How To Turn Your Loop Into A Song #1 - Inspiration and Production

How To Turn Your Loop Into A Song #2- Arrangement and Production

How To Turn Your Loop Into A Song #3 - Production and Arrangement

 

Thank you seems like it may be useful, I am actually watching everything that you send (and have sent). I will post my first song here when I wrap my head around this.

I hope these are not Trap tutorials that are flooding YouTube

 

Simple and best advice, if you have some listening skills.

To hear and understand what's happening in music you listen to is essential for making your own. It's the single skill you can't do without when producing music imo.
There are even many classical trained musicians with good playing technique, who are unable to compose a single line, since they only learned to play by sight-reading without ever getting what they actually do. To compose or arrange you have to hear what's happening, from small elements up to the whole big structure.

You wrote you already made some beats, melodies and so on. If it was more than just loop roulette in Ableton you must have some basic listening skills at least. Just extend those listening skills to arrangements and you're done.

Ok, as others said, there's more to it. You need to practice and record lots of shitty arrangements before you'll get a clue.
One day you will succeed, myself I'm expecting that day to come next month for many years now.

 

You said you need help arranging your arrangement. Where is the arrangement? Lie detectors said that was a lie.

Then you said you can't even make a melody. Then after that you said this is demotivating and hard work sux.

After that you said. "AYO guise just make this shit for me. That would be way cooler than telling me the same old shit I told you I was shrugging with but will do nothing to actually face"

You come up with an even more amateur question at every turn after telling us you had a whole track you need help with arranging. Then you get good advice and say "I don't want to make trap beats. 808s are so over played."

You promised you had an arrangment but don't even have a melody. Your track went from already finished to "can you guys make my verse for me?"

 

Active listening right? I've heard about it, but how does seeing what's going on in other people's songs help me learn arrangement?

You've been producing/ beatmaking full songs for years and you haven't made an instrumental you like? I'd be lucky to just make a single full track. I am really sick of just making loops in my FL Studio.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 4, 2021

Just stop commenting here, you Donut, Mr Nyamer. You're a joke and you're not contributing anything helpful. In truth, all of the advice you gave was just copying what other members said. You said nothing original or anything I haven't already tried. You've said your piece now move on. Let others try and help. You don't see others type any more. I want to hear from new members. Everyone will have something new to add. Stop trolling, if you want to troll make a thread in "humor". Or I'll make one for you if you want?

I'm trying to learn music not deal with trolls. I will not respond to you again, I wish you a happy, fulfilling life.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 4, 2021

Hey, I see you posted the files. Sorry didn't have the time to read all the other stuff.. I can try to make a sketch of what I'd do, later. But I have to try some tricks - and then we can discuss.

So, I quickly listened to the track and I have a couple of Q (just double-checking, that way we are on the same page):
The "weird FX" is on the second/fourth beat (the upbeat), and the "Main melody/arp" starts on "one" (downbeat) after 8 beats (probably 2 bars)? If that's so than the rest is clear..

Do you have the patch(es) for the lead. It's probably two sounds layered?

 

The most obvious thing,
it needs a Break around the 26sec mark, just before the melodic element comes in..

There's a zillion ways it could be done, but I would start with the Drums..

Make them come down to just the hihat/shaker, or go away alltogheter,
hold it down for 2 or 4 beats,
and then make them Build-up in intensity, putting some Drum Fill that creates a momentary in-crescendo,
linking it with the first beat of the New Section with the Melodic element.

This will separate the Intro/build-up section, from the next Melodic section.


Then for instance work at defining more the sections,
like putting ever more elements in that Intro that make it increase in intensity/complexity.

IOW put more Contrast between one section and the other.

Also try to improve your Bass lines,
it cannot be repeating the same notes all the time..

Change the notes, make variations,
one time end with one note, next time end with another.. (like 3rd and 5th, or 3rd and b7th)

Better and more complex basslines will also imply more chord changes..

Find the right amount of variation/repetition that you want/need,
but try to make them more varied in themselves.

Be Creative,
don't stop at the first fundamental step, or most basic plateau..

 

You can write a melody with an instrument.

 

I don't think the generation can do it anymore. They think like a modular system. Some no longer have the feeling and understanding. If you always see everything prefabricated in the midi files and clearly they don't fit together - because no muscular could be available. Good night .....

 

You're doing this:


Try to do this instead:

 

A little bit more than that "Active listening" you linked, actually.
You need to learn how to reproduce a track you have listened to using your own instrument. No matter if this instrument is an old guitar, a flute, your voice or the editor screen of your DAW.

How will it help you understanding other's arrangements?
As music itself arranging follows cultural traditions that have evolved by other people's songs. Arranging means understanding these traditions, choosing some and following them, and adding your personal note, if possible.
It's quite complex for the cultural part, if a simple set of rules would suffice, we would have a software to do it for us.

(And I was just joking a bit about expecting to finish a track I like one day. Im finishing tracks all the time, does not mean they're great, but I still like them and I can afford making no money from them.)

 

Thank you for responding, you are very kind for helping in this way.

That's correct it's on the 2 and 4 like the snare, I got the idea from Blur - Girls & Boys to have a random monotone sample/ synth playing constantly in the background, to add groove. So you see I am not a complete idiot!

Also absolutely correct.

This is what it looks like in my DAW, maybe it'll help:

I rarely ever even get to this stage. Normally I just have loops/ patterns and do not even know how to try and arrange it. But as you can see I did not even finish this. I could not.

Just let me know if you need any screenshots!

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 4, 2021

The first sound is just a default preset from Arturia Jup-8 V2. The second is from Sylenth1, I'll upload it for you. But I put a filter on the lead from Sylenth1 in my DAW. And I also saturated both leads.

These are the leads:

Arturia Jup-8 V3 - Big Unison
Sylenth1 v3 - LEAD_Impact Lead

This is the Sylenth1 bank for the lead maybe you already have it. You need v3 by the way.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/zbf9coesiucgt5z/EDM_MIDI_Melodics_2.fxb/file

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 4, 2021

You already had when you shit on everyone's advice and said it's the same old shit that you already know about so why ask about the same old shit you already? Anyways finally you link your shit. Was a risky click for me coming from you. Soundcloud would have been better.

I don't like synth pop and I didn't really like your track to be very honest because it seems like you took random midi clips and mashed them together but maybe I still have some basic tips for your track either way.

I listened to your track and you would benefit with pads or atmospheric elements in the intro. Add some reverb to your snare, synthpop loves shitloads of unwarranted reverb like we're in the 80s. Bring your snare and shakers/hats up more. Fatten that bass synth and some lows to it.

Right away you have super saw warbling off to the right and it makes me feel like an edm track before it starts to sound more like synth pop... sorta.

Now copy an 8 bar section over and make a section with variations in chords and pads with a slower more chill melody from the midi you have previously. before adding a bridge then the original chorus section from your track. then make a bridge then and outro and see how that goes.

Look for some movie samples too if you want to make it more interesting for the bridge while some atmospheric samples are going. Look for some retro movies with some cool dialogue and rip the samples. Add delay and reverb to make them cooler.

Your track was not a joke that plays the same part over again while needing at least 2 other sections to even call it an arrangement. You need more substance than just your the one little loop you made. BEAT16 linked how you can do that. You said you watched it.

Tbh everything I just said along with everyone else is exactly the same old shit you don't want to hear. This page looks exactly like the repeats of another page in this thread. Goodnight and good luck with your... track.

 

Last edited: Aug 4, 2021

Do you mean the bass? That's what's introduced around 26/27s or the lead? Or the lead synths which are introduced at 39s?

You gave good advice but I can't implement your advice if I don't know where you mean.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 4, 2021

The link for some reason does not work for me. Can you try another way/hoster..

Got it!


I (eventually) only need the last lead ("Lead 1" on the screenshot). It's that the Sylenth? I guess it's not layered, just partly played in octaves.

 

Just listened to your track. One thing I have to say is that it's no good idea to have 2 bass lines fight each other.
And if you're trying to reproduce 80s music, remember it was a lot about style and image, too.

For example this is original german 80s and virtually has no arrangement but lots of style.

I doubt they would get signed today.

 

Lead 1 is Jup-8 V3, Lead 2 is Sylenth1 v3. The leads are actually not the same pitch. I layered an octave higher/ lower for some notes but other notes are perfect 4ths and 5ths. I'll re-upload.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 4, 2021