Improving Your Song: Sounds

Inherently obvious to the topic of music is the fact that it is made from the combination of sounds. Through a long history of musical creation, a vast evolution has occurred. We have fine tuned and developed a standard set of instruments which remain prevalent in modern music. Furthermore, we have established genres, which generally include certain instrument sounds, rhythms, tones, and etc. For example, when one thinks of rock music, he likely pictures loud and screaming electric guitars, thumping electric bass guitars, heavy hitting drums, and screaming vocals.

While there is a tried and true formula to creating rock and roll, such a perception may easily become a hindrance when one tries to create his original music. On one end, the modern musician needs to stand out from a sea of artists. He cannot achieve this by sticking to standard formulas. On the other side of things, an artist must sound similar enough to music of old, so as to be the next natural progression for the listener. This can be a tenuous balance. Significant still is the concept that an artist must not do too much to suppress the goal of creative expression.

All of these aforementioned factors make it tough for a modern musical artist to find his own niche. While I know not the secret formula, I do have an idea of how to improve this, and it has to do with sound combinations. Did you choose to use techno synthesizers for the melody of a track? Instead of following that with the expected uhn-tis of electronic drums, which is a common sequitur, throw in an unexpected sound, like that of an acoustic drum kit. You may be surprised what you find when you become willing to break the mold a bit…