by Tim Cant

How to make a song from start to finish using KOMPLETE 14 Select

How to make a song with KOMPLETE 14 Select

KOMPLETE 14 SELECT is the ideal way to get into making music, and includes a wide variety of instruments, effects, and presets that will help you make polished productions right away. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to make your first complete song from scratch step-by-step using some of the sounds included with KOMPLETE 14 SELECT. We’re going to use Ableton Live as our audio editing software for this tutorial (a free trial version of which is available), but you can use whatever DAW you like to follow along. We’ll also use iZotope Ozone 10 for some simple mastering.

Jump to these sections:

How to make a song with KOMPLETE 14 Select:

  1. Make a drum beat
  2. Create a verse
  3. Make a pre-chorus
  4. Compose a chorus
  5. Develop the chorus
  6. Build a bridge
  7. Arrange your track
  8. Master your song

Follow along with KOMPLETE 14 Select, a powerful music production suite with powerful synths, high-impact drums, studio-grade effects, and an array of shapeable sounds to get you creating professional-sounding music.

 

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How to make a song with KOMPLETE 14 SELECT

1. Make a drum beat

The first element we’re going to make is a simple drum beat that will give us something to compose our chords around. We’ll stick with Live’s default project tempo of 120 BPM (this is the same for practically all DAWs), and you can begin by adding KOMPLETE KONTROL to a MIDI track.

In KOMPLETE KONTROL’s Files tab, navigate your way to where the NEO BOOGIE folder is located.

The NEO BOOGIE folder
The NEO BOOGIE folder

If you’re not sure where to find the expansion, load up Native Access, select Neo Boogie Days in the list of installed products, then click its ellipsis button and select the Installation Paths option. This will display the folder where NEO BOOGIE is located.

Locating NEO BOOGIE in Native Access
Locating NEO BOOGIE in Native Access

Open the Sounds > Battery Kits folder, then double-click Intercontinental Kit to load it up.

The Intercontinental Kit
The Intercontinental Kit

Sequence C1 kick drums on each beat of the bar. We’re going to use velocity values of 100 for everything in this tutorial unless otherwise specified.

Adding kick drums
Adding kick drums

Next add D1 snares on the second and fourth beats.

Adding snare drums
Adding snare drums

Then add G#1 closed hats between each beat.

Adding closed hats
Adding closed hats

Now loop this clip out for four bars.

Looping out the drum beat
Looping out the drum beat

Set this track to -6 dB to give us headroom in the mix to add more elements.

Turning down the drum beat
Turning down the drum beat

2. Create a verse

Add KONTAKT 7 to a new MIDI track and load up THE GENTLEMAN.

Loading THE GENTLEMAN
Loading THE GENTLEMAN

Set this track to -6 dB to balance it with the drum beat.

Balancing THE GENTLEMAN
Balancing THE GENTLEMAN

Our song is going to be made up of three main building blocks, the verse, chorus, and bridge. Let’s start by composing a chord progression for the verse. We’re going to use a progression that plays A major, F# minor, G major and A major with a velocity of 127.

The verse chord progression
The verse chord progression

This chord progression is satisfying because it has a mix of weak and strong harmonic motion, shared tones between chords, and a mix of major and minor chords.

It’s worth noting that, despite not starting or ending on D major, these chords are all from the key of D major. We’ll come back to this later when we compose the chorus and bridge.

Before we move on from the verse, let’s add some more elements. The next element we’ll make is a bass line. Add a new MIDI track and load KOMPLETE KONTROL up on it. Click the arrow where it says All Instruments, then double-click Massive in the Synthesizers section. This filters the available presets and shows us only the ones that are for MASSIVE.

Selecting MASSIVE in KOMPLETE KONTROL
Selecting MASSIVE in KOMPLETE KONTROL

Next set the Types filter to bass. Now the list of presets will only show us bass sounds for MASSIVE.

Selecting bass presets in KOMPLETE KONTROL
Selecting bass presets in KOMPLETE KONTROL
Double-click the Analog Classique 1 preset to load it up.
The Analog Classique 1 preset
The Analog Classique 1 preset

Set the Cutoff Macro to around 11 o’clock to dull the sound a touch.

Turning down the Cutoff Macro
Turning down the Cutoff Macro

Set this track to -6 dB to balance it with the other elements.

Balancing the bass sound
Balancing the bass sound

Here’s a bass line that follows the roots notes of the chords, with an octave jump at the end of keep things interesting.

The verse bass line
The verse bass line

Now let’s add a simple lead line. Add another MIDI track and this time add KONTAKT 7. Load up the SOUL SESSIONS instrument.

The SOUL SESSIONS instrument
The SOUL SESSIONS instrument

In SOUL SESSIONS click the arrow next to the preset name then select the Mallets > Luz Del Sol Vibes preset.

The Luz Del Sol Vibes preset
The Luz Del Sol Vibes preset

Set this track to -6 dB to balance it with the other elements.

Balancing the lead sound
Balancing the lead sound

Here’s a simple lead line that just plays A4 and B4.

The lead line
The lead line

That’s all we need for our verse. Before we make a chorus, let’s create a pre-chorus, which for this song is just going to be a copy of the verse with a more developed lead line.

3. Make a pre-chorus

Duplicate out the verse.

Duplicating the verse
Duplicating the verse

We’re going to use a different lead line for this section, so delete the existing lead and use this instead:

The pre-chorus lead line
The pre-chorus lead line

This lead line brings up the anticipation level between the verse and the chorus, which we’ll create next.

4. Compose a chorus

Duplicate just the drums out to give us a foundation for the chorus.

Duplicating the drums
Duplicating the drums

On the chords track, use this chord progression:

The chorus chords
The chorus chords

These chords play B minor, G major, D major, and A major.

This chorus progression has a strong resolution since it ends on the V chord of D major, which is A major. This is a dominant chord that leads smoothly back into the verse progression, which also begins with A major.

Now let’s add a bass line to fit these chords.

The chorus bass
The chorus bass

Again, the bass line follows the root of the chords, with another octave jump at the end, just like the verse and pre-chorus.

Now let’s make a lead line for the chorus.

The chorus lead
The chorus lead

This simple, three note lead line harmonizes with the chorus and gives us a bittersweet feeling.

6. Develop the chorus

Let’s develop the chorus with a counter-melody. Duplicate the chorus out.

The extended chorus
The extended chorus

Add another MIDI track, and add another instance of KONTAKT 7. Load the SOUL SESSIONS instrument again, and this time select the Lead > Caterpillar Feet preset.

The Caterpillar Feet preset
The Caterpillar Feet preset

Set this track to -3 dB.

Balancing the Caterpillar Feet preset
Balancing the Caterpillar Feet preset

Copy the counter-melody we’ve used here. This contrasts rhythmically and melodically with the main lead, giving us a more involved feel.

The counter-melody
The counter-melody

6. Build a bridge

Now let’s make a bridge that will provide variation later in the song. Duplicate out the drums once again to give us a foundation to work from.

Duplicating drums for the bridge
Duplicating drums for the bridge

We’ll use this chord progression for the bridge:

The bridge chord progression
The bridge chord progression

This progression plays E minor, B minor, F# minor and G major, giving us a change of feel with predominantly minor chords, but keeping everything in D major so nothing sounds too radical.

Here’s a bass line for the bridge. This follows the root notes of the chords, but there’s no octave jumping note this time, which helps the bridge sound different to the verse and chorus.

The bridge bass line
The bridge bass line

We’re not going to use a lead line for the bridge, another factor that helps differentiate it from the verse and chorus.

Let’s also add a sound effect sample. In KOMPLETE KONTROL open NEO BOOGIE’s Samples > One Shots > SFX folder, and drag SFX C3 Cullinan MSV.wav onto an audio track.

SFX C3 Cullinan MSV
SFX C3 Cullinan MSV

Position the sound effect on the last bar of the bridge.

Positioning the SFX sample
Positioning the SFX sample

This sound effect will come in useful when we arrange the track.

7. Arrange your track

Here’s our arrangement.

The arrangement
The arrangement

The arrangement begins with an intro (yellow) comprising the drums, and bass line from the verse. This plays for eight bars, and is followed by the verse proper (green), which also plays for eight bars.

After the verse comes the pre chorus (red), which plays for eight bars too. Then comes the chorus (orange), which plays for sixteen bars, with the counter-melody coming in halfway through.

The verse, pre-chorus, chorus pattern then repeats, and is followed by an eight-bar bridge (blue). Another chorus rounds the song off.

8. Master your track

To make our song sound louder and fuller let’s perform some simple mastering. Add iZotope Ozone 10 to your master track and run the AI-powered Master Assistant to give yourself a good baseline for a mastered sound.

I made sure the Ozone Maximizer Threshold is set to -7 dB. This reduces the dynamic range of our song and pumps up its volume, making it sound more professionally produced.

Here’s what our mastered track sounds like.

Start making music today with KOMPLETE 14 SELECT

Here we’ve seen how you can make your own song from scratch with KOMPLETE 14 SELECT. If you’d like to learn more check out how to create your own music from start to finish as well as our music production guide.

For more information on KOMPLETE 14 SELECT take a look at Bundles: KOMPLETE 14 SELECT, What’s new in KOMPLETE 14 and KOMPLETE 14 In Action.

 

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