How To Figure Out Your Sound

If you are just starting out, it can be a daunting task really pinning down what you feel your sound may be. You think, “this is easy enough” in theory but actually delivering that sound is harder than it looks. Personally we think that making music should be enjoyable and fill you with happiness. If you love music, there is a very high chance you already know what your favorite genres are, who you want to emulate musically, and who you look up to within the music industry. So you may be asking, don’t I already know my sound? This may not be the case as you try different styles and genres, quickly realizing that what you envisioned doesn’t quite sound the same after hearing yourself. Within a specific genre, there are many subgenres and niches that can be difficult to nail down the first try singing, rapping, or recording your music.

Sometimes your sound comes to you by surprise, and you will try something new and it works well with your inflections, rhythm, and overall performance of the vocals. When John and I started out we had an idea of the genre we wanted to dive into when selecting instrumentals. Although, some beats John sounded great on and I sounded absolutely horrible trying to sing over. Some beats floated more into the pop realm and it was difficult for John to rap over. Sometimes what you like aesthetically doesn’t adhere to your vocal range or flow. There comes a time, at least in our opinion, where you sit down and think about what exactly you have the capability in producing.

What we do, to this day, is first select an instrumental, and just have a few listens. As we are listening to our selection, we describe how it is making us feel and thinking of melodies and flow. It tells us if there is a general tone that works with the instrumental, creating something we can feel happy about. We will play around with some lyrics as well, and sometimes we just have a great day where that feeling transmutes easily into words forming a song. Other times, we listen and say we don’t feel we fit on the instrumental. Anything forced, we believe, is never really beneficial and for our work style we like to keep it naturally flowing. If you feel like you love what you are hearing, then you found your sound. Experimenting is key to really see how far your creative abilities can stretch, sometimes you find sounds and realize you had no idea you possessed these qualities. Another tip we find resourceful is recording ourselves on our phones to see how it sounds on the playback. It is easier to process and understand the sounds working together in forming a song. All in all though, have fun because the whole point is to bring out your creative passion and love for music. Sometimes it will be easy to identify exactly what your sound is, and other times you may feel unsure. Although, it is important to understand that if you really have a passion for making music, you must keep experimenting until you find something you are excited to record and show people.

 

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URBANO