The main problem with 95-110 BPM...

I.C.E. Prod.

I.C.E. Prod.

New member
Hey guys, i wasn't sure where to post this but i think this is the most appropriate spot.

So i was making this Hip-hop beat and i thought that 110 BPM was the best tempo for it, but i have a problem with this area of bpm. 16 bars is the usual for a verse, right? Right. But it seems too short. Then when i change it to 32 bars (i do that when i make the tempo above 120 instead of below 80) and it seems too long :-)4theloveofgod:). What's your guys' opinion on this issue? I'm sure im not the only producer who has thought about this at their early stages of music production.

Thanks.

P.s. if there is an obvious answer, don't rage at me, i'm 13 and i've been producing for a year, I still got lots to learn :sigh::p
 
the tempo is right, you said so yourself.

what you are experiencing is you are writing /spitting at a tempo different to the main tempo.

so you need to either

switch the main tempo to match the tempo of delivery (how fast you be spitting)

or

switch your delivery tempo to match the main tempo.

You could also forget about writing to the powers of 2 "law" - 2-4-8-16-32-etc and switch it up to be what it is, 24 bars (16+8) or even 19 bars or whatever it is that works for the flow of your delivery.

The powers of 2 "law" is another of those myths that keeps being rehashed to make people stick to a formula; of the old-school composers, perhaps only Bach and his contemporaries adhered to such a rule of thumb, but then Bach was writing a lot of dance oriented music.

Mozart and Beethoven are both known for writing 7 bar and 9 bar melodic phrases as well as other odd-length themes. Only in dance music are we really enslaved to the power of 2 in our melodic, rhythmic and harmonic writing....
 
nwo504 said:
Are you gonna write a 16 bar verse or a 32 bar verse??
Click to expand...
bandcoach said:
what you are experiencing is you are writing /spitting at a tempo different to the main tempo.
Click to expand...
Haha I don't know why both of you thought I rap, even though I said I'm a producer (didn't mention rapper) but we all make small mistakes.
Anyways thanks Bandcoach and BL3, I;m going to use what you both said which is 24 bar verse with 16 normal and 8 switch-up
 
bandcoach said:
You could also forget about writing to the powers of 2 "law" - 2-4-8-16-32-etc and switch it up to be what it is, 24 bars (16+8) or even 19 bars or whatever it is that works for the flow of your delivery.

The powers of 2 "law" is another of those myths that keeps being rehashed to make people stick to a formula; of the old-school composers, perhaps only Bach and his contemporaries adhered to such a rule of thumb, but then Bach was writing a lot of dance oriented music.

Mozart and Beethoven are both known for writing 7 bar and 9 bar melodic phrases as well as other odd-length themes. Only in dance music are we really enslaved to the power of 2 in our melodic, rhythmic and harmonic writing....
Click to expand...

Absolutely QFT.

I always find when I hear a track (usually electronica or hip-hop) that breaks away from the standard and does something unusual in terms of bars I immediately give respect to whoever has had the audacity to do so. If done right and it sounds good it's a real sign of intelligent music design IMO.
 
I.C.E. Prod. said:
Haha I don't know why both of you thought I rap, even though I said I'm a producer (didn't mention rapper) but we all make small mistakes.
Anyways thanks Bandcoach and BL3, I;m going to use what you both said which is 24 bar verse with 16 normal and 8 switch-up
Click to expand...

unfortunately what you did write in the original question left it as being ambiguous, identifying the verse as being too long or too short is usually an indication that there are words being said against it.

as for writing within the power of 2 "law", consider the following thoughts/insights
  • 2 bars is a motif or motive
  • 4 bars is a strophe,
  • 8 bars is a phrase
  • 16 bars is a sentence
  • 32 bars is a paragraph.

Given that you are writing a 24 bar length verse, you really have 3 phrases, - this will make it easier to structure your harmonic movement and melodic movement.

Alternatively you could write a 16 bar sentence and then repeat the second half to round it out to 24 bars
 
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