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I'm have a lot of trouble getting the "formula" for arranging my dubstep tracks. I keep listening to my favorite tunes in the style (Kode 9, Hatcha, Distance, Vex'D, Benga, Mark One). I'm stuck a lot in the building loops kind of thing, but its very hard for me to create an intro, then segue into a drop and the main part. What is the timing/bars/lengths of each part of the song? I can analyze and see where the intro starts, the drop, breakdown then when a tune drops again. Where does the melody (usally) come in? ex. which bar?

I want to get these tracks arranged, composed and done, i know it sounds simplistic but I need some practical guidance as far as arranging, timing, how many bars/beats parts should go etc. any advice would be appreciated. I know I can write all the parts, its just where to put them that throws me off.

Don't worry about it too much, it doesn't really matter! Theres a lot of variety in these things! If you really want to get an idea, listen to five of your favourite tunes from different artists and make notes as to which bar each new element or part begins/ends.

For me an intro can last anywhere between 32 and 96 bars, and I generally make a change every 16-32 bars - beit a drop or a element change or something new altogether...

At one point I began to analyse tracks I knew worked on the dancefloor when I played them while DJ´ing.
I remember analysing Darqwan "Said the spider" eg.
I don´t use the way Oris Jay arranged his tune, but it gave a lot of inspiration.

What you can do is counting bars through the whole of the song, and then add comments (i.e. "intro" / "intro + bass" / "main beat" etc) and the length in bars for each section.

An easier way of doing the above is taking an eight bar section of the tune, determine what tempo it's at, and then take the entire tune into your sequencer. Place cuts in the audio and then note where each section comes in (use markers or colour the blocks). This should give you a good idea of how the arrangement is planned which you can then use as a blueprint for your own music.

Formulas are good to a point as it helps the DJ mix it, but once you know the rules you're better informed to break them, so experiment and see what comes up.

ive been makin shorter tunes lately like 160 bars or so

no wasted space

drop at 16 interchange some parts... ding! toast is done.

if you think shit is loopy... edit it...

Listen to all of your favorite tracks, really feel them, then do something totally different.

Naw, just joking, but I agree... dont worry too much about the formula, just do your bidness.

yeah i guess evryone collectivly is right--there are no set ways eh guys?

i personally leave a few bars looping and walk around mi apartment and i kinda hear bits that arent there then go make em kinda

i promice im not mental

no set ways, absolutely.

I've been working with non-standard formatting (i.e. not using the intro, break, drop, second drop, outro form) quite a bit lately, but my latest tune just fell into that pattern, and it works, so whatever!

agreed w/ the no set formula approach. then again that applies to anything creative i guess. just avoid noticeable reptitiveness and redundancy and you're set...

Think of your mix like a sandwich (lol sorry I'm on medication after an op), the slices of bread are your intro and outro (which need to be stackable / mixable); you can then have any filling you want in the middle.

I'll be back to normail in a couple of days

KION wrote:Think of your mix like a sandwich (lol sorry I'm on medication after an op), the slices of bread are your intro and outro (which need to be stackable / mixable); you can then have any filling you want in the middle.

I'll be back to normail in a couple of days

mate its saturday dont worry

he he

KION wrote:Think of your mix like a sandwich (lol sorry I'm on medication after an op), the slices of bread are your intro and outro (which need to be stackable / mixable); you can then have any filling you want in the middle.

I'll be back to normail in a couple of days

Damn, I'm hungry now...

anyhoo, as said above, 16-32 bar (or multiples thereof) sections sound sort of 'right' in terms of length, but are not really set limitations.

Sometimes you can get the most effect out of a drop by just dropping it in -Bang!, sometimes its good to have a quieter breakdown before it to maximise the drop, and sometimes tunes sound best when they just build/swell up from the base elements.

Experimentation, variety spice of life etc

Experiment with sounds and drum samples, using cubase or whatever host to use vsti`s on em