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Trance Song Structure
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| Blahzaay |
Hey guys...
I have been into electronic music production for the last couple of years or so. I used to make a few hip hop beats for my friends but recently have started to get in to making my own trance tunes as I have also always been a big fan of the trance scene, listening to any thing from vocal/progressive/tech/hard pretty much the whole lot.
I was just wondering, do most Trance prodcuers primarily still stick to some kind of song structure? I constantly get told if I want to make music to constantly listen to other artists from the same genre. But to me each song sounds so very different and sounds nothing like tha last.
I just really have trouble working around a nice riff/bassline I have created. I am great with the drums/precussion and can make sweet intros but it doesnt really come together as one song.
I have done a few courses on EQing, dynamics and effects, music theory, chord theory but when it comes to trance i can't seem to get a complete track....
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Brett |
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| oFFbalaNce |
Hey!
Well, I guess the structure of a trance tune varies much from genre to genre, producer to producer and from song to song. My “goal” for each production is to have a DJ spinning the record and lots of people dancing to my tune. I use these two goals as guidelines when creating the structure for my song. I want distinct “intros” and “outros”, I don’t want too long breaks and so forth.
So I guess you should ask yourself, what are you going for with your tune? And let that question create a structure for your song. |
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| Mr.Mystery |
1. Beat intro with elements slowly introduced
2. Small break
3. Section with beat, bass & secondary melody
4. Breakdown/buildup
5. Main bit
6. Another small break
(Possible repetition of 3-6)
7. Outro with elements being dropped one by one
...and voila - a generic trance track is born. |
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| KilldaDJ |
| quote: | Originally posted by Mr.Mystery
1. Beat intro with elements slowly introduced
2. Small break
3. Section with beat, bass & secondary melody
4. Breakdown/buildup
5. Main bit
6. Another small break
(Possible repetition of 3-6)
7. Outro with elements being dropped one by one
...and voila - a generic trance track is born. |
i more or less follow this pattern, though the outtro is more or less the mirror of the intro, intro u add elements, outtro u get rid of so many each bar/measure bla bla bla |
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| david.michael |
| quote: | | But to me each song sounds so very different and sounds nothing like tha last. |
Differing structure is not a prerequisite for unique sound. |
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| thoughtlessjex |
| quote: | Originally posted by Mr.Mystery
1. Beat intro with elements slowly introduced
2. Small break
3. Section with beat, bass & secondary melody
4. Breakdown/buildup
5. Main bit
6. Another small break
(Possible repetition of 3-6)
7. Outro with elements being dropped one by one
...and voila - a generic trance track is born. |
Quite often, especially with many progressive and melodic tracks, you can even apply vague time markers to when these happen.
1. 0:00
2. 1:30 to 2:00
3. 2:00 to 2:30
4. 3:00 to 4:00
5. 5:00
6. 6:00 to 6:30
7. 6:30 to 7:00
End: 7:30 to 8:00
But I would strongly warn against this and suggest experimenting with your own ways of building up energy, because even with this template, it's possible to completely miss the mark, and your song still falls flat. That layout is a tool, and you should never use a tool without understanding it first.
So start out with the more basic formula of adding elements slowly over time to get a feel for how adding certain elements affects the music. |
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| Blahzaay |
| quote: | Originally posted by KilldaDJ
i more or less follow this pattern, though the outtro is more or less the mirror of the intro, intro u add elements, outtro u get rid of so many each bar/measure bla bla bla |
Yeah I've noticed a lot of old school trance contains the following;
INTRO (DJ Mix In)
Bar 0 - 8 - Kick
Bar 8 - 16 - Kick, Closed Hat
Bar 16 - 24 - Kick, Closed Hat, Clap
Bar 24 - 32 - Kick, Closed Hat, Clap, Open Hat
OUTRO (DJ Mix Out)
Bar 0 - 8 - Kick, Closed Hat, Clap, Open Hat
Bar 8 - 16 - Kick, Closed Hat, Clap
Bar 16 - 24 - Kick, Closed Hat
Bar 24 - 32 - Kick
Obviously contains other instruments than that and will definitely vary.
Anyway response has been good so far cheers guys!! |
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| crazedonee |
yes there are so many kinds of trance from uplifting,to psych,to Acid,to prog trance,dream trance you could go on and on.
but most tracks use this layout.
intro
build
drop
build 2
main riff
build 1 repeated ,with main riff
drop
build 3
second lead
outro
endtro
some use this
intro
build1
build2
build3
breakdown
main riff
outro
endtro
some use this
intro
drop
chorus
build
main
outro
it all really depends on the type of song you want
i personally like the type of trance that sounds like classical music
(euphoric uplifting trance)
one thing to remember is dont get to boiled down with a layout do this here ,do this there just do what sounds good ,once you get t
hat first song down youll know what to do next. |
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| dj_kane |
| just listen to a track you like and write down everything that happens in them from the first beat. i found this helped me with structure. |
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| kitphillips |
This is an interesting question, someone should post a tutorial about it and different sub genres various structures. looking at the last trance track I did the structure goes;
1/ straight into the main bass riff and drums
2/ introduce melodic line
3/ straight to chorus
4/ bridge between the chorus and verse
5/ repeat 2-4
6/ back to 1 then introduce melody again
7/ chorus and bridge
8/ breakdowns/ freestyle improv. builds and falls etc. with another verse in here somewhere
9/ bass and drums as in 1
dunno if that helps, I dont think its neccesarily a traditional trance structure at all!
One thing I read around here ages ago was that trance often uses a structure where you introduce a new sound every 4 bars or something. I thought that that would be too boring, but then tried it and it actually works quite well. The problem is with most trance is that you dont have a vocal, so structure gets a bit hard to remember.
Also, if you want to do something more chilled, I find it sometimes helps to not try to "go anywhere" as such. Just meander along and don't worry about ever repeating anything (like a chorus). |
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| Blahzaay |
| What order do u guys create your tracks.... Do u create the main lead/melody 1st and build back and forth around that? Or do u go straight from intro - outro? |
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| thoughtlessjex |
| I never go from intro to outro. I start out by figuring out what the song will sound like at its peak, often coming up with ideas for how it'll sound partway through, and creating things for whole sections. Then I just meditate, you could say, on how I want the song to progress before going and doing it. The biggest hurdle is coming up with an intro. |
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