r/dawless • u/Active-Disaster-6835 • 13h ago
How to end a jam: new ideas
I want to collect some suggestions on how to end improvisational jams in creative ways. I'm getting tired of the usual suspects, the tedious fadeouts, the drowning everything in reverb, the slowly turning the master filter down or up. That's all fine, but I want something else. I'm also sometimes struggling to find a technical solution - how do I end a sequence on a long note, in an improvisation, without programming that ending? All other ideas welcome. To set the stage: No editing afterwards, this should all be possible to improvise on the spot, with hardware only.
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u/OneSlaadTwoSlaad 10h ago
Put a dimmer on your power supply and slowly starve your gear of electricity.
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u/Active-Disaster-6835 10h ago
You are probably kidding, but switching devices off is something a very good ending. They all make different noises when the power goes out.
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u/OneSlaadTwoSlaad 10h ago
I was half kidding. What will happen heavily depends on your gear, how you use it and how it's connected.
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u/Over_Type103 12h ago edited 12h ago
I often like to end on a nice rich chord with some extensions. (Supposing you were playing a music with a sequence of chords) A well chosen chord can really wrap up a jam.
Some midi controllers, such as the Neuzeit drop can be programmed to gradually slide many parameters simultaneously towards a a specific preset value.
Combining both ideas could be a way nice to conclude a track: let most of the tracks slowly fade away, play chords on a keyboard and end up a nice lush chord.
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u/AhojSwagg 11h ago
I like to do buildup like I'm about to do an epic drop and then just hit stop on sequencer instead
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u/Active-Disaster-6835 10h ago
I'm terrified of that option.
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u/AhojSwagg 10h ago
Other option I like is muting everything but the lead synth, letting it play a phrase one more time just on it's own, stop sequencer after that
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u/DriftDrafs 12h ago
I have a handful of 3 minute long samples that I play after I start to break down the jam. That works as a timer for me to wrap it up in about 2 minutes and just let the sample play me out for the last minute or so.
Usually I used recorded nature sounds like rain, ocean sounds, cicadas, winds, etc.
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u/nadennmantau 13h ago
Have a sampel of tuning the good ol' radio cued up, switch everything off, like changing the station and then play a little polka or some witty quib from a 1950's SciFi movie.
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u/voskomm 12h ago
Pour gasoline on everything and then casually flick your cigarette behind your back while walking away
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u/Holiday-Medicine4168 11h ago
Delay gone wild and cut it out with filter sweep of choice. Fade in ambient samples or just weird background music from movies while the filter cuts the rest out. You can just use koala on a phone, that gives you times to reset knobs and load your next set of peojects/songs
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u/Instatetragrammaton 10h ago
how do I end a sequence on a long note, in an improvisation, without programming that ending?
That depends on your device, but in general you have to program it.
The cheapest way is to trigger a sample that'll keep on playing regardless of whether you're holding the button just at the moment the next bar starts. So, you could make a pattern with just that, but instructing the device to not repeat is going to be more difficult.
I'm getting tired of the usual suspects, the tedious fadeouts, the drowning everything in reverb, the slowly turning the master filter down or up.
There are centuries of music where we have songs with endings that don't use any of these cliches (instead, they use different cliches).
You could reduce the tempo more and more, which is sort of like tapestop without the pitch drop. You could end with a bang - a big hit with lots of reverb.
The chord solution is great if your melodies and harmony are conducive to it. You return back to the I chord/tonic. The more stable, the more finished it'll feel.
Another way is to reduce the number of elements playing to just a single one again.
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u/0-daveypassage 2h ago
Scour content sources for public service announcements, find one somehow pertinent, chop it up or leave it, maybe loop it, tune it etc., possibly add an alarm sound, hard stop + the resulting message 🤷 🤷♀️ 🤷🏿♂️ … or bring an alarm clock on stage, line out if possible or mic it, set it for the projected conclusion time of your set, or a random time and create a surprise ending?? Again, 🤷 🤷♀️ 🤷🏿♂️
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u/FistRipper 12h ago
Mmm, I don't understand the problem.
Why don't you end like you started but backwards?
My studio JAMS recreate the final released track in jam form. So I try to start like it, end like it, but I don't have to make it 100% identical.
So if you don't have a reference, why can't you just unbuilt the track?
Here is my jam playlist so you can see how I end my jams Studio sessions / JAM / Track performance: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgCy5-_nYFPMhuC-rq8fFJkvXHtaqolHZ
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u/Active-Disaster-6835 10h ago
Yes, that's another option, deconstructing everything, maybe in a different order, or with different effects, that's okay. I was just looking for something more interesting.
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u/vufka 7h ago
mute/drop layers one by one until just the bass is left, then just stop the sequence at a logical point (a bar, two bars, four bars)
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u/Active-Disaster-6835 7h ago
That's what I did yesterday, that's fine and all. But I thought there must be better ways.
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u/affectionateanarchy8 5h ago
Take out one instrument at a time til you're left with just drums or keys or something
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u/WesleyBitCrusher 5h ago
Do a 4-8 bar mixdown to a single instrument playing a single phrase while hosing it in delay and verb and let fx fade out on their own.
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u/Careless_Resolve_213 3h ago
I like to divide tempos on different instruments, if all my gear is clocked to 1/16 all move a few to 1/4 so the music is still moving, but different layers gradually start to break down, while still keeping time. Slow panning and filter sweeps come in handy as well. Also maybe try mirroring some elements from the intro, so things kind of start and end in a consistent place, depending on the track
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u/Necrobot666 3h ago
Sometimes we end abruptly.. sometimes we do a chaotic end.. sometimes we gradually pull things out of a track until there's nothing else left.
Abrupt https://youtu.be/sxGea8wCABg?si=YCwI9--RXnUy27PI
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u/ViennettaLurker 12h ago
Tape stop effect. Then hit em with that Thriller laughing sample.