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I know i'm not the only one that has thought this now but when you're working on a track for so long it starts to sound a bit repetitive, especially when i'm working on a house or techno track. Is there anything anything you's would do to try and give your track more life/feeling? Like putting on certain effects on a channel or change up the drums a bit?

What about changing up the drums a bit?,


But seriously, if a track gets boring to me I put it away for a while and come back to it. Then I do work on changing up the percussion (maybe not the "main beat"), automating parameters etc. It might just be you've listened to it too much.

Do you work mostly with MIDI or audio?

I work mostly with audio, try to bounce things to audio ASAP in my tunes. Then it's easy to chop stuff up and keep things in the track fresh.

I tend to solo each instrument and listen to it throughout the whole track. When I get bored, change something at that spot. Drop markers or write down times, and then go back and do variations at all the weak spots. Something else that helped in the past was drawing an energy graph of the song. Like map out where you're building and where you're taking it apart, where the high and low water marks are. Then just look at pretty much every parameter and automate each one accordingly. You don't need much, it all adds up.

It's a huge bitch to do and it clutters up your project which is why I do it at the end. But it really does make or break the track. All those little filter sweeps and background textures keep things from getting stale.

Arrangement is key.
Try to cut out some bars, add/remove elements (with filters, other processing), breakdown, Don't make your second drop the same, ...
If you find your track way to repetitive at a time.. Analyse why it's so repetitive, I think you will come fairly quick to a conclusion...

Also... In my experience repetition usually is a drum thing. So check your drums!
Your kick is repetitive, your offbeat hihat is repetive... And that should be all.. Your clap/snare usually is on the 2nd and the 4... Try to change this sometimes (mostly in the 4th or 8th bar) Keep your percussion interesting (Usually this means 3 bars the same groove, 4th bar a little different, 8th bar again a little different)
But the most important thing in House/techno is to add/remove elements... This really get's a groove going and it won't sound repetitive.

The same for other elements in the track... Try to remove/add/switch them up sometimes!

Effects automation can work, but it's not that effective! (Not saying it isn't important in a track, just saying it really isn't that effective repetitive wise imo)

societyloser1 wrote:Arrangement is key.
Try to cut out some bars, add/remove elements (with filters, other processing), breakdown, Don't make your second drop the same, ...
If you find your track way to repetitive at a time.. Analyse why it's so repetitive, I think you will come fairly quick to a conclusion...

Also... In my experience repetition usually is a drum thing. So check your drums!
Your kick is repetitive, your offbeat hihat is repetive... And that should be all.. Your clap/snare usually is on the 2nd and the 4... Try to change this sometimes (mostly in the 4th or 8th bar) Keep your percussion interesting (Usually this means 3 bars the same groove, 4th bar a little different, 8th bar again a little different)
But the most important thing in House/techno is to add/remove elements... This really get's a groove going and it won't sound repetitive.

The same for other elements in the track... Try to remove/add/switch them up sometimes!

Effects automation can work, but it's not that effective! (Not saying it isn't important in a track, just saying it really isn't that effective repetitive wise imo)

Golden words my friend.Hugz.Get as much elements that sound good together,then start arranging them.

societyloser1 wrote:Don't make your second drop the same, ...

^This. The second drop is the best part of the song, add new basses and try to automate it if you have a few FX. I once randomly automated a chorus's depth and cutoff and got an amazing in-yo-face bass that even got some vowel-y qualities to it. Randomize and fuck around, you can get to places sometimes.

-shakers
-fill at the end of a sequence
of course this isn't going to help if your drum sequence consists of 4 / 8 bars the same thing.

Processing wise I'd say a nice bit of filtering is always good, even if just a little bit at the end of a phrase
Structure wise I like to maybe add some rides for 8 bars or maybe a percussion part, little and often makes it go a long way!
As well as that make variations of anything you can, switch up the bassline pattern, change some of the sounds, switch up the kick snare pattern (even if just on fills)

fx

and as someone else said, arrangement is key

Arrangement, automation, FX, reversing random section & chopping them up before reinserting them

Should have probably added from the word go, have an interesting idea to begin with.

If you have a boring idea then no amount of studio wizardry will make it interesting. Have a good concept and then use your production skills to 'enhance' <- keyword

societyloser1 wrote:Arrangement is key.
Try to cut out some bars, add/remove elements (with filters, other processing), breakdown, Don't make your second drop the same, ...
If you find your track way to repetitive at a time.. Analyse why it's so repetitive, I think you will come fairly quick to a conclusion...

Also... In my experience repetition usually is a drum thing. So check your drums!
Your kick is repetitive, your offbeat hihat is repetive... And that should be all.. Your clap/snare usually is on the 2nd and the 4... Try to change this sometimes (mostly in the 4th or 8th bar) Keep your percussion interesting (Usually this means 3 bars the same groove, 4th bar a little different, 8th bar again a little different)
But the most important thing in House/techno is to add/remove elements... This really get's a groove going and it won't sound repetitive.

The same for other elements in the track... Try to remove/add/switch them up sometimes!

Effects automation can work, but it's not that effective! (Not saying it isn't important in a track, just saying it really isn't that effective repetitive wise imo)

YES YES YES!!! Arrangement really is the key. Once you keep producing and getting the hang of it, you'll know hen you have all the elements you need. Once you do that, loop everything out, start piecing and cutting away what you have to start arranging. Add your intro, verses, cut away some elements here and there, bring it back, then add some variations here and there. Don't stress yourself over it, just get an arrangement done, you almost always don't always finish your track on the first go-around. Bounce your arrangement, and put it on your mp3 player, and listen to it on your ride to school or to work. Listen to it like you would any other track. Analyze what you like about it, what you don't like, what was annoying, and what was great. Then come back a lil later with a fresh mind and these new thoughts, and make some tweaks and changes to the arrangement.

Also, another thing that can really play a part is your overall mix. Meaning, your EQ, Compression, and other effects to the overall track. How everything sort of gels together. Sometimes that can play a big role in what you're looking for sound-wise. Instead of piling on different elements that you don't need on a track, a great sounding mix can really liven up your track, even if you don't have that many elements in it.

One of my favourites is to change the percussion to double or half time with the same pattern for a section of the track

Having an ever-evolving element in that part of the tune is cool too. Like if you have a low-passed bassline with movement in it, have it open up more and more and more for 8/16/32 bars until the bridge/breakdown. I feel it builds tension. Even when it's opening and closing (like a wobble), have both the peak and bottom frequencies of the filter go higher and higher.

add a solo

change is everything, variation on what is expected is what creates excitement, anticipation is what creates tension, focus on creating an "exciting element" that the listener isnt keen to and create variation once that anticipation builds and is resolved

I'll just wiegh in adding my voice to the chorus of a good arrangement.

That said, a lot of the tracks I DJ I find deathly boring to listen to unmixed. There is something to be said for a simple track as a blank canvas for live performance - although I don't think I'd release such a thing unless it got a really good response.