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Introduction
For anyone who has read any of my tutorials before, I am not a English graduate nor do I know technical mumbo jumbo - I am completely self taught (when I started making music, I had no internet so I had to learn everything myself! Hahah) so in turn, I write in a way that I would of liked to have read it and the only way I can help people out! If anyone gets confused please quote what you don't get and i'll try and say it in a more clearer way!
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This is one of the easiest things to either not know about or struggle at when you first start writing songs!
From being around a lot of people who play in bands all the way to people how make electronic dance music most will say its one of the key factors to writing a song, maybe more important (arguable) than the sounds you use or what notes you play.
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THE BASICS
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What is a song structure?
A song structure is how you get from start to end but if you gotta make it interesting!
So lets start off with the basics in a way everyone can understand, with food! : Imagine it as a sandwich - two bits of bread put together don't make it one, right? You have endless choices what to put in there! You butter your bread, put in filling(s) and maybe some sauce, some salad or whatever, cut it into two halfs and eat!
With a structure its exactly the same, you have funder mental parts what make the track, how long would a 4x4 kickdrum have to play for you to get bored? Not long I assume! Well, this is why structure is important so the listener of your track doesn't feel like they're being subjected to repetitive torture for 4-10 minutes.
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Basic song structure goes like this. (for typical dance music, anways)
Intro > Drop > Breakdown > Drop #2 > Outro.
Intro : This is the start of the track you allot a certain number of bars to introduce your track to the listener - this also double takes into giving the DJ a certain number of bars to blend the track in!
Drop/main section : This is where you will bring elements in what signifies the peak of your tune, this is generally the longest part of your track, this is where your melodies and energy come to life, the main place to get REALLY creative and express your musicality to its fullest
Breakdown : This is where you bring elements out - much like a intro in the middle of your track - is tells the dj that not much is going to be playing at this part in the track, so its okay to start bringing in another song for the blend. This also gives the listener a little space to take in what they just heard!
Drop/main section number 2 : This is the same as the first drop, you have the option as a producer to make this different or not, another way to make your track unique.
Outro : This is where you signify to the listener that your track is ending - a typical outro will have fading out of sounds, generally a mellow and stripped-down version of the main section.
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Bars: What are they and why are they important?
I can quite confidently say, unless you already know lots about music or have messed up some how, you're writing in 4/4 and typically - dance music works in a 4 bar structure - what this means is that everything will work in a multiple of four, structurally!
Putting this into simple terms is like this: You will be working in multiples of 4, more importantly for dubstep 16 (and on the rare occasion 8 ) however you lay out your track, it is good practice to make sure any make switch lands on a 16...
I.E - 32 bar intro > 96 bar drop > 16 bar breakdown > 64 bar drop > 16 bar outro .
at 140bpm that works out roughly at around a 6 minute 30 second long track - this is me, personally is a great length and a good basic structure to work on.
Well, I hope this helps some people - once I have fully decided what I am going to cover in the next section - I will write it and hopefully you'll learn some more stuff.
Bars are important because as human beings like we routine, there are the bread and butter (no pun intended from the first part of the post
) of music and every song has them - you can't make a song without them so you need to learn what they are and how they are important to building your songs structure.-------------------------------------------------------
THE ADVANCED STUFF
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The 8 bar Grime Structure
If you was to use this structure, I would say it is for people who like to make tracks what change frequently or write in loops and it also works well for tunes made for vocalists (mainly MC's) as well as for DJs who like to mix fast. This is your 'high impact - minimal work' structure. Its simple to lay out, hard to get right!
The basics of 8 bar grime
You will be writing in 8bar cycles, in every cycle of 8 you introduce a new element or take away something.
To put it in even simpler terms, listen to this
Every 8 bars of the track, it switches between loops with some subtle changes. A simple but quite hard structure to do well - as it requires very good musical creativity to not make it boring !
So, you ask me, how does this work for my dubstep track? Well if you know anything about the 8 bar grime era - it had such great drive and energy, the beats were just as enthusiastic as the MC's spitting on them, it was simple in terms of structure (even more simple than the intro - drop - break - drop - outro structure) but allowed musicians to be creative within these restraints, in my mind sometimes restraint is what we need as music makers to do something of true beauty/brilliance.
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Keeping the "basic" EDM structure interesting.
Now this is more about theory than actual structuring but some key points have to be raised.
No one likes 6 minutes of loops : remember that you're making dance music (of course) but a lot of people will listen to the music at home, weather it be DJing, on radio shows or general listening. Try and bring elements in and out, make variations of your main sound(s) - have interesting fills in your 8s and 16s as well as well-defined sections.
Example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNs3cf277N4
Take a lesson from hiphop: while a lot of hiphop is very-loop based, it still stays interesting - have moments of silence which starts on the kick on the first bar and ends on the first snare hit. This will bring tension and bring extra 'umph'.
Switch your high-hat pattens or change sounds of your pattens: for instance - switching to a tambourine from your hats after 32 bars for 16, then switch back to high-hats.. After the switch back bring the tambo back in but changing where it hits.
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I will write this soon and collect information if people will want to post it in here.
I will be covering...
Alternative Bar Structures.
Keeping the "basic" EDM structure interesting.
Ideas For Progression.
Fills & Phrases to keep each 16 bar fresh!
Random Tips & Tricks.
NOTE : Please if you want to contribute to the main post in this thread, I will only be putting up lengthy and informative posts, feel free to post tips & tricks but I would really like some good discussions here.
