hi guys,

i need some help with breakdowns, because i keep getting stuck the moment i'm 128 bars into a track. i'd be really glad if some of you could give me tips on what elements to include in a breakdown. a nice trick i've learned is to cut up a part of the intro lead, add a lot of delay to it and use it to introduce the main melody.

from what i gather, producers usually have the main melody played by various instruments at various pan levels. i also notice that the melody is played at various octaves, which all come in at different times. the bassline in a breakdown tends to follow the chord progression, as opposed to the bassline for the rest of the track, which in trance is usually one or two notes. am i right?

also, do you guys usually write the chord progression or the melody first?

thanks so much!

___________________
DJ IMPHATIK

Progressive, Melodic, Bassline-driven Tech Trance

All-time Top 5:
1. Astralis - Solar Flare (Original Mix)
2. Markus Schulz feat. Justine Suissa - Perception (Vocal Mix)
3. Dakota - Koolhaus (Intro Mix)
4. Skytech - Cardboard Box (Ummet Ozcan Remix)
5. David Barnes - Noodler (Original Mix)

well you already know some tricks, you can look closely to other tracks and how they did it trying to emulate it, unless you want to invent something new but a breakdown is mostly some pads, a few ambient noises and optional a drum perc or breakbeat, then you start building the main melody, there are several ways to do it, just pick your favourite.

The bass if you use it should be the same for the build than for the rest of the track, and depends on the genre but it's usually 2 note bassline + 3rd/4th note leads and i personally write first the melody and add the bass notes at the end, theoretically you can do in both ways but for me is easier to add a bass to a note pattern than modifying the note pattern according to bass.

One thing I'd mention is that I think breakdowns that maintain some sort of dance identity and energy work well, as opposed to what I'd loosely term 'a film score' inserted into a dance track.

___________________
https://soundcloud.com/butlerrichard

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Butler One thing I'd mention is that I think breakdowns that maintain some sort of dance identity and energy work well, as opposed to what I'd loosely term 'a film score' inserted into a dance track.

depends but 90% of times you are right, the breakdown should be a part to introduce things but not to kill all the track, specially if you wanto to make it a club track.

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Butler as opposed to what I'd loosely term 'a film score' inserted into a dance track.

You could at least keep your critisisms to PM

___________________
Soundcloud

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Butler One thing I'd mention is that I think breakdowns that maintain some sort of dance identity and energy work well, as opposed to what I'd loosely term 'a film score' inserted into a dance track.

Depends on what he's going for, there's nothing wrong with those kinds of breakdowns if they're done right, especially in uplifting trance. In club tracks, yeah, don't do that, but this isn't really general advice.

I always write the breakdown first, I find it's a lot easier to turn a chord progression and a nice strong melody into hooks and riffs instead of working the other way around. If you know what the breakdown is going to sound like before you start writing other parts of the track, transitioning into it will be a lot more natural

quote:

Originally posted by Kysora Depends on what he's going for, there's nothing wrong with those kinds of breakdowns if they're done right, especially in uplifting trance. In club tracks, yeah, don't do that, but this isn't really general advice. I always write the breakdown first, I find it's a lot easier to turn a chord progression and a nice strong melody into hooks and riffs instead of working the other way around. If you know what the breakdown is going to sound like before you start writing other parts of the track, transitioning into it will be a lot more natural

that's a great point. i haven't really thought of that before (bit of a n00b sorry).

another question I have - and a lot of my classical composer friends haven't managed to answer this for me - but what exactly, conceptually, and functionally, is a chord progression? i know that its a sequence of chords and i know how to write one, but what does it do? is it the foundation of your melody? is it a "formula" for your melody? is it a selection of the notes in your key?

___________________
DJ IMPHATIK

Progressive, Melodic, Bassline-driven Tech Trance

All-time Top 5:
1. Astralis - Solar Flare (Original Mix)
2. Markus Schulz feat. Justine Suissa - Perception (Vocal Mix)
3. Dakota - Koolhaus (Intro Mix)
4. Skytech - Cardboard Box (Ummet Ozcan Remix)
5. David Barnes - Noodler (Original Mix)

"Conceptually" a chord progression is just a series of chords, not that hard to understand. "Functionally" they give your music a structure to work off of. Virtually all music is written as a series of chords that the melody, harmony and bass lines work off of instead of just having them play random notes in a key and hoping for the best.

If you know anything about creating triads to form chords, that's a start. If you don't, learn that first. From there you should probably read up on what chords most typically follow other chords, and experiment with those guidelines until you come up with a progression that sounds nice. Start simple and just work at it, you'll figure it out eventually.

quote:

Originally posted by Kysora "Conceptually" a chord progression is just a series of chords, not that hard to understand. "Functionally" they give your music a structure to work off of. Virtually all music is written as a series of chords that the melody, harmony and bass lines work off of instead of just having them play random notes in a key and hoping for the best. If you know anything about creating triads to form chords, that's a start. If you don't, learn that first. From there you should probably read up on what chords most typically follow other chords, and experiment with those guidelines until you come up with a progression that sounds nice. Start simple and just work at it, you'll figure it out eventually.

i've been reading a lot about creating triads and i know how to write minor and major triads. right now the only problem is that nothing other than i-iv-v-i is sounding any good

___________________
DJ IMPHATIK

Progressive, Melodic, Bassline-driven Tech Trance

All-time Top 5:
1. Astralis - Solar Flare (Original Mix)
2. Markus Schulz feat. Justine Suissa - Perception (Vocal Mix)
3. Dakota - Koolhaus (Intro Mix)
4. Skytech - Cardboard Box (Ummet Ozcan Remix)
5. David Barnes - Noodler (Original Mix)

there must be charts of chords, i used to had one when i played piano who listed around 20-30 and you can have more, you can play 5 notes at the same time and sound cool, some producers or rock bands "invent" their chords and sound cool.

be creative man

the faster the snares hit and the louder the swoosh generally the better the break will be. Oh and always use a crash at very begining of a break otherwise its not technically trance. And yes I am joking.

lol I agree with the "be creative" aspect but I think as the break as the intro into the heart of a song. It can be tense and exploratory making the listener anxious to follow it to the climax. I focus on making thick dense wavey atmospheres with sharp low passed plucks and other warm sounds. I particularly like how key/pitch slides sound too under a filter. All sorts of tense twisting sounds, sharp delayed plucks, heavily hi passed sounds with the shit lfo'd out of them, pads with filter lfos and sometimes very slight pitch lfos. I notice some breaks seem make their filter lfos take on a groove with other sounds filter lfos. Almost in a way that makes 2 unstable sounds sounds like they are dancing or swinging together. I notice that most with pads or soft ambient long sustain type sounds. The reality is theres not too many limits to what you can do and if you need just cut out some of your favorite breaks and try to model them in your own sequencer. You can take all these ingredients and mix them together in your own style later.