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Electronic music 101 - the dance producer's manual

What are the secrets behind a great dance record? DJ/producer Sharooz guides you through the track creation process, from drum sound selection to your final mixdown

 

Building an effective and memorable dance track is often down to four key factors. The following 'rules' are true of virtually any production and if you take them to heart - and you've got a killer hook - then your track will stand head and shoulders above the rest. 

The choice of sounds

It can’t be stressed how important this is right from the off. Many producers choose their drum sounds first as these are often regarded as the basic building blocks of a dance track. Whether it be a loop or a bunch of single hits, it pays to have something as upfront and current sounding as possible, with interesting rhythmic content, but sparse enough to allow for more elements to be added later in the arrangement.

Bass sounds should complement the kick rhythmically and sonically (more on this later), synth lines (whether loops or patches) always sound more interesting with some form of filter or envelope manipulation – distortion and its added harmonics can add great depth and fatness to the mix and maintain the listener’s interest. In a nutshell, every new element you add should be interesting and unique enough to fully ‘announce’ itself, raising the energy levels on its introduction and keeping the floor rocking throughout. 

The use of rhythm

Just as each element should fit the mix sonically, always aim to program parts that complement others rhythmically. As an example, if the kick plays on every beat of the bar, the bass may play off the beat. The open hi-hats will play between the beats, shakers or closed hats move in sixteenths with synth and lead lines playing intertwined rhythms to add to the variation.

Try using ‘swing’ templates to shift sixteenth notes along in the grid, giving a humanised feel to your grooves. Randomly move notes along by a few ticks and switch velocities on drum sounds to further emulate a human drummer’s actions. One interesting trick is to switch from sixteens or eighths to triplets and thirty-second note cuts in fills. You can often find that gating or cutting the decay time of a kick drum or snare can keep a groove much tighter, improving the rhythmic flow, particularly at faster tempos. 

The use of melody

Whether you are seeking to produce a chart-topper or underground classic, melodic content is key. In an extended mix, a musical motif can be repeated upwards of 20 times. To prevent the listener from tiring a simple hook is often the most memorable and best. Experiment with ‘question and answer’ phrases – where the bass plays one figure and a lead sound plays an interpolation higher in pitch. Recapitulate ideas later in the arrangement and try repeating or stuttering the opening or ending notes of a phrase leading to a break or chorus. Try duplicating phrases playing thirds, fifths, octaves - and even sevenths - using different timbres and patches.

Arrangement

With virtually any dance track, arrangement is key. An unspoken rule is often to move in 4 or 8 bar phrases varying, adding or removing elements at each increment. As a typical example, an extended dance track may have a 16 -32 bar intro with drums playing alone, the introduction of a bassline or vocal element might proceed, uniformly building to a first breakdown aorund the 65th bar.

After the breakdown the main elements or ‘chorus’ can be introduced in full, before steadily winding down into the second longer or main break. After this break, you may introduce the main chorus again before flowing into the final 16-32 bar drum only ending. Of course, this is a very rough and somewhat generic outline – arrangements are often much more interesting for not following established patterns, but instead relying on the use of effects or automation to move through sections.

In detail...

Now we’ve covered the basics, we can go a little more in-depth with the some of the more technical aspects of making a rocking track! 

The kick and the bass

From a sonic perspective, the kick and bass are the most important elements of any dance track. One common assumption is that getting them sounding right can be left to the mixing or mastering stage. But whilst it is true that a decent mastering engineer will be able to add some beef to your bottom-end, the quest for the perfect bass begins well before that.

The sonic relationship between your kick drum and bassline is all-important. If your kick is an 808 sub that thumps and booms at 60Hz, there is no sense in having a sub-bass running through your track as this will cloud the mix and create little sense of anticipation when either element is added or removed. As a general rule of thumb, if the kick is high in low-mid energy, the bass should sit well below it in the mix and vice versa.

Less is often more in the bass department - the tendency is often to boost a kick with shedloads of eq - but the truth is choosing a kick and bass with little in the way of sub-bass can often lead to a much louder and energetic mix. Try 'carving a hole' with eq in the bassline to allow it to sit nicely in the mix. Layering two or three different kick drums on top of each other can add chunkiness - as well as individuality.

You can use a sidechain or volume automation to duck the bass with the kick creating a greater perceived impact and more space in the mix. As a final point, choice of monitoring and mixing environments will help immensely - there is no sense in pouring over the finer points of mixing kick and bass sounds if your monitors can’t replicate  lower frequencies accurately.

From a musical perspective, basslines are best kept simplistic but with a perceived sense of constant variation, perhaps using filtering, key changes or ‘drop outs’ (losing two or three notes from a set point in your bar). Create two musical variations of the same figure and use them alternately in a phrase, for example one which establishes itself over four bars and another over eight. Try tweaking the attack time or filter resonance on certain notes to add excitement.

If a bassline is lacking in depth, double it with a similar sound sent through a hi-pass filter to add sparkle and fullness in the midrange and upper frequencies. Try using two patches to create one bassline, for example one sound to create the main musical idea and another to ‘fill the gaps’ in the mix, using it on only one or two beats in the bar, to avoid clouding the mix.

Advanced arrangements

Let's look at some nifty ways of making an arrangement spring to life.

Anticipation and expectation

Creating a sense of anticipation before introducing elements is a great way of building excitement on the floor. Often it can be a simple reverse cymbal or clap on the bar before a new phrase, but ‘wind’ sounds made of white noise, rising in volume and pitch are great for introducing main motifs. Conversely, sound effects which fall in level and pitch are ideal for leading to a breakdown or ending. Simple tried and tested methods like removing the bottom end in a kick drum one bar before a new phrase work well, as does filtering a rhythm or hi-hat loop. Also try automating reverb and delay times on a synth part to steadily rise in length in anticipation of a breakdown or chorus.

Less is more

Whilst the tendency is often to add elements in anticipation of a big chorus or main riff, it is sometimes more effective to bring the listener to that peak energy level, then suddenly breaking the track down to its core elements (such as a kick and bassline). This contrast in dynamics between a busy mix and a sparse mix can really bring elements to life, creating havoc on the floor!

Silence is golden

Sometimes a simple beat or bar of silence can be the perfect introduction to a new section. Of course, by silence I’m not suggesting you mute all the elements and leave the listener with a random gap in the track: but rather, perceived silence – for example letting the synth and reverb tails hang on and using a bang or short, sharp effect to move to the next section.

Final cut

As a final note, a lot can be made of tweaking your stereo master or mix bus. This can be as simple as reversing or cutting short silent gaps into one-bar segments or filtering whole phrases of the track. Another trick is to line up two instances of the same track a few bars apart in a wave editor and ‘edit in’ hits and snippets from various sections. Often these edits can be difficult to program or don’t seem so glaringly obvious until you’ve produced the final mixdown.

Breakdowns and builds

Many view the breakdown as the most important part of a dance track, with numerous records now characterised by an epic breakdown or build.  As the breakdown is effectively a key part of a killer arrangement, a number of concepts are similar to those outlined in above.

In it’s simplest form the breakdown serves as a means of breaking the track to its primary elements before gearing up and raising the energy levels to a new peak. A basic way of achieving this is by isolating a main rhythmic or melodic figure and manipulating it with effects and volume variation building to a main motif or chorus.  Once again, opening a low pass filter and raising reverb times works well.

If using vocal elements, sometimes isolating them and adjusting formant or pitch creates weird and wonderful effects. If you breakdown to just a bassline and kick drum, try high or low-pass filtering both together.

Another great trick is to decrease the overall level of the breakdown by 1-2db – usually this is not a big enough cut to initially notice a difference in volume, but it gives the main body of the track that extra ‘oomph’ when it finally kicks back in.

Breaking down to a percussive base such as congas or electronic bleeps can work neatly as a first or mini-break - in a similar way to a live band breaking down to a drum solo.

Finally, there are some things you should avoid in a breakdown - usually energetic rhythmic elements such as hi-hats and shakers are left out. As these elements often play consistently throughout a track, keeping them in during the breakdown offers the listener no real ‘break’ at all.

Mixdown Mayhem

There are a few basic mixdown principles which translate well on a wide variety of speakers and soundsystems. Here are some basic ways to make your mix rock on big rigs and radios alike.

Less bass – more gain

As we mentioned earlier, using less bass usually equates to greater volume. This is particularly true of sub-bass and even lower frequencies which are not usually perceived by the human ear.  For this reason, it is generally good practice to roll off bass frequencies below 20Hz using a shelving filter. On a base level, when it comes to the mastering stage, a mixdown with less bass can lead to much lower distortion and dynamic scope when the gain is limited or expanded.

The principles of EQ

You should try and have sounds and elements within your mix that ‘satisfy’ every aspect of the frequency spectrum. A good kick drum with a well defined bottom always sits well with sparkly hi-hats with lots of clear top-end. It is regarded in a great many recording circles that it is not good practice to boost EQ – always reduce. You will often find that cutting predominant frequencies in one sound will allow those that seemed to be lacking in another to stand out and breathe in a mix.

Building a stereo field

Using sounds that work well in stereo is a great way to add excitement to a mix, particularly those played back on a hi-fi, radio or TV. Generally speaking, kick drums and basslines should be left in mono. This helps them gel better and works more effectively on a club system. Hi-hats, shakers reverbs and FX almost always sound better in stereo. Using very careful phase-shifting or millisecond time shifting techniques between channels can give a mono hi-hat loop great stereo definition. Always use stereo reverbs on effects and vocals and try using different shaker sounds panned left and right to add to the image.

But check everything in mono!

Contrary to the above - don’t overdo it. Many club systems operate entirely in mono and using too great a phase shift (particularly on pad sounds) can make the left and right channels ‘cancel’ each other out and leave a large gap in a mono mix. Finally, don’t be tempted to pan sounds hard left and right, instead opt for a 45 degree pan in case a system sums only one channel to play back in mono and ignores the information in the other.

Ch-ch-check it out

Last, but certainly not least, always check your mix on a variety of systems outside of the studio environment: the club rig, pc speakers, headphones, even the TV. Different speakers all reproduce sound with different characteristics so it pays to be aware of common traits in your mix which translate well universally.

Effects and automation

Finally, here are a few tried and tested effects tips and tricks:

Reverbs and delays

Always time sync delays and delay LFOs – this goes without saying. Don’t go too crazy with prolonged feedback times – this can cloud the mix and conflict with other elements. Dropping out the bottom end in reverbs and delays helps keep the mix nice and clean too. Don’t be tempted to sprinkle reverb on everything. A combination of dry and wet elements really gives a mix definition. Finally spare the reverb on the bass elements, as this can make things sound very muddy!

Compression

Generally short attack and release times are the order of the day. Experiment carefully though – particularly on kick drums, where adjusting the release time and shortening the overall length of the kick can have dramatic effects in relation to your entire mix. Gates are a great way of tidying up snare tails and removing unwanted clutter from vocal and synthlines. Transient designers are an excellent way of giving kick and snare sounds real punch without taking away too much bottom end.

Distortion

As well as being the preserve of many an electro bassline, distortion also works extremely well on less obvious sounds such as hi-hats and snares. It can give a real crustiness to virtually any rhythmic element and really make it sit well in the mix. In my opinion it is best used sparingly, unless you are after a specific effect.

Automation

Finally, effects are almost always made more interesting if they are varied using automation. Plugins allow virtually every element to be programmed over time - so experiment freely with your ideal combination to create that truly unique sound!



(c) 2008, Sharooz Raoofi / Sounds/To/Sample. NO PART OF THIS ARTICLE CAN BE REPRESENTED WITHOUT PERMISSION.

Sharooz is an established Electro/House producer and co-founder of Sample Magic and Sounds/To/ Sample. His productions have figured on the Radio 1 playlists of Judge Jules and Pete Tong and featured on various compilations such as the Ministry of Sound Mash-Up. He also writes for EMI Music Publishing and BMG Zomba. For further info see: www.myspace.com/sharooz