I’m not sure if anyone else works in the same way that I do, first off.
I generally start a tune by making an eight bar loop, I do say ten tracks of drums, a sub bass a mid bass, some stabs, pads, keys and chords, maybe even some vocals. I make myself a nice solid rolling loop that I’m into.
It’s at this point I struggle to make my songs come alive, I can build a decent break and drop, but I just can’t seem to develop that eight bar loop so that it stays interesting the whole course of the song.
Maybe a set of videos on methods the guys at SA use to ‘get creative’ might be a nice little addition to the video archive. Anyone agree?
Danny.
Sounds like you having trouble structuring a track.
Listen to a few producers that you like and take notes about the structure. Thing such as how many bars they leave until they add/ take away an element. And how often they add fills, when they put in break downs, when they add efx ect.
That could help. If you’re still having trouble I got a book that has screen shots and explanations of song structure for most house related genres, PM me an I’ll scan em for ya.
I think that’s what I may have to do. Build a couple of tracks like my favourite artists then see where I get. Just use different instruments and stuff, I guess it’s the thing I most struggle with at the moment, it used to be making authentic beats. But I worked loads on my beat making and it’s now one of my stronger points, maybe I take the same approach to song structure. Is the book the loopmasters one?
Danny.
Its called the secrets of house music production, by the sample magic guys (shrooz)
http://www.samplemagic.com/products/prod_b1_secretshousemusic.html
You get half a gig of good samples with it too, well worth a buy.
Yeah I broke down the structures of a load of my fav producers. Helped no end. Also DJ I started to learn to DJ recently, thats help a load to.
I actually do very similar too what onetwoseven does and have a collection of templates to work too I also have all the lows mids and highs and FX in differnt colours on blank midi tracks as a refernce
I made these Sheets a while back… and they really helped me understand the structure of a track. It was a bit like homework really. Mightn’t be everyone’s cuppa, but if you cant get it into your head, theres really nothing like a practical excercises.
The Sheet you probably need is either the Track Analysis Sheet. I found them useful for breaking stuff right down.
[url]http://www.scribd.com/_ICN_[/url]
They print out onto a A4 sized sheet & the Excel file is there if you want to make your own.
Recently I’ve been making everything into 8bar sections.
Hats - One 8bar section, repeated. Kick - 8bar section, repeated. Synth, 8bar section, repeated… and so on.
Everything on the page is in 8bar blocks over the course of the whole track. I try to make some kind of change or introduce something new every 8 bars. V.Handy for visually keeping track.
Also - Bringing in a Ghost track really helps. Set your markers on the page @ breakdowns, little breaks & where major elements are introduced.
Final thing - Plan your sounds. Theres a Bottom, Middle & Top’s worth of layering to be had - in between the beginning & end of your track.
Think of your track in terms of a Piano - All the different octaves can be used. Kick down @ the bottom, then bass next octave etc… Same with all your elements. Find out where they’re at in the Spectrum & go from there.
Choose a Key for your Tune & maybe have your perc or snare etc… in a different, but related note to your Kick Root.
Planning it that way lets you contol whats going on better and make musical decisions based on logical thought, rather than a kitchen sink type “hope for the best” sorta way. I’ve changed how I approach these things now & I think I can hear the difference. A lot of people do it by ear or dont want to be too scientific about it. but I always need to read, discover & find out why… so I can do it again. Everyones approach is different. :cool:
Again - Voxengo Span on Lo-Fi Mode is the Sh!t. Slap it on your master & find the Note of the main frequencies that you are working with when you hover the cursor. Make decisions accordingly.
[url]Free Spectrum Analyzer Plugin, FFT, Real-Time [VST, AU, AAX] - SPAN - Voxengo
We’re getting there… 
[quote]onetwoseven (15/07/2010)[hr]Its called the secrets of house music production, by the sample magic guys (shrooz)
http://www.samplemagic.com/products/prod_b1_secretshousemusic.html
You get half a gig of good samples with it too, well worth a buy.
Yeah I broke down the structures of a load of my fav producers. Helped no end. Also DJ I started to learn to DJ recently, thats help a load to.
[/quote]
Great book. Well worth the cash. No-one would regret it.
[quote]Great book. Well worth the cash. No-one would regret it.[/quote]
But I am mean git 
[quote]slender (15/07/2010)[hr][quote]Great book. Well worth the cash. No-one would regret it.[/quote]
But I am mean git :P[/quote]
Its a fantastic Genre specific book… Like the bestest mostest wonderfullest FM/CM Tuts. But on crak.
Good crak… not bad crak.
Seriously - Get it Man - Its worth it, really & truely.
I wonder if they’'ll ever do an App? 
[/quote]
Its a fantastic Genre specific book… Like the bestest mostest wonderfullest FM/CM Tuts. But on crak.
Good crak… not bad crak.
Seriously - Get it Man - Its worth it, really & truely.
I wonder if they’'ll ever do an App? ;)[/quote]
They should!!!