Composition Help

[Codeum]

Okay, so I'm good at coming up with chord progressions and melodies on the fly, but I need serious help with other tings. I am terrible at percussion. IF i don't use loops, my percussion feels very empty and I can't fix it no matter how hard I try, and I need help with basslines. There's no way in hell I can afford massive, and The torrent I found on piratebay doesn't work on 64 bit windows. I need a VST I can get for free (by any means) that can make basslines like Omni and Alex's basses. I don't just need the VST, I need help using it. I can't do anything other tan a really simple LFO wobble in sylenth and sytrus, and all the basic trance and dance basslines. If I make it any more than that, it becomes more of a lead and my headroom goes to shit. I'm begging you guys, it is my weakness!

[A.I. Music]

Coming up with good chords and melodies is one thing; and putting them into action is another thing. This, I feel your pain in. But, on the other subjects of the matter, I'm fairly sure the only reason your percussion sounds empty in itself is because you are using the raw audio clip. Throw some effects on it. Maybe some nice reverb or delayed effects. Raise the highs a little, and maybe clip the end high. And on the subject of Massive, I'm sorry, I really can't help you here. I ran into the same problem you are having about a year ago, and there was nothing I could do about it except work for it. And that's what I did: I worked. I made money, and I saved that money until eventually, I had enough to go to Native Instruments and clip the 'buy' button on Massive. I really wish I could help you with this one, but I'm afraid your best bet is to wait it out and buy Massive. But hey, once you get Massive, contact me. I can give you some lessons in using it. Granted, I'm not amazing at Massive, but I know the synth itself. I'm sorry I could not help as much as you probably would have liked to. Get into contact with me later, and we can discuss some more help issues. Hope this helped at least a tad.

-Alexander.

[Codeum]

oh no I always layer some effects on them. I'ma mixing pro, I pour my whole existence into the mix. I should have mentioned it above that one of my strengths is my mix. Sorry about that. it's composition I cant do.

[A.I. Music]

Well, then I don't know what to tell you other than perhaps your patterns are off or have too much space in them.

[Lavender_Harmony]

Okay, so I'm good at coming up with chord progressions and melodies on the fly, but I need serious help with other tings. I am terrible at percussion. IF i don't use loops, my percussion feels very empty and I can't fix it no matter how hard I try, and I need help with basslines. There's no way in hell I can afford massive, and The torrent I found on piratebay doesn't work on 64 bit windows. I need a VST I can get for free (by any means) that can make basslines like Omni and Alex's basses. I don't just need the VST, I need help using it. I can't do anything other tan a really simple LFO wobble in sylenth and sytrus, and all the basic trance and dance basslines. If I make it any more than that, it becomes more of a lead and my headroom goes to shit. I'm begging you guys, it is my weakness!

Okay, I feel I should split up your post into several different parts.

First of all you talk about percussion, and this is something that is entirely genre dependant, and depends on what sample packs you own, have downloaded. Loops will only get you so far when it comes to writing percussion. To make your drums effective, you will have to spend time learning about different genres, their rhythms, what they are made up from. You should learn about EQing, mixing and compression, and furthermore you should decide how to lay out your drums. Some people lay down individual sound files in the arrange window.

Secondly, No one can really teach you to be Alex S or Omni or Skrillex. It really is something you have to learn and develop. There are plenty free synth plugins you can use, just a quick search on KVR brings up hundreds. But it's not the synth, its the producer, knowing how it's all layered, the use of subs, compression and so forth.

[Navron]

Here's something I've sort of discovered that helps understand percussion:

Think of percussion as the body of your song. It's a very common process for songwriters to start off writing a drum line, adding a bass pattern next, and a melody on top. I usually mix in my percussion after arranging my other tracks, but that's because I know what kind of percussion I want to use, and what kind of effect I'm going for.

The bass drum drives the flow of the song, but it depends on what kind of genre that determines how it's driven. Psytrance, for example, typically involves 4 beats per measure, with a bass drum on each downbeat (4 to the floor.) This gives a psytrance song that "pulse," that keeps the song moving, but it can also be looked at as a person's heart beat racing through the song, which is why it's fairly common that psytrance songs are typically comprised of lyrics and motives that revolve around psychedelics, out of body experiences, and dreams.

Dubstep typically involves a bass hit on the first hit, and a snare hit on the third. If you imagine a person dancing to the beat, their first foot would hit on the bass hit, and the second foot hitting on the snare hit, hence the "step," in dubstep.

So think of percussion in ways a DJ thinks of a mix. You have to read the crowd, and determine what goes in that groove. Do you want people to have a pulsing dance to your song? Give it a 4 to the floor pattern. Want your listeners to have a swaying step to their dance? Add in some dubstep rhythms.

Once you understand how the bass and snare drums work to drive the overall flow of the song, the rest (hi-hat rhythms, cymbols, ethnic drums) all work in tandem with the bass and snare drum to help fill the empty space, and keep the groove going.

[Codeum]

oh no I always layer some effects on them. I'ma mixing pro, I pour my whole existence into the mix. I should have mentioned it above that one of my strengths is my mix. Sorry about that. it's composition I cant do.

I want to be better at trance percussion specifically. as for the basses, learning and developing starts somewhere doesn't it? I'm just asking for some guidance is all. As for the VSTs, certian ones have special filters and distortion modes that are essential to making the bass sound good. no amount of mix will help me if the plugin doesn't have these types of effects. Sylenth1 just can't do the kind of shit massive can. you get what im saying?

as for you navy brony, I totally understand all the basics of the kick and the snare and how it applies to the genre, but I have trouble filling to spaces in between *facepalm*

[prettiestPony]

I totally understand all the basics of the kick and the snare and how it applies to the genre, but I have trouble filling to spaces in between *facepalm*

Hmm, well, plenty of trance doesn't have a whole lot of other percussion beyond the kick, snare/clap, and high-hat. Probably more than one high hat, and probably with an open high hat hit on every offbeat 8th note; but not too much else than that. What kind of thing do you have mind?

[Codeum]

Lol you guys don't know trance then

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpsXvfoIliQ

There's a lot of percussion going on in there and i can't even hear all of it separately.

[Navron]

Picking up all the percussion is really a losing battle. You have to treat each drum as a separate instrument while analyzing it.

- What's the bass drum doing?
- What's the hi-hat doing?
- What's the snare doing?
- Etc.

Here's a vocal free segment of the remix I made on the Flim Flam Brother's song: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52284231/Basses.mp3

Likely the most complicated drum pattern I've ever put down, but within the 2 layers of drums, it's actually relatively simple:

- The bass drum follows a relatively simple metal pattern utilizing some double bass pedal rhythms.
- The snare drum falls on the 2nd and 4th beats, sometimes adding in a clap here and there, but in general, the claps integrate themselves the same way as the snare drum.
- The hi-hat rhythm is where it gets complicated. For the first 8 measures, the hi-hat rhythm is layered with a ride cymbal that again, follows more of a heavy metal pattern, as the ride cymbal keeps a consistent 8th note beat while the bass drum is doing it's pattern (hence, more of a heavy metal breakdown.)
- After the first 8 measures, the ride cymbal pattern switches to a closed hi-hat pattern, which makes room for the vocals that come in at that point, which gives the mix an overall tighter feel.

[Codeum]

But I want bongos and panning and texture! I'm tired of kick snare hihats.

[Lavender_Harmony]

But I want bongos and panning and texture! I'm tired of kick snare hihats.

Then use them. Be creative, experiment. Listen to a lot of music, learn to analyse it, pick up on rhythms and textures and adapt from them. We can't tell you any magic secret about how to write percussion parts. Sure, we can give you some pointers, but it's something you're going to have to learn for yourself, ultimately. All we can do is point you in the right direction.