Kaz
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Aug 22, 2008 20:09
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Let's start with the strictly theoretical/technical side of things for a moment. For the most part, electronic music is based on the number 2.
Allow me to explain. On bar is divided into two repetitions of "bass/treble" beat (kick, snare), which in turn is divided into two beats, again, to two offbeats, and again, for the 16th notes used in rolling basslines as the such. This is the basic rhythmical division on the small scale of things.
One bar is the basic rhythmic unit, and usual development is on a 2 or 4 bar structure (for a complete rhythm "loop", or the rhythmic theme of the part). With added FX use and careful attention to detail, you can stretch the progression easily in multiples of two.
An example of using this theory in the most basic and simplistic form in psytrance would be something like this:
4 bars kick + drums, 4 bars kick + bass, 4 bars kick + bass + hihats, 4 bars kick + drums + hihats, simple example of a rhythmic preperation for a full mix of all of them - just need a short passage. Switch the hihat sequence from every offbeat to every 1/8th note, and you instantly get double the energy from the hihats. Add some low volume ones on the 16ths that aren't already used, and you have an effect in the treble's equivalent to a rolling bassline.
This does not even involve use of filters or FX on the structure, yet it basically sets up 32 bars without any need to develop things on the melodic side. Hell, you could stretch this for 64, and with clever use of FX and filtering, usage of short passages, and melodic elements - you can make sure that 128 bars will be one loop developed to the max, and will sound technically "correct" in structure with ease. Hell, Boshke Beats, HOMMega and Sprout are examples of record labels that embrace the simple structural elegance of this division.
Now, let's say you apply all this, and you are "stuck" at the maximum length you can develop (let's say 128 bars). It means that you feel that you've maxed out your current elements, and can't use them better. Very simply, it's "something completely different" time. Time for a breakdown, starting to rebuild the track and adding new elements, etc. But no matter what, you will have to take a "fresh start", and incorporate it in your track.
That wall is you telling yourself "I do any more with what I've done and it'll bore me, and I'm the one making this track, so f#@! that". Listen to ways this is handled by pro acts that you like (well, Suomi is not a good example as that music is not quite the strict technical psytrance that is... well, not Suomi). You will notice that a lot of the magic is in using one loop, then another, a break, and ending combining the best of both worlds, and sometimes adding a different element to make it even more symmetrical. The way your favorite acts handle this is probably the way that speaks to you most in the first place.  http://www.myspace.com/Hooloovoo222 |
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