In this tutorial I’m trying to show visually what kind is typical uplifting trance song structure and how does it progress. I’m using one of my own songs (The Wall) as a example.
In this two video tutorial I slice up my song in to 16 bar sections and I try to explain the progression section by section.
Some may wonder what is a bar. Well, I’m not expert in terms, but here’s how I have understood it: 1 bar = 4 beats. If you listen to a dance music, you can hear the basskick beating. Four of those beats forms a bar. Take your favourite dance song and listen to it carefully. If you start counting the beats from the beginning of the song, you notice that usually after 32 beats (8 bars) something happens: new sounds comes in, other fades out, etc. That’s how the song progresses. Every certain amount of time something happens. That’s how you keep up the listeners interest.
So when you start to compose your very first trance song, try to progress in 8 bar sections. Add a new element after every 8 bars or fade out current ones.
So a typical trance song structure could go like this:
[first 8 bars: basskick]-
[second 8 bars: basskick + claps]-
[third 8 bars: basskick + claps + hihat]-
[fourth 8 bars: basskick + claps + hihat + bass]-
[fifth 8 bars: basskick + claps + hihat + bass + pads]-
[sixth 8 bars: basskick + claps + hihat + bass + pads starts to fade out]-
[seventh 8 bars: breakdown and everything stops. Start to build up your idea (hook) here]-
[eight 8 bars: your idea (hook) fully presented!]-
[ninth 8 bars: highlight of your song where everything plays together: your idea, drums, basslines.. everything! make it "explode"!]-
[tenth 8 bars: highlight may continue!]-
[eleventh 8 bars: maybe start to fade out elements a bit.]-
[twelth 8 bars: fade out even more]-
[thirteenth 8 bars: more fade outs]-
[fourteenth 8 bars: fade fade etc. etc.]-
You get the hang of it when you start to compose your first song. In my example I’m using 16 bars because I wan’t to build up things slowly.
So, here’s the videos. First Part 1:
And Part 2:
Related posts:
hello petri exellent tutorils here more on song structure or building from start to finish would be greatly appriciated
thanks glen glen(Quote)
glen:
Thanks!
I’m already working on my next tutorial… Keep an eye on this site! Petri Suhonen(Quote)
GREAT LOOKING FORWARD TO IT !!! THE WALL IS 10/10 M8 KEEP IT UP GLEN(Quote)
Thank you so much!!! your tutorials are so easy to understand, now i know how the stuctures of the song work. i hope you keep on with the tutorials.
Again thank you you made my life so easier with this tutorial Kevin(Quote)
Kevin,
that’s very nice to hear, thank you!
More tutorials coming soon.. watch out for ‘em
Petri Suhonen(Quote)
welldone good job!
do for house music as well please. sav(Quote)
sav,
thanks!
Unfortenately I don’t have any experience on house music so am a bit retarded writing a tutorial about it sorry
Petri Suhonen(Quote)
Hello Petr and thanks for repying to me : i ve got a question for begginers in dance music production.
when you create a track after doing the basic stuff(beat,bassline,melody eg for a trance track) and you want to add extra elements as effects are you using the same scale? sav(Quote)
Sav,
Yep! Everything I add, has to fit in with the other elements. If the effect or sample is not in tune compared to other elements, I use tuning (most of the audio workstations has an option to tune your samples or you can do it in audio editor software like Audacity). How much to tune is what you just have to experiment with. Your ears will tell that.
Petri Suhonen(Quote)
this is exactly what i was looking for to get me started thanks. im gonna check out your work. Grafik(Quote)
Grafik,
that’s great!
Let me know how you liked my songs
Petri Suhonen(Quote)
moimoi, nimesi sanoo että oot suomalainen
But i really got to thank you man.. i started looking in to how you mix trance like 2 weeks ago but i didnt get what they were tryin’ to say. But your tut really explained it all! no side tracks or anything just straight facts all the way! great work man ;D you got talent futuredjhaha(Quote)
Morjens! Kyllä vaan, suomalaanen
Thanks for your appreciation, glad you found my tutorial helpful! There’s more to come…
Petri Suhonen(Quote)
Thank You Petri! This is the first time I have seen a skilled producer actually share basic tips on how their music is produced.
Question: How do you make that synth sound that starts in bar 31? It is a common sound and I would love to learn how to make it. But I use Reason and I wonder if I can find a sound that is comparable?
Thanks!
Mark
Vancouver, Canada Mark(Quote)
ok Petri how do u manage to move from part 1 to part 2 this is so tough!
the breakdown is a tough job sav(Quote)
thanks m8,i been learning fl for about a year,now im reddy to make some trance,love your songs,where can i buy them. gezzo(Quote)
Gezzo,
That’s excellent, go for it!
Glad you liked my songs, check out here (http://petrisuhonen.com/discography) if you wan’t to buy them
Petri Suhonen(Quote)
My name is Piter Jankovich. oOnly want to tell, that your blog is really cool
And want to ask you: is this blog your hobby?
P.S. Sorry for my bad english PiterJankovich(Quote)
Wow… this actually makes a lot of sense to me, even though it’s different (and a lot easier) than what I’m used to doing…
Hello, I’m a budding producer of EDM (mainly trance and it’s subgenres) and I think it’s awesome to happen across this tutorial on structure… great job, and thanks for the lesson on the basics friend.
Respect from the U.S. – Midwest Christian D.S.(Quote)
Hi Christian,
Glad you liked my tutorial
Petri Suhonen(Quote)
Good tutorial. The only thing I would say is looking at your waveforms, you seem to have compressed the crap out of your song. Would it be improved dynamically if you left more headroom when mixing and not limited so much on finalizing? Cheers. Nice site btw. MG(Quote)
@MG: thanks! Yea the dynamics would’ve been better without so much limiting. Back then I used to go extreme with loudness maximizers and you can see the results
Petri Suhonen(Quote)