Workflow met Headhunterz: Starting a new song

Door Hard News 12 maart 2016

Headhunterz is erg actief op Instagram en trakteert z’n volgers dan ook dagelijks op nieuwe updates. Hoewel hij niet meer zo actief is op het gebied van hardstyle, is hij sinds een tijdje bezig met het geven van waardevolle studio-tips.

‘Workflow Wednesday’ noemt hij deze tips zelf. Aangezien veel van onze lezers zelf ook wel eens aan wat knopjes proberen te draaien in de studio zullen we deze tips iedere week op de website publiceren. Afgelopen woensdag besloot hij om wat uit te leggen over ‘Starting a new song’. Lees en leer!

“Even though I just arrived in Hong Kong after a 15 hour journey for a small Asia tour I’ll do my best to give you something useful.

Many people ask me how I start a new song and I know that this is different for everyone. I know producers that start with a kick and a bassine, I know others that start with a groove, but for me when I start a song it’s about the idea. The magic has to be there from the start. I don’t want to make ‘another track’. I want to make a great song. And in the music I make, that is not going to happen just by having a good kick and bass or a nice drum groove. I’ll make those when I’m not feeling inspired or when the idea is already there. The idea starts in my mind. I really ask myself what do I want to make? Very often I’m lucky to have a great vocalist who sparks the idea for a melody, but if you don’t, why not just throw in an acapella you like, make a song and then take out the acapella?

I love vocals as a starting point, and then a melody inspired by the vocal. The drop is often the last thing I make after putting down an atmosphere for the rest of the track. The drop compliments all of that, like the plot of a movie unfolding. Most of the time I feel very uninspired when I have to make a drop off the bat. Just doesn’t work for me. Melodies of the bat can work, but I find when I have a vocal that my melodies come out more unique, in a way I couldn’t have thought of without that vocal. So to put it short. Start with the idea for a track. it has to be great from the start, without having great drums, without having a buildup etc. A naked idea. The better the idea, the less you can go wrong from there on.

So many legendary songs have many flaws but we love them because they have the magic of being great ideas that resonate with us on a deeper level than just music science.”