|
|
Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-05-09 11:25 [#00212040]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag
|
|
A dilema I frequently come across when making music is that I have one or 2 really good bits of melody in a track and the rest is mediocre. I'm tempted to use the really good bit more in the track, but I feel that this would "dilute" them somehow. I remember boards of canada saying about how they liked to include a nice sample or bar ONCE in a song to make you listen to the song again and again, just to hear it.
When I hear a lot of "pop" IT seems as though a producer got the 1 or 2 good bars and just looped them continously. Perhaps that's the reason you get tired of pop songs so quickly whereas you can replay some music 100s of times and they're still as listenable as the 10th time.
What are your views on this?
|
|
Taxidermist
from Black Grass on 2002-05-09 11:27 [#00212043]
Points: 9958 Status: Lurker
|
|
Whatever works for you.
How does it sound in the end after you have looped those one or two bars?
I sometimes loop shit for an entire song, but normally it never makes the entirety of the song. There are other interesting bits to use. Remember to vary the beats a lot when you use a loop for a good portion of a song... cause otherwise it starts to get boring fast.
|
|
Taxidermist
from Black Grass on 2002-05-09 11:28 [#00212045]
Points: 9958 Status: Lurker
|
|
I sometimes loop shit for most of a song, but normally it never makes the entirety of the song.
Or something along that line.
|
|
Meho Krljic
from Beograd (Yugoslavia) on 2002-05-09 11:30 [#00212048]
Points: 6617 Status: Addict
|
|
I disagree to an extent. A good hook makes a song interesting. But a truly excellent hook makes up the song (if you catch my drift). "Blame Canada" or "Shut your fucking face unclefucker" from Southpark are the examples that come to my mind the quickest: they are build almost solely on hooks and I still want to hear them over and over again. Just as Public Enemy lifted a riff off one of the best Slayer songs and made "She watch channel zero" and it still stands as one of their catchiest songs!!!
|
|
Fernz
from A Scottish Wanker (United Kingdom) on 2002-05-09 12:06 [#00212094]
Points: 1692 Status: Regular
|
|
I dunno... I try varying melody but I concentrate on my drumloops more. I try to change them as often as I can but theyre very tiny changes. I see your point Ceri but if I were you I would just find a method that suits you and stick to it I guess.
|
|
Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-05-09 12:09 [#00212099]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Fernz: #00212094 | Show recordbag
|
|
I think that's the best balance- copy the pattern and just make slight changes like 1 or 2 notes on each "variation". Thanks.
|
|
marlowe
from Antarctica on 2002-05-09 12:14 [#00212105]
Points: 24589 Status: Lurker
|
|
i try to use the same method that you quote BOC as saying -- i am steadily working away from looping -- but yeah, if you must loop, at least use variations, or use the ABAB, AABB &tc formulas from classical melody writing
|
|
Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-05-09 12:20 [#00212114]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to marlowe: #00212105 | Show recordbag
|
|
I tend to use a ABCBCA Type of pattern- returning to the start for the end, but not playing it again in the middle.
|
|
marlowe
from Antarctica on 2002-05-09 12:21 [#00212115]
Points: 24589 Status: Lurker
|
|
mmmm a melodic sandwich!
|
|
Phatbert 000
from Augsburg (Germany) on 2002-05-09 12:21 [#00212118]
Points: 1618 Status: Lurker
|
|
too much of the same loop makes the listener go loopy, so slight variations every now and then keeps it interesting.
|
|
Phatbert 000
from Augsburg (Germany) on 2002-05-09 12:24 [#00212121]
Points: 1618 Status: Lurker
|
|
...or of course you could use the Underworld method of having the exact same loops for ages but constantly adding more and more layers. In theory it should sound shit and does most of the time (see Eurotrance) but somewho Underworld seem to pull it off rather marvellously (see Dark + Long or the Deep Pan remix of Born Slippy to name just two tracks)
|
|
Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-05-09 12:27 [#00212125]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Phatbert 000: #00212121 | Show recordbag
|
|
It can be quite good when you have breaks from a continuous loop just for 1 bar here and there in the song. Especially if it's a quiet background element like light drums. That way the person suddenly becomes aware that something has disappeared that they became accustomed too. Then it comes back in and they're like- oh it was *that* that stopped...
|
|
Meho Krljic
from Beograd (Yugoslavia) on 2002-05-09 12:30 [#00212129]
Points: 6617 Status: Addict | Followup to Ceri JC: #00212125
|
|
Mate, you've just discovered what Steve Reich discovered some decades ago. His music is all repetition (well, not all of it to be honest) that really casts you into trance and when something changes it's like the Earth itself is being pulled from under your feet.
|
|
Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-05-09 12:36 [#00212142]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Meho Krljic: #00212129 | Show recordbag
|
|
I've heard of reich before, but not that technique or his music.
Regardless of whether or not I discovered it, it's a technique I like and use quite a bit :)
It's always good too when the melody plays in reverse (not the soundwave is reversed) suddenly in a "trance" track.
|
|
Spookyluke
from United States on 2002-05-09 12:37 [#00212144]
Points: 1955 Status: Lurker
|
|
Nothing wrong with a few well-placed loops. I tend to do most looping on things that are hard to hear--namely strange sound samples in the background that get drowned out by other instruments.
|
|
Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-05-09 12:41 [#00212149]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Spookyluke: #00212144 | Show recordbag
|
|
Yeah, I too tend to "completely reverse" (as in reverse the wave) background stuff rather than main melody.
|
|
Paco
from Gothenburg (Sweden) on 2002-05-09 13:23 [#00212184]
Points: 2659 Status: Lurker
|
|
I really don't use melodies or riffs, but songs like Kaini Industries (BOC) should really be longer. That bass line/synth sounds awesome.
The song I recorded last is just a filter pattern swamped in a huge reverb-delay, for 8 minutes.
-P
|
|
wormsine
on 2002-05-09 16:45 [#00212497]
Points: 12 Status: Lurker
|
|
Coil does a song on Musick to Play in the Dark V1 where the melody bounces along then completely flips around the other direction and back again after a time creating an infinite loop through the end of the track. very interesting, quite subtle. the effect is neat in that as if flips over it seems to be strecthing out like a rubber band before journeying back the way it came....perpetual motion!!!
|
|
shibumi
from United States on 2002-05-09 16:48 [#00212503]
Points: 359 Status: Lurker
|
|
She watch channel Zero - what a great song
|
|
Monoid
from one source all things depend on 2002-05-09 16:55 [#00212515]
Points: 11010 Status: Lurker
|
|
Actually I think its a lot more difficult to make an intresting track with LESS instruments and changes than one with tons of stuff going on.
Minimalistic music isnt as easy to produce as it may seem........
|
|
Zen Storm
from St. Charles (United States) on 2002-05-09 16:57 [#00212518]
Points: 1044 Status: Lurker
|
|
I think music is shifting toward more and more reptition in songs, less focus on the musical quality, and more focus on the overall sound. This is too bad because muscians who actually have some talent are often not exposed as much as they should be.
|
|
smeagle
from Portland (United States) on 2002-05-09 17:16 [#00212547]
Points: 88 Status: Lurker
|
|
Nice topic.....
If I do use loops, I use like 2-4 in conjunction w/ each other, then slowly taking out or replacing them (like doing ABCABC with each of them individually). It takes time, and is a pain in the ass, but at the end it CAN BE quiet worth it......
Some of my more simpler tracks have 2 - 5 loops in conjunction, with a main melody over the top, that never loops.....
Many times I'll also just play one track of a song all the way through on a keyboard, playing pretty much the same thing, but change it up at build ups - gives a bit more feel. So it sounds like a loop, but truly isn't....
I'm finding that there is no way I'll ever get away from solid, dense, melody.....
|
|
DirtyPriest
from Copenhagen (Denmark) on 2002-05-09 19:48 [#00212725]
Points: 5499 Status: Lurker
|
|
I like to make the make the sounds so good, that it can just loop into eternity with little varition!!!
|
|
marlowe
from Antarctica on 2002-05-09 20:21 [#00212746]
Points: 24589 Status: Lurker
|
|
to wormsine - (about the melody that goes forward and then back again) that melodic technique was used by bach in one of his fugues from the Musical Offering -- hofstadter coined the term "crab canon". it's an interesting melodic technique which i aim to explore when the time is right
to shibumi - yeah, thats a nice track - have you read CHUCK D's "rap race and reality" book - he expands the theme there with some valid points. AND it's a great song title too! :)
to meho: yeah, i guess that's why TRANCE got it's name huh? i used to make a lot of TRANCE tracks - it was great about 5-8 years ago when there was a lot of beautiful trance tracks out - i remember a particularly nice cosmic cube ep from around 93; loops of infinity
|
|
mylittlesister
from ...wherever (United Kingdom) on 2002-05-09 21:03 [#00212781]
Points: 8472 Status: Regular | Followup to Paco: #00212184
|
|
Paco: u got that song on the net?
|
|
mylittlesister
from ...wherever (United Kingdom) on 2002-05-10 00:01 [#00213070]
Points: 8472 Status: Regular
|
|
my music teacher thinks that i listen to loads of trance music, because my music compositions are "quite hypnotic"
...i dont listen to trance...
|
|
Messageboard index
|