Musical "Brostep" Drops (Arrangement)

[Jim-E3]

I'm having a lot of issues making my drops musical and rhythmically interesting. Sound design is granted something I have to work on, but without a good arrangement good sound design doesn't mean much. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to get good arrangement in brostep drops? Producers like zomboy and Feed me have wonderful drop arrangements and I really wanna get that part of my production down. Thanks guys,

If you guys need an example of the song I'm working on right now and need the help with: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/62153161/LIONS% ... 20WHYE.mp3
There it be. I've re-done this song 5 times. It's kinda making me wanna rip my face off. Thanks guys.

~Jim-E3

EDIT: I accept that the WIP I posted is riddled with mixdown problems.

[sssShawnnnn]

Syncopation is key when creating an interesting rhythmic arrangement in brostep drops. I noticed too your composition is mainly a single melody going up a scale, perhaps you could alternate between two different melodies during the 'drop' or choose a chord progression that is much more interesting.

Don't get too stuck on one composition by the way. 5 times? Move on to something else, then come back. Or go for a walk or something.

[MassAphekt]

Syncopation is key when creating an interesting rhythmic arrangement in brostep drops. I noticed too your composition is mainly a single melody going up a scale, perhaps you could alternate between two different melodies during the 'drop' or choose a chord progression that is much more interesting.

Don't get too stuck on one composition by the way. 5 times? Move on to something else, then come back. Or go for a walk or something.

This. Man I don't know how many times I've created something then later instantly grew tired of it because it simply did not resonate what I express, but honestly, the key literally is to let go of planning it out. You've already won half the battle if you have interesting patches/macros at hand to create a variety of arrangements. Simply play around on the keyboard til you find a nice groove or melody for your bass lines and build from it; sometimes it's just a bar or 2 but it works. I've later learned that to create better drops is simply start by making the drop first then build the melodies/vocals etc etc. around it. Resample and MIDI triggers are a plus too. Having preprocessed synths at hand are gonna help because you'll spend less time using your analytic and critical thinking and more on your creativity. Just let go, go buck on the keys,guitar, bass whatever it is you're feeling at the time. I've always followed this rule when I first started 3 years ago without even knowing it, as I started to learn more about mix down and the technicalities to achieve a clear sound the creativity in my songs deteriorated. Just simply let go and trust you'll figure out a nice bass line or arrangement to build from, it'll come. But having the knowledge and tools at hand are gonna help you squeeze every creative juice out of your synth and arrangements. Macros my friend, macros. They'll take any sound to the next level without having to spend time doing it when you have these ideas firing out of you.

[Jim-E3]

i'm just having a really hard time, in that one and in all my songs, making the arrangement interesting. Yeah I did re-do it 5 times but that's over a period of about two weeks. I guess I just need to make a crapload of presets then sit down one day and just jam out on my keyboard. Really making the syncopation work and not sound stupid is the hardest part. Any more suggestions? More on the technical side n stuff. :\

[NinjaEdit]

Edit up other bits of the song.

[Toolman4]

rhythmical patterns (syncopation) and resolution. How? Research, study, practice.

[3za]

Oxymoron.

[Kit Fysto]

if you can play guitar, I would suggest writing out melodic ideas on a guitar and then translating them

[Maxxan]

if you can play guitar, I would suggest writing out melodic ideas on a guitar and then translating them

I really need to start doing this, if anything just to get my chops back. Bitches used to go wild when I used my fingers, now not so much. Sigh.

:C

[MassAphekt]

Really making the syncopation work and not sound stupid is the hardest part.

Lol No kidding hey
What DAW do you use?
I noticed using chorus on all of my drop sounds (minus the subbass) give it a nice cinematic feel with a proper reverb in the stereo field. Making use of stereo/mono EQ to really sculpt your sounds together helps too.
But yo another thing, seriously just jam hard on your favorite made synths, preferably macro'd too to really squeeze the juiciness out of it. Write/improvise several bassliners when you jam out, that way you can start editing in midi. Try creating different segments and progressions from it, it works really well when you struggle with drops. Identifying the scale you used to write that bassliner helps a lot so you can start writing chords and melodies for coloring much easier.


Has anyone noticed how much stereo activity is going on in the mid and low end in tons of tracks as of late? I remember being taught that anything below 200hz should be respectively in mono for a cleaner mix which I believe is true but lately I've been studying the stereo field and almost all of my favorite tracks have alot of activity in the L/R, even in the low, and to my recollection people who have been in this for years stress the idea of having your tune in mono so it will actually translate well with most club sound systems. But I guess I can see that mixing idea work for the average at home or on the go listener with their mp3 players and stereo systems.