation process.

4 Likes
#10

song mode