Production - What to do during the bridge

[koncide]

Dont think there's a topic on this so i thought I'd start one.

After the first drop, when the percussion normally dies away and the sub is significantly reduced or removed altogether, what is your preferred way of working to get a nice connection between the first and second drop?

Examples.

Kaiju here brings in a reverby kind of choir sound that came in for a little bit of the drop. Hi hats mostly drop out, they are the same ones as used in the intro.

That beauutiful sounding vocal that has driven the whole track comes in and the hi hats then drop out completely.

Starts at 3:38



In this one the melody in that choir and pad synth changes a bit, similar vibes to the intro except no kick/snare, and the growl creeps in every now and then.

Starts at 2:39



People go about it in various ways. General rule among a lot of producers is that the intro gets repeated, except its a vip intro, sharing elements but having stuff rearranged and altered. Any thoughts? Does anyone know a track where the bridge is done differently, or does anyone use different tactics themselves?

[ehbes]

really depends on what the focus of the track is. if its the drums you want people to remember, focus on those. if its the melody, do that. seeing as most of my stuff is focused on the drums id be silly of me to take that away. ya feel?

[azuk]

I just use the intro, add some atmosphere/choirs and other background things.
Then I pick a bass I used in the drop, and layer it over everything. I slowly drop out elements until at the end only the bass and whatever's playing the main progression, use a riser and then progress into a second drop.

[koncide]

really depends on what the focus of the track is. if its the drums you want people to remember, focus on those. if its the melody, do that. seeing as most of my stuff is focused on the drums id be silly of me to take that away. ya feel?

yeah if the track is really focused on a particular element it makes sense to leave that in, or only cut it down a slight amount.

I just use the intro, add some atmosphere/choirs and other background things.
Then I pick a bass I used in the drop, and layer it over everything. I slowly drop out elements until at the end only the bass and whatever's playing the main progression, use a riser and then progress into a second drop.

seems really specific, do you do this all the time or just sometimes?

[mthrfnk]

I usually use choir/strings/light percussion (maybe hats/rides and a clap to keep the beat)/foley samples.

I usually have a big "release" at the end of the first main section of a track, using like a kick and heavy reverb'd impact sound, maybe a downshifter too - I then like to filter this into the break, filtering or fading in the above elements.

From these I usually try to then bring back in the main element of the track, like if it's chords and a lead I'll filter/fade these back in over the choir/strings and then restart the build to the section section of the track.

Some examples to help understand what I'm trying to explain, not the same genre as you're examples but the same principles (not trying to whore out my own tracks but here are some WIPs haha):
>https://soundcloud.com/spectrafunk/zenith
This track pretty much has all of what I said above... I'm intending for vocals to fit in the break too.
>https://soundcloud.com/spectrafunk/summer-breeze
Again here I filtered to almost nothing, just foley and a female choir lead, bringing elements back in (ignore the arp'd lead at the end, the filter mis-triggered when I rendered this lmao).
>https://soundcloud.com/spectrafunk/zomboy-here-to-stay
With this track the focus I wanted was the beat and bass, so on the breaks and intro I switched the modern "edm" sounding drums to more a more "classic" kick/snare.

Imo the breaks (and intro) are as important as the drops, if you have shit breaks and builds you're letting down like 50% of the track.

[azuk]

I just use the intro, add some atmosphere/choirs and other background things.
Then I pick a bass I used in the drop, and layer it over everything. I slowly drop out elements until at the end only the bass and whatever's playing the main progression, use a riser and then progress into a second drop.

seems really specific, do you do this all the time or just sometimes?[/quote]

This is what I do most of the time, but if there is a melody/sample I didn't have in the intro, I'll center the bridge around that, have it prominent. I'll use the bass as a contrast to the melody, like a good/evil type thing. I think that using a filtered bass during the drop makes the bridge kind of sound like a C part of the drop with more melodic/ambient feel to it, which is what I like.

[koncide]

I usually use choir/strings/light percussion (maybe hats/rides and a clap to keep the beat)/foley samples.

I usually have a big "release" at the end of the first main section of a track, using like a kick and heavy reverb'd impact sound, maybe a downshifter too - I then like to filter this into the break, filtering or fading in the above elements.

From these I usually try to then bring back in the main element of the track, like if it's chords and a lead I'll filter/fade these back in over the choir/strings and then restart the build to the section section of the track.

Some examples to help understand what I'm trying to explain, not the same genre as you're examples but the same principles (not trying to whore out my own tracks but here are some WIPs haha):
>https://soundcloud.com/spectrafunk/zenith
This track pretty much has all of what I said above... I'm intending for vocals to fit in the break too.
>https://soundcloud.com/spectrafunk/summer-breeze
Again here I filtered to almost nothing, just foley and a female choir lead, bringing elements back in (ignore the arp'd lead at the end, the filter mis-triggered when I rendered this lmao).
>https://soundcloud.com/spectrafunk/zomboy-here-to-stay
With this track the focus I wanted was the beat and bass, so on the breaks and intro I switched the modern "edm" sounding drums to more a more "classic" kick/snare.

i quite like your examples, they work well in that style.

Imo the breaks (and intro) are as important as the drops, if you have shit breaks and builds you're letting down like 50% of the track.

i think a lot of producers overlook this.

[Icetickle]

Breaking down, building up and then dropping. Overrated.

[koncide]

Breaking down, building up and then dropping. Overrated.

... yet used everywhere by producers from all types of genres to great effect.

breaks do great things. They allow new tunes to be mixed in, bring in new musical elements and give dance floors a rest and a chance to refocus their energy.

fuck it, breaks and bridges appreciation society right here, sign up fam.