Is there any videos or books on this subject? I really need something that lists out for each genre the most common and popular song structures. One that is somewhat in depth. I make a lot of different genres of music and sometimes find myself using a house structure for a future track etc... Is there guidelines the best producers use or is it mainly years and years of experience? I need to make sure my structures are perfect.. Sorry for my english

 

There could be many books however i'm a big believer in there is no such thing to organised, formulaic structure.

A formula normally leads to sterile, cloned "Heard that before" but of course such material can be helpful and sure there is always stuff to learn.

You want a radio hit well formula seems to be under 3min, meaningless lyrics and crap stuff that teens can relate with but of course there always exceptions to every rule and there a few Gems that come out of such things.

I don't know really

Think it's cool to experiment rather than "Clone" but if it works it works I guess and of course it all depends whether you want to achieve stardom or simply stay true to what you believe in and stick with what you enjoy doing whether it comercially viable or not.

The choice is all yours. Think of all the artists that "sold out" to achieve formulaic success but is it worth it?

Only u can decide that.

Good luck dude

 

One step to the goal is expirience with music(musician) music is same as bicycle more you ride more you will be expirienced!

 

Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys and Techniques

EDM Arranging & Formal Structure

 

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Yea,the secret is you have to work your ass off,again and again.

 

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"Is there a forumula?" Well, gee - is the Pope a Catholic? Just open your ears and listen to how forumlaic different genres of popular music can be, or are.

I have this question, in response: Why the motherfuck do you want to make formulaic music, or to constrain your creatitity to parameters established by convention or committe?

You have the tools to do anything you'd want to create, and you are only interested in re-creating someone else's work? Take your computer out in the street, right now, and set it on fire.

 

art is self-expression. music is a form of art.

DO what you FEEL.

 

Really @Steve Faoki ?

Do you even read this forum at all or do you only troll here?

 

I have the same feeling, why do you expect people from this forum to do a job for you, you should put some effort to google useful info and start to analyze listening to hundreds of songs and please stop asking questions of this kind in future.

 

Yes. It's called a signature. Things that make their music stand out as being theirs. Maybe you try concentrating on making your own.

 

Just rememberd... did you tried asking your favourite artists for some guidelines?

 

SOLVED This is an easy one just look at Adele or Amy Winehouse Lyric structure Have gaps in the song, instrumental fast and slow moments. Job done. Please do not put me up the Audiosex Advice Awards 2016, I will only be humble.

 

The Formula is stop spending soo much time online asking redundant questions and do some actual work.

 

Here's the formula bro!!
Just remember that; a=harmony, b=melody, and c=the lyrics, now just solve for X.

 

Oh really Mr. Know it all... I'm sure when you started your journey to becoming a successful producer you told your professor not to worry about teaching you song writing and learning about structure because it would 'hinder your creativity'.. I asked for apples and got oranges.. Where are my song writing tips? Just a bunch of sassy musicians today.

 

There are song structures which are common based on the Genre.

Easiest thing do to: analyse them yourself by using your DAW. Just import a Song you really like or currently listenening to, find it's tempo and allign it on the Grid. Then you can actually see how it's structured on a Bar to Bar basis and you can set markers at positions where something changes.

In Hip-Hop for example, there will probably always be an Intro between 4-8 Bars, a Verse (usually 16 Bars, 12 for Posse Tracks) a little breakdown before the Hook (8-16 Bars usually) and the back to Verse 2. In more composition based music like Pop and Rock you might have Bridges, Pre Choruses, Middle-8s and such. In Freejazz it might be different, but there's almost always some sort of macro structure to be identified

 

Somebody on here posted a video for Princes's Raspberry Beret, so I did this analysis of "a perfect pop song" ... (and also made a template from it!). The single version doesn't have the extended intro.



Green = intro/outro (4/8 bars)
Pink = extended intro (24 bars)
Light Blue = violin (8 bars)
Blue = verse (16 bars)
Red = chorus (12 bars)
Yellow = bridge (16 bars)

http://facedl.com/fvideo=awnooxekkoiiu

 

I used to (and still) study the song which I like by downloading the wave file and looking at the wave pattern while listening the song simultaneously. I would suggest you the same. Visual also gives some insight into the structure but at the same time it has to be confirmed from reliable sources like reading online, books on the subject, courses etc.

If you are interested in trailer music genre then Nick Murray has done an excellent video on it. It has probably two parts.

Also search v.i control forum where you will find some good threads on classical music structure. There was one started by a member Dean, search his name for trailer music structure. Sorry am on iPhone, not easy to go to and fro.

 

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I'm not sure EDM is really music but I'm still on my first pacifier. In House music, is there a need for music theory? I have to listen more, but it makes me want to add face paint and run around with an axe (I'll say that's my name for a guitar too).

Watch this guys process with recreating a song. Sometimes going backwards is the fastest way to go forwards:
https://www.you [take out this text] tube.com/watch?v=nl7gsafvAAo
[don't want to use too much space but delete the text]

There is a "formula" for getting good at anything:
100 hrs -you suck
1,000 hrs -you suck less
10,000 hr's -only you think you suck.
Unfortunately, this only works if you are using the most efficient method.

I have 6 non overlapping certs or licenses (forgetting about stuff I didn't do the dog and pony show to get the pat on the head) and things seem consistent across specialty, and research has supported my inferences.

Define the problem space.
You need to have a vocabulary to define what you want to operate on, in your specialty's domain.
You need to understand any underlying structure in that space. Which the vocabulary helps you attain.

This will help you recognize structure and function which helps you remember them. Now you can make your own recipe book.

Define the solution space.
What/who makes what you want?
What are they doing. What are the differences between what they do and others that don't?

Define the operations that get you from the problem space to the solution space.
Find the tools that ppl that do what you want use, and learn them.

Problems I've encountered in the real world:
There's an old saying in Chinese (translated): 'Knowledge is worth more than gold, because knowledge ensures access to more gold'

I have found over and over, from the medical, financial, fitness, academic and law fields, that "school" doesn't teach you what is necessary in the "practical" sense of actually getting the job done from start to finish. If they did that, they'd be training their replacements. Only the US trains foreign scientists how to blow us to Hades teaching everyone nuclear physics. Every other field, seems to be guilded. I learned the real "practical" stuff in any field from mentors who thought me "worthy." That is the real secret. No mentor, you will have to recreate the wheel like everyone else. Now with complexity making that possibility more and more remote.

You do not have to learn how to play every scale on the piano. You probably do have to learn the cycle of 5th's cause it sure helps me...and I'm a crayon level piano player. You can learn the cycle of 4th's if the 5th's seems like too big a circle, but it's the same circle going the other way...

The Beatles had ONE guy that read music. I can bet you, he was the guy that wrote the songs DOWN

Which I have an add-on question:
What is the best practices for "remembering" your musical doodles that sound cool to you? I've been going through sounds and they remind me of specific melodies or bass lines, so I recreate them, then improvise. Before I know it, 2 hrs have gone by playing around with 2 different tunes and bass lines. I've just realized to look up at the clock to see wtf is the time frame happening...
Given I don't necessary want to break the flow, what's the best way to record the really good stuff while discarding the chaff?

@ed-enam Ty for the reference. I've found scoring stuff is an additional complication to just writing stuff...holy crap the beginning phrase is pretty. Hmmm with this music I also want to paint my face and run around with an axe...maybe it's my mood.

 

Last edited: May 13, 2016