how to get that dance groove?

[luiswhitee]

hello internet.. okay so i keep working on project and they all sound good but they dont sound to dance like.. some of my stuff does but then a lot of it doesn't.. i began trying to produce about 6 weeks ago and i keep working on something and it doesnt sound like something you can dance too so i stop working on that project.. is it me because im just starting to produce or should i be making stuff you can dance too right away? its very frustrating when i sit down work on something for 2 or 3 hours and then just stop working on it cause it doesnt sound like a dance tune. i need help with it. i know the drums are a big part so i make a off beat sorta dubstep type, then i add the bass and it sounds great but as soon as a try to put in some melody it sounds like s**t. do you think im trying to hard to make a melody? should the melody be simple or should the drums be simple, or should all the aspects of the song be simple. or does it sound like im just over thinking it too much?

 

[Slum Shaman]

When you're starting out, keep it simple.

I've been where you are before - You are over-thinking it. If you are trying to achieve a sense of groove and variation, try playing around with different drum patterns (or even drum rolls), and different melodic scales. If you are using 808s, make sure they are (or at least the kick drum is) in tune with your melodies.

Borrow and steal. You are at a point in your musical journey where it is still acceptable to do so. Most of all, have fun, and don't think about it too much!

 

[bandcoach]

hello internet.. okay so i keep working on project and they all sound good but they dont sound to dance like.. some of my stuff does but then a lot of it doesn't.. i began trying to produce about 6 weeks ago and i keep working on something and it doesnt sound like something you can dance too so i stop working on that project.. is it me because im just starting to produce or should i be making stuff you can dance too right away? its very frustrating when i sit down work on something for 2 or 3 hours and then just stop working on it cause it doesnt sound like a dance tune. i need help with it. i know the drums are a big part so i make a off beat sorta dubstep type, then i add the bass and it sounds great but as soon as a try to put in some melody it sounds like s**t. do you think im trying to hard to make a melody? should the melody be simple or should the drums be simple, or should all the aspects of the song be simple. or does it sound like im just over thinking it too much?

Groove comes from playing live or having your instruments sound like they are being played live.

It is how the beat is interpreted at the beat level and the subdivisions of the beat - 8ths and 16ths; whether it is swing or other shifts in where the subdivisions fall.

The MPC family of controllers introduced the concept of delaying the 16th by an amount for 50% (straight 16th's all the way) to 75% (dotted16th-32nd note pairs) - which is in essence about getting a groove to sit.

Most folks tend to set their MPC-like grooves to between 63% ad 69%, which is about the same as treating the 16th as part of 8th-16th note triplet pairs.

Basic grooves
Each of the following grooves starts with straight 8th hi-hats above a 4 on the floor kick and 2&4 snare pattern. It then introduces the 16th hi-hat groove indicated by the title, finally finishing with the opening pattern. Each one is at 60 quarter notes per minute.

50%

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/grooveHats-01.mp3[/mp3]

66%

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/grooveHats-03.mp3[/mp3]

75%

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/grooveHats-02.mp3[/mp3]

Combined
[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/grooveHats-04.mp3[/mp3]

All 3 patterns played together, where you can actually here each of the hi-hat patterns come through as decorations almost of the basic pattern.....

Melody
Melodies may not sit well with what you already have simply because they are not swinging/grooving or just aren't in the same tonality/modality as the bass and chord progression. Do some reading about chords and scales to improve your skills in this are - plenty of threads can be found here at fp using the search tool.......

 

[MarcDHall]

I don't think that after 6 weeks you would have covered a lot of ground. A lot of music production is about trial and error, 6 weeks of it isn't much. There are too many aspects to it to be told much about something has high-level and abstract as ' 'groove' in a few posts. Unless, ofcourse, by 'groove' you simply mean measure timing. In which case bandcoach's post explains that.

Rather than thinking purely in terms of 1 genre, maybe you should make many varied experimental tracks... then you can pick out bits that sound dancy and make specifically dancy tracks.

 

[2infamouz]

can you give us a example of some of your work ? I think you're being hard on yourself for only being 6 months in. This is a hobby/profession where you really never stop learning.

 

[fataltone]

this should be in this section
this has nothing to do with mixing and all with composing
study dance tracks
if you're using FL Studio go to Warbeats > Home and download some the FL Studio beat/song zips that users post up for download
you can see exactly how they put together their dance/EDM beats

hopes this helps

youtube is a amazing tool
you should be on youtube everyday learning something new
different techniques when using signal processors like reverb,compressor,delay to make amazing sounds and grooves

-Coach Antonio