I'd like to hear how other people go about composing. Do you tend to compose directly for the instruments of an ensemble, or do you start thinking of basic stuff like melody, harmony and form on one instrument like a piano or guitar and then orchestrate it? What I really admire about the symphonic pieces by the legendary composers like Debussy and Ravel as well as film composers like Danny Elfman and John Williams is how the instrumentation is constantly morphing. I want to get better at arranging in this way, but sometimes have a hard time making everything sound unified when I try to divide the theme among different instruments. Sometimes I'll have a good 30 second section with all the essential parts layered that I'm happy with, but then when I'm making the next section, I have trouble making it fit well with the previous section, and the transition between the two sounds forced to me when I hear the playback in my sequencer.
Would those with more experience mind sharing how they go about composing/ what their process is? Also,when you get the feeling that a section of music isn't quite complete, do you have any specific strategies for finding out what it's missing? I ask because I oftentimes find myself playing back the music, scratching my head thinking either something needs to be added, or something needs to be taken away, so I keep fiddling with it until I eventually get to the point where I don't think I need to change it anymore. This is fine in some cases, but I know there are those who take on projects that require lots of music in short periods of time, so there's probably not loads of time for this kind of trial and error in that scenario. Are there any strategies you use for making quality music without all the head scratching and trial and error edits described above? Thanks so much in advance.