Thoughts on Arrangement?

[KyleSnelgroveSNELL]

So we all know how to develop a story (I would assume) within our "art." But the discussion I want to stir up is: With all of the years we've been doing it, how EXACTLY do we plan out our arrangements? Do you stick to a certain transition your known for if you're switching moods, or do you just go off by what most people do?

Would love some discussion going on here.

- SNELL

Feel free to post some examples.

 

[scrapheaper]

Sometimes I stick to the approved dance music template (build, drop, breakdown, drop) but try and build in reasonably innovative ways as in my sig, but sometimes I make it really minimal and have very small differences between the sections.

Other times I have experimented with making music that doesn't have defined sections but smoothly moves between different ideas. (Couple of examples below, apologies for slightly poor production, I didn't really know what I was doing production-wise at the time)

 

[KyleSnelgroveSNELL]

Have you ever found yourself liking a particular song and trying to "re-shape" it? By this I mean, do you try to copy the amount of bars someone uses to transfer to a new emotion or verse. I've seen this happen a couple of times with hit artists. I know EDM artist Martin Garrix has a few tracks with the same arrangements. But that's okay because you know what works and you go for it.

 

[Pumpthrust]

Have you ever found yourself liking a particular song and trying to "re-shape" it? By this I mean, do you try to copy the amount of bars someone uses to transfer to a new emotion or verse. I've seen this happen a couple of times with hit artists. I know EDM artist Martin Garrix has a few tracks with the same arrangements. But that's okay because you know what works and you go for it.

Nearly all the time. For example, I might take something like Stolen Moments and tweak the arrangement and harmony to create something similar, but familiar. I mean, its form is pretty much a minor blues anyways so its not that hard to do, but its fun once you understand the structure and form.

 

[scrapheaper]

This is what I meant when I mentioned the 'approved dance music template'
Martin Garrix uses it in a lot of his songs, but so does every other dance artist, from calvin harris to skrillex to blawan. It's not really copying a specific track because 80% of all dance tracks ever have the same format.