It's been proven for me that the arrangement is the most important part of any track making. After watching these 2 courses, you will get what I'm talking about. It's being done in FL Studio and his speed in arrangement is marvelous and also he describes lots of logic behind the arrangement of different sections:

https://www.sonicacademy.com/courses/uplifting-trance-with-james-dymond
https://www.sonicacademy.com/courses/progressive-psy-trance-with-james-dymond

 

Be sure! I'm not joking. Maybe it's because of using FL Studio.

The reason for all immobility and not progression for me has been this issue, because I've not been a genre-specific person. When you'd know that what you're creating and have done it many times, it would be so easier.

He's spent lots of years in producing Trance and knows how to choose which sounds, how to process them and also how to structure them even without much thinking. This is the point for him being fast.

I've been tired of acting randomly in production. Let me ask you some simple questions. How do you choose the genre of your music? You know every genre has its own characteristics that being pro in any of genres needs years of producing. I've listened to some of your posted tracks. They're great but without any particular structure related to known genres. How do you decide what you would do in any moment of arrangement? What does guide you in the process?

 

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I know that feelin' , man.

Takes forever & all you can eat doses of frustration, to develop that universal, cliche-free vision for arrangement. But probably worth it for the brave explorer of the unknown.

 

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I seriously doubt that. When a producer is limited by a specific genre it must pay attention to structure, sound design/selection and the rest of quirks that define said genre. When a producer is not a "genre-specific" one, there are no boundaries. When limitless, the possibilities are endless. When the possibilities are endless, exploring each possibility in search of "best" takes forever. Pretty much like chasing an infinite number of rabbits.

Making music takes big balls. Balls to take hundred of decisions when making a song and living with them plus the fact that the end result is pretty much unfinished from the producer's perspective.

 

Yeap arrangement is to me one of the biggest pro of FL12, its incredibly fast, capable and open. And this guy is totally using it full capacities. When you start using shortcuts and knowing where you go, arranging in FL become incredibly creative, fast and forgiving.

 

The greatest thing about arrangment is that you can do whatever you want... there is no rules nor should be... and everything related about art (in this example, for music) is matter of subjective opinion...

for genre thing; producer or composer can be the proest-pro of specific genre, but sadly that means that he is not actually pro, he's just limited on generic thing in those boundaries of "specific" gener...
if he wants to be original, then he must step further from limitations of some "specific" genre (which is in the end some hybrid and/or something new that will some random person made up...)...
and that's why the greatest are the greatest... because they don't give a f* on what are they creating as long as they're following >>vision<< (not gener)(and by greatest I mean, names that will stand long after our deaths and not some "one year hit" names)
and if you want to learn, be sure that you are learning from the greatest... otherwise you can explore on your own and just be free
(which is my way of doing it)

sum is:
vision and will to put that vision into perspective

*this are my subjective thoughts

 

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When Im doing the final edit, theres more tracks muted that dont make the cut and get deleted, than are actually in the song. Im not stuck to any one genre per say. But thats what makes it so fun. Being able to incorporate any and all genres into your music depending on where the creativity takes you. Im my old heavy metal rock band, I would almost always get a funky slap bass line going in the breakdowns/interludes to break up the 16th note chuggin and more sustained notes and lines in the other song parts. Same with my EDM just different styles. I just made Future Bass at 98 bpm. Some would say thats illegal

 

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Blurring the genre lines... Is this Jazz? Funk? Future Bass? Dubstep? Classical? Trap?
What genre is that? Why its all of them

 

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And they are dumb if they say so. I (try) to do this all the time, I'm supporting you doing so. That's how new trends are created I believe. Just today I made 100Bpm track merging future vibes, trip hop, trap, dubstep and electronica, with vocals! I do 100bpm 4 on the floor tracks then going into weird dnb-ish breaks, etc... These are just keywords for sound definition in my opinion, and on the internet, marketing brands of course!

Exactly. You would notice that apart from major streaming labels releases, most electronic music is like this (thanks god). Well we also need the mainstream trendy part but you know, by definition, if it's there, as a producer, you don't have to get interested in it, since it's already there... Not sure if saying it right though
And thats when I see this kind of electronic music on such a channel as Monstercat, I'm thinking mainstream electronic isn't in his worst era these days... Definitely.

 

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Arrangement is not the most important part. What are you arranging?

If you arrange a pile of shit it is only ever going to be (at best) a well arranged pile of shit. [Granted, in extremis, the human brain is a sometimes well-arranged pile of shit........so maybe you have a point. OTOH, nerve tissue is different to a pile of shit, so you don't.]

 

If you want to hear good arrangements, check: Ravel's arrangement of Picture at an Exhibition, Ferde Grofe's Rhapsody in Blue, Gil Evans' Concierto De Aranjuez, everything by the old jazz/commercial composers like Nelson Riddle, Sammy Nestico and so on. You can learn more arranging by listening to the cheesy pop records from the 90s by Max Martin than these Sonic academy tutorials.
If you are interested in trance, study some Juno Reactor songs, especially these used in the Matrix and written with Don Davis. Also some of the old Astral Projection songs.

 

at the risk of being rude but I see and hear nothing to get all that excited about. @G String has already said it: if you have a lot of prefab overcompressed information to start with, there's no glory to achieve in that. To me, the comparison to telling a chef cook to go and make a 3 star dinner using e-numbers and Hungry Jack mashed potatoes from a box, is very much the case. The thing is, if you have never been to a restaurant where a grand chef prepares you fresh (real) food you can't tell the difference. These days everybody seems used to junk food anyways, likewise the music they listen to, so they can't tell the difference even if it could save their life.

 

If we divide the music into:

1-programmed and 2-non programmed
or
1-groove focused and 2-artist focused

,the guy I mentioned above is of the type programmed and groove focused. Also the dance genres usually have a pre-defined structure that shows the way for the producer. Being independent from the established genres gives freedom in everything but you can not estimate what the final result and also its function would be. Is it daunting for you or not?

I don't want my music labeled experimental.

 

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One of the best arranger i ever seen is this guy what a master pice and what a great arrangement

 

Once I finish writing a song, I wait a day and see if it fits the category trash bin or persevere with XD

Depends on what the music in ur head dictates. I like contrast, so if things are too busy, breakdown & simplify. Ditto fast / slow, loud / quiet etcs.

It helps if u have as clear an idea beforehand as possible; easy to mess w/ ideas & be flexible in ur head, it becomes more set in stone once u start writing it down. I try 2 work in reverse, doing (ie) the boring drudge work of rhythm programming 1st, then bass or chord progression 2nd / 3rd finally try to do melody last, so all elements serve it. Sometimes, they do :/

 

neither your experiments should be labeled music

 

random twaddle volume 16

 

It may even have some negative qualities! XD