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help me with the structure or skeleton of a track
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| Sirocco |
| i have reached the level where i can make pro basslines and synths and climaxes but i am having trouble filling up like 7 minutes of a track, can anyone help me with track structure?.; |
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| Mr.Mystery |
Erm... what kind of help are you looking for, exactly?
The only advice I can give you is listen to your favourite tracks, see how they're structured and imitate them... there's not that many variations of the basic trance formula (intro, break, main section, break, varied main section, outro) out there.
Besides, if the track kicks ass does it need to be 7 minutes? |
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| Floorfiller |
| up down up down up down..... |
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| Etherium |
If the following doesn't help, I don't know what would:
DIY Euphoria
Rick Snoman @ Future Music
The rhythms
Unlike many forms of dance music, euro trance follows a pretty strict regime, and the only real variations employed are in the tempo of the track. This can vary from 130bpm to a more substantial 150bpm, so it's important to first decide what sort of vibe you're after then set the tempo accordingly. I find 137bpm is the best starting point for most dance genres, because this is more or less equal to the human heart rate while dancing and can often add and extra psychological excitement to a track.
Trance relies almost entirely on a strict four-to-the-floor rhythm, with the snare present on beats 2 and 4, so that's how I started programming the Chemical Generation track you can hear on the CD. With some styles of dance music it's generally easier to get the initial drum loop down before the bassline. Due to the strict timing regime of the aforementioned drum machines, the kick is very often quantised to each beat of a bar, and with this style of music the bass most usually sits around the beat rather than dead on it. This is simply because if both the bass and a heavily compressed kick start on the beat, the transient of the bass can be lost and the bottom end will appear muddled. And that's something that you can't 'fix' in the mix.
The hi-hats tend to play variations on 16th notes with the open hi-hats sat on every eighth. It's also quite usual to see a collection of 32nd hi-hats at the very end of every fourth bar to introduce a small skip in the rhythm. These are, however, occasionally played live and left unquantised so they don't fit into a strictly quantised grid and can add the almost essential human feel that trance relies on.
The timbre of all these sounds is vitally important for gaining the right feel to the track though. Of course, for obvious reasons I can't condone borrowing drum loops or single hits from exposed parts of popular trance records, but after spending time scrutinising the genre, quite a few seem to share the same drum machine and EQ settigns, if you know what I mean.
Programming Drums
If you prefer to program your own, for single drum hits the most popular choice is the original Roland TR-909 of 808. If you don't own them, almost every drum machine, keyboard or module release in the past 10 or so years has the ubiquitous sounds somewhere on board. If you don't have access to these either, on the CD you can find a full compliment of sounds sampled from a TR-909 and 808 to get you started. However, compression also plays a large part in getting the 'right' sound, and most producers of the genre today not only compress the individual kick and snare heavily, but also, once the loop is written, compress it all again. The principle is that a heavily squeezed kick often sounds bigger, deeper and more in-yer-face.
Although a majority of synth timbres are already compressed at the source, it's often worthwhile applying more from a valve compressor. This adds second-order harmonics to the signal that is often acredited to the warm almost fuzzy sound. It's impossible to give exact settings as it depends on the timbre being squashed, but they are quite easy to initially set up.
A good way to start is by setting the ratio to 8:1, along with an attack of 10ms and a medium release of 210ms. Set the threshold control to +20dB (or its highest setting) then slowly decrease it until every kick registers on the gain reduction meter. For the example track I reduced the threshold to -27dB for the kick to display a gain reduction of -15dB, then used the make-up gain to bring it back up to its nominal volume. Compression is often applied to the snare drum as well, although this should be gentler than the kick. Heavy dynamic restrictions have the side effect of reducing the perceived brightness, and ideally the snare should be kept brighter than the kick.
Depending on the style of kick and snare, both attack and release settings can also make a significant difference to the resulting sound. The attack determines how fast the volume is pulled down once the threshold is exceeded and if this is set too fast the transient of the kick is also captured. A kick drum's attack is vital for producing the impact that pulls through a mix, so the attack of the compressor should be set just long enough to just miss it, but still manage to capture the rest of the tone.
The release setting is of more importance if you're using a pre-programmed loop that needs squashing, because this determines how long it takes the compressor the return to its normal state. Too long, and the compressor won't have recovered before the next drum kick, too short, and the whole loop will start to pump.
Although this is generlaly beneficial for trance it still needs to be cautiously applied; exercise restraint and leave some dynamics in there. Typically, a ratio of 5:1 with a fast attack of 9ms, an automatic release and a gain reduction of 3dB is sufficient, though it depends on where you sourced the loop from. Remember that both vinyl and CDs are already heavily compressed. The golden rule is to use your ears and judgement and try not to get too excited!
Getting a bassline
The bass usually consists of 16th notes, though it is important to keep this rhythm simplistic too. The main melodic chorded reprise at the 'middle eight' is the main hook of the track and you need to be careful that it doesn't conflict with the bass. By using a fairly minimal bass rhythm you can leave plenty of room for the main lead to sit into after the reprise has ended and the track has moved back into full swing. Notably, a proportion of euphoric trance tracks stick to one pitch throughout four bars, before shifting up an octave for the next four and then returning to the original pitched bass.
Whatever rhythm you decide on, it's important to note that trance needs plenty of drive to make the bottom end work properly. The idea is to give the impression tha teither the drums or the bass are pushing forward, as if the song is trying to go faster than it actually is. This isn't linked to tempo but to the positioning of the bass in relationship to the drum rhythm.
While I've already mentioned that the bass should be kept offbeat to allow it to pull through a mix, by moving the fifth bar octave shift back by a few ticks you can produce a rhythm section that adds an extra element of groove.
In the example track on the CD, I moved the bass track far enough so that the first note of the octave-shifted bass plays int he last bar of the non-shifted. This gives the feeling that the drums are pushing the track forward, attempting to go faster, which helps to add an additional groove and feel to the music. Of course, this isn't a strict rule, and basslines can be moved forward by a few ticks rather than the drums. It's worth experimenting with to determine which suits your track best.
Bass timbre
As for the actual bass timbre, pretty much anything is up for grabs. A number of tracks I listened to used a bright bass sound ripped directly from the Yamaha DX7 of DX 100 preset banks, (speaking of which, most strangely seemed to share the exact same mix EQ too!) but this isn't a necessity. As the bass isn't sitting on the beat with the drums, there's little need to use one with a fast transient attack. For those of a lazier disposition, I've multisampled my DX7 and you can find it on the cover CD along with the bass I used in the example track. But, as the whole point of this tutorial is to show you how the most common euphoric tracks are constructed, it's worthwhile having some individuality and creating your own.
I've already mentioned that the typical bass sound is ripped from the DX synths, but you can create a similar timbre on any synth, and it also gives you the opportunity to sculpt it to your requirements. To recreate it, start by detuning two square waves by + and -3, then drop the filter cutoff so it's nearly closed. Next, raise the resonance so it begins to self oscillate then roll back the resonance control so it's just before this self-oscillation. Set both the amp and filters envelopes to a zero attack, sustain and release and set the filters decay to around 3/4. Finally set the amp's decay to around mid-way point, and then try playing around with both the filter cutoff and the amp's decay setting to construct different variations.
Another popular method for constructing a bass is to start with either a sawtooth or square oscillator. Set the amps envelope to a zero attack with a fairly short release and a medium decay and sustain. Use these same settings on the filters envelope, and set the resonance just short of self-oscillation with a low filter cutoff. It's worthwhile playing around with both this cutoff and resonance along with the filter's envelope to acquire the sound you need. Also, when writing the actual riff, try to use different velocity settings to breathe some life into the riff.
Again compression can help with any bass sound you decide to use, because, as with both kick and snare, it can often add extra body to the sound. For this, try a ratio of about 8:1 with an 8ms attack and a release 0.4ms (or auto if possible). As I mentioned earlier though, try to set the attack so the initial pluck of the bass pulls through unmolested. The threshold should be set so all the notes register around -12db on the gain reduction meter, but as always, let your ears decide what turns out the best.
Rhythmic vibrations
Unlike most other genres, it's considered the norm to leave just the bass and drum section playing over 16 or 32 bars with very little variation. Not only does this help the DJ mix in the song with the previous track, but also, as trance is mostly a club vibe, it gives a sense of repetition that's easy to dance to. The only usual variation introduced in these bars is the add snare skip, or initially leaving out the hi-hat rhythms leaving just the kick and snare before bringing them in at bar 16.
That said, the importance of counter melodies in this section shouldn't be underestimated. It's an idea to introduce these somewhere into the beginning section of the track before the main breakdown. They are best constructed around the main euphoric riff that's introduced at the break, or are occasionally a shortened section of this main riff to add a form of continuity to the proceedings. A synth's arpeggiator is possibly the best way of constructing these incidental riffs, but remember they have to be reintroduced after the main reprise to help with continuity, so make sure they work with the main riff! If your synth doesn't have an arpeggiator, there are some software alternatives that can control either hardware or software synths, and once created you can open up a key editor and adjust them to suit. AnalogueX's arpeggiator is free and worth a go if you don't have acess to an onboard synths.
&nhsp;&nhsp;&nhsp;&nhsp;&nhsp;For the example track I came up with this incidental riff first by contorting an arpeggiator from a CS6x, then based the main lead riff around this (I'll come to that in a minute). Filter action can play a vital role in this incidental riff too, and it's worth applying small amounts of filter modulation to give the riff some extra life. But again, it's important not to get too carried away; it shouldn't sound more energetic than the main lead. As for this incidental timbre, I find it's best to use a bright sound with a well-defined attack stage so it can sit on either bass or drums without disappearing behind the rhythm.
&nhsp;&nhsp;&nhsp;&nhsp;&nhsp;Typically, if you want to program your own, try starting with two sawtooth oscillators and a third set to a sine wave. Detune the two sawtooths from each other by + and -6 and then transpose the sine wave down an octave. The filter envelope should be set with a fast decay and release setting while both sustain and attack should be set to zero. The amp envelope should also be set with a zero attack and sustain, but try a mid way setting for both the decay and release.
&nhsp;&nhsp;&nhsp;&nhsp;&nhsp;Once the riff is programmed, it's worth trying different settings with the release as this setting can determine how stabby the riff will appear in the mix. A good starting point for the filter is around mid-way, with the resonance set quite low, but it's worth experimenting with both these controls to shape the harmonic content to fit in with the rest of the track.
Pad it out
The most important part of euphoric trance is the breakdown and the main melodic synth reprise. However, this has to be executed carefully, as the idea is to link one fast section to another without losing the speed or feel of the track. With this in mind, as well as this incidental riff, I also employed a pad in the beginning part of the mix. The principle behind this is that it can be left playing after the instruments have been dropped and helps keep the flow of the track alive. I played the pad live from keyboard and based the chord progression around the bassline.
Although I'm all for analogue synths and would usually recommend programming pads on them, due sto the inherent drifting of the oscillators, it can be hard to keep them under control. As this pad also plays during a section of the lead riff, it's important to keep it thinned out. A pad may sound lusciously thick on its own, but it isn't going to fit too well among the incidental riff, lead line, drums and bass!
You can find the pad I used multi-sampled on the CD, although it's better to construct your own. As a starting point try using two sawtooths detuned from each other by + and -4 then apply a touch of vibrato to one of the oscillators using a slow LFO set to a sine wave. This helps add a more interesting wobble to the sound. The choice of waveforms used is important though, so experiment with different oscillators. For example, a triangle wave in place of one of the sawtooth waves will produce a brighter more sparkling result.
It's also not a good idea to widen a pad's timbre with effects. Once programmed, leave it as is until mixing and then when everything is sat in place, experiment with effects if needed. Trouble during mixing is often accredited to too much going on at once. If sounds are kept 'clean' and you have the mix working, you'll have a good idea of the mayhem even a subtle reverb can cause.
Break it down
There's not one method for breaking the track down for the main lead, it's up to your own interpretation, but I decided to employ what appears to be the most common. This, unsurprisingly, starts with a few snare skips followed by a snare roll, but also with a doubling of the kick, until this kick is then playing along with the snares. Extra claps layered alongside the four-to-the-floor rhythm can help to add further anticipation, as can small amounts of pitchshifting on the snares. This gives the feel of a more rushed, energetic break. However you decide to approach the break, it's important to take time and ensure that you build a climaxing break. If you don't a track can fall flat.
After using an eight-bar snare roll to build up to the break, I ended the climax with a msall kick drum effect. For this, I took the original kick drum sample from earlier and washed it in reverb. I also applied small amounts of delay so that the end of the climax faded away into the pad, helping to keep the energetic flow.
If you have access to a synth with a number of assignable LFOs, however, you can program more interesting effects to break down with. For example by whacking a filters resonance up to full and turning the oscillators volume down the zero can give the perfect starting point. Try rolling the cutoff down low the set both the amp and filter envelope to a zero attack, sustain and release. Use a longish decay on both envelopes, but ensure that the amp's decay is set a little longer than the filters to prevent the sound from fading away to fast, and then set the filters envelope to a large positive depth.
Reprise
The reprise is where the entire track will stand or fall, so it's important to use a good riff and a good timbre. If either is too weak or plain then the track may not work at all, therefore it's important to program, or choose, the right sound.
As I mentioned earlier for the Chemical Generation track that you can hear on the CD, I simply expanded on the original arpeggiator riff that I used for the incidental by changing the order slightly. Most of the popular euro trance trakcs seem to follow this same ideal, for example, Matt Darey's remix of Binary Finary's 1999 uses a slightly altered rendition from Yamaha's CS2x. It is worthwhile keeping all notes short, though, you'll then have more control over both riff and tonal quality while programming the actual timbre.
It's impossible to cover every programming method adopted for euphoric leads here; that would require an entire article to itself. But there are a few tips you can follow to get started. Usually, they consist of a chord that's been created from two or more programmed synths; this is then sampled and the results are affected with a mix of reverb and chorus. Sometimes, however, they are the result of sampling someone else's exposed riff, which is then filtered. EQ'd and mixed among a programmed synth sound. As I obviously can't get away with ripping off another artist's timbre without spending the next few months making regular visits to my lawyer, I programmed it from scratch.
Programming a main riff
Try starting with three sawtooth oscillators and detune them all from each other by + and -3. Drop the filter cutoff so it's at a medium setting and then raise the resonance to around 1/4 way. With both the amp and filters envelopes set to a zero attack and sustain, set the amp and filters release to mid way and start playing back the riff.
This will give you a good starting timbre and, with the riff playing, you can experiment with the cutoff, resonance and both release stages.
It's an idea not to sample this sound yet, though, as you'll need to elongate the release so just as each note ends, the next note starts. Adjusting the amps release parameter will change the 'attitude' of the riff and as our hearing perceives longer sounds to be louder than shorter transient notes, it's worth making notes as long as feasible.
Once you have the general riff together, start plying it with effects to improve the timbre's width and presence. Typical effects for this are reverb, chorus and speaker simulations, although small amounts of controlled distortion can introduce additonal harmonics that can be swept with a filter during the main build. This is the same method I used for the example track. After building the basic sound I applied lashings of chorus to broaden the sound and then applied distortion to make it appear brighter. By introducing distortion, the extra harmonics contribute to making the sound appear much louder than it actually is.
Another popular method is to use a bass sound from a synth. By playing it high that it was originally designed for it can produce trance type tones. Around C3 of C4 should do the trick, but it will most probably also need the release portion of the envelope lengthening and a few creative tweaks on both the cutoff and resonance controls. It's an idea to be cautious with the amount of resonance applied, however, as this introduces a peak at the cutoff frequency that can sometimes make a riff appear weak. To start with try keeping this aorund a 1/4 setting.
Highlighting the riff
However you decide to approach this riff, compression (again) is important to bring it out of the mix and make it appear more prominent to listeners. For more on compression and compressors, see the box on p.89 (which i'll include in my next post), but for now, I'll give you some hints on doing the basics.
In the example track, I applied a ratio of 6:1 with a fairly fast attack of 8ms and an automatic release settings to start with. As for the threshold, try reducing it so that all notes register around -5dB on the gain reduction meter, but bear in mind that heavy squashing will remove some of the higher frequency elements. Use your ears to decide the best settings and try not to go overboard.
With the main riff playing in the mix, there's almost always a snare behind to build up to the track's climax apex. This usually begins eight bars into the riff, although if you use a 32 bar build up, it's probably a better idea to introduce them on the 16th. I opted for a 16-bar build, and after eight bars I introduced the same snare build-up that I used on the breakdown. After this, as you can hear on the CD, it's just a case of reintroducing all the instruments for the finale.
That euphoric feeling
Possibly the best way to tell if you have an arrangement and collection of sounds that work well together is to try dancing to it. If you can, then it stands a better chance of working on a dancefloor, unless you have no sense of rhythm. On the other hand, if it's still not working, then it's time to look at the arrangement and collection of sounds again and figure where you went wrong.
Remember that all the sounds chosen will shape the style of the music, and by its very nature euphoric trance uses aggressive, sharp patches. This means that both sawtooth and triangle oscillators are best used to create sounds, with maybe a sine wave to add some bottom end if needed.
Aggressive EQ boosts can often help to add a brighter image to timbres when mixing, and this can also be used creatively. So if a sound isn't quite working, try boosting tones that although present, don't actually contribute to the body of the sound. This can result in a more interesting sound, and is a popular trick used by plenty of trance artists.
However, exercise caution with the frequencies you boost; it can quite easily bring up background noises too!
So there you go, although I would like to say that this is the complete guide to euro or euphoric trance, it isn't. The genre is constantly changing, shifting and adapting so it would require a book to explain all the possible variations. That said, I've covered the most globally accepted ideals that relate to this particular form of trance, but it is open to your own twists on the idea. Above all, with music there are no strict rules to adhere to and you should be willing to contort what's considered the norm into something of your own design. After all, that's half the fun...
General Arrangement
Most euro trance follows a set pattern with a combination of bass, drums and intermelodic lines that all culminate into a climax. This climax is quite often a continuation of the first part of the track, although occasionally, the main riff is different thematically from the beginning section.
Nevertheless, after this main middle eight riff, it's quite usual for the original beginning of the track to come back into play along with the main melodic riff. It is important to keep this continuity, otherwise the build can sound like an entirely different track. On this same principle though, you do need to exercise caution on how much of the lead is present thoughout the second part of the track after the climax. In most of the euro trance I listened to, after the main reprise and where the original instruments were reintroduced, the main lead didn't continue for any more than another 32 bars, before it was dropped again and the track continued as the beginning before being mixed in with another.
Remember that you can have too much of a good thing, and if the lead is overused the track can become tiresome. By keeping it relatively short, there's less chance of alienating listeners.
Mix Compression
As I've mentioned throughout, compression also plays an important factor, and it's now considered a necessity to compress the completed mix so that it all pumps along.
Unless you're into writing classical music, for most genres you'll need the least transparent compressor you can lay your hands on. This will often help to add teh 'natural' pumping effect we've all become accustomed to. The most common overall mix settings for this are a fast attack, with an automatic release, a ratio of 3:1 and the threshold set so that the gain reduction meter reads around -4dB, but again, judge with your ears. Be warned though, it isn't a good idea to insert a compressor between the mixing desk and recording device and/or amplifier. If your mixing ends with a fade, it will affect how the compressor behaves, so if at all possible, use a mixer's main stereo inserts for any mix compression.
Envelopes
As I mentioned in the main feature, when programming a synth sound, particularly lead or prominent sounds, it's worthwhile programming while the riff is being played back to the synth. I never recommend programming synth while simply tapping away at middle 'C' for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the amp's envelope has an effect on how many riff will sound in the context of a pattern, and the sound programmed will often determine the way the riff has to be written. What's more, if you need to adjust the riffs attitude in any way, it means kicking notes around in the sequencer, and without knowing how the sound is going to be played in terms of velocity it's difficult to determine the filters envelope, cutoff setting and resonance. Instead, if you aim to keep notes around a 16th long you can adjust the synth's parameters to change the riff's attitude. For example, on the main lead riff I used a simple pattern consisting of 16th notes. However, these could be easily altered by adjusting the synth's release stage, with longer release times not only producing a louder effect, but also changing the general attitude of the riff. This same principle could also be applied to the filter's settings too.
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| Sirocco |
| exactly! thx for that! |
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