Here’s my problem: I don’t make songs, I just make loops. I have great fun making two-bar patterns and honing them til they sound right, but I never seem to make full songs. I now have a folder full of half-started projects with 1-3 short patterns in.
I guess I’m anxious. For instance, say I make a 3 min song with a really awesome bassline. Suddenly I realise that the bassline is, in fact, not awesome but crappy. What to do? Fix the bassline then copy-paste it to every pattern, I suppose. But that way is time consuming, and means that any variations I’ve put into the bass will be lost.
Anyway, I don’t regard this as a limitation in Renoise. After all, you lovely people seem to make full length tracks on a regular basis. I guess it’s just a mental block on my part.
So, please tell me how you approach arranging a song, so I can steal your ideas.
I see your problem. And I agree, it’s frustrating and time consuming. I often end up scrapping pieces just because of this. Spent allot of time on a track, and simply wont go back to fix it trough the entire song.
You would have this problem in other sequencers aswell, unless you’ve made loops to paste in where needed. This could be a solution in Renoise aswell. But it kinda locks up the tune.
Possible solution. Make the baseline in one track. Sample it as a loop. Mute the track and trigger the sample in another track.
This way you can just go back and change the one pattern track, sample it again, and replace the looped sample with the new one.
steps and considerations i personally must be patient with before the temptation of the sound itself
eerr, probably doesn’t make sense
[code] G8.1 A D S R s ms m mf f |fo;mod;auto
f sb b mb h hy
v s ms m m| |
t sm x br d||
p | m| c mr r
s;m
sr
bd
ft
intp
G8.0 1P 2MH 3VMH 4NSA 5MX
S73:||
S7.3:|| 8accompanied:L&FWithFreeCounterpoint 9double/trip|e:2-3L&F
S73:||
S7.3:|| 7spiral:diff[key/sameSD][SD/sameKey][bothDiff]
S73:||
S7.3:|| 6augmentation;diminution:F-RearticulateLRhythm
S73:||
S7.3:|| 4F-SameIntervalsContraryMotion 5mirror:retro&contrary
S73 canon: ||
S7.3 canon: || 1F-UnisonOrOctave 2F-Other 3retrograde:F-Backwards
S7.2 added3rds&6ths: || easy&EffectiveImitationOfTripQuad;
Simu|taneousOriginal&Inverted
?S7.2 multip|eCounterpoint: || ?
S7.2 quadrup|eCounterpoint: || 1octave;10;12th
S72 : || cf
S7.2 parts: || 1 2 3 4 5 6
S7.2 quadrup|eCounterpointInTheOctave:
111111 222222 333333 444444 1234
223344 113344 112244 112233 2143
342432 341431 241412 231312 3412
434223 434113 424121 323121 4321
S72 : ||
S7.2 trip|eCounterpoint: || 1octave;10;12th
S72 : || cf
S7.2 parts: || 1 2 3 4 5 6
S7.2 trip|eCounterpointInTheOctave,inThree&Four-partWriting:
112233
231312
323121
S72 : ||
S7.2 doubleCounterpoint: || 1octave;10;12th;other 2keep&move
S72 : || cf
S7.2 parts: || 1 2 3 4 5 6
S7.2 doubleCounterpoint: combinationOfMe|odiesSoDesigned
ThatEitherCanBeTakenAboveOrBe|owTheOther
S72 : ||
S7.2 counterpoint: || species: 1 2 3 4 5
S72 : || cf
S7.2 parts: || 1 2 3 4 5 6
S7.2 counterpoint: theProductionOfBeautifulHarmony
ByACombinationOfWe||-characterizedMe|odies
S71:
S7.1:|| 6secondaryDominant:on|y50;itsVorV7otherThanTonic;tonicizations;variant
S71:
S7.1:|| 5pivot:commonToBothPrevai|ing&NewKey;
versati|eRootlessDiminishedChord:VIImCanSometimesSubstituteForVII~
S71:
S7.1:|| 4sequential/spira|:mL/configuredChordsRepeatsAtDiffPitch;
ex:sameChordType:M2seq/sca|eSeq
S71 :
S7.1 mL/modulation: || 1near/remote 2relative:Mm 3parallel:CMCm
S7.1 mL/modulation: |eadingTone;octaves;scaleDegree7(simp|eFreqRatio)
S71 :
S7.1 mL/cadence: || 1masc 2fem 3scaleDegreeMostToLessConc|usive:153
S71 :
S7.1 mL/continuation: || 1unreso|ved:otherThanScaleDegree1
S7.1 melodicLine: progression/equation&sequence/contour;climax;nadir/emphaden
S6.0 intervalNavigation: USMmode/tona|;atona|/key/conDiss-reso|vedUnreso|ved
11109 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011
A 1 2 B C 0
I IIm III7IV V7 VIm VII~
50 1 6 4 2 7 5 3
05 1 3 5 7 2 4 6
20 1 7 6 5 4 3 2
02 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
30 1 4 7 3 6 2 5
03 1 5 2 6 3 7 4
C CD DE F FG GA AB
CD DE F FG GA AB C
D DE F F G GA AB C C*
DE F FG GA AB C CD
E F FG G* A AB C CD D*
F FG GA AB C CD DE
FG GA A B C CD DE F
G GA AB C CD DE F F*
GA AB C CD DE F FG
A AB C C* D DE F FG G*
AB C CD DE F FG GA
B C CD D* E F FG GA A*
I have this issue all the time. What I do is create a new note column in the same track, and mute the original note column(s) … this way, I can listen to my new pattern, or even make an entire song’s worth of new bassline or whatever, and still have the original to compare to.
All my music is loop based nowadays, I’ve had this problem some years ago with jungle and breakcore so I gave up the program and arrangement stuff and started to focus purely on the sound and rhythm. I make a lot of techno and ambient so that works out great at the moment as the arrangement comes naturally when I record the tracks live.
It’s music, not rocket science.
Just do what feels best…
Treat each component of a song as separate mini sessions or exercises, and if you can, archive them so you can not only fetch them later but mix and match them with other sessions seamlessly, examples:
• setting up a good tempo for a series of structural periods like 3/9; 4/7; 4/4; 2/10
• rhythm pattern sessions for such and such structural periods
• interval movements for such and such structural periods
• “so that’s how this machine behaves” sessions
Organize organize organize or press the random button.
This might be a horrible metaphor, but I’ll give it a go…
MMA fighters run in the morning, grapple or kick-box in the afternoon, lift weights at sundown, etc. all separated exercises. When its fight night, you see every training regimen, their cardio, speed, strength, and ringmanship integrated in each round, or in musical terms, the song arrangement.
