Quotes About Composition

As a visual storyteller, a lot is learning what to include so you're not being redundant between images and text.

We frame things in an off-kilter way because it's unsettling. In the 'Mr. Robot' world, that's the norm, and it's the norm for the point of view that we're looking for, which is Elliot's. With our compositions and our visual language and camera movements, it's important to always evoke that unsettling feeling underneath every scene.

As a director, I start with the visual.

I really enjoy blocking and staging. I think most of visual storytelling is camera placement and how to stage action around the camera.

I came from a background of photography so I look at details and visuals, and I see things in pictures or signs.

Architecture is restricted to such a limited vocabulary. A building is either a high-rise or a perimeter block or a town house.

It's always a pleasure when you can compose guitar parts from a strong vocal and not just put the melody on top of guitar riffs.

All songwriters are known as 'topliners' because the vocal goes on top of the track.

But when you get to a song, not only do you have to do a vocal melody, you have to write words and not be redundant and make some semblance of a story.

But my role is to just apply the skills I've learned over the years: you listen to the guitar, you listen to the vocal melodies, you listen to the rhythm, and you come up with something that helps you take the song somewhere.

I like writing on piano and a computer, and a lot of 'Plans' came out of samples and vocal lines.

I record stuff all the time, like little vocal things. I write random things down... Sometimes I just get things stuck in my head and I record them, and that actually becomes a song quite a lot of the time.

For me, songwriting starts with a melody. When a musician plays a chord progression, either the words and vocal melody come to me, or they don't. That's how I determine who to write with. It works, or it doesn't.

I always start with writing vocal melodies before writing lyrics.

Because I write the music, I write the lyrics, I write the vocal melody lines - I write everything. Just because I let somebody sing something doesn't mean they're more important than the bass player or the keyboard player or the drummer.

Making vocal hooks is my favorite thing to do. That's what I love about songwriting - making catchy stuff.

Usually what I do is I write my vocal melody over guitar parts and then I come up with lyrics.

I never start a song at the beginning; I always start in the middle, working with the original concept. That might be a loop or a vocal hook. A weird noise or a string sample. Once that's at the heart of the song, I work concertina-fashion, expanding the song forwards to the end and backwards to the beginning.

Often, when I work with a vocalist, I like to focus on the melodies first.

When you think of rock and roll and metal, a lot of it is based around the riff. If you can sing over the riff and what the arrangements are going to be like, you have to leave space for what most people consider one of the most key essential parts, which is the vocalist.

I always layer my vocals a lot. I sing a minimum of three layers of the same line every time, and then it's always one or two or sometimes even more harmonies.

The music comes first. Final lyrics are usually written very close to recording the vocals.

I'm interested in creating a little sound world for songs, really crafting it, building it, and making it like a little doll's house with little things inside it, staircases and rooms and everything kind of relates to everything else. I've never seen it as drums, bass, guitar and vocals in very separate spaces.

'Muntazir' has a very feel-good vibe to it. It's Strings' signature composition, especially the pre-chorus. I thoroughly enjoyed lending my vocals to it.