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So im wondering how other people add abit of varity to their tracks such as

random sounds

bass changes

mixed up drum beat

silence?

anybody have any other tips to make your songs that much more interesting?

if youre big on music theory then altering the main melody should be a good thing to do.

where as if youre like me, with 0 musical knowledge, things are a little harder.

16bar drum patterns

breakdowns

for the main lead, have the same chords but on a slightly different sounding synth
(i.e tweak a knob or two and it adds some nice variation)

introduce some noises only once or twice in a whole track,
it breaks up repetition.

thats all i can think of for now

Best way to keep it interesting imo isn't with random noises and mixing up your drum beat. Those are nice after touches but they shouldn't be the foundation of variance in your tune I don't think.

Best way to keep a tune interesting, I think, is to change the musical content; I have a sort of minimum 2 theme rule. 1 theme for a drop, 1 theme for a breakdown, then intros and outros are just the drop in a really reduced form, so maybe just have the pads from the drop going on in the intro and outro and nothing else. Just an example.

If you're song doesn't have enough differing musical content then it won't matter how much you add noises or change up the drums, it'll still sound boring and repetitive. But if you have enough differing musical content to keep the listener happy then you won't even need to add noises or change the drums or think about using silence, it'll just work... Unless the musical content sucks, lol.

DJ...

get far away from formulas.

Lots of noises with lots of delay, chop the last 2 bars from a 16 bar loop with maybe a switch bass or something. Just be creative man, try a bit of everything and see what works for you!

structure your song and then work on the transitions between each part until it all flows nicely.

how to makes it not boring in 5 easy steps:

1. make a track
2. listen to it
3. the first time you get bored, change something right there and make it interesting. could be anything. a new note, parameter automation..
4. now listen back to it again. bored yet? change whatever bores you.
5. repeat

as you might anticipate... this process takes a long time if you get bored easily like me... but chances are you'll end up with some pretty interesting tunes

A song what actually GOES somewhere is key.

I really don't want to hear 32 bar intros, 96 bar drops what is 2 16 bar loops alternated till the breakdown. then a 16 bar breakdown to 2 slightly different 16 bar loops till the out tro.


Make sure each thing in a tune as a purpose, all individually progress to ultimately becoming a track what takes you a journey and makes you experience something worth experiencing again and again.

Theres no "DO THIS" formula, just make you track go somewhere other than back on itself.

legend4ry wrote:A song what actually GOES somewhere is key.

I really don't want to hear 32 bar intros, 96 bar drops what is 2 16 bar loops alternated till the breakdown. then a 16 bar breakdown to 2 slightly different 16 bar loops till the out tro.


Make sure each thing in a tune as a purpose, all individually progress to ultimately becoming a track what takes you a journey and makes you experience something worth experiencing again and again.

Theres no "DO THIS" formula, just make you track go somewhere other than back on itself.

cheers for all the advice guys love this forum, and i understand theres no formula thats why im asking this stuff to try as much stuff as possible to see what works and what doesnt

once again thanks again

Neff wrote:

legend4ry wrote:A song what actually GOES somewhere is key.

I really don't want to hear 32 bar intros, 96 bar drops what is 2 16 bar loops alternated till the breakdown. then a 16 bar breakdown to 2 slightly different 16 bar loops till the out tro.


Make sure each thing in a tune as a purpose, all individually progress to ultimately becoming a track what takes you a journey and makes you experience something worth experiencing again and again.

Theres no "DO THIS" formula, just make you track go somewhere other than back on itself.

cheers for all the advice guys love this forum, and i understand theres no formula thats why im asking this stuff to try as much stuff as possible to see what works and what doesnt

once again thanks again

Sticking within the bar structure, is handy.. (like the one I posted above) just keep whats within that bar structure interesting.. I'm sure most people will tell you who really care about making interesting music, they conciously think of every 8 bars of the track and if it can loop without getting boring, then it loops and if it does get boring then they add/take away.

kaiori breathe wrote:Best way to keep it interesting imo isn't with random noises and mixing up your drum beat. Those are nice after touches but they shouldn't be the foundation of variance in your tune I don't think.

Best way to keep a tune interesting, I think, is to change the musical content; I have a sort of minimum 2 theme rule. 1 theme for a drop, 1 theme for a breakdown, then intros and outros are just the drop in a really reduced form, so maybe just have the pads from the drop going on in the intro and outro and nothing else. Just an example.

If you're song doesn't have enough differing musical content then it won't matter how much you add noises or change up the drums, it'll still sound boring and repetitive. But if you have enough differing musical content to keep the listener happy then you won't even need to add noises or change the drums or think about using silence, it'll just work... Unless the musical content sucks, lol.

IMO changing up the drums can be part of the musical content.

What I find quite interesting is stuff where little things happen in the drums (and ideally everything esle) at the end of each section (normally 16 / 32 / 64 bars) that push them forward into the next bit - even if the next bit actually has the same drums, there's a little sense of buildup and release as you move into it. I kind of like the idea that you could strip a tune down to just the drums and still have a sense of forward movement and development even if it's fairly minimal and repetitive. The first Boards of Canada album actually does this in spades - everyone thinks of it as being about the melodies, but the way that the drum programming drives the tunes forward is actually incredible.

I agree that there is a difference between randomly changing stuff to 'keep it interesting' and actually changing stuff in a way that makes sense and gives the tune a feeling of going somewhere - but I'm damned if I can consistantly do the first one yet.

When I want to keep things interesting I find it best not to micromanage 8/16/32 bar passages. Everyone is so used to thinking in multiples of 4 when it comes to music so if you drop away a hi-hat line for 8 bars and then bring it back for 8 bars, it'll only take one listen to be expecting it. What I try to achieve is for things to come and go without consciously realising it. And it's a pain in the arse because I'm too close to the process to not know where and when certain elements are. Take a lesson from The Beatles' Day Tripper and have a 5 bar intro and then pretend like you didn't do it on purpose.

BTW, even if I were ever lucky enough to get something released, I couldn't really give a shit about pandering to DJ's. So if you wanna be club friendly stick to multiples of 4 and make it interesting for 2 or 3 listens tops before it gets boring.

The Widdler - Froggy Style.

This is one of the tunes I love in terms of structure - So few loops and it really takes you on a roller coaster of bass.

honestly, swing your chair around and listen while NOT looking at the screen. you'll hear what needs to come and go.

Sharmaji wrote:honestly, swing your chair around and listen while NOT looking at the screen. you'll hear what needs to come and go.

+1

Sharmaji wrote:honestly, swing your chair around and listen while NOT looking at the screen. you'll hear what needs to come and go.

+2

Bookmarked

Sharmaji wrote:honestly, swing your chair around and listen while NOT looking at the screen. you'll hear what needs to come and go.

Damn I wish I had some wheels on my chair

Sharmaji wrote:honestly, swing your chair around and listen while NOT looking at the screen. you'll hear what needs to come and go.

any tips on swivelling my couch?