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do most dubstep tunes work in 8 or 16 bars?

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:23 am
by cloak and dagger
Just curious about this one.


I know there aren't any "rules," but it seems to be a tempo thing more than anything; when I make drum & bass, I work in 16s, when I make downtempo or house I work in 8's.

The tune I'm working on now basically goes by 24's instead of the standard 32's, and I like how it sounds, but I don't want to make something that's gonna clash with whatever's playing.

I expect a lot of responses in the vein of "do whatever works" or "don't compromise" or something like that, but I'm more curious what other people are doing...either professionals or amateurs.

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:40 am
by scooterjack
I personally go for 8 bar sections or stanzas with mid range tempo (ie: dubstep/breaks/etc). Longer (16ish) for faster music and shorter(4ish) for slower tempos, 'generally'

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:45 am
by deadly_habit
depends on the tune or feel i'm going for
latest one i finished i think main section was in 32
i tend to write in a formula when i'm doing dancefloorish wobblers though
gen 16 bar intro, 64 bar main 16 bar 2nd drop then 32 or 64 2nd half and 16bar wind down outro

kinda goes with how much variations and such you want

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 4:42 am
by cloak and dagger
cool good to know...thanks for the input


my tunes are more in a minimal / techno vein so an 8-bar format suits it better than a 16-bar one...i just want to make sure it's not gonna keep anybody from playing it

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:18 am
by deadly_habit
i just make mine like that so it's easy to dj and doesn't get boring
there's no real rules
oh yeah love the dnb i have from you btw :wink:

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 6:30 am
by cloak and dagger
[quote="Deadly Habit"]i just make mine like that so it's easy to dj and doesn't get boring
there's no real rules
oh yeah love the dnb i have from you btw :wink:[/quote]



thanks man! that made my day :D


i still make some dnb from time to time and have a couple of things coming out but am enjoying making dubstep so much more at the moment.

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 6:41 am
by deadly_habit
nowaysj wrote:
Deadly Habit wrote:depends on the tune or feel i'm going for
latest one i finished i think main section was in 32
i tend to write in a formula when i'm doing dancefloorish wobblers though
gen 16 bar intro, 64 bar main 16 bar 2nd drop then 32 or 64 2nd half and 16bar wind down outro

kinda goes with how much variations and such you want
Deadly, when you write the 64 or 32 main, don't you find you write in smaller phrases that repeat and evolve that add up to the 32 or the 64?

Could flesh this out a little more:

16 bar intro, 64 bar main 16 bar 2nd drop then 32 or 64 2nd half and 16bar wind down outro

THX
kinda i guess
what i tend to do is switch up maybe every 4 to 8 bars even if it's the same melodies playing by automating things like the lfo rate, some bit crushing etc and toss in some stabs/background hits to keep the drum pattern variation up a lil since i gen write a simple beat that repeats on the 1-3 and switches up on the 4th bar

hell http://soundcloud.com/deadly-habit/deadly-habit-ridin peep that since thats the formula i used for that

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 7:25 pm
by test_recordings
Structure your song in a regular pattern (like 4 intro, 4 verse, 2 or 4 chorus, 2 bridge etc) so people can remember how it goes, doesn't matter what it is as long it's not 3 this, 1 that, 4 those etc

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 10:39 pm
by mat_de_b
You take a bar as 8 or 4 140 beats?

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 12:44 am
by deadly_habit
mat_de_b wrote:You take a bar as 8 or 4 140 beats?
wha?

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:35 am
by antipode
You take a bar as 8 or 4 140 beats?
4

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:38 am
by thecatinside
mat_de_b wrote:You take a bar as 8 or 4 140 beats?
As long as the time signature is 4/4 one bar always has 4 quarter notes so it's the latter, tempo has no meaning in this.

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:40 am
by thecatinside
mat_de_b wrote:You take a bar as 8 or 4 140 beats?
As long as the time signature is 4/4 one bar always has 4 quarter notes so it's the latter, tempo has no meaning in this.

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:40 am
by thecatinside
doublepost. Lousy WLAN connection.

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:42 am
by antipode
As long as the time signature is 4/4 one bar always has 4 quarter notes so it's the latter, tempo has no meaning in this.
I think he's referring to drum patterns being half time.

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 2:59 pm
by mat_de_b
Yeh that was what i was getting at...

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 3:17 pm
by pengwavs
tbf there is no specific structure that you have to stick with, as long as everythings simetrical its all good, but obviously if u bangin off bar 2s or 4s it might not work so well.. jus bare the symetry thing in mind and all shud go well

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 4:40 pm
by enfant
rusko does 16's