Why Repetition Makes Your Music Stronger?!

Have you ever made a track and wondered if it was too repetitive? Too boring?

When I was attending music school, the primary criticism I received from my peers and some teachers was that my music was too repetitive.

This resulted in a serious mental block for me. I would produce 32 bars and even though I enjoyed it I feared it falling flat. I imagined what my peers would say.

Well, two years later I’ve finally got a hold on that self-doubt for the most part. I don’t complicate my music just because I imagine someone else being a critic.

This is because repetition is what makes music engaging. It’s what makes music accessible.

It’s what makes people listen.

Why is that?

Why do humans find repetition engaging?

How can we use repetition in a smart way so that it’s engaging rather than boring?

Well, stick with me and we’ll answer all three of those questions here.

Mere-Exposure Effect

Have you ever heard a song and not been able to really get into it… only to find yourself actively listening to it a week or month later?

This happens to me constantly.

For example, I didn’t really enjoy Justin Timberlake’s latest album 20/20 Vision at first. Shortly after it came out, I visited my brother’s house and he was listening to the album on his speakers.

Fast forward a day or two and I’m humming one of the tracks. Next thing I know I’ve dropped 10 bucks on a JT album (absolutely no regrets).

This phenomenon also explains why we enjoy when a song repeats a chorus as well as when individual melody components and phrases within a song repeat.

Participation

SHOTS. SHOTS. SHOTS-SHOTS. SHOTS.
SHOTS. SHOTS. SHOTS-SHOTS. SHOTS.
SHOTS. SHOTS. SHOTS-SHOTS. SHOTS-SHOTS.
EVERYBODY.

Ever heard that song before? Shots by LMFAO? They say “shots” quite a number of times during the chorus.

I know a lot of people who berate this kind of repetition and find it musically bland but there’s some ancient mystical musical judo happening here.

A secret sauce so powerful and LMFAO is using it for evil I tell you. Evil.

Why do they do this? Why does most pop music do this?

Because they want their audience to participate. Repetition allows us to participate because we learn what we can expect in the song and then we can join in with the fun by dancing or singing or tapping our feet or humming as we walk down the street.

This kind of banal repetition is done so that the audience can hook themselves in. I can’t really blame them either. The audience for Shots is people who are probably in a club or a party trying to have a good time. They are not terribly interested in fascinating key modulations. They wanna get crunk.

Taking It All In

You know that weird sensation that happens when you repeat a word over and over? Bath. Bath. Bath. Bath. Bath. Bath. Bath. Bath. The “th” sound at the end of that is so weird.

This is a phenomenon called Semantic Satiation and it occurs a bit in music as well.

Each time you repeat the word “bath” your brain begins focusing less on the meaning and more on the acoustics. This is why the words seem to become strange and sound unusual. You’re paying attention to new things.

Similarly, when listening to music on repeat, people tend to focus on different parts or sounds. Have you ever listened to a track for the 56th time and realized there’s some sweet background harmony happening that you never really noticed? Ding ding.

Repetition allows people to dig deep and explore your music.

So repetition is awesome. Sweet. Let’s open our DAWs, create an 8 bar loop and repeat it for 30 minutes.

Eh, hold on a second.

Clearly, there’s a quality to repetition. We want to exercise repetition with finesse.

How can you learn the secret judo mastery of repetition?

Essentially, you want to keep things familiar yet changing.

Remember that. Familiar yet changing.

5 Ways to Use Repetition Without Boring Your Audience

1. Keep rhythm the same, change the notes

One strong tactic is to change notes but keep the rhythm mostly untouched.

The reason this is effective is because people are much more sensitive to rhythm changes than harmony changes.

For instance, imagine you’re breaking out some dance moves to a song. If that song switched up the rhythm, all of a sudden you’d find yourself in a serious moment of distress. Consider your flow broken.

Imagine the same scenario (you’re dancing like there’s no tomorrow) but instead of the melody going E-F-G-A it goes F-E-A-G.

Great. Pretty sure that didn’t disrupt your movement at all.

I’m not suggesting you never have rhythm changes but be smarter with them. Less is more.

2. Sectional surprises

Think of it like debt. The more you repeat something the more you’re in debt. You acquire this backlog of repetition debt the longer things go on without change.

One way to dump this debt to the wayside is to make large changes at new sections.

Let’s say you’re Verse was musically repetitive. When you get to your Chorus, change up everything.

In fact, sectional changes are great spots to put rhythm changes if you want. Listeners have expectations that when we move into a new section things will be different. We even further this expectation by building tension with transitions and other mechanics.

3. Timbre Change

You have a typical synth melody playing the same four chords for a while.

What’s an easy trick to make the synth part sound less repetitive?

Modulate it!

Open the cutoff filter over time. Add an LFO. Make it sound more lifelike.

The point is you’re changing the literal sound of the synth rather than the rhythm or notes.

I reference this track too much but “I Remember” by Deadmau5 and Kaskade is extremely repetitive. Nine minutes of the same damn chord progression.

The primary reason it’s a compelling track is that they modulate timbre which makes it feel far less repetitive. The track is also a great demonstration of energy.

Another example would be to take a clean guitar part and switch on the overdrive at some point.

4. Performance and Expression

Changing how you express a part can make it feel less repetitive while retaining the same familiarity.

Accent differently.

Change up the MIDI velocity.

Have your playing become more aggressive.

5. Instrument Change

Similar to timbre change you can re-arrange your track so that certain parts will be repeated but on a different instrument.

For example, you’ve probably heard a rock track where the singer will rock out a chorus and then afterward the guitar player will play the same melody.

Or imagine you have a sweet high-pitched synth melody for 16 bars before dropping that same note pattern into the bass.

Either way, you keep it familiar with enough pesto that it’s still tasty.

Knowing all of this, there’s still one important piece missing.

What is it?

Expectations

To really know how to apply repetition effectively, you have to understand and respect expectations.

As I mentioned earlier with the Shots example by LMFAO, the audience for that song is people partying — probably not terribly musically inclined. This is important because that kind of person has expectations for the kind of music they hear.

You play Shots at the Annual Baroque Music Festival and you’ll get maybe that one drunken guy who keeps talking about Rembrandt On Ice to cheer but the majority of people are going to raise their eyebrows. They will not get into it.

You take people at a pool party in South Beach Miami and play Shots and they’ll lose their god damn minds over tequila. Hell, you take that same group of Baroque listeners, throw them into a hype pool party in Miami and they might even enjoy the music in that context.

The point here is that your listeners have expectations. These generally fall into Genre Expectations and Contextual Expectations.

Genre expectations are what you expect to hear from a genre. A minimal house track might be far more repetitive than a typical pop track and that’s perfectly okay because people who listen to minimal house expect that.

Contextual expectations are what you expect given the listening context. Even the stiffest musicians can enjoy the occasional cheeky pop song if they’re having a fun night out at a bar chatting with some buddies over a crisp beer.

When writing music, think about your audience and the context of your song. These two things should inform your use of repetition.

The post 5 Ways to Use Repetition Without Boring Your Audience appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

In the unofficial part “zero” of this energy series, we opened up a discussion about an important but overlooked part of music production — Energy in your tracks. In that article, we talked about how to shift energy between sections, via transitions (I recommend starting there).

Then, in part one, we discussed Energy’s role in arrangement and why it’s important. Read that to understand why the tactics below are useful.

In this article, we’ll get into the grit of increasing and decreasing energy in your tracks with practical examples you can use in your tracks immediately.

Increasing and decreasing Energy in your track is highly dependent on a lot of things — the genre you’re in, the type of song, the parts in your song, the overall arrangement (Long Form vs. Pop Form), etc.

Here we’ll focus on a couple common ways that energy is increased or decreased — Parts, Parameters, and Performance.

We’ll also go over Energy flow and the difference between chunked changes and over-time flow.

In my eBook, “Electronic Music Arrangement: How to Arrange Electronic Music” I go over the other two parts of the trinity (Energy, Tension, and Emotion) as well as how energy is applied in Long Form tracks and Pop Form tracks. If you don’t want to miss out on the full information load-out, grab that book here.

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Chunked Changes vs. Over-Time changes

Before we go into the practical techniques, note that there are two ways to go about shifting energy — Chunked Changes and Over-Time changes.

Chunked Changes are single moments where you significantly add or remove energy. These almost universally collide with new sections and are pretty much always preceded by a transition.

Over-Time changes are changes that you really don’t even notice occur, because they happen over the course of, say, sixteen bars. This type of change isn’t about any particular moment, but rather it’s focused on the journey. And this can be something that occurs throughout an entire track, or throughout sections, or even just through a bar.

It’s the combination of many subtle variations over time that lead to huge changes in story. It makes the listener wonder “how did we get here?” without providing a direct answer.

Rarely do you find a song which abandons one of these. Songs will use chunked changes to emphasize moments, and over-time changes to make sure the journey is fluid. Consider both when writing.

Increasing and Decreasing Energy Through Parts

Parts are sounds, instruments, vocals, or any new feature of a song, rather than an existing component.

A prime example of adding new parts to increase energy is when you “drop the bass.” All of a sudden, the bass and the kick drum and the percussion is added to rile up a dance floor — make them explode with energy.
The universal tactic that most people use is to introduce or add percussive elements or remove percussive elements.

A hi-hat on upbeats can dramatically open up the sound of a track.

You ever notice how many tracks begin without drums? This is because adding drums is by far the easiest method to give an energy boost.

Filling in the percussion section further, with rides, shakers, and other hits can add a further layer of intensity.

Removing or adding the snare in and out can shift the energy up or down pretty significantly.

Basically, look at percussion as a very simple and straightforward way to shift your energy

Note that you shouldn’t just add a thousand new parts to increase energy. It’s often a smarter strategy to find one to three things that you can introduce. It’s all about tastefully doing things, with enough finesse to get it where you want. Too much is mud and will weigh down your track.

Increasing and Decreasing Energy Through Parameters

This is where I have the most fun. Parameter adjustment is how electronic music shines because we have so much control over the settings of our synths, samplers, audio, and effects we are using.

Parameters are your settings. It’s the cut-off filter on your synth, the high-pass on your kick drum, or the level of distortion on your vocals. It’s literally every knob you can turn or wheel you can spin in your DAW.

My favorite, and probably the most pervasive parameter adjustment is raising or lowering the cut-off filter on synths. Last week, I mentioned “I Remember” by Deadmau5 and Kaskade — and well, energy is primarily shifted in that song through the cut-off filter.

Another popular one is to high-pass kick drums, and then completely remove it on a fresh phrase. I do this for the introduction of my Chrono Trigger remix — listen to the first minute to get the gist.

Hear that kick drop in at :30?

One thing “I Remember” and my Chrono Trigger remix do is they make the parameter adjustment over a long period of time. It could be anywhere from sixteen to sixty-four bars for the cut-off to reach its apex.

I mention this because it’s okay to make these adjustments as a chunked change as well — I.E. Immediately opening up the cut-off 70% on the chorus, rather than slowly bringing it to that point. Or some combination of brining it up and then snapping it even higher — remember, chunked changes and over-time changes can and should exist together.

In my eBook I’ve written a list of parameters that are commonly used for energy changes. I feel it’s really helpful to know where you can begin exploring this so I’m going to share that list with you here:

• Filter cutoff on synths
• Amp Envelope Decay on synths
• Amp envelope attack on synths
• Filter Envelope decay on synths
• Filter envelope attack on synths
• Filter overdrive
• Filter resonance
• Phase Modulation on synths
• Frequency Modulation on synths
• Pulse-width on synths
• Feedback on delay units
• Overdrive on delay units
• LFO rates on any unit
• Distortion parameters on any unit
• Chorus Feedback
• Chorus Delay
• Chorus Wet/dry
• Unison wet/dry
• Unison detune
• Pitch
• Volume
• Reverb decay
• Reverb wet amount
• Reverb damp
• EQ high or low pass

Performance

Performance is the performance of the parts in your song. Imagine a bunch of laid back guitarists, strumming chords behind the beat, real lazy like, playing solos with barely any notes in them. That’s a “low-energy” performance.

Now imagine a bassist who’s hammering away at notes, slapping and playing an intensely rhythmic solo while a guitar player in the back is strumming power-chords like he’s trying to break his wrist. That’s a “high-energy” performance.

Here’s a video that will demonstrate all we’ve gone over today:

Thanks for reading/watching. If you enjoyed this article, click here to check out my ebook Electronic Music Arrangement: How to Arrange Electronic Music which explores the other parts of the Trinity beyond Energy (Tension and Emotion) as well as a lot more about arrangement.

Remember to drink tea and floss! I’ll see you soon,

-Zencha

The post Increasing and Decreasing Energy In Your Track: Part 2 appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

A colorful representation of an energy flow

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My previous guest post on howtomakelectronicmusic.com opened up a discussion about an important but overlooked part of music production — energy in your tracks.

In that article, we talked about how to shift energy between sections, via transitions (go ahead and read that so you’re up to speed).

This time, let’s talk about increasing and decreasing energy throughout your entire track.

In part one, we will briefly discuss the why of increasing and decreasing energy. We will go over the point of energy and its role in moving your track forward.

In part two, we will discuss practically how to go about increasing and decreasing energy. This should help you get familiar with the concept.

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Energy’s Role in Arrangement

In my recently released eBook, “Electronic Music Arrangement: How to Arrange Electronic Music,” I discuss a concept that I’ve labeled the “Trinity” of music arrangement — Energy, Tension, and Emotion.

The Trinity is important because behind all the chords, harmonies, melodies, sweeps, bass- lines, and roaring synths we make, we find these three things as a driving force.

In fact, everything that goes into constructing a song is basically a vessel to communicate the Trinity.

Energy, the second part of the Trinity, is the lifeblood of your song. It’s the pacing, the speed, the intensity, and the pulse. And just as blood is always flowing, so should the energy in your music.

That might sound like a simple statement — that energy is always flowing — but it’s actually one of the most relieving things you can take hold of when it comes to arrangement.

For instance, when writing a track, if you know that you want your energy to be lower in the next section, your decisions are pretty simple — reduce the energy through whatever method makes the most sense given your track.

When you boil it down, your goal as a music producer while writing and arranging a track is to sculpt an entire three to eight minute energy flow. Using this perspective can seriously assist in helping you figure out where to go next in your track, or even what comes before.

In my video, How to Escape the 8 Bar Loop, I talk about using the same instruments with a different flavor. But one layer above that — the core of my decisions and the reason I made the decisions for my second section — are because of the flow of Energy.

Moreover, there is no better example of Energy flow than in “I Remember” by Deadmau5 and Kaskade. This song is as naked of an energy flow as you can get. They have a very simple set up — a couple synths, some basic percussion elements, and a vocalist. The same chords play throughout the entire ten minute track.

Why is it such a powerful track if it’s so simple? Energy. Ninety percent of this track is the shifting of energy. Not only that, but almost all of the energy shifting is simply the cut-off filter on synths being opened and closed.

But it’s so well sculpted — so intentionally and expertly crafted — that it’s interesting for ten freaking minutes. Hell, I’ve listened to this track on repeat many times over, so they’ve effectively held my interest for hours at a time.

Take a listen for yourself here (although I’m sure many of you have heard this one):

That’s the power of Energy. That’s the power of creating a flowing river that your listeners can groove down, losing themselves and enjoying the ride, not even caring how long it is.

So now that we’ve acknowledge how incredibly important and fundamental Energy is in writing tracks, how do we go about creating, shifting, and sculpting an incredible flow?

Find out in part two!

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If you can’t wait, click here to check out my ebook titled, “Electronic Music Arrangement: How to Arrange Electronic Music.”

Then, check out my YouTube channel to stay up to date with me and my creative-process focused ramblings :^).

You should also Like this site using the Facebook box on the right-hand side of the page! See you in part two!

-Zencha

The post Increasing and Decreasing Energy In Your Track: Part 1 appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

Transitions are bridges for energy!

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Let’s take a look at a more conceptual part of music production – Energy.

Energy is the lifeblood of your song. It’s the pacing, the speed, the intensity, and the pulse.

I want to talk about one specific part of energy today, and that is a thing most of us call transitions.

Why do we care about Transitions?

Transitions are important in making sure our arrangement runs smoothly. They help shift energy between sections; They bring us along an emotional ride.

Without them, sections can seem disconnected and rough (although, this can be done intentionally).

They help us identify holes in our arrangement. If you’ve ever been stuck on making that next section, putting a transition in will give you a push.

If you watch any popular TV show you’d notice how they leave you hanging at the end of every episode — something called a Cliffhanger (high school English class! We’ve come full circle).

Transitions can be thought of as sectional Cliffhangers. When a transition is building up at the end of a section, it lets the listener know that there will be more — to stay tuned. Just as Cliffhangers keep us hooked, transitions can do the same.

So what are transitions?

Transitions are a tool for manipulating tension and energy. Their main goal is to make sure that energy remains fluid between sections (or the opposite, even).

Transitions are basically energy hacks — cheat codes that you can use to drastically raise or lower energy levels over a very short period of time.

Furthermore, they allow us to direct the attention and expectations of our listeners. For example, when someone hears a reverse cymbal swelling in volume, they expect a change to occur momentarily.

There are two kinds of transitions — micro-sections and transitional elements (watch the video below for examples).

Micro-sections are short phrases, rarely more than four bars, that ease two sections together.

Transitional elements are things you place at the end of/beginning of sections in order to more easily shift between the two.

The most obvious example of transitional elements is cymbals. Reverse cymbals are a very popular tactic in electronic music. Crash cymbals on the first hit of a new section are also very common — because it’s very effective.

Noise sweeps are also a popular tactic — either by opening up the cut-off filter or simply increasing and decreasing the volume over time.

Everything that can be shifted can be used as a transitional element — but it has to be done over a much shorter period of time (usually less than a bar) and it has to noticeable enough to make a difference.

For instance, you can drastically open or close the filter cut-off on your main synth over a bar to indicate a gain or reduction in energy, respectively.

Here’s a quick video demonstrating these concepts.

Transitions are just a small part of a larger whole. To get better with the arrangement, and ultimately, the ability to finish songs.

I hope you learned something and let’s talk soon!

Zencha for HTMEM website!

The post How To Add Energy To a Track with Transitions appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.