Song Structure
How to turn looped beats into storytelling songs.
What makes the difference between a simple beat maker and a top music producer?
Creating attention-grabbing songs instead of looped beats. Your first objective as a producer sitting in your home studio is obviously creating something epic. And we all know, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But if it does and inspiration strikes, most producers stop when an awesome piece of looped music is finished.
For a true world-class producer however, the process has just begun. They will now try to create a storytelling song based on this loop, one that has a beginning, a middle and an end.
By doing so, they create a song structure that makes it way easier for songwriters and rappers to get inspired and write something awesome on top of that piece of music. And this in turn increases the odds that you’re getting paid! Or at least enter a collaboration with an artist you like.
Creating a proper song structure is no rocket science, it just takes some time and effort. What I would advise you to do are the following two things:
Technique #1:
Analyze song structures by others
Start by listening to songs in your genre and try to find out and write down the structure of their songs. For most pop songs, it will resemble something like this (although you will often find a build up between the verses and the choruses):
Technique #2:
Create a story
Force yourself to create full songs out of every looped beat before you are sending them out to artists, songwriters and rappers. I know it is tempting to just save and send the looped beat and start fresh on something new, but try to resist that temptation and use your creativity to create a captivating and coherent story.
Trust me, it will pay off in the end!
Creating a complete song starts by creating variations on your looped piece of music.
Just to give you an idea, you can change the drum patterns or the drum sounds, cut out the drums in some parts, insert breaks, use effects, add or leave out other instruments, and mix the different parts of the song in whatever way it suits your story the best!
Continue to the next Quick Tip:
Filters: The easiest way to create space in your mix.