Have You Found Your Sound?

[Benedict Roff-Marsh]

Um yes, it was probably more a case of letting it find me or letting myself "be it" seeing, in reality, it was there all along as I thrashed around trying to please other people - or at least what I thought would please them.

What is it: Pure Electronic Music, Space Music, with shades of Prog, SynthPop, HiNRG, & even Metal (altho the genre Nazis deny that), using whatever I think I need to tell the Story that wants to be told. What it is not: EDM, attempts to clone someone else.

:-)

[MnemoSign]

I kinda maybe sorta have a kinda maybe sorta idea of what kind of music I want to make.

Kinda.

Maybe.

Sorta.

But it'll probably change ten times before I actually finish anything....

[Acef Stripe]

I would say my limited knowledge of music theory is focusing my sound!

[SHADOWMASTΞR]

That's a tough question. Probably not. Which, by the by, I am completely fine with. I think that's why I do this. To chase down what exactly that is. Honestly, I don't feel like I ever know what I am doing, musically, until my fingers touch the keys. It still takes me by surprise that it sounds good/interesting.
Even if I did feel like I had identified what exactly my sound was, I believe that artistic expression is dynamic. The music I think is brilliant now may not move me in 10 or 20 years and vice versa. Regardless, the journey to self-discovery is pretty fun when you add some reverb.

[bojanboyss]

No, it's not a challenge for myself when I make always the same way. I like to experiment. Ambient as a genre is forgiving in that area, soundtrack/score is probably even encouraging to do, but other styles may suffer so I run into inspiration problems with my other project which is groove based

[Synestia]

I feel like each time I open my DAW I have a different style in mind. I'm interested in generative ambient, but sometimes just want to create something entirely deterministic based on something going round my head.
I think once I have enough music that I'm happy with to put something out I'm going to have a headache fitting everything together - never really sure if it's something I should have multiple artist names for or not - though that's probably getting way ahead of myself as I've not actually put anything new out for about 10 years aside from contributions to the compilations here!

[Borez]

I've found the direction I want my sound to go i.e. Ambient soundbeds with found sounds and field recordings. But I don't think I'll ever find a "sound" per se as I'm always experimenting with new techniques.

[Sonic Bodhi]

What’s interesting in my case is that I never try to rely on a formula- since my tastes are pretty eclectic. I don’t like to put myself in a ‘box’, if you will. That works for some people, as they like to define themselves by certain things they do, but the way it works with me is I may acquire a new tool, vst, or instrument, and then I will be onto the sounds that produces for a while as I explore them. Then, after a few projects, I will find something else, and then that will define the sound until something else comes along. This is why I love experimental music so much- because it frees you up to not have to follow anyone else’s expectations for your sound. Because, in the long-run, even the best can get boring if it is over-used.

[falls a star]

I don't feel like "finding your sound" is an absolute thing at all, that makes one feel boxed in. When I listen to my various releases over the past few years, they each have their own character, but there's also a kind of consistency across them as a whole.

I often find at the start of a new project, I kind of flounder around for a bit before I figure out where it's going. That's where I am now. But I figure it's an important phase because it's establishing what the album is going to be like.


I've recently taken up the bass ukulele -- looks like an oversized uke, has massive but low-tension rubber strings (though metal roundwound/flatwound are also available), and can sound remarkably like an upright bass or more like a bass guitar. My goal at the start is to mainly just to enjoy it and develop my skills, but eventually I want to bring it into my ambient/drone music. It's going to be an interesting journey finding a way to integrate it. Ambient bass guitar isn't completely unheard of but it's certainly not typical, and integrating it is going to mean some changes in my recording workflow.

But I mention that because, as much as it may change things, I think it's still going to be "my sound"