5 Things to Make Better Music INSTANTLY 

I used to write lift music, it had its ups and downs.

Hi! I just need to get this off my chest. I'm "only" 34 but I have been writing and recorded my own music in Cubase since I was 9 back in 1995. I've released several albums, toured and also written music for other artists. I studied music for 10 years so I know quite a lot about music theory. Even so, I haven't had any interest in writing music for the past couple of years, just because I felt stuck and that everything I wrote sounded the same. I found your channel just a couple of days ago and I think I've watched your every video about composition and it has been so valuable and inspiring that it got my motivation back. So thank you, really!

1:30 worrying that Guy's piece of slaughtered rubbish is still way better than anything I could wrote...

The piece at the start gives me Sims vibes, it isn't actually that bad... lol

I was addicted to lift music but i changed my mindset and took all the necessary steps to avoid it.

"Hello everybody, and welcome to the shed" Guy would be such a polite Jigsaw-esque movie villain

At 24:33 - I'm glad I'm not the only person who plays imaginary vibrato on a keyboard when playing a string patch

Guy shows a definite flair for creating interesting presentations. His RU-vid channel teaches and entertains like a Monty Python show. The lessons move fast, but dedicated viewers learn what they didn't know, and then understand how to improve. Guy M is a blessing. Individual creativity combined with his guidance should rapidly remove musical drivel from our ears.

I laughed out loud when you described my "unfinished" folder... it really is bigger than everything else put together! :-D

...I especially liked the piano and vibes trick... one might almost call it a Cunning, Cunning Pan...

"It's not a tune, it's a musical car crash" - Guy Michelmore, 2020

Sir, you have shown me that I'm far more capable than I would've ever thought. I've spent my entire adult life as a dumb heavy rock drummer with bigger musical visions. Visions that I always assumed were out of reach of my actual musical abilities... man, have I been wrong for 35 years....THANK YOU, Mr. Michelmore, for showing the world that musical creation doesn't have to be mega complicated.

Super informative Mr.Guy! Since I am a total noob even at amateur level of composing music, I was confused when you said that the music was trash in the beginning. Little did I know that, my whole thought process would change by the end of the video! Really appreciate your work :)

"Terrible vibes" was an amazing piece of music. Elevator classic.

One of the best youtube channels out there.

"That's not a tune, that's a musical car crash" Made me choke on my drink there xD

OHHH NOOOOO...... ear worm alert!!!! I found myself humming this tune while waiting in the queue for lunch....

Dude, you give us so much of your time, for free! Great content, nice guy. I salute you sir!

If someone was searching for timestamps... 2:52 What Is My Idea? 4:49 Make Sure Everything Lines Up 16:34 Space Your Ideas Out 30:38 Make Sure Instruments Have Their Own Sonic Space 36:26 Reverses Help Transitions

“Stinkily done drums”....I’m stealing this phrase for the next drummer I record! 😂👍🏼

I love the analogy of a melody being like a child lost in a supermarket!!

Could you make a video about how you went from a news anchor to a film composer?

I love your energy and vibe. Your colourful language makes me want to learn more from you/ThinkSpace and develop a career in music. Thank you for sharing your decades of knowledge for free to people like me who have a true musical passion and yearn to learn to be awesome! 🎉❤️

Guy, you're such a blessing! Cheers for all the amazing content and great energy.

I have loads of 1 minute ideas which don't seem to go anywhere...and I think this video nails it as to why! Thanks for another really useful video!

absolutely love your channel, man. very informative and highly entertaining. can't get enough.

Excellent video! Composing is a lot like scultping, in the sense that you are actively chipping away at the piece, you have to know what you don’t want the piece to be, in order to find out what you do want it to be.

This is my favorite music channel. Guy's are the only ones that don't lose me 2 minutes in. Thank you Guy!

your tune is literally the perfect on hold for hours loop

Again - just brilliant - when you say each instrument needs its own sonic space, it's a completely different than advice from audio mixing blogs that say to EQ and shape frequencies that clash, but here you're saying just play in different spaces, both in terms of frequency and rhythm, which means there's little need to cut frequencies in the mix. BRILLIANT.

I like the violin tune in the first one, it has emotion and reminds me of an old Irish tune. So there is a very big redeeming quality for you. The improvements were a great lesson in making something highly polished, pleasant, interesting with varied background, but without that violin I was not moved much by it.

"We're gonna work on it until we get to true mediocrity." Hilarious!

Definitely going to take these tips into consideration whilst nextmaking music, Thanks Guy!!

Has a very love/drama/comedy film score vibe going on! Love it!

Your humor cracks me up. Good ideas that are applicable to all genres.

Amazing transformation. I thought it was OK to start but it became quite good. Learned a lot, thank you!

Honestly I think its not that bad, it reminds me a lot of kingdom hearts, when you walk around a peaceful part in a town

Thanks Guy! I found this very interesting because I have many...uhm, not so great works that have a good idea in them. I will give these techniques a try and see what happens. Thanks again.

I have been 'back' to this video probably 1/2 a dozen times since it was broadcast and well.... I have managed to fix a couple of ideas but, MORE IMPORTANTLY... I have managed to toss out a bunch of ideas that just did not work and I could not find a way to make them work. At this time in my 'development', this is the video I needed most. Thank you Guy and the team. Again, super valuable information! Highly recommend Thinkspace Education short courses as well. Amazing content that usually reflects exactly what I need when I need it. I also find myself 'reviewing' courses and these RU-vid videos quite often. Well worth the effort and time it takes to put all this great information into practice. Thanks for filling up my PC's trash bin... I honestly don't feel bad about getting rid of the unworkable ideas.

Who could have thought that making sure your harmonic and rhythmic elements don't clash might make your music better???? MIND. BLOWN.

...that's a musical car crash. So genius, there is so much more to learn from your videos than "only" music. Thanks for all of your time doing these great videos!

I looooooove these videos! You energy is great. Tiny request, a deEsser on your vocal mic. It’s a bit sharp in the ear when listening on AirPods. Great content though 🙌

It's great to see a professional going into the Piano Roll and dragging stuff around. With some RU-vidrs, you get the impression that everything is done by a magical keyboard shortcut like ctrl-cmd-shift-esc-dollar sign.

It's been 9 minutes and I've made 45 songs! This works!

Keep that tune handy. Spitfire Audio have a competition for composers coming up. Too soon? ☹️

This is absolutely brilliant. So interesting to follow the thought process. (Taking a deep breath and looking at my "Unfinished ideas" folder...)

I just found you an absolutely love your RU-vid videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your light.

A work of music can always do with a little cut and trim and some polish, sometimes you need dynamite to get anything good out of it, thanks to Guy for the inspiring videos.

Well, Guy, you just presented the main dilemmas in my writing. Very useful. Thank you so much!

I would not be surprised if you were involved with Monty Python productions. You show us a passion for teaching music. Thank you for making RU-vid presentations for beginners, such as myself. They are interesting and entertaining (where intended). Keep up the great work!

6:40 Physical proof of Guy's immense and unreal knowledge as it ripples the lens of the camera.

Thanks for the leg up Guy.... Your advice has given me a sense of direction... 😎

Great video Guy, as always. But one thingy would be helpful: a short "what have you learned today" summary or something similar at the end. Also you could write the "5 things" in short sentences in the video descriptions, perhaps even with a timestamp. Does that make sense?

You are just awesome, Guy! I thoroughly enjoyed watching you work on what is sure to be nominated for the "Annual Lift Music of the Year Awards!"

Grand designs , the peice and the patches sound like some thing from that TV show . The music suits the part where Graham Mackay the host is on his his final visit to the property

Inspirational thanks Guy. Hammers home that I need to learn Cubase and shortcuts a bit better too.

You couldn't be more right in regards to music needing one good idea that stands as the foundation. I develop allot of artists in my line of work and one of the biggest problem I find with bad music is the fact that people send me Drum & Bass, Dubstep, Future Bass and Synthwave etc... which just wanders aimlessly with no direction or meaning. Then I'm asked what I think of the 'drop' in their tune and I have to explain to them that they have sent me four minutes of relentless ideas joined together with no form or function. Cheers!

Love your videos Guy! Im learning alot. God bless you from Norway!

Thank you Guy, another great video! It's true that it's not rocket science still, even if these might be well known aspect of composition, there are two advantages on your video: first is that it's useful to put them all toghether as rules to follow and second is that you might have heard those advices 20 times, but these are things that needs to be remembered now and then because, particularly if one's an old chap like me and doesn't do this as a daily job, we tend to forget and get stuck again in the same old mistakes. So thanks twice :-)

You’re so expressive while talking and it’s very entertaining. But I gotta say, Every time you reached past that cup of tea above that keyboard I started rubbing my forehead just riddled with worry.

Thanks so much for this approach! Taking something bad, breaking it down and identifying the badness and showing how to improve it. This is needed just as much as the videos where everything just appears to fall into place. Thank you!

Hilarious!! I love your teaching method and wonderful sense of humor Guy!! I had so much fun watching this - you are AWESOME! Thank you 👍😁👍

It's like musically experiencing a building society advert from 20 years ago! ;) Great video.

Guy, always worry when you have a hot drink hovering over that beautiful keyboard, you have form 😀. Exquisitely enthusiastic and infectiously inspirational. Thank you for sharing your talent and humour. Paul, Kent.

Dude, you're awesome! I've watched a couple of videos now and I'm really digging what you teach. And you make me think of Gordon Gordon Wyatt, from Bones and not just the accent, but the whole attitude, body language and facial expressions. I always thought they should have done a lot more with Gordon Wyatt, but you make up for it. I'm going to watch a lot more on your channel, for sure. ;)

Great work Guy. And thanks for so entertaining content. 👌👌👌

Your superbly refreshing, honest and inspiring in the best way.

Thanks Guy...I'm loving having discovered your videos in recent times..really enjoying them and learning a lot! Thank you. How is the new Komplete keyboard going...I've had my eye on it for a while..still enjoying it?

Amazing music channel! Thank you for your time. I spent hours listen and trying to lern your great knowledgement sir. Greetings from Portugal 🇵🇹 ✌️

Fantastic lessons... thanks so much

Yesss, daily dose of Guythusiasm!!! Very useful advice, thank you sir.

My friend, you are to me now the Tony Robinson of film scoring :-) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :-)

hey, dude...i have see your clips, and you made me better in music,sounds and "progress"...! you are a so good theacher and musican!...respekt!...have a nice 2021...your KrautRockt!er... from germany.. PS: i like your lessions so much!...

I always enjoy the style, as well as the information, on your channel. I wasn’t quite convinced by the instrumentation of this piece. I liked having the viola tune but, to me, the vibes don’t sit well in the ensemble to my amateur ears. I can’t imagine there being much music in written for a band format like this.

Vibes, drums, bass, and strings work... The piano and guitar make me want to remove my ears. : ) Great tips, video, and commentary! Thanks, Guy

That first part, of the first bit of music, made me think of that old claymation Christmas movie called Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Especially in the string line. Add some sleigh bells and it would be almost perfect. So crazy!

I just posted your video for my Berklee Class assignment. Good stuff.

Great video. This has shamed me into going back to something I had technically finished and having another crack at it - the textures were very pretty but no-one can deny that there's a harmonic horror at its heart.

Great video. Humor and yet I’m learning so much. Thanks!

If you have a reverse crash, having it go to silence (nothing) is (to me) a bit awkward and can actually draw MORE attention to it than it deserves. LOL. Now, it can be a cymbal crash but it can also be a nice tasty synth chord hit that fades out, or a noise hit. I consider transitions to be kind of a Question/Answer component in production. Having a question with no answer will draw more attention to it. Just my opinion here. There are some great snippets of advice here. Nice one GM!

The concept to start from a bad idea and to fix it was great! I would love to see another video with the same concept. However this time I think that the final version of the song was not so much better than the original one.. PS. I really enjoy your videos! Thank you, Guy :-)

Right then, I'm one minute into the video and I love it simply because you told me to get a coffee! Based on that I'm already thinking about signing up to Thinkspace!

from the start i agree with you , the intro music was just perfect for a lot of bad soap opera that i have seen lately but it is good to listen that, to know how to make a better life , this intro was so boring that it could be a hit for a lost soul , you way to give classes is the contrary , i appreciate a lot how to make learning music a delight , thanks

This is the best and most constructive help I've found in ages.

Guy’s videos are acc a form of therapy, I feel so deeply at peace at the end of every video lol

Many LOLz in this video... But my favorite must be: "...we've gone from really obviously awful up to a sort of slight level of nausea. But we're gonna work on it until we get to TRUE MEDIOCRITY!" Quote of the decade with regards to much of the music out there...

I'm sure i've been on hold to this :)

You write music with so much skill. I can hear those little nuisances in all music I make but never know how to fix it, I just know something is wrong. Compared to what you were looking at mine would sound like a train wreck🤣 I am embarrassed to know so little

you are such a nice guy. Love your videos! Thank you

i really love your humor as you go lol 😅, learning day by day here.

"that's not a tune, that's a musical carcrash"🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣you are just as funny as you are a musical genius Guy! Love your videos and all that there is to learn, you are my favourite teacher ever🎹🎶❤

So funny and yet educational. I lol'd and I learned, as usual :)

The next time I have to come up with a band name (a task I loathe), "Bang Crash Wallop" will be a strong candidate.

Thanks Guy, for those of us who play by eye with little music training (mostly self), your channel is a treasure trove. Your enthusiasm for music always comes through. Without the discipline of music theory, some of our stuff sounds "lost in space" structurally and harmonically. You pull us back into the the sensible disciplines of music theory. The old synth players like myself often get lost in texture rather than melody, rhythm and harmony and fall into patterns of what we know rather than what we should know. I find your training useful.

15:54 “We’ve worked out what’s important…” that would be the tea, obviously, Guy. 😊 Does anyone else ever just copy the bass part to the drums and force them all to C1, or whatever your kick drum is on, and chop out any passing notes? Sometimes, I find it the best way to lock them together meaningfully.

Quite an interesting process to watch. Thank you. Personally if I'm looking for instruction, I prefer a tighter and more structured approach to videos but this is your style and many seem to warm to it, so I guess I'm not in your demographic. One slight and more concrete suggestion I'd give is, if you're going to keep waving your arms about, you might want to consider putting your camera in manual focus. You have a friendly face and it's a shame that it keeps blurring up.

Enjoyed that very much 🙌

Amazing Video Mate!🏆

Thank you for this video. Great advice and lesson. Except that I'd like to have a three hour loop of your original tune. Great for long car rides with the kids. All the best from the Bay Area. MK

The first listen to that piece, reminded me of a ridiculous preset demo from a very crappy organ. I loved it.