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Song Build up
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| TXC |
Hey my fellow tranceaddicts.
I have a problem with my music production! I find it very hard to complete a whole Song! I do not know the basic things how a Trance Tune should be! I mean like intro 50 sec etc etc.
Im going to upload one unfinished tune and please feedback me if you think that somethings is missing! If u ask me i find the sound very empty.
The whole Question is: How should i Structure a trance tune!
And whats missing on my track that i uploaded! chords or u name it?
Link:
http://soundcloud.com/djtxc/output-1-2-1 |
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| palm |
| theres no rules man, its about keeping the flow imo. dont think about the dj friendly intros, its one of the things that kills edm. |
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| TXC |
| okej! What do u think about the tune i uploaded? is there somethings missing! or is it boring to listen to? Does it happen things nice effects and such things? |
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| Sonic_c |
I analysed the arrangement of sunchaser by akesson and it went something like this I think i went wrong by a bar or two for example i think when i said bars 35 - 51 it might be bars 32 - 48 but you get the idea
Bars 1-8
Then busy percussion loop filtered down kick 8 bars (very quiet bass filtered)
Bars 9 - 16
Snare comes on the off beat and the 2 first 2 chords of the harmony begin to play supported by a quiet arp bubbling in back ground and a mid bass is also playing
Bars 17 - 25
First 4 bars continue the same with maybe a filtered pluck adding some rythm, then at bar 21 a quiet snare roll introduces the beat dropping out at bar 23 leaving the pad and arp playing together with trancey mid bass
Bar 26 - 34
Low offbeat bass fills out bottom end and filter have opened slightly snare continues to drive the track on the off beat
Bars 35 - 51
Moving fliters entertain while all previous elements continue to play however a simple acid riff filtering up and down over 8 bars plays in the mix
Bars 51 - 67
A simple hook delaying off into the mix comes in and filters up slowly
Bars 68 - 76
A ride cymbal compliments to existing percussion and the bass starts to change key with the chord whereas before it has remained static
Bars 77 - 85
The ride drops out as do the hats and the rolling perc and bass and kick begin to filter down over 8 bars
Bars 85 - 93
the harmony finally openes up into its full sequence while the beat and bass is barely audible filtering into the background
93 - 101
Pad plays with few little percs to give atmosphere fullchord seq
101 - 109
Pad continues to play but at bar 106-107 the end of the main melody comes in as if to introduce the next part of the track
109 - 107
The plucks are now playing forming the main melody not always sticking to the chords but around them stereo or ping pong delay
107- 115
Hook introduces the big synth layer to accompany the plucks now hook is playing and plucks and big sawtooth trance lead is following plucks
115 - 123
Filters fully open on the trance lead which is heavily reverbed and and the hook continues twinkling around in the background (very simple hook)
123 - 131
Same again but with big kick roll coming up denoting its all about to kick off
131 - 147
All kicks off filters are open and percussion is back no ride though but at the 13th bar in this section a little adlib to the melody plays giving another dimension the big trance lead and at bar 15 of this section the beat dropps out
147 - 163
Remains the same kicking off bigstyle hook plays at barr 13 of this seq again and the adlib comes in to giving some more melodic content
163 - 171
Small breakdown where pad and arp and big layered trance synth drop out while pluck just plays first 4 bars of its melody twice over the 8 bars and a snare roll dentones we are coming down last two bars beat drops out to denote new section
171 - 179
Pad returns playing only one chord but moving with a flanger or similar effect while the acid riff from earlier in the song returns filtering up and down
179 - 195
Ride returns bass is still constant and the percussion help drive the energy of the song towards its end
195 - end
Harmonic elements except the pad which is filtering down have dropped out and the bass and percs and kick gradually reduce in volume taking the track to its ultimate end |
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| palm |
wonder why trance is generic now?
ive come up with a new formula:
if the track is 128bpm then 1 minute is 32 bars.
0-2min: intro (2*32bars)
2-3min: break (1*32bars)
3-6min: main (3*32bars)
6-8min: outro (2*32bars)
8 minute track. perfect. lol. |
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| Sonic_c |
| quote: | Originally posted by palm
wonder why trance is generic now?
ive come up with a new formula:
if the track is 128bpm then 1 minute is 32 bars.
0-2min: intro (2*32bars)
2-3min: break (1*32bars)
3-6min: main (3*32bars)
6-8min: outro (2*32bars)
8 minute track. perfect. lol. |
Thats not very helpful lol, you have a massive downer on trance atm how come?
I wasn't giving a generic outline you must follow its specific to one song to demonstrate how one "may" contruct a dance track. Not telling him follow this to the bar. I happen to like this arrangment though and have loosely based a remix im working on around it which works quite well. |
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| TXC |
| Sonic C ! Thank u very much for the helpful build up guide! I looks quite Decent and i will try this theory! |
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| Sonic_c |
| quote: | Originally posted by TXC
Sonic C ! Thank u very much for the helpful build up guide! I looks quite Decent and i will try this theory! |
Like i said i went wrong on bar numbers but if you just follow 8 bars of this 16 bars of that etc the guide should make sense. :) |
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| EddieZilker |
For starters, the demonstration is too short to have more of an idea about your strengths and weaknesses.
You're a little married to some of the conventions. While your ideas about marrying elements are sound the elements themselves, and even their assembly and build throughout the track makes the tune sound like more of a generic DJ tool than anything original. If I wanted to, I could go and find a Kimball Collins CD from 2001-3 and hear almost the exact same thing (Don't take that in a super-bad way, though - a Kimball Collins comparison from me is high praise as much as it is a critique).
Really, the song sounds more like a manufacturer's demonstration piece that would be installed with the software you were using than something you came up with on your own. Not that you didn't. When I was inexperienced a lot of my music sounded like that. Technically, it was close to flawless. It just didn't have any soul.
Don't tie yourself to any of the "rules". If you want to kill a good song, thinking about it in terms of a linear protocol is a great way to do just that. If you want to know what DJ's might like and dislike, DJ yourself rather than follow any convention. Doing so is also a great way the explore combinations of various production architectures.
Your mix is slightly out of balance and harsh. The harshness of the song was what I noticed most. I thought the high-end harmonic warbling noise that was hanging over the kick was a little too prominent and may be unnecessary, altogether. The high-hat, coming in on the down beat, I thought could be lowered in pitch, and when you drop everything but the mid to hi-end it sounded way too busy. I would leave only the hats and the synth pad/stab and then build it from there. If you have any effects on the hats or percussion, I would tone that down if not drop it, altogether.
Nice placement of the crash cymbal within the mix as well as the song structure. |
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| Kysora |
Are you writing a track as you go along with it? That's how I used to do it and two things would happen:
1. The break wouldn't fit with the buildup
2. I'd run out of ideas halfway through, or not know how to continue
When you write a song you should have a good idea of what the main section is going to sound like. At the very least start with a chord progression, and know what the main focuses of the track will be even before you start introducing them.
It's a lot easier to build up to something you've already planned out instead of just writing as you go and trying to continue along with what's already an individual idea. |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by palm
dont think about the dj friendly intros... |
...unless you want DJs to play it. |
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| TXC |
| yeah IŽll try that because i always start with drums then im stuck after iŽve done the bassline! :S |
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