The first one is called "the rate of change." Typically, a track makes a change every 8 bars. If a track starts to make changes every 4 bars or 2, or 1...then you have a rate of change. The majority of the time, a change in the rate of change is associated with the ending of a section like an intro or breakdown.
The second idea is phrase length.
Where it gets interesting is when you look at how songs progress by introducing phrases of different lengths. Let's look at an example everyone should know:
Song starts out with a one beat long phrase. Then comes a 2 beat long phrase. Then the bass comes in with a 2 bar long phrase. Then the lead comes and the entire phrase is 4 bars long.
It's like the entire track is expanding as the intro moves along.
Then you listen to the beakdown, and as it gets closer and closer to the drop the phrases get shorter and shorter.
When you listen to loops as they are introduced, they can have a different effect depending on how long their phrases are. A short one beat hihat will add speed to a track. A longer one bar hihat phrase might add funk.
Let's listen to something more popular:
Listen to the first minute and a half. The intro has a one bar phrase that builds into a breakdown. The breakdown utilized a 4 bar progression that breaks up the monotony of the intro and prepares the listener for the drop. The drop is actually a 1 bar phrase, so looking at the phrase of each section the phrase length progression would go like this:
1 bar(intro) -> 4 bar(break) -> 1 bar(drop)
Trancelover03591
The concept you highlight is really important. I hope I am using the right terminology but what about 16 bar phrases?
Pulser - My Religion would be one example.
It seems like they are almost non-existent now and 4 bar or 8 bar phrases are much more common.
Beatflux
quote:
Originally posted by Trancelover03591
It seems like they are almost non-existent now and 4 bar or 8 bar phrases are much more common.
Yeah. I think Arksun's Arisen has a 16 bar progression, and one of Chicane's pieces is 14 bar.
