If you struggle to write anything more than a four-bar loop, help is here

at last. We'll have you cruising over the finishing line in no time!

>

So, you've got yourself that klller hook or

four-bar loop that you just know 15 golng
to Ignlte the dancefloor. There's only one
problem: that fragment is the only thing
you've got. You need to turn a promising idea
into a well-rounded whole, but it feels like it
would be easier to abandon the whole thing
and just start on a new idea altogether..
And so the cyele goes, the end result being
a mass of ideas but no finished tracks. It's a rut
that many musicians have wallowed in particularly those of us using computers, where
software makes it a doddle to create effective
loops and snippets of music but doesn't offer
nearly as much assistance when it comes to
fleshing them out into a full track.

You might have perfected a few loops but

not yet got them to play nicely together. You
may be dealing with a melodic riff, but you don't
know how to turn it into anything more than a
repetitive figure. Or perhaps you can't figure out
what chords would complement your tune. No
problem! It may reassure you to know that most
producers will find themselves at this point on a
regular basis.
It can be hard to break through songwriter's
block, but don't get discouraged - if you have a
loop where one or more of the key elements
Cdrums, synths, bass, lead, etc) are working
nicely together then what you are doing likely
has what it takes to work so me magic. It also
means that you 've already made at least some

of the fundamental decisions about your track

w ithout even knowing it, from tempo to key
signature, sound palette to chord structures.
Equally, if it doesn't sound right at this early
stage, go back to the drawing board. There's no
point in trying to turn a mediocre idea into a
great track - it just won't work!
With the right mind-set and knowledge,
you can break out of the 'four-bar loop rut' and
actually complete your tracks. Once you have
a clear grasp of the parts needed to get a track
moving, it will be a lot easier to tackle it bit by bit.
Now it's time to expand upon your ideas, stitching
them together into a whole that's more than
merely the sum of its parts. With no more ado,
then,let's start to finish those tracks!

March 2012 / COMPUTER MUSIC / SS

> make music now start to finisr

The anatomy of a track

The first step to transmuting your few bars of

gold into a fully realised gem of a track is to
understand how songs are constructed. lt's
easier to get started when you can see what you
need to make next! That way, you're not heading
off into the mysterious unknown, but travelling
along a road to a defined destination.
The construction of a song is genre-dependent
to some degree, but there are some broad
general rules that can be applied to all kinds of
tracks, be they rock, dance, pop, jazz or classical.
We can broadly categorise the elements
of an arrangement as either a songwriting or
production/performance construct. 50ngwriting
arrangement concerns things like the verse and
chorus, with the latter intended to be the more
memorable, catchy part. There may also be a
shorter bridge section that joins the verse and
chorus, and perhaps a middle-eight after the
second chorus, for variety. The diagram aboveright shows a typical song structure for a song,
complete with intro and outro sections.
Production/performance techniques are
devices that present the songwriting ideas
in different ways in order to hold the listener's
attention and excite them further. Without this
extra layer of arrangement dynamics, your song
may sound like nothing more than a bunch of
sections pasted in order.
What are we talking about? The stalwarts
of dance production, of course: breakdowns,
build-ups, drops, and fills. AII of these occur in
many forms of music, but dance genres often
take them to the extreme, sometimes relying
more on them than traditional verse/chorusstyle songwriting. Think about the energy
explosion that goes off on the dancefloor after
a particularly filthy bassline slams back into a
tune, and you get the idea.
These devices do not replace the songwriting
parts we explained earlier, but rather augment
them. So, your middle-eight might work as the

"Make life easy by

kicking off with a
few stripped-down
repetitions of the loop"
56 / COMPUTER MUSIC / March 2012

breakdown of your song, followed by a build-up

based on the bridge, and on into a final
bombastic chorus that functions as the drop.
You can see this in the song structure above.
But what use is a knowledge of song
arrangement if you're still stuck with just a fourbar loop? That's where the following pages
come in. We're overflowing with ways to coa x
inspiration into striking, and our first is to use
the goods that you've already got! You might
have only come up with one idea for your
current project, but we'll bet you've got loads
of halHinished tunes Iying around. Load those
old projects up and render each idea out as a
WAV, then throw themall into your current
project on an audio track and see if any of them
go nicely with what you already came up with. If
you find a winner, try incorporating the idea into
your current project - the chorus to your verse
might already be lurking on your hard drive!

The intr%utro
While it can be cool to come up with a specially
written intro or outro for your song, you can
make life easy by kicking off with a few strippeddown repetitions of the main loop of your song,
(or indeed, any part of the song).
For non-dance styles, anything goes, really so for rock, you could begin without a bassline
and have the drums keeping time mainly on
cymbals. Or do the opposite: bass and drums
without cymbals. Experiment by muting tracks
till you find something that works, then once
you've got it, tweak the parts to make it sound
like you wrote it that way to begin with. Another
technique is to play the song's main riffs on

"A period of restraintthe breakdown - really

makes the more full-on
sections seem wild!"
different instruments/processing. Beginning
with a 'boxy' guitar sound will make the main
guitar sound huge when it bursts in, for example.
If you 're making dance music, you need to
keep the DJ on your side. It's rare to hear a track
played from the very start in a club, and that's
beca use this segment is typically used for mixing.
Most tracks feature alead-in (and -out) of either
16 or 32 bars. These should be stripped down to
the strongest rhythmic elements such as the kick,
hats and snare befo re bringing in a few more
subtle percussive elements halfway through. An
intro should definitely maintain a sense of forward
movement. too, so you 'lI usually hear more than
just raw percussion - try snatches of the riffs to
come or recognisable FX used in the track. 510w
sweep sounds are good for keeping the
introductory bars pushing forth.

Breakdown
Whilst it can be tempting to throw everything you
ha ve at your audience in the hope of pummelling
them into delirious submission, a period of
restraint often makes your track seem more
complete and song-like - plus it really makes the

more full-on sections seem wild! The breakdown

is a section in the song where you strip away
some of the power and weight of the track,
removing layers of sound as you see fit to bring
the track back to its core elements.
The breakdown could be based on an existing
part, or it can have an entirely new melodythink of the famous 'middle eight' used in so
many pop compositions. One thing many dance
music breakdowns have in common is the
removal of that central, driving kick drum.
A breakdown provides many functions: as
a space for the track (and your audienceD to
breathe; to emphasise the harmonic and melodic
elements of your track; and to give your audience
something to look forward to (je, the inevitable
reintroduction of that killer groove).

The build-up
The ultimate aim of the breakdown, of course, is
to build it all back up again. Dance music tracks
in particular string the process out as long as
they can get away with. The 'verses' will often
develop in such a way as to lead up to the drop,
with swells of sound, filter sweeps and repeated
sounds that become ever more frequent. all to
bring the audience to fever pitch. This is the
build-up. From the minimal breakdown, we have
to bring the main groove back in a way that
makes it totally irresistible.
How you go about achieving the build-up
depends greatly on the genre. Rock willlikely
favour increasing dynamics and complexity (of
playing or the sound in generaD. Modern pop
may borrow heavily from the lexicon of dance,
where build-ups rule. Progressive or minimal

"We have to bring the

main groove back in
a way that ma kes it
totally irresistible"

this is where the initialloop that you created

really kicks in with full force - up till this point.
you may have held some elements of it back. It's
essentially the launch of your no-holds-barred
chorus in which you 're pushing as many sounds
and frequencies as you reasonably can. When a
drop hits, it can be handy to mirror the reversed
crash of the preceding build-up with a highpitched, ringing crash that will give the start
of your drop an explosive feeling of release.

house tracks might favour a slow burning lead

up with a lot of gradual filtering. With deep
Richie Hawtin-style techno, you'lI want to
introduce elements by fading them in or
beginning them smoothly with little fanfare.
The elements often stack together until the
finallooping section (which may resemble the
initial idea you came up with) is revealed in full.
If you're writing an electro house or DnB trae k,
build-ups often progress over the entire verse
befo re hitting hard into the next part.
Another trie k is to use high-pass filtering to
roll off the lowest bass frequencies, so that the
build-up never quite hits with the track's fu 11
weight. Reversed crashes or filters opening on
certain elements builds it towards its logical
conclusion, which is the explosive force oL

The fill

The drop
This is the ultimate payoff. functioning as the
centrepiece of the entire track in many highenergy genres. As the moment when everything
comes to a head, there is an inevitability to the
drop that gets the listeners excited - but that
doesn't mean you can't surprise them! Perhaps

A fill usually occurs at the tail end of a section like

the verse or bridge, and may occupy as little as a
beat or two. Its less grand than a breakdown,less
structurally integral than the intro, but invaluable
in adding flavour and for letting your audience
know that something big is mere milliseconds
away. A fill can be crucial in making sections
flow smoothly into another - without them,
transitions can feel awkward or unsatisfying.
If you like your riffs and arrangement, but the
changes seem to come and go without incidence,
it could be down to the fills or lack thereof.
Traditional fills consist of a short rhythmic
variation or addition, typically coming from the
drums - but as ever, anything is possible. Once
you have a cool rhythmic fill, try adjusting the
timing/phrasing of melodic instruments to
emphasise it. Consider an unexpected 'twist' in
the melody/chords to carry the change, too.
If you're feeling daring, try using a beat or
even a bar of silence as your fill. These silent fills
aren't all that common, but they can be used to
great effect. such as when you want your drop
to hit with maximum impact!

March 2012 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 57

> make music now start to finisr

Maintaining flow and developing ideas

Cubase's Arranger Track In actlon! We define our baslc song sectlons In the maln area, then try out dlfferent sequences of them before commlttlng uslng the panel on the left

Now you 're aware of the elements of a

typical composition, you need to think
about arranging them with the aim of
creating a flowing and cohesive songo
What works for one track doesn't
necessarily work for another, but it's
something you can develop an ear foro
One of the great advantages of
composing song structures with DAWs
is that you can take the whole song in
at once visually. Many DAWs also offer

"If you listen to a song tha

you know works on the
dancefloor, you will find tha
it's never static for very long"
ways to try out arrangement ideas
without committing, such as Cubase's
Arranger Tracks feature or Ableton
Live's onthe-fly Session View.
A well -built track should look
neat, logical and uncluttered, and
the progression forwards should be
obvious at a glance. The example
structure on the previous page shows
the historically popular AABA structure,

and this can be a useful place to kick

things off if you're not sure.

Tried and tested

In addition to the specific arrangement
devices we discussed (breakdown,
build-up, drop, filD, you can control the
mood and energy within sections by
adding or removing elements at key
intervals, by building tension and
atmosphere (eg, through filters and
modulation via your DAW's automation)
and, of course, through the mix itself.
When listening, we quickly grow
tired of static repetition, and 50 the lack
of detailing can negate an otherwise
high value production. If you listen to
a song that you know works on the
dancefloor, you will find that even if
it seems highly repetitive, it's never
actually static for very long.
To make sure that no one gets bored,
you need to bring in (or take out!)
elements on a regular basis.lt could be
something obvious like a brash lead
line, or something more subtle, like a
simple percussive element. There are
even clichd 'drivers' within particular
genres - for instance, DnB might usher
in a snakin' shaker pattern to keep
things moving along, whereas hard
dance styles often employ a zingin' ride

Get fresh
Even when you have a clear grasp of how trackbuilding works, you still might struggle to write
the necessary parts. This is a creative problem,
so formulaic solutions don't work so well, but
there are some ways to encourage fresh ideas.
Varying the melody by making a new pattern
with different notes in the same rhythm is a quick
and effective way to view your idea in a new
light. Likewise, transposing some or all of the
notes to different scales might give you an ear
catching twist on a familiar riff.

58 / COMPUTER MUSIC / March 2012

If you are struggling to compose a chord

sequence to back up your melody, write a few
chord sequences in the same key and see how
they sound underneath the lead. Even if you don't
come up with a complete working sequence,
you may get an idea of which chords work nicely
under which bits of the melody.
Finally, if you have a melody that's starting to
sound tired, you don't have to change it to make
it sound fresh! Instead, swap the chords playing
underneath to put the melody in a new context.

cymbal placed on quarter-notes,

accenting the kick.
Typically, new elements come in on
8- to 16 -bar intervals. Occasionally it will
be as many as 32, but this can be risky
unless one of your track's elements is
so varied that it makes the loop sound
like it is evolving anyway.
It's important to remember that while
a degree of originality and innovation is
desirable, a track simply has to provide
certain cues to the listener in order to
succeed. Within most mainstream
genres, being too clever just doesn't
work. If you catch a so-far appreciative
audience unawares by dropping a new
element in too soon after another, then
at best you're going to lose some
impact; at worst, you are going to lose
the flow of your track and, by extension,
your audience. Stick to what works!

Use your ears

When arranging, being able to take a
step back and listen to it as a musiclover rather than a music-maker can
help enormously. If you're making a
banging club choon, ask yourself: as a
dance music fan, how would you react
to each development while getting
down on the dancefloor?
Try rendering your track out and
listening to it in a more casual setting,
such as in your living room or in the caro
Make note of sections that seem too
long or short, or transitions that don't
flow smoothly, then try to fix them when
you get back to base. Even turning your
monitor off can help - it's a very different
listening experience when you can't see
the DAW's playback cursor creeping
towards the next section!
Understanding the purpose of
song structure is crucial. When you 're
arranging your song, you 're essentially
making decisions as to how an audience
(be they listening at home or giving it
six-nowt on the dancefloor) is going to
react to the development of your track.

Good in theory?

>

This is a basic technique to segue one

section into the next, plus it can also
be used over the course of a breakdown.
We're going to automate a filter with some
white noise to create excitement before a
drop in the form of a sweeping build up.
Load up any synthesiser with a white
noise generator and configure a single
white noise oscillator only.

>

Open up a low-pass filter such as

Vengeance-Sound Philta CM, which can
be found in the CM Studlo folder on the
cm OVO. Put the filter on either the master
channel (so that it sweeps the whole mixl or
a mixer bus that contains just the sounds
you want to fade back in during the buildup. lf you go for the lalter, you must run the
white noise synth through this bus too.

>

Tonespace is a free VST plug-in

(www.mucoder.netl that can be
really useful when firing out a quick chord
sequence to support your ideas. Load up
Tonespace and pick a preset using the
preset field at the topoWe're using ClASSloHI2 open in C.

If you're not confident when it

comes to music theory, you may
have a hard time fitting chords
and melodies together - and
when you do, they may be rather
obvious-sounding. Whlle a solid
knowledge of theory is the ideal
tonic, you can also use software
to dig yourself out of this hole.
Many DAWs have MIDI effects
that enable you to map the notes
onto a chosen scale, instantly
transforming the mood and feel
of parts you've already made up.
These plug-ins can also be good
while jamming on a keyboard
beca use any notes outside of
that scale will be automatically
transposed to fit. So, you can get
as creative as you like on the
ivories and not worry about
hitting abad key! Try Ableton
Live's Chord effect, followed by
the Sea le one, for example.
Vou can also call on V5T
tools like Tonespace 2 Chorder
(which we use in the tutorial
below), Chord5pace Playa
(www.chordspace.com)or
5ynleor Harmony Improvisator
(www.synleor.com/
improvisator.html) to help you
to create chord sequences if
you don't have a deep musical
knowledget to call upon. (If you
happen to be a theory nut, they
can also help you to break old
compositional habits!l

>

Oraw in a single note with duration as

long as you want the build up to las!.
(You pretty much always want the note
to end just befo re the drop or breakdown
kicks in.)lf your white noise generator
responds to pitch, make sure it's a fairly
high note - around C6 should be fine.
Make sure this note is playing alongside
the song's loops!riff during your build-up.

>

>

Next, draw an automation curve for

the filter plug-in's Cutoff that goes
from Oto 100%, spanning the time you
want the build-up to las!. This will slowly
bring in the frequencies of the loops and
white noise moving from low to high,
creating a sweep effect that builds
anticipation for your drop. Boom!

To the right 01 the plug-in , you can

select Key and Scale - so if you know
your key and sea le, enter i!. If not, your
OAW might have a way 01 telling you - for
instance, FL Studio has a Detect scale
option under the Helpers menu in the
piano rol!. Our riff is in A minor, so we
enter this inlormation.

>

Play some chords by clicking on the

squares. You should be able to hear
that you're getting chords that sound right
together! Route the output 01 the VST to a
MIOI channel atthe bottom right to record
your sequence to a channel in your OAW,
then route that MIOI through your
favou rite synths. Job done! cm

March 2012 / COMPUTER MUSIC / S9