[Dance Pop track] Need Melody ideas to improve

[Kuraudo]

I have this bass line going but after months of doing this song, i'm stuck. I tried all kinds of synths, rhythms, melodies but not sure how to make this track sound complete. This is where my knowledge of music ends..and needs further development or all of music will be stuck like this.

Any constructive feedback will be considered. I'm going for dance pop, not a hugely layered instrumental. As in i expect people to sing this (i dont have melody ideas though)

Thanks!

http://snd.sc/yYbyXW

[Kuraudo]

8 days .. so no constructive criticism? I guess this stays on the shelf and i move on to different songs.

[jancivil]

I can only tell you why I have melody ideas, every time I sit down to work. I got experience with other people's melodies over time on an instrument. I picked things up by ear starting from nowhere. I had an overwhelming desire for it so I worked on it tirelessly over a lot of time, years. I never expected to do otherwise.

[tapper mike]

You have nothing to critque, as you've shared no content. The place for that is the cafe.

It's hard for me to imagine your position because I generally think in terms of a complete idea when I write. If you haven't gotten there own your own you have several option.

1. Seek others to collaborate with.
They may or may not have something to add to your work. But it will be the start of something and you'll learn how to work with others in attaining an end product.

2. Put it on the back burner. You will not live or die by one bassline. There are no one hit wonders. Usually people write tons of songs in a career or lifetime even if only one is recognised. Some people are smart enough to move away from what isn't working in order to move into something that will.

3. Can you count?
I'm not trying to rag on you or insult you but you give no evidence of musical knowlege of meter. If you do then you won't take this personally and if you don't then it's a good time to develop a sense of timing that translates to music.
If you can't lay it against a rhythm it implies you don't know the tempo/time signature of the bassline. You may not be able to adequately figure out how the bassline fits over a rhythm because you don't have an understanding of these things. It all starts with countings the bars in a beat. If you've written something in an odd time signature like 7/4 don't expect to find a drum loop that is going to settle over it as most loops are 4/4. Even if you get the time signature correct you still have to account for tempo and meter. Some pieces are straight time and some are swing.
If you don't know those things you need to bone up by practicing counting rhythms.
Start with 4/4
ONE,TWO,THREE,FOUR
ONE and TWO and THREE and FOUR and.
TRIP pa-let, TWO pa-let, THREE pa-let, FOUR-palet.
One e-and-a, TWO e-and-a, THREE e-and-a,

Count aloud. Count to songs you already listen to. Tap your foot to the four count. Count out the tempo to songs where you know the beats per minute. Play to a metronome. Not a drum machine. A metronome is sparse it only does the four count. It will make your rhythm playing better because it forces you to listen to you not the drums which can mask poor performance.

If you can define the beat. Meaning time signature and tempo You'll have a much better shot at either finding drum patterns to support it.
It's been said that the heart of rock and roll is the beat and from what I've seen I believe em. Well it's not just rock, it's pretty much all popular western music

Next figure out the key your bassline is in. If you are going to add stuff it it might be a wise idea to stay in key. Better still understand the underlying chord structure. You've got a bassline but you haven't expressed what chord progression you are working over.

Even for yourself but moreso if you expect to collaborate with someone you will need to establish a basic knowledge of harmony. Chords. You need to know what key you are playing in so you can write from the key and/or explain what key something is in so the person you colaborate with will be able to figure out where you are going. Mainstream popular music is based on chord progressions. Unlike some avant garde performance art stuff. Getting a good handle on rhythms and chord progressions will bring more not less definition to your music.

Now about putting all your eggs into one basket.
As one who produces music you must be pragmatic. If you put everyting into your bass playing you leave little to fill with other content. Many times one's first idea is not ones best idea and it can come in conflict with ideas that come along there after. Don't be afraid to modify your original idea to make room for new ones. When you play give some space for the other parts to come in. This is called "In the pocket" in order to put something in the pocket there has to be a pocket or space for it to go. That means leaving a little bit out, creating a hole to be filled by something else.

[D.Josef]

I have this bass line going but after months of doing this song, i'm stuck. I tried all kinds of synths, rhythms, melodies but not sure how to make this track sound complete. This is where my knowledge of music ends..and needs further development or all of music will be stuck like this.

Any constructive feedback will be considered. I'm going for dance pop, not a hugely layered instrumental. As in i expect people to sing this (i dont have melody ideas though)

Thanks!

http://snd.sc/yYbyXW

What sort of ideas do you need? Sorry, I don't know what you exactly mean and what your current understanding of music is. This bassline is pretty fregging cool btw. And I don't want to sound like a smartass.

Okay here's an idea. To achieve a nice groovy african - ethno feel, try this hemitonic pentatonic scale: I IIb IIIb V VIb

[Kuraudo]

You have nothing to critque, as you've shared no content. The place for that is the cafe.
HERE IS THE LINK AGAIN*********************
http://snd.sc/yYbyXW
**************************************

The link was right there. I cant imbed.
i thought cafe was for COMPLETE work, no?

Thanks to you and everyone for some ideas.
The Key is in Em . I figure its not typical for dance music so maybe if I transpose it to Dm It would be a lot better.

There is more than a bassline there, its a full set of synths. But i need some higher melody on top of all those chords, bass and drums i put in.

Thanks again

[Nicksaf]

It sounds pretty complete to me. Although dry at times, maybe vocals would do the trick? Maybe sampled vocals? Otherwise it sounds 95% complete imo.

[maleaco]

Personally, sometimes I like to delete a whole arrangement and start from scratch. This can help sometimes.

If deleting the arrangement dosnt work, sometimes Ill scrap a whole project. Sometimes I cant finish something unless I finish a good majority of it reletively soon after I start it

My two cents