Need to be better arranging songs quicker and not get stuck in loops. Tips?

[imrae]

I make electronic music with 4/4 time signature and 115 bpm and I often aim for pop song length, meaning 3 min 50 seconds.

What are these songs about? What's your artistic goal here?

[Desire Inspires]

3 minutes and 50 seconds for a song? That’s long.

or is it?
...

Yes.

I get bored after 3 minutes. I like songs that go straight into the chorus and repeat and repeat and repeat. The verses get in the way. And please, no more bridges. They go nowhere in today’s music world.

[Forgotten]

3 minutes and 50 seconds for a song? That’s long.

or is it?
...

Good question!

... Or is it?

Your interrogative statement has virtue...

[vurt]

3 minutes and 50 seconds for a song? That’s long.

or is it?
...

Yes.

I get bored after 3 minutes. I like songs that go straight into the chorus and repeat and repeat and repeat. The verses get in the way. And please, no more bridges. They go nowhere in today’s music world.

and how does this effect you in other areas?
films and tv for example, same limited attention span? or is it just music?


bridges are better than walls.
unless you need somewhere to live.

[DJ Warmonger]

A song shorter than 4 minutes leaves not much place for loops at all, unless they're simple drum loops. For such arrangement you need to play something significantly different every phrase.

[Desire Inspires]

A song shorter than 4 minutes leaves not much place for loops at all, unless they're simple drum loops. For such arrangement you need to play something significantly different every phrase.

Say what? A 3 minute song with loops is incredibly easy to make. Check these out:

https://m.soundcloud.com/desire_inspire ... e-inspires

[yellowmix]

But I still have issues arranging my songs into finished products. I’m not a classically trained pianist but I have good ears on what chord progression works and what harmonies etc can play together.

What are your tips regarding this?

Find a similar, good song in the same genre and tempo, plop that on a track. Now copy the structure by moving your clips/items/loops around to match, feel free to massage them by removing or adding layers (e.g., melody, chords, bass, drums). Note the compositional (and sound design) changes in the track you are copying and do the same to create transitions and to bridge the clips. By doing this you are also studying common structures, so you will eventually make them part of your toolkit and won't need the skeleton help any more.

[djFresha]

Find a similar, good song in the same genre and tempo... Now copy the structure...Note the compositional (and sound design) changes in the track you are copying and do the same to create transitions and to bridge the clips. By doing this you are also studying common structures, so you will eventually make them part of your toolkit and won't need the skeleton help any more.

This all over. Coming from a DnB / Jungle djing background, I've always 'studied' how people do things, but also look to be a bit more inventive at times (trying to conform while imprinting non-conformity can be a challenge, especially getting music 'accepted' when it's a bit wonky )

Take some tracks you like, make sure you have the tempo so you can 'grid snap' the cuts into the bars and beats. Now when you hear / see progressive changes (intro, drum beats, bassline addition, drop-out, breakdown, buildup, 2nd section, outro), you can chop at these points and colour each section. if it's similar to the previous section you chopped, colour it a similar colour (so same but different). Once you have one 'template' idea get anothe track lay along side, see if there are similarities in structure (you might find the intro length is different, yet the main first beat section to the breakdown is the same length). After a while it's becomes a bit of second nature having a feel of the structure you want to pursue. That's the trick too... getting away from 'paint by numbers' methodology and the science bits and aiming towards the artistry. Findng your own sound can be a bit of a task too, considering every man girl and their dog wants in on making music at home / on laptop, as everyone these days know how easy it is to make a track, it's actually making a good track that stands up is the objective that might get overlooked.

There's no real rule to work with, but if you're making dj friendly making sure they can mix with your tracks (unless there's some 5/4 thrown in just for extra trickery which can make or break a dancefloor). If they can't mix it, chances are..... just consider the audience you're wanting your music to be 'presented' to. If it's a chilled 115bpm track, then it sounds like a more chilled affair, which may be good for chillout rooms if at a club, or any of the new-age winebars that are littered across many towns. If it's a more digital 'grinding' thought provoking track for the silver screen, then look at how soundtracks for films are put together. Resource from the source....

Counting bars is a good one too, while driving and listening to the tracks that inspire and take you to where you want to get to (done that plenty of times studying away from the DAW, to get a feel of what could work and other ideas, then getting fuelled up and jumping back in when the notion hits me).

Don't get too hung up on making an absolute belter (unless you're a total music genius) - it does take time to get from A to B, with learning and other tasks in the process. Keep things simple to start with too, and don't get too hung up on the loudness thing either, that's much later down the road. If your track isn't as loud as XYZ? turn theirs down 6dB so you can get similar levels without diving feet first into compressing and limiting realms.

Perseverance too. Oh and experiment. A lot. Do thngs you wouldn't normally do, like using guitar pedals on a vocal, or making foley recordings from household sounds in the kitchen (seriously good percussion sets you can get when recording pots pans cutlery.. )

Read up, learn as you go, have fun too, think about why you want to make a track and what you want to achieve.

While on that subject - give yourself a goal. Recently I read up that no matter how good or bad a track is you're working on, just finish it, don't loopmong and then get bored, flesh it out (even if it's no good) because this is your learning stage, you might find some gold nuggets lurking (which might inspire for other tracks or remixes).

[beatflux]

What are you on about, gave him advice to go deeper and understand what he's listening and doing, of course, if he's into club music experiencing it in the club should be a must, that just proves my point further, one should experience music on deeper level to be able to make the same fruitfully.

Preferrably a dark warehouse with lots of lasers and smoke.