3/1 Remixing and Arrangement

Posted by
Remixing songs is a good way to apply what you are learning in music production, and also a good way to learn from what published artists are producing.

We are remixing Bandlez & Strocksu Ft. Katie Sky - Sleepwalking, stems provided by the Disciple record label for their remix competition. The song is in E minor and its tempo is 150 bpm.

Download these before coming for the lesson, because the files are large (800+ MB)

Step 1: Warping

  1. This will enable you to change the speed of the song in your remix.
  2. Set the Tempo in your Ableton Live to the tempo of the original song.
  3. Make sure all of the audio tracks ("stems") are starting from the beginning (1.1.1) - you can test this by playing the track with the metronome running
  4. Click on each Clip that you want to use, and activate the Warp button. For beats, use 'Beats' mode, for instruments, use 'Tones' mode, and for vocals, use 'Complex' mode.

Step 2: Setting Locators

To add a Locator, bring your mouse to the Scrub area and right click on the Bar line. 
A triangle will appear. You can right click to Rename it.
Common Locator names for songs are: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge
Common Locator names for EDM tracks are Build, Drop, Breakdown


Step 3: Set out your Song Structure / Arrangement

You can think of a song as a block of time, which can be broken down into smaller blocks of time. In many types of music, the smaller sections consist of even smaller patterns like the ones you've been making, combined in multiples of four, eight, or 16 bars.

Putting these sections together is called arranging; it's how you get from small patterns to a full song.

The combination of a song's sections is the song's structure or form. Some types of forms are used over and over in many types of music.

Songs

Section What it does What you can do here (suggestions)
Intro Introduce you to the song Start with only 1 or 2 instruments, no beat
Verse 1 Tells the story, builds up to the chorus A simple melody or vocal, add a bass and start to introduce the beat
Chorus Highlight of the song, the part that everyone remembers Bring in the full beat, louder instruments
Verse 2 Continues to tell the story Repeat what you did in Verse 1
Chorus 2 Highlight of the song, again Repeat what you did in Chorus 1

EDM tracks

Electronic dance music (EDM) tracks (house, techno, dubstep, drum and bass) don't have "verse" and "chorus". Instead, the form is defined by changes in textural density — how much is happening at any point in the song.

Most of the sections are in regular lengths that are multiples of eight bars.

SectionWhat it doesWhat you can do here (suggestions)
Part AIntroduces the trackStart with only melody and 1 or 2 instruments, simple beat
BuildBuilds up energy Increase some or all of these things: layers of beat, layers of instruments speed of notes (e.g. from 1/4 to 1/8 to 1/16), sound effects
DropClimatic part of the song, with the most energy, the highlight of the song, the part that you remember bestBring in the full beat and bassline, loudest instruments
BreakdownThe track becomes quieter, usually by removing / silencing instrumentsNo beat here, only a few instruments
Part BCreates variation to the trackCan use same melody as Part A or create a variation
Build 2Same as Build
Drop 2Same as Drop, but more intense

Read more and try playing around on your own at https://learningmusic.ableton.com/song-structure/song-structure.html

Step 4: Add elements of your own

Based on what you have learned in Lessons 1 and 2, you can do any of the following
  • Add your own beat using Ableton Live's Drums
  • Add your own beats and melodies using the Samples / Loops 
    (remember to change the Pitch of Samples to match the key of the song)
  • Add a bassline using Ableton Live's Sounds, from the Bass category
    (your bassline should match the key of the song)
  • Add other instruments using other Ableton Live Sounds
    (set the Scale on the song in Clip View so you know what notes you can add)

Comments

Post a Comment