I’m in a place a lot of people get trapped in: lost in 4 or 8 bar loop hell.

Whether I’m sampling or arranging chords and melodies purely with synths, I’m generally able to come up with really catchy loops but I nearly always hit a wall face first when it comes to expanding on what I’ve created.

The laziest approach to this (and one I kind of default to) is to just keep adding elements to the original loop (add some hats after a while, add another synth playing an arpeggio off to the right with the gain low, etc) , but this just leaves me with a really heavily dressed up version of the loop by the end - at its core, it’s just the same exact melody for 32 or 64 bars or whatever with a bunch of crap that’s been slowly tacked on over time.

Alternately, I’ll remove elements or remove the drums for a few bars… these things can be nice and are certainly very useful techniques for general variation, but they don’t tackle the core problem: creating actual melodic variation in what I’m working on.

Interested in hearing your tips and tricks for switching up melodies.

  • Shadowbait@waveform.social
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    1 year ago

    First off, instead of one loop I try to have two main loops/themes/ideas that I alternate between, often called A and B sections. Think of it like the verse and chorus in a pop or rock song - usually different melodies and chord progressions, but they need to feel like one follows logically from the other. I’ll also usually have a “bridge” section - something different that only happens once.

    Each time I repeat the A or B section, I try to change it up a bit. One strategy I’m trying lately is to use different synth sounds for each repetition, and then make subtle changes to better fit the new sound. I.e. I might change from short staccato notes to more sustained notes, but following the same general up and down path.

    Adding or changing harmonies is another good strategy. For a dramatic shift, change the key from minor to major, or maybe just transpose everything up by a fifth. There are more advanced techniques for reharmonizing that I don’t understand well enough to describe.

    • _bug0ut@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      So my issue is more about figuring out how to construct the “B” to my “A,” so to speak. On the side, I’m trying to pick up some music theory but my goal with this post was to see if anyone had some easy-to-digest/quick tips and tricks to get that “B” section going. I’ve managed to do this a grand total of like 2 times. I relied heavily on the arrangement of the track I was sampling, though, so you could probably call it cheating lol

      The track I specifically have in mind was more of an A/B/C type of setup if you don’t count the intro bit: https://soundcloud.com/user-155672358-440919887/dope-as-fuck-1?si=3b8636bb2f5343fcbe8bd71030f49390&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing *EDIT for clarity: any brass you hear in this track is sampled, the drum arrangement and bassline are me)

      Ideally, I’m looking for tips on how to either accomplish this with my OWN melodies (made with synth VSTs or whatever) or how to decide on a direction to head in if I’m trying to build on top of samples. The last couple paragraphs of your response are definitely some good pointers I’ll keep in mind, so thank you.

      • Shadowbait@waveform.social
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        1 year ago

        I work mostly by improvising until I find something I like, and then refining it from there. It may help to focus on just the chords first - find the next chord that feels “right” after the A section, and then what feels right after that, and so on. Once you have a chord progression, try to figure out a melody that fits on top of it.

        Sometimes it helps to have a story or subject in mind - what do the A and B sections represent? I.e. if it’s about triumphing over struggle, the A section might represent the struggle and the B section might represent the triumph. Then you have specific feelings you’re trying to convey with each, to help guide you. The listener might never know what it’s about, but knowing it yourself can help focus your creativity.

        When I get stuck, sometimes I go back through old unfinished projects to look for something that feels similar to what I’m working on now, and repurpose those old melodies and chord progressions, usually with some changes to fit the new piece better.

      • chunter@waveform.social
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        1 year ago

        My rule of thumb is to have 3 ideas before I call something a song, but if one of the ideas is weak, I may eliminate it and still have 2 ideas.

        Instead of trying to come up with variations on a looping idea, I’ll contrast 3 different loops. It’s okay if it sounds like you’re switching from one song to another. Try to avoid repeating anything more than once. The third repeat legitimized, but it also causes the idea to disappear in the listener’s mind.