How to Write Music into your DAW

Improvising music straight into your DAW can be challenging, particularly at first. It seems anything but creative and intuitive. But there are some tips and tricks that will help you be more productive and stay on track. Composer Guy Michelmore shows you how to improvise a new piece of music or song straight into his DAW.
Check out Guy’s "How to Write Music" course!
Download our FREE guide: thinkspaceeducation.com/htwm/
- - - - How To Write Music - - - -
How To Write Music explores the fundamental skills that underpin every great piece of music whether it’s a song or a film score, string quartet or video game sounds track.
Check out the free guide here to get you started: thinkspaceeducation.com/htwm-...

[@Adks007]

This man has more energy than my 10year old kid.

[@Lxgzlxgz]

😂😂

[@DJdeliverance]

That's what passion will do im totally nerding out learning a lot

[@surgicalglitch3265]

Guy is probably one of the best KZbinrs out there that actually offers genuinely good music theory that actually helps you compose great music. His information really translates well to any genre of music and he isn't trying to work the KZbin algorithm by offering titles and bullshit like some other KZbinrs out there with titles like; "THIS PLUGIN IS A BEAST!" or "HOW TO CREATE A BANGER IN 10 MINUTES". His videos are all about him entertaining himself, his audience, and most importantly getting the point across in the best way possible in clear English whilst teaching you the technical terms and ways like any great teacher.

[@striverfor7628]

2:45 Into your DAW, turn off the click 3:50 What sound will you use? 4:32 5:49 You can start with melody or ostinato 6:18 How do you improvise? 6:48 You need a certain amount of theoretical knowledge 8:22 Melody and harmony go hand in hand 11:09 The arranging stage 13:34 The happy place 16:00 Losing track of where you are 17:10 Make notes 19:30 Build it up in sequence

[@Pasta221]

Santa Guy! Thanks for teaching me theory in your course at thinkspace! the best teacher I've ever had in music 👍🏻

[@darrenhirst9900]

I was just thinking he got the job and its Dec 2😂

[@douga8296]

The greatest benefit I've gotten from your videos is that I was inspired to take up the piano a year ago. Thanks, Guy.

[@michalsiegel6717]

From my experience, always starting with different, even absolutely random instrument will lead to the most original pieces. Always starting with the same cliche like piano or strings usually leads into composing very similar pieces. :-)

[@gagarine42]

Fully agree, chords is one things, but sound texture and how it mays evolve over the piece can be very inspiring. This is one of the strength of DAW and digital instrument. Also you can develop rhythmic pattern trough that, using multiple instruments instead of playing different note. One good example would be some piece by floating points (the compositor) but their is countless others obviously.

[@jadransalaovic2516]

I allways tell my daughter when she've written a sentence, that she should read it a couple of times because then she can see the misspellings and hear when something is wrong. I do the same when composing. As I move forward after a few bars, I go back to listen it again and again. It's amazing what you can discover then. So you can change and fix it, make it better. This can take days, sometimes just s few hours. It really depends on how efficient your workflow with your DAW is, how fluently you're with chords and how much time you invest. It really helps to learn and practice those things first. After that, nice things happen. Thanks and greetings from Germany

[@lahattec]

"I allways tell my daughter when she've written a sentence, that she should read it a couple of times because then she can see the misspellings" Really helpful when texting. ;)

[@playmakersmusic]

@@lahattec Funny yet true!

[@mojorisen7812]

@@lahattecMy brain is desperately trying to make "she've" a word..

[@kosmicheskiybegun6990]

@@lahattec Вы не только любящий отец, но и мудрый наставник!

[@xchalibur77]

@@mojorisen7812 “when she writes” obviously, but he’s german so misspellings are not so strange

[@LetsSmiley]

Holy shit this was the most helpful music production video I have ever seen.

[@YvanAndrew]

Nice box for sunglasses, thank you!

[@DrMax0]

Very well put. Incidently that comes quite close to how I write music. All the years of practising free play in different keys while knowing the theory definitely paid of for me. Now I can play what is in my head directly into the daw without thinking to much about it. I second your message to all strugglers: Keep at it. Learn your theory and improvise everyday in different keys like hell. You will be rewarded in music heaven with ideas oozing out of your fingers.

[@chrisdurhammusicchannel]

Thanks @Guy Michelmore !!!! I've been watching your videos for a while, and they helped me out of a composing slump when a friend asked me to compose some music for his documentary!!! I think I've been using a welder's mask of doubt for too long!

[@rogerlindgren5801]

Just have to say. Discovered this channel today. This must be the most inspiring youtuber, that I have come across so far. I will probably watch all the videos in a few days. Thanks a lot.

[@xriou]

Merci pour ta bonne humeur. Toujours aussi sympathique.

[@harrybee3093]

YOU ARE COMPLETELY RIGHT, GUY!

[@VexylObby]

My path through music was: Wanting to play things that sounded cool to me -> figuring out music theory, thinking it was the important thing to learn -> eventually returning the importance of playing by ear and the feeling of music. There something to said about the communication of musical ideas, especially when composing for visual/story media.

[@vulcanstarlight]

Absolutely dig the beard!! 👍 Great advice, Guy. Very relevant to the musicality stumping my creations.

[@luiselassmalleben]

Man! I needed you in my life and didn't even know, yet. I'm so motivatet after every word.

[@squishrabbit]

"improvisational good fortune" = serendipity 😉

[@christiaantinga]

Guy, exactly my thing. I have a nice idea.. until I startup my DAW. Overload of options and things to go around. I just forget the fact that I should be the creator and the DAW is there to help me build it. Not the way around :) Thanks for this one! ♥

[@jimrogers7425]

Great video, Guy... and love the winter beard as well. Thank you so much! Looking forward to seeing what you do to develop the idea into a longer piece of music... and please use this initial musical seed when you do that! Cheers!!

[@samanthaknieser2312]

You are wonderful! What a fantastic virtual mentor! Thank you for sharing such helpful and lifting content. God bless, and wishing you all the best.

[@simonyin9229]

I love your energy you always bring a smile to my face and you give some great advice to boot. thank you for doing what you are doing I appreciate the hard work you put in to make awesome videos.

[@MaggieKB]

Your videos and Thinkspace Education have dramatically improved my music. I was floundering before I discovered your channel and that you use Cubase is fantastically helpful as struggling to get a handle on what could be done with it. I love improvising in Cubase and use the retrospective recording feature to avoid the anxiety that came with pressing the record key.

[@realheadphonecandy]

I like to create a sound or beat, then when something is inspiring I’ll record it then improvise after. It’s how I “write”. It’s more like receiving than writing really.

[@calebclunie4001]

This is excellent infotainment, and with music. Good job. The beverage, on the counter is so lucky.

[@ronaldeng3454]

What a fantastic sketch of practical ideas for composition. For me, I have found it easier to write on paper first because the computer always feels a step removed from raw creativity. Decide on the rough harmonic/melodic content. Then I transfer these few ideas to the daw to formalize each part, and develop lots of revisions. Once it's on the computer, it's easier to come back to when you have many projects simultaneously. Thanks for the fun intro.

[@coloaten6682]

Very interesting that you should post this video when you did! I've just spent the evening getting the beginnings of a song into my DAW. I also started with Cm, had some scratch lyrics in my head, but didn't quite know how to develop it so this idea of an ostinato, as opposed to a single chord, really helped! It is definitely true what you say, knowing the diatonic chords and their inversions is very important and really does make the whole process much easier!

[@meganknipe4393]

Guy always makes me smile!

[@edwardarchibald5697]

Guy, thank you very much! The whole video was not only delightful but extremely timely in addressing the issues that I’m facing right now. I feel immensely encouraged!

[@RetroPlus]

I love your energy, you make these videos really fun to listen to

[@pheldonmajors2999]

Thank you so much for sharing!

[@mirllewist3086]

Bravo! Thank you! Extremely useful -- even the simple point of starting with the click off. Really appreciate your vids!

[@dawnberi]

This video was so perfect for me. I literally just wrote a piece of music with strings and all, I was improvising and did all the things you spoke about - had all the feelings. Also I am very new to wwriting this way but I came away with something I like and I learned a lot. I really appreciate this vid.

[@darrenhirst9900]

Your videos are a delight to watch and that humor of yours always makes me laugh. Thank you Guy.

[@ellensoomers9496]

Love this video so much, very inspiring and i love your positive happy energy, thank you, what a wonderful way to start my day🌞🙏💞

[@andrewmjohnson8981]

Having watched Guy's video lots and lots of times, this one spoke to me directly. Now let's see what I can do with it...

[@EvanWeeks]

THANK YOU GUY! I am in exactly the situation you described. I'm used to writing scores in Musescore (and now Dorico). Directly performing stuff into a DAW is a completely new paradigm for me.

[@jamg6311]

Brilliant man, brilliant teachings. Thank you!

[@5966ramesh]

Thanks Guy. New look. Looking great.

[@mikemurphy8744]

Thanks for sharing your processes. It's very helpful. I find my self struggling at times (since I've only been playing around with stuff for a year!) in getting started. I find myself more easily inspired by video clips than just sitting down and looking at template in Cubase. I've found that the British Drama and Contemporary Drama Toolkits by Spitfire Audio help in that you can play the presets with different velocities - they often are a good idea starter.

[@owenspottiswoode5936]

Great video, Guy - I recognise in myself a lot of the common barriers you mention here and it's made me pause to think about how I can address them rather than banging my head against the same brick wall. Very keen to see that video about structure you teased too, as the hundreds of half-formed ideas on my hard drive will attest to the fact that I often struggle with that too!

[@nutsosix7930]

The piano is soo good, you can make an emotional play of emergency responders soft than hard faster play.

[@foreverswish]

This is exactly the video I needed right now! Thank you.

[@IainMNorman]

BEARD!? Looks good. Very distinguished.

[@tomyoung8229]

I'm getting better at stuffing the sunglasses of doubt and freeing my creativity. Like the c minor to e flat minor, will have to play with that. 😊

[@stevanvinter2835]

You have an energy of a 20 year old. Very upbeat. :)) Thanks man,you're great! :))

[@scottlytle457]

Irving Berlin had the piano that changed keys at the flip of a switch. Thank you!

[@benvining]

Very much appreciated this raw thought format

[@joeldavidpalmer]

Terrifically useful and inspiring advice. Many thanks, Guy.

[@LAMBOSCAG]

I am very much so looking forward to that song structure video. Thanks Guy!

[@magicmulder]

Thanks for another instructive and inspiring video, Guy! Years ago I started out with an entertainer keyboard (Tyros 5) and since I never sold it, I use it a lot to jam and record ideas (the auto-accompaniment helps me concentrate on melody and chords while not worrying about drums, bass line etc.). I record via MIDI to Cubase so I have everything in the DAW whenever I think “how did I do that nice sequence from 15 minutes ago again?”.

[@devinmaxwell7749]

Dude thanks for these lessons. I'm self taught on all music and u been a huge help progressing me. Can't really actually show said improvement. Like a complete song. But I've mastered pieces. Thanks man

[@chrishillery]

Most DAWs have a way to take an improvised piece of music and create a tempo map from it, so you don't have to turn on the metronome at all for the first pass. From there you can either make it conform to a fixed tempo, or leave it with the slight tempo variations so it can breathe a little bit. Studio One is brilliant at this, but all the big DAWs have at least some support for this.

[@jamiemori3729]

I wonder if Ableton Live has one

[@deegarmr2623]

Just watched the Creative Sauce channel's vid about this very thing. Trying it on my newest.

[@gmueckl]

@@jamiemori3729 When you use "Capture MIDI" in an otherwise empty project after you improvised something without actively recording, Ableton will dump the MIDI (recorded into a hidden internal track) from your improvisation into the project and try to guess the tempo and update the global tempo setting. I'm sure that other DAWs can do the same, but they name it differently. I use that feature a lot because it allows me to just hammer away on the keyboard for however long it takes until something interesting comes up. When I think I have something, Ableton will happily remember it for me.

[@Gurumurthyify]

Loving the red boxed “key takeaway” (pun intended) messages that slide in. As usual the content is really helpful (as are some sunglasses of doubt!) I love this “how does the brain interface with the tech?” stuff!

[@ElectronicazMusic]

Good tips! Excellent thought processes. Thank you.

[@jefffogle1288]

I always thought of using a chord-track as cheating, but I still do it because it takes away some of the "hunt and peck" of writing and building. Thanks Guy

[@michaeltruglio5554]

..."Elephant in the room"... brilliant, lol.

[@RustyTube]

This was your best yet. 😃

[@digitaliphotography]

Thanks Guy. I'm of those people who come from a scoring background. I still tend to compose into Sibelius and then dump midi files into my DAW. This has been really helpful and I'm looking forward to taking this new approach.

[@TimVolkovPhD]

I love the way you talk. I love the way you walk. I like the way you smile and make us do just that. I simply love the way you play the keys. In our plastic world, a sea breeze.

[@phobophob]

beautiful beginning of an idea.

[@senacht]

Lovely! That arpeggiated intro would work great for a nice arrangement of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. ;-)

[@paulmillington2577]

That's the main thing I think, is to keep things fresh and change the way you make music. If it's the guitar that you play, change the tuning, if it's the keyboard change the software or the type of keys. Stimulate your inspiration or just listen to your favourite artist and see how they write a song. For me it's a fantastic hobby , it take me out of myself for a few moments. BTW Guy , always very entertaining and inspiring. More power to you. Paul Millington

[@emporertorvus4475]

Thank you guy and Thinkspace education

[@HowlingUlf]

"seeing" chord shapes ans scales is probably hocus pocus for a lot of people until you have the eureka moment. but think of it as how chess pieces are moved diagonally, straight ahead, a step at a time or one forward plus one to the right/left ... YES, I'M TALKING TO YOU, HORSIE !!! if you know the most basics of chess movements , and I barely do, you can apply that to musical chord shapes and patterns and see dots and squares in a new light?

[@DaveNyne]

Let's see.. Sunglasses of Doubt, Ball Cap of Good Value, Biscuits of Creative Inspiration, and now the Happy Box of Improvisatory Good Fortune... Have I missed any?? I love these things. hahaha :)

[@chuckwagnermusic]

Thank you for this.

[@alanandjess7516]

i learned this lesson the hard way... well done guy, really great content, valuable info here people...

[@magicalmaybe7651]

Really useful stuff. Big thanks.

[@pjdahmen]

Thank you for the great tutorial today and keep up

[@devine_noise]

Guy you are a great teacher.

[@TDo280199]

Nothing better than Santa Claus personally giving you a music lesson during Christmas month

[@hvhvgitaar]

Useful video again. Thanks

[@dillonvado]

Fun video Guy! I would just observe, this is a harmony first approach to composition and improvising, but the same method could work on any given day with a melody first approach or even a rhythm first approach and follow your idea from there. Just putting it here for anybody that might be watching this and not feel competent in music theory enough to put that skill in the drivers seat. Also love the sunglasses of doubt! 🤣🤘

[@robfel68]

This video is such an interesting topic. I've been stuck for ages and this is abit helpfull. I hope you make more indept videos like this one for us who who knows intermediate music theory but having trouble moving forward.

[@TopperPenquin]

Ankh Stuck on You.

[@Jon-vc3ki]

another good video. The sun glasses of doubt had me dying. Keep up the hard work

[@mrmaison4924]

For some reason I get a lot of my inspiration during the morning porcelain time. My mind starts playing music vividly lol.

[@klaytonvonkluge4905]

Very informative, and entertaining… thank you!

[@bassManDavis1953]

Fanbloodytastic Guy, you have completely helped me as to why and what I’m doing wrong ! I have really not had any idea, most of the music I have tried to create has been unstructured and over complicated. So thank you Santa, loved every minute of your tuition and feel so much more confident now.

[@ricardochiesa9829]

8:26-8:29 Know I finally understant thorugh this beauty of a gesture, the relationship between melody and Harmony. Someone please make a GIF out of this, But seriously, really interesting video and really apprtiate you walking us through your creative process!

[@joecantdance494]

I tend to find that when I am writing electronic music, or retro electronica that pads, bass, lead and percussion will nearly always work as a basic starting point for arrangement. Then, I remove the perc altogether and replace it with an arpeggio perhaps to add a liveliness, or make the percussion as minimalist as possible. I may add a very "in your face" effect to the pads, like a phaser in order to bring up the interest levels, and then, that will usually spark something else, and can the amount of phase can be altered to taste. A delay might fill in the gaps, and add yet another layer of interest. It's a very organic approach and I'm sure a lot of people will start with a basic four piece template like that. Sometimes the simplest melody ends up being the most interesting. Just ask Jean Michel Jarre!

[@SuperbHerbMusic]

Yes. Most times I always start with pads.

[@giovannialfano5979]

Little by little you are physically turning into John Williams. The first step is the beard.

[@desoconnor7445]

Thanks I really found this very helpful 🙏🙏🏿🎩🦄

[@francisbeland8959]

Really interesting as usual. When I'm improvising, to get the tempo right, I'm using the Tap button to get the close to the tempo I need and adjust it manually after. I'm starting with a piano sound but I have some difficulty to add other instruments after. In the example that same to mind, I added a cello but only played the chord progression.

[@yams900]

Always love 💕 and enjoy your videos ! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us :) You gave me lots of ideas 💡 You’re so funny 😂 Is there a Part 2 coming ?

[@edwardarchibald5697]

One more thing: reading the many comments for this video, I find myself in a community of like minded musicians and for that I am very thankful!

[@DaveDickens]

Another excellent and entertaining video. I use the chord track effectively as a marker track it really helps when adding counter melodies, bass etc. Now why was it that when you put the sunglasses of doubt on I heard a voice in my head saying “Another bloomin’ Christmas!” 😎 Many thanks for great content, cheers Dave

[@worldofmusic7619]

Thanks!

[@vleiratfilms2020]

Lovely video .. so cool and so simple. Many years ago a little book called “Teach yourself music” had one gem .. that each key had a very different character and feel. Which was how I learned to make better mistakes in every key. Love G flat. So this makes such sense. Wish you’d been around when I was 20 and just starting! But still learning from every one of your videos.🎹😎

[@eross21]

by the way excellent video idea. this was very helpful

[@dafingaz]

Great ideas!

[@danielbenjaminmusic2920]

I love your passion and your humour, it's refreshing from a music educator. Your recommendations could use some structure! You have suggested so many different places to start, and some of them are easy places to start, whereas others require skill and experience. When the priority is efficiency, setting up a system for how to start and how to know when we have enough is near mandatory. There is no need to be afraid that everything will sound the same when you've never written anything anyways. In fact, you can have a whole career before you ever need to start a different way. And it's okay to use the same key or multi-key chord set every song: you will have to try multiple transpositions regardless to match the range of the vocalist. I am currently working on recording vocals for 4th key for the same song after trying -5, +2, and now tonight -3. If you fixate on one key, you'll miss out on the best vocal performance. And chord sets / intervals are more important than keyboard memorization: you can use Chord Pads and Cubase will handle the voice leading.

[@dezinerAhmad]

@10.10 The Best Advice Someone can give..... It is so simple that maximum people missout... I too struggled with it for many years.... You are so very Great Sir

[@stevchickmusic1574]

Hi Guy thank you for your insightful video on the improvisation challenges we all meet .On a personnel note the beard really suite you .Have a nice Christmas

[@coolscube5062]

Nice Video was brilliant !!

[@Adunxrockinhoarse]

Thank you Guy. All of these have been hugely inspiring. Your improvisation in daw video is how I write so was instantly relatable. As a songwriting singer I have used my Cubase 5 for the last 10 years and always needed to be able record ideas with at least a semblance of the production imagined and as/if they wake me up etc. My setup replaced a Tascam 2400/ previously Tascam 244 portastudio. My needs were inevitably greater in terms of composing and using the ever increasing available vast instruments and samples for writing with. I still have large compositional aspirations but Don’t have access or time for bigger studio facilities. I find myself limited greatly by Computer ability. ( Crunching !! ) etc. I suppose the limitation does make me think more about what I could lose in the /recording writing process but is so time consuming it often defeats me. Never mind ideas of adding any production effects or mastering. - So I just wondered what Daw specs you are using. And what your equipment preferences are for your style of writing. Bests Dunx. 🌍 Processor speed/ SSD and RAM etc ?

[@justinjoshua1648]

Bodacious!

[@Jan-S-Simonsen]

Thanks Guy. I really like your Cubase colour theme setup. I originally put mine on a darker theme, and I'd like to get it somewhere near yours again.

[@Janlyuk91]

Hi bro, i love your gorgeous positive and quirky personality in this movie tutorial. Greetings from Italy

[@FredsGratisScores]

I've been using Cakewalk by BandLab's arranger feature with a 5 piano template for developing ideas. I develop sparks into ideas as sections (I name the sections the chord progressions), then when I have enough ideas (sections) use the arranger to develop the structure. I can work out the general voicing and once I have an arrangement I'm happy with, I commit the arrangement to the timeline and then copy the midi to a similar 5 sketch pianos instrument in my main template and start the instrumentation phase. ... and by the way Guy, I think your John Williams look is coming along quite nicely! 😀

[@rakatafly1978]

Yes yes yes!! Make a video about structure, PLEAAASE!!! 🙏🏼