Structure of a Dance track - help!

[wrench45us]

dance music manual
pretty much lays out the various template structures
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 76-4713732

[VitaminD]

dance music manual
pretty much lays out the various template structures
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 76-4713732

errmm thats exactly what twister just suggested 2 (well 3) posts above you

[Hunter]

best way would be to analyse a dance track that you like, break up the structure to small pieces..

a good way would be to load the track into your sequencer and add hitpoints and create sections.. and then work after that structure! in the end you can make your own changes but you will have the basics right infront of you..

count the beats and bars... ahh you understand!

Yeah, a good idea, but I don't have any 'proper' tunes on vinyl/cd that aren't all mixed together, hence why I wanted to know more about how tunes come when they are delivered from the Tune Stork. I do have some Astral Projection cds, that aren't all mixed together, but they are mostly 8 mins or so long.

Cheers though

Jim

[Hunter]

There was a lot of good points listed above. I want to add that if you are making a demo for a record company - ONLY make a short 3-4 minute radio cut. Also, make sure to put your catchy hook at the beginning to get their attention. They will not listen through to the middle of the song if they don't like the first 10-15 seconds. Trust me, I learned it the hard way Of course, if you sending it as a demo for a DJ to spin it in a club, you need to have a couple minutes of a beat in the begining and at the end so the song could be mixed in with others.

As for the dance song structure, check out this book "Dance Music Manual": http://www.dancemusicproduction.com - it gots TONS of useful tips, tricks, and production advices.

TW

Cool , some good tips there. That book looks good, hmmm anybody want to swap it for an out of date cubase book?

[Hunter]

I had a nice pizza tonight...

what toppings?

Err, it was called Piccante, it had chillis and bacon on it, but I also crushed some garlic and put some extra cheese on it. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm garlicky.....

[CypherOne]

As a DJ and producer, I recommend 2 minutes of mixing space on both ends of the track.

I thought you were at school .

Two mins, nice one geezer

one minute either end, tops.

[M'Snah]

..

[Emerald Tablet]

ok

i tried dancesongs - thing its - its way to simple to make ... not really a challenge .. and i`m getting a bit tired from steady bassdrums .. besides its a bit to structured

what im trying to do when i make house is make it as monotone as possible

http://www.panicnow.net/~remco/melodictrance.mp3

[Ackelito]

ok

i tried dancesongs - thing its - its way to simple to make ... not really a challenge .. and i`m getting a bit tired from steady bassdrums .. besides its a bit to structured

what im trying to do when i make house is make it as monotone as possible

http://www.panicnow.net/~remco/melodictrance.mp3

quality is not simple, and that is what most dance music is about today...

btw nice track! i like the mellow feel and the "wah wah" sounds is sweet...

[Kriminal]

As a DJ and producer, I recommend 2 minutes of mixing space on both ends of the track.

I thought you were at school .

Never been to a school disco Jim?

[steelwheelking]

basically I would recomend this layout for you.keep in mindit all depends on your tune the elements you plan on incorporating and they style you are going for.BARS1-16 would be a basic beat(BARS)16-32 add some flavour to the beat like some percussion or a hi hat pattern.Bars 32-48 introduce the bass line.bars48-64 you introduce your main synth.bar 64-72 you can introuce a secondaryu synth and drop the percussion but keep the main beat flowing.72-88 is when perhaps a secondary melody using the same main patch is introducedand the percussion comes back in 88-104 I would adda secomdary synth like you know when pianist play they usually play melodies with there right hand anda chord ontop of the mlody with there left hand well this is where I would introduce the chord or just like single notes in a sequenced fashion to play ontop of the melody.104-108you know have just your synths playing108-116eithere a kick or snare roll or some sort of fx is introduced where the melody is dropped and just the chord or single sequenced notes are playingand you slowly build the trackback up by introducing the percussion again and then@ 116 slam in the beat and bassline with the melody for optimal crazinessnow the m eat of the track is playing again .148and in some kinda fx perferably the on used in the break downand this signfys a change in the song you can gpo to just the lead synth and bea twith bass 180-196 another fx drop the bass and synth and let the beat caryyout now you can do one of 2 things let it just ride and end it or drop the kick and let the percussion roll out.
Also keep in mind that this is just a basic structure to follow there are songs that work well with a synth hiding in tyhe background from start to end with it showing up more prominitely in the meat of the track.Basically you want to do what you want to doI have heard tracks where there is an intro for about 1 minute the it drops out to just the bassline for 30 secoonds where the bass is filter and then the beat drops back in after 3o seondsbasically your rhythm and patches will dictate how your track should be sequenced and what u want to shocase.

[tee boy]

Well, if youre making a DJ friendly track, you need mix points. These can be drums (usually just a kick, or minimal drums) or some kind of pad section. A kick section for say 8 bars at the end is good for this. I think its also good to start the track with one instrument, and gradually bring the rest in every 2 bars, until you have got the main guts of the song. That way, the start has some mix points too.

For a breakdown section, say halfway thru, a simle pad part with also act as a mix point.

If you want some ideas, mail me the tune and i'll cut it up to give you my rough idea of how it should be structured.


Depends what kinda DJ is gonna play it tho, not all beat mix, so the pad/breakdown is a good option to cover all your bases

One thing i always do - drop the kick out for the mix in or mix out phases of the track. By this i mean that i introduce the main kick drum before bar 32. Why? Havve you ever heard the mess DJs get in trying to get two kicks to sit on top of each other, lol? Instead I tend to start with some of the percussion stuff (so the rhythm is there to mix to), and bring in the bass before the main riff starts. I like to finish with just the kick at the end, so in theory you could mix the track straight back into itself (if you could stand it twice!).

Just a thought, cuz not many people seem to consider this. I think it can work doubly well when your drums are all sample accurate (as they are in vst'land), since you can get some pretty seemless mixes in this way.

[VitaminD]

ok

i tried dancesongs - thing its - its way to simple to make ... not really a challenge .. and i`m getting a bit tired from steady bassdrums .. besides its a bit to structured

what im trying to do when i make house is make it as monotone as possible

http://www.panicnow.net/~remco/melodictrance.mp3

nice song..

not particularly fond of the highhat or the bassline though.. they dont meld well.. bass is way too high in register.. doesnt even really sound like a bass more like a lower octave clav.. at least imo. kick drum is also very flabby and murky.. you could easily punch it up with some eq and stardust.

Like the structure though ..good job.. wah sounds are interesting too.. wouldnt have thought of that.. perhaps you could fade them out somewhere though and let them build back in.. gets tiring to my ears after hearing them for so long..

[steelwheelking]

ok

i tried dancesongs - thing its - its way to simple to make ... not really a challenge .. and i`m getting a bit tired from steady bassdrums .. besides its a bit to structured

what im trying to do when i make house is make it as monotone as possible

http://www.panicnow.net/~remco/melodictrance.mp3

Not 2 put you down but it seems to easy b/c you song is pretty basic.I like the wah wah synth action although I would vary it up abit lke say after 16 bars have it RIP out and back in a couple of times(kinda extend The note) the filtering you do on it is ok just not ebnough to keep it interesting.Also I agree with other comments on the bass is to high of an octave drop it down some and your kick does not seem to hit hard enough.If you like that hi hat pattern and a secondary pattern every 64 bars for a 32 bar duration to add some energy to the track.the structure is OK kinda short (unless you was going for a radio edit).Keep @ it as it can only get better.