I am trying to learn arrangement/ structure. Can someone please complete an arrangement I started in FL Studio. It's 80s synthpop. You can add anything else you like to it and you are free to use the project for any your own means. Just re-upload it when you are done.

Also, am I allowed to send links here? So I can share the project?

Thanks!

 

Hi, @user1293435134

Of course you can share your work in progress here! Sharing your knowledge with others or learning from them is one of the main points of this forum.

I would suggest to export your music as stems or/and the entire piece as an audio file - that way also those who don't use FL can contribute.

 

Thanks for your help, I will do both

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 4, 2021

pick your favourite track , import it to your daw and add markers to each section and how its structured , save the project as a tempelate and try to follow this structure until you get the idea

 

Thank you for this idea!

 

.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 3, 2021

Electropop - Instruments
• Keyboards • Electric Guitar • Bass Guitar • Acoustic Guitar • Personal Computer • Vocoder • Tape Loops • Drum Machine • Drum Kit

 

Thanks but this isn't what I asked. I need help with arrangement/ structuring. For example: intro/ chorus 1/ verse 1 etc. I already know about drum patterns, instrumentation, this is basic . I only don't know how to turn my X bar loops into a full song.

The resource looks useful though, where did you get it from? A book? Site?

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 3, 2021

I have a whole folder of it! Homemade!
.........................................................................................................
Rhythm Pattern - Song Structure - Examples

INTRO | VERSE 1 | FILL-IN 1 | VERSE 2 | FILL-IN 2 | ENDING

Intro - Verse - Refrain - Verse - Refrain - Coda
Intro - Verse - Verse - Refrain - Refrain - Coda
Intro - Verse - Refrain - Prim. Bridge - Refrain - Refrain - Coda
Intro - Verse - Trans. Bridge - Refrain - Verse - Trans. Bridge - Refrain - Refrain

Coda (German) = music: the final part of a composition or a movement

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Track Drums =
2 Track Bass =
3 Track Loops =
4 Track Guitar =
5 Track Vocal =
------------------

As short loops as possible, short WAV samples are better, first the drum track - then the bass track - then insert the first samples in track 3, preferably 1 sample at each bar, set the tempo, 120 BPM is best for the beginning! Preferably between the first samples between the bass or the drums. First orient yourself on the vertical stripes. Adjust the length. 3:20 minutes. Listening Listening - start slowly You have to feel where it fits! When you have finished track 3 it gets a bit more difficult - you have to find a sample wav that goes with it.

 

Thanks!

 

Great advice! Only I would add that they should tap out the tempo while the track plays in their media player behind the daw so you can catch it's tempo so it's aligned to the grid as best as possible before you import the track into your DAW.

Just makes it easier to jump tempos when you try to fill in those time markers with a track of your own.

 

Yes, of course

 

Thanks

 

Nothing beats Practice..
It's all about "pulling the thread" and seeing where it takes you/itself..

For instance make an Intro,
any way you like it, but maybe keep it low on the Drums,
hold them for later after some kind of Build-up/resolution..

Then where does it go?
Or where do you want it to go?

Keep pulling the thread, putting emphasis on whatever element/aspect you want to be the Center..
Maybe it's a Melody, a Main Theme, or maybe just a main Groove..

Keep pulling, first Verse/variation, same thing.. second Verse?
Then come Back, or come Down most likely..

Keep pulling, maybe it goes to a Variation or modification of the first Verse,
then what, a third C Verse? then final Turnaround and End or Loop..


This is just an option/example, (in an infinite sea of options)
but in the end it's all about "pulling the thread", and going/taking it the places you want/it needs to go..
and with practice one develops a Sense and sort of a personal method/approach/way of doing things..

 

I wish I could practice but making bad music is a demotivator. I've always had a problem with arrangement. I just don't get it. I will always have all the essential components (Chord progression, leads, bass, counter melodies, etc.) and I will be stuck with a bunch of X bar loops not knowing how to fit it together into a song. I've got hundreds of these.

 

You have to just respond to that with "not for long mafocker"

Everybody has to go through making bad song after bad song. Imagine your doctor said "I don't want to practice, it's a demotivator. I've lol'd at dem YT's enough, bring that mofockin patient right in"

And then comes in walking user35049234853234 with his ass out in the back of the patient gown unaware of the scalpel fucking his ass is about to recieve because doctor didn't read about the scalpel tilt you need to not shit up your rectus thermomatus on page 56.

Can't cheat the system, otherwise Weightwatchers would have worked out for Khaled.
Don't do the work? So don't expect to eat pork.

 

Last edited: Aug 3, 2021

The loops/ patterns I make sound good though. I don't want to waste good melodies. When I attempt to structure it, it sounds boring and repetitive. I suck at song arrangement/ structure. I have literally never made a full song. Should I just keep finishing songs, even if they sound boring/ bad? And eventually I'll get it?

 

You have to waste entire tracks, not just parts of them because no matter how good your track seems to you today, it's less so tomorrow and even less so when you show it to your friends and even less than that when it's posted on a production forum.

You problems seems to me that you know exactly what you have to do and how much work it takes and aware of this little fact, you just don't want to do it. The answers to your questions have long been answered, but after the big sigh the canvas isn't being filled. Which is why you don't go through with making a full song.

So "save your project as" then go crazy arranging and changing things. Fuck up? Revert to the "saved as" and repeat. Got a version you like? LIAR! Save As then repeat again. If you're holding out for a "finish my track" fader then it doesn't exist.

Don't be so squeamish, they're just tracks you're struggling with anyway. So struggle harder.

 

I don't know how much work it is or I'd do it. I don't have anyone to ask. And also I still do not understand what the answer is? I just want to finish my beats. I have never done it.

I appreciate very much everyone who answered.

 

"Making bad music" is a part of it too..

I'm now a quite experienced Composer,
but when I began I did a few good/interesting and necessary Turds until I got the hang of it..

Experimenting and practicing is Essential,
and it's not necessary/possible to do a Masterpiece on your first try..

In that sense I learned a lot from those early tries, which helped me put my brain together a lot..
(I was like 19, so wtf did I know about Structure, or effectively applying harmony right..)

And it's not always necessary to be all Serious about it,
for instance I learned a lot from the second/third track I ever did, a Comedy Progressive-Rock track..

A funny track with lots of Augmented chords moving around, crazy/dissonant Locrian solo sections,
and Bugs Bunny and other funny voices overdubbed around..

Just crazy/silly stuff really, like King Crimson on Nitrous Oxide..
But doing that helped me gain more experience in terms of outlining a Structure,
or putting together a method to apply Drums and Bass on my tracks..

(Back then when I began I only had my Guitar+FX, CoolEdit Pro, and a crappy drum program called "Drumsite",
I didn't even had a real Bass, or a way of doing it because VSTs were a relatively new/obscure thing, which I didn't knew about..
And Drumsite not only sounded horrible for today's standards, but didn't even allow to import my track and play the drums over it,
so I had to Mentally Calculate how many beats/bars had passed to put a simple cymbal crash, or a snare/ride detail etc.. crazy stuff!)

And also another good Try at using Harmony, by putting some chords together, etc..

But you see, that funny track made me gain a lot of Experience,
and then the 4rth/5th tracks were already Great tracks..
and in fact some of the best Rock tracks I ever did!

So by all means, keep Practicing and Experimenting.

And just Break from the goddamn Loops, make a chord progression that holds a Melody,
but then after a number of repetitions, make it Modulate,
make it go somewhere else harmonically, where a new Order is established..

Maybe you will get it right and Succeed,
maybe you get it wrong and Fail..

But you're already Learning,
and there's no better teacher/master than Yourself.

 

Last edited: Aug 4, 2021