Arrangement Strategies for Finishing More Music pt2

Progressing existing elements

If you’ve ever spent hours relentlessly scrolling through synth presets, desperately trying to find a patch that suits your track, then these next two blog posts are for you. ☞

I’m going to try my best to help you move forwards in your productions with more purpose and less random chance.

There is an amazing book called ‘Making Music - 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers’ that I highly recommend for anyone struggling with the production process. It has this section called ‘Maximal Density’, which is essentially that you start by building out a 16 or 32 bar loop as deep as you can possible go.

Once you have this full section, which has almost too many elements in, it becomes much easier to expand it rather than spreading yourself too thin too early.

This was the inspiration for the Patreon series, where I developed this idea further into building out 3 distinct sections (Into, A Passage, B Passage) rather than just 1.

The reason I bring this up again, is it’s the perfect starting point for applying the techniques we're about to go through. 

You have fleshed out a 32 bar loop or 3 distinct sections (Into, A Passage, B Passage) which are sounding full & busy, how do you expand that initial idea into a full track? 

Expanding Past The 16 Bar Loop (Creative Strategies Book)

It’s such an amazing book, I simply have to talk about another one of my favourite techniques in it. This strategy is so simple & but from experience often takes multiple attempts to find something that really works.

All you have to do, is duplicate your pattern over & make one meaningful change to an existing element. Then you copy it again and change another element.

In practise I use the variation of this, which is to duplicate your pattern and make changes to a number of elements (2-5). This could be processing the lead differently by adding more chorus & delay, or pitching up the pad layer +12 semitones, or reversing the cymbal and adding a 1/4d delay to it. 

This straightforward notion of duplicating a pattern and changing some of it's elements without adding anything new is the perfect testing ground for some of the techniques we're about to go through in the next section.

Techniques For Developing Existing Ideas

Call And Response - In traditional music theory one instrument usually states the “call” and another answers with the “response”. However, the response doesn’t need to be a different instrument, it can be a development of the same motif later in the track. You essentially expand an earlier melodic idea by extending or varying it in a later passage. 

You hear this used a lot by artists like Artemis which I showed in my recreation of Ken Ishii - Stretch (Shogun Remix)

Contrast & Juxtaposition - That example leads me perfectly into the next technique which is to juxtapose the way instruments are played in. This could be loud vs soft (level), sustained vs staccato or foreground vs background (reverb, low pass filters).

Even experimental techniques like this one where you take an arp & turn it into a dreamy pad - Creative Sound Design Techniques For Making Pads & FX

Rhythmic Development - Adding extra syncopated notes, accents, ghost notes, half speed vs double speed. 

The simplest way to think about rhythmic development is changing a hi-hat from an 1/8th note rhythm to a 1/16th note. This gives you an increase in energy as you’ve ramped up the density of the notes. 

With break chopping, this could be subtle edits like adding more ghost snares to a later passage to give a more shuffly feel to the break. 

With a melody, try stretching out the midi or expanding it to double it's length. You can instantly hear how it’s slows the pace of the track & allows space for other elements to fill that gap.

A cool technique is to apply rhythm to an element that dosen't have much i.e taking a sustained pad & turn it into a rhythmic stab using ADSR.

Harmonic Development - This is one we’re all quite used to from pop music where the harmony evolves over time.

Maybes it’s a new chord progression or a change to the pad sequence. Even dropping out the pad and removing the harmony completely is a very effective technique like in this PFM track.

Frequency Shift - Pitching individual elements up or down.

I’ve talked about this a fair bit but I know music theory is not everyone’s strong suit. I have a great video breaking down the essentials of Music Theory For Jungle Producers if anyone is interested.

The simplest way I can explain this, is if you pitch an element (pad, sample or chord) +12 or -12 semitones, the harmony stays the same, it just shifts up and down in frequency.

If you pitch a sound +/- 5 or 7 semitones, you shift to the closest key to the one your sample is currently in. 

These are all good options & it's such an effective way to develop existing elements later on in the track. How to Finish Music & Escape 16 Bar Loop Hell

Using Processing To Alter An Existing Elements - This one is easy to understand but the options are endless once you dive down the rabbit hole! 🕳️🐇

Use effects & audio editing to transform earlier ideas so they can be used again with subtle or drastic differences as the track progresses. 

You can use resampling very effectily here (i.e recording lots of versions of the same part messing with live FX) to give you lots of options to play with later on in the track.

My Favourite FX For Progressing Elements - Chorus, shimmer reverbs, bass distortion, bit-reduction, high-pass & low-pass filtering, rhythmic delays 1/8d. 1/4d, 1/2 note & reversing.

Use Automation, Modulation And Articulation - Add more movement, life & emotion to an element with these classic techniques.

Volume automation, filter sweeps, vibrato, tremolo, pitch warbling, pitch bends, pitch glides & side to side panning.

I’m going for a slightly more epic example here, (cue braveheart) but I think it illustrates this idea perfectly.

If you listen to the woodwind in - James Horner - A Gift Of A Thistle  

It starts with a small amount of vibrato on the uilleann pipes.

Which then gets ramped up later in the track.

It’s subtle, but adds emotional weight to the performance & arc of the track. Sometimes it’s not about adding notes at all, it’s how they are delivered. 

I think this is the perfect point to wrap this one up. I hope you can see, there is so much you can do to develop your ideas without ever loading in a new synth or sample. 

"Your heart is free, have you the courage to follow it" ❤️

Have a great weekend all.

Cheers,

George ✌️