When writing a song on a mpc.....

i know everyone is different and has different techniques but i was wondering what you guys do when creating a song on a mpc only. do you lay down a bar then copy it till its lets say as long as your song is going to be, then go back like to bar 4 and add a roll and do it that way or do you actually bang out every bar in the song.
it would be cool to see how everyone els does it

webbb82 wrote:i know everyone is different and has different techniques but i was wondering what you guys do when creating a song on a mpc only. do you lay down a bar then copy it till its lets say as long as your song is going to be, then go back like to bar 4 and add a roll and do it that way or do you actually bang out every bar in the song.
it would be cool to see how everyone els does it

well.. I make a main sequence with "hypest" or most full of the samples I cut... and I do a basic foundation for the drums... then copy that to a new sequence. Then I replace the sample track with the alternate sample track that has the less hype or full range samples (sometimes they might be EQed a bit with a low pass or something... on the 60 I would need to sample it in that way or on the 2000 I use the filter)... then I go back and add the addons to the drums for the main hype sequence and I generally do the same for the other less hype sequence but I keep it a bit more subdued.... I will then make a copy of each sequence so I can make a variation of each... the less hype sequence I usually make 4 different ones since that sequence plays more times. At the end, I then shop for a bass sound... one that fits the style... I go and add those in... and I try to make each sequence have a unique one.

once that is said and done, I will try and arrange the sequences in the song mode area in the order I envisioned.... once that is done I will go back often and get a crash that gets placed at the beginning of the sequences where transitions occur...


It sounds tedious... and it is compared to a daw I suppose... but that is part of the charm.

I do everything live, never use copy paste. Only for bars that will be played the whole song.

The samples, I do rough chops and sequence them to a certain extent. Just to a point where the idea is there to come back to later if need be. Then rough drums the same way. Then I go back and fill in any gaps with more detailed chops. Maybe skim through the record again to see if I can find variations to what I've already sampled. Then back to the drums to clean those up, separate tracks, choose better drums, etc. Then make copies of the main sequence, muting tracks to be arranged in song mode.

It's cool to see how everyone does it

webbb82 wrote:It's cool to see how everyone does it

Yeah it is,

Im probably the most boring and most straight forward. My music is just a big fuggin messy "collage" of one shots and bs so my workflow is pretty close to what the manual would lend itself too. I usually bang out 2/4/8 bar loops then compile everything in song mode, sometimes I'll copy a loop and remove certain elements for breaks etc..

The only unique stuff I do is setting myself limitations, with how my brain is I just can't say "hey do whatever you want!" so I'm pretty anal about my song structure, and how the elements are arranged.

Ya ive only had a mpc for 5 days now so all this info is helpfull.. I have so many thing I wanna ask but dont wanna clog up the forum. But I really enjoy the work flow of my mpc.. I was just useing ableton for a while and really missed hardware

webbb82 wrote:Ya ive only had a mpc for 5 days now so all this info is helpfull.. I have so many thing I wanna ask but dont wanna clog up the forum.

Find someone's advice you like so far and PM them, I probably field a few questions a week from people that just randomly PM me and we start chatting. Most frequent members are pretty easy to talk to. But of course you can't go wrong making a thread where everyone gets to talk about themselves

webbb82 wrote:Ya ive only had a mpc for 5 days now so all this info is helpfull.. I have so many thing I wanna ask but dont wanna clog up the forum. But I really enjoy the work flow of my mpc.. I was just useing ableton for a while and really missed hardware

check out the section for your model you are using... unless it's the ren

there are years worth of questions asked... probably someone asked it already. Production techniques and studio environments have a lot of info too...

Ya ive only been looking at the forum for my mpc I just found production techniques. Great stuff. A. Really awesome tips and tricks area

i usually start out with an 8 bar verse. i call it verse pt1. when creating this, i have my chops laid out, and then i make a 2 bar groove. after i get that sounding how i like, i copy it to the end and make some minor changes, now i have a 4 bar groove. after that i copy the whole thing over one more time, and now i have 8 bars, then i usually make a small transition at (sometimes i dont, use your imagination) at the end and this is the basis of the first part of my verse. i do this all on track 1, then i lay down some basic drums on the other tracks.

track 2 is snare
3 is kick
4 is hats

ect ect.

after my verse pt1 is done, i copy that whole sequence to a new sequence, add some stuff (drum rolls, transitions, ect) then name this verse pt2

now later on when i link these together later in song mode, i will have a 16 bar sequence for an emcee to rap over.

i find that it helps if your arrangment alot if you break your verses down into 2 8 bar sections, because then if i want a breakdown, or an edited alternate version of the verse, i just copy my verse pt1 over to a new sequence and change some stuff

after i get my verses done, i usually do a hook the same way.

thats about it. sometimes i throw a bridge in there, and i also try to make a distinct intro or outro for the song, but someitmes the intro is just the same as the verse, alot of it is sample dependent.

i tend to be really organized with my beats, and i always put certain instruments on certain tracks, once you get the hang of something like this, it makes it easy to switch between projects, or open up an older project and you know right away where everything is. (as long as you dont open a super old project that had no originization )

i think youll like your mpc, keep at it and youll get the hang of your workflow after a little bit of trial and error.