That has to be the single most common question asked of anyone in any creative field. People with a little more experience might, instead, ask "How did you do 'X'," where 'X' is some particular effect or sound or even structural technique. Musicians who don't work in Midi often ask how the medium impacts or affects the compositional process, in other words, "what can you do with Midi that's different"? - but it's still the same question.

Most of composing comes down to two things - listening to what you've got and adding to it by trial and error. But every composer has a few tricks up their sleeves, things that they've tried in the past that have worked. Some of these are common to many composers, others are tricks that I've never told anyone - until now. These pages are intended not to give away "trade secrets", but to educate anyone who wants to learn about the process of creation. At first, there might not be much in the way of content in this section, but it's something that I intend to add to regularly over the days, weeks, and months to come. Because the subject makes very dry reading and we're talking about sounds, I intend to throw in as much in the way of audio examples as I can.

So sit back, make yourself comfortable, and lets begin....

The act of composing can be divided up into - well, some would call them "Phases", but I prefer the term "Considerations". They are all a part of what makes each and every tune different. These considerations are Composition Technique, Sounds, Style, Musical Structure, and Dynamics. There are other aspects of songcraft that could be listed - melody, riffs, rythms & beats, overdubs, and mixing - and these might well be given subsections within the "techniques" pages at some futire point. But for now, the first five are quite enough to be going on with, thank you!

Each topic has been given it's own subsection within this part of the website, which might be one, or even several, pages in length. You can access each section using the submenu above left. At the bottom of each page are links to help navigate through the individual pages within the subsection. And, if you see an "End Of Topic" link, like the one below, clicking that will also take you to the next page - though it might also take you to the occasional easter egg or hidden extra along the way!

Next Page: Composition Techniques