Thomas D and Jack Thomas wrote:You don't have to stick to 16, 32, 64 but you should at least stick to the 4s or 8s. Go ahead, offer up the excuse that its predictable and trite, but I hear plenty of amazing music that follows formulas of the rules of 4. I think that excuse is a crock of sht.
Also, the easier a record is to play...the more often a DJ will play it. If you're making music based for DJs I think it's somewhat important to at least meet in the middle of being DJ friendly and being daring and interesting. If you don't like to have DJs play your records all the time, then use any random arrangement you'd like. DJs are lazy....DEAL WITH IT!
i wouldnt deny that there is plenty of amazing music based on 4's and 8's, but theres also a whole world of music out there that isnt, just as there's a whole world of music that doesnt adhere to the western scale. my argument is that we are always limiting ourselves in electronic dance music by not experimenting in these areas, when infact we have a blank canvass to try absolutely anything.
why for instance are we hooked to the patterns of the rock drumkit ? the offbeat hi-hat, the snares on beats 2 and 4 etc. theres no reason.
the usual argument is 'well it works'. yes it works, but what else might work if you venture away from the obvious. this is how music progresses, can you imagine how sterile tribal drumming would sound if for thousands of years it had never progressed beyond 2's, 4's and 8's.?
before i started making electronic music i was first a drummer, then a guitarist, i used to love the blues. for years i was fascinated with the techniques of the original blues guitarists. now i can hardly listen to blues, because overiding the soul of the music, is a basic unchanging mathematics , the same intros and outros, the pentatonic scales, the same keys, the 12 bar loops etc etc, its a music trapped in time by its own rigid structure. it took people like jimi hendrix to move the music on by using unusal time signatures, and sound creation techniques.
when i started making electronic music, i did what everybody else did, 4's, 8's 16's 32's, 4/4 kicks, offbeat hats, and loved it, but now that sounds as tired and dated as the blues did when i binned my guitar.
i'm passionate about moving electronic dance music forward, so that it doesnt become trapped in time and stiffled by its own structure.
if you take away the textures and the frills, the underlying mathmatics is repeating the same few basic patterns over and over.
the argument that DJ's are lazy just doesnt wash I'm afraid. BAD dj's are lazy. most of the DJ's I know are dedicated individuals who know their music inside out, and are skilled enough to mix virtually anything (within reason). i'm a DJ as well as a producer, and i play the music i think is quality and original, regardless of its ease of mixing (again within reason).
as long as you dont go out of your way to actually make it difficult, you shouldnt be limiting yourself because of the ineptitude of some DJ's.
the tunes i play the most are the ones which have a timeless quality, regardless of whether theyve got a 32 bar intro or not.
i totally agree that minimal intros and outros are almost essential, but that doesnt mean they have to adhere to a strict system of 8's and 16's etc.
i'm not going to say how many records i've released or who plays them, it's irrellevant, it will suffice to say that i'm still here, and havent been rejected by the electronic dance community for being in any way experimental with my arrangements, sorry for the long rant.
