Great Modern Dance Songs with Good Structure

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
reeloy
Posts: 195
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Location: berlin

Re: Great Modern Dance Songs with Good Structure

Post by reeloy » Mon Jan 13, 2014 9:12 am

....if you really wanna dive into this, first thing you gotta to do is....going out!

no chance to win any cup in edm, if you're not into it somehow.....one track makes bumm bumm and nothing happens...the other makes bumm bumm and the whole world is turning....

you never can tell the difference if you're not out there and get in touch....
and for some certain reasons, people can tell straight away why your bumm is more or less bumm than the others...

analysing might be a good goal, but if you never tasted the real sweat of a dancefloor, you'll never get an idea of all these small differences between the subgenres that separates the crowds.....and not knowing which crowd is truly yours will lead to nothing....no matter what....

for now, check complete mix tapes on soundcloud....check for essence, not for single tracks....

xbitz
Posts: 126
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Re: Great Modern Dance Songs with Good Structure

Post by xbitz » Mon Jan 13, 2014 3:05 pm

reeloy wrote: no chance to win any cup in edm, if you're not into it somehow.....one track makes bumm bumm and nothing happens...the other makes bumm bumm and the whole world is turning....
should check the following video: BPM Show MTM Seminars - Bass Production Masterclass > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6W2jtvW8ug dunno why it has 9XX views it's a priceless one :wink: (it's about kicks, subbasses etc. how to layering them alone and together)

Martin Gifford
Posts: 440
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:48 am

Re: Great Modern Dance Songs with Good Structure

Post by Martin Gifford » Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:36 am

Is Mega Dance Top 100 Best Of 2013 a good selection of tunes?

http://www.juno.co.uk/products/mega-dan ... 513386-01/

I just listened to Raw by Fedde le Grand. I like that. Also, Skydrop by R3hab and ZROQ. And Supreme by Mercer.

Tarekith,

Thanks.

reeloy,

Good advice. But I don't dance. :oops: Still, I can express something original - I've got something that no one is doing, AFAIK. Maybe I can pay a producer to give it the right vibe.

I don't understand this - could you point me to a good example: "check complete mix tapes on soundcloud....check for essence, not for single tracks...."

xbitz,

Thanks for that video. It's good. Helped an area I was stuck in. I like those things that just immediately illuminate a previously stuck area.
Last edited by Martin Gifford on Wed Jan 15, 2014 12:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

102455
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Re: Great Modern Dance Songs with Good Structure

Post by 102455 » Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:15 pm

xbitz wrote:BPM Show MTM Seminars - Bass Production Masterclass
I don't believe it! (copyright Victor Meldrew 1990-2000) It sounds like they've actually taken a mic feed from the mixer for the video.

So many of these videos filmed at BPM are swamped in background noise due to being filmed with a camcorder, using the onboard mic.

At last, somebody who knows how to do it properly!

Martin Gifford
Posts: 440
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:48 am

Re: Great Modern Dance Songs with Good Structure

Post by Martin Gifford » Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:31 am

Here's an arrangement suggestion from mylittleremix:

http://mylittleremix.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=8630

All EDM has basically the same structure. If you don't like it, get over it and conform.

- You start out with your intro. You may forgo this and start with your exposition. Intros generally last between 4 to 16 measures.
- Exposition. Flesh out the melody nicely for your audience before you go all crazy on them. Usually lasts about 4 to 8 measures.
- You then go to a buildup. Start making it sound like the song is going somewhere. Usually these last about 2 to 4 measures.
- Do a riser. This can be 1, 2, but generally not over 4 measures.
- Drop it hard. Drops are generally between 6 and 12 measures long. Every 2 to 4 measures, "rehash" or variate it.
- Move into your breakdown. Basically, you want it to last as long as you possibly can, but use common sense.
- Make a buildup happen. You don't want to sit in your breakdown forever, because that's boring.
- Riser again.
- Drop it again! This can often be shorter than your first drop, and might last only 8-10 measures, but whatever you feel like.
- Outro.

Here's another suggestion from a comment at Gearslutz:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/electron ... ement.html

0:00 - 0:30) Intro Synth Pad
0:30 - 0:45) Hats & Claps Come In, Snare 16th Notes Build Up
0:45 - 2:30) Kick, Snare & Bass Come In, Pad Filter Increases Gradually
2:30 - 3:00) HPF Whole Track, Kick & Snare Drop Out, Sampled Beat Enters, Bassline Filter Goes Mental (possibly a Band Pass)
3:00 - 3:02) Whole Thing Stops, Lights Go Out
3:02 - 5:00) Everything Comes Back In, Maximum Filter Tweaking
5:00 - 5:30) Slowly Fade Stuff Out 'till Only Synth Pad Remains

And even simpler:

16 bar intro, mostly just drums
16-32 bar break/build-up
32 bar drop
16-32 bar break/build-up
32 bar drop
16 bar outro, mostly just drums

My grandma can do that, so no excuse for me. :wink:

And here's the prettiest I've found. (BTW, when is Ableton going to make a pretty interface????):

http://quadrophone.com/98-2/composition ... nce-music/

That quadrophone website is the prettiest and clearest website in the universe!

Ryder17
Posts: 185
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 11:53 pm

Re: Great Modern Dance Songs with Good Structure

Post by Ryder17 » Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:53 am

I'm obsessed with 'breaking' by Kyodai atm

102455
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Re: Great Modern Dance Songs with Good Structure

Post by 102455 » Thu Jan 16, 2014 11:34 am

Ryder17 wrote:I'm obsessed with 'breaking' by Kyodai atm
Melodically it's pretty boring, but I like the drums. Nice and live. The hi hats remind me of Shaft.

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