🎶 Taking Back the Game: A Producer's Guide to Bypassing Creative Ruts with Misstress Barbara
Four Innovative Methods Employed by Misstress Barbara to Initiate a Track
In our updated series, renowned producer, DJ, and singer-songwriter Misstress Barbara shares her enlightening insights into song production, breaking down creative barriers that impede your creative process.
A quintessential producer should not be confined to a single music genre. Instead, they should be an artist who conjures their music – someone who tirelessly experiments and learns the intricacies of different styles, honing their creativity and versatility.
Mishmash of craft and instinct, music production isn’t just about engineering proper techniques. It's a vulnerable artist-driven journey where the magic often lies in trusting your instincts andunctuous impulses.
Armed with creativity and versatility, Misstress Barbara has mastered the art of electronic music. When she creates a track with an enticing structure and intricate chord progression, she often starts with two essential tools: the guitar or piano as her primary instrument, switching to the computer or any surface that allows her to articulate beats, melodies, and sounds.
The ever-expansive digital landscape of music production can sometimes leave us feeling perplexed and overwhelmed, leading to writer's block. "How do I start my track?" — the seemingly insurmountable challenge that plagues producers everywhere. With a cornucopia of options at our fingertips, even making that first note can feel like a Herculean task.
Moaning and groaning about it won’t help. In fact, Misstress Barbara reminds us to conquer those creative hurdles with her sage advice: "Fuck it, I'll do it my way!"
With unwavering conviction, she masterfully asserts that embarking on your creative journey and trusting your intuition is the key to overcoming your creative blocks and crafting captivating music. Get ready to dive into her battle-hardened wisdom and unique arsenal of production strategies, designed to help you thrive!
Making a Groove Your Bitch
Groove, the quintessential lifeblood of any dance music track, can be found in the most unlikely places — a rolling dishwasher, a harmonious symphony of car horns, or simply your mom's primal bop as she dances to Groove Ganaré's 1964 classic, “Have A Good Time.”
It's not just about the initial beat that moves you, but the harmonious combination of various repeating sounds that creates the magic.
Spotting a rousing groove and recording it is little more than a recording artist’s job. Once you've got those brief instants of inspiration, all that's left is to sit down at your keyboard or DAW (digital audio workstation) and recreate it using your preferred sounds. Playing with those precious bits of inspiration can yield breathtaking results, opening the door to myriad musical possibilities.
Start with a Bold Kick and Sample
When you're completely bereft of ideas, look no further than your DAW (digital audio workstation) and a well-crafted kick drum sample. Lay that deep, thumping foundation and find a sample with a healthy, low-end resonance. Use your DAW's transpose function to pitch it down slightly, and voilà—you've got yourself a bassline.
As a producer, it's crucial to start with a solid foundation: a catchy kick drum and an intriguing bassline. Let these two elements ignite your creativity and comprise the heart of your production, setting the stage for further inspiration.
Groove and Serendipity
Just as it's crucial to trust yourself, seeking inspiration in unconventional places is equally vital. Max for Live's Mono Sequencer offers a fantastic new perspective, providing a fresh canvass to forge mind-boggling sequences that would be challenging to produce using conventional means.
Simply install this impressive plugin, lay a sample down, and allow the Mono Sequencer to weave its musical magic. While the results may appear chaotic at first, you'll soon find striking elements that form the basis of a powerful track. Play around, experiment, and don't be satisfied with perfection. Sometimes, groove can be found in the most unlikely of places, waiting to be discovered.
Embrace Imperfection and Dare to Suck
Exercising your intuition is all about embracing the process of forming imperfect ideas and building upon them. By allowing yourself to create without limitations, you'll develop captivating melodies, chords, and rhythms that would have otherwise been stifled by self-censorship.
To achieve greatness, you must first be willing to embrace the mediocre — to step out of your comfort zone and cruise headlong into the abyss of experimentation, knowing that extraordinary ideas are likely to emerge on the other side. Now saddle up and show the world what you're made of, knowing that every mistake, every failure, brings you closer to the extraordinary. So, fuck it, just do it!
Stay tuned for the next episode of 'Fuck it, I'll do it my way!' as Misstress Barbara unveils her tips on vocal effects chains, offering insights into the production process that helped her reach the pinnacle of her craft. In the meantime, venture forth, explore new sounds, and unlock your hidden potential!
Barbara Bonfiglio, also known as Misstress Barbara, is an electronic music pioneer, DJ, and singer-songwriter. With over twenty years in the game, she has produced, DJ’d, conquered charts, and performed in countless countries. Guest writer at our website.
Join our exclusive list of readers and receive weekly gear guides, tips, tutorials, inspiration, and more: Subscribe Now.
Keep up with our blog for the latest new posts here: Latest Posts.
In the realm of music production, an artist should not limit themselves to a single genre, but rather explore various styles to cultivate creativity and versatility, as demonstrated by electronic music master, Misstress Barbara. With her unique approach to beat making, she transforms basic instruments like the guitar or piano into digital canvas for her mesmerizing music.
In a digital landscape brimming with endless possibilities, encountering creative roadblocks is common. However, Misstress Barbara urges producers to conquer those hurdles with unwavering determination, reminding us that embracing our intuition is the key to overcoming creative blocks and producing captivating music.
