A Cheatcode for Better Arrangements: The Two Loop Rule

here's an arrangement rule that I guarantee will have you creating powerful arrangements and eliminating the challenge of not knowing what to do next when you have something and this something could be a loop a set of chords doesn't matter this rule is called the two Loop Rule and here's how it works let's start with a loop we'll do a piano Melody and instead of just doing chords I'm gonna do a melody [Music] I'm also going to add some drums I have a kick [Music] I have this deep snare I also have this cool little effect that we can put on every other snare to make it sound like it's breathing foreign [Music] where everything always gets challenging because we have a really nice Loop but what do we do to arrange this it's one of the most overwhelming challenges in music production all we have to do is use the two Loop Rule and the song will arrange itself the rule is that the arrangement has to change every two Loops of the chords because our ears naturally expect songs to change every two Loops of the main instruments which is usually the chords so I'm going to mute the drums and let's focus on the chords here's one Loop of the chords [Music] and then here's two Loops of the chords but the easiest way to use this rule is just arrange eight Loops of the chords and then color code every two loops so we can visually see at which points throughout the arrangement that we're going to develop the arrangement or in other words add a change so I'm going to start my song with just this piano Melody here and it's going to Loop twice but two Loops in when we get to this section something's got to change the only way to change an arrangement is to add an instrument or add expression to an existing instrument or remove an instrument or reduce expression of an existing instrument I'm going to add our drums to this next section and I'm going to Loop them foreign [Music] ition right here it sounds good but there are two sides to every transition there's the exit point which goes that way and then there's the entry point of the transition which is right here the drums cover the exit point but for this entry point I'm going to add a couple effects that are going to help enhance that and make it apparent that that's a transition and new section of song [Music] in my opinion so there's transition effects that really help a song Define its settings now that we added these drums here these two Loops are good now we don't have to add any other thing to this section to make it interesting we can just move on to the next section here so now on the next two Loops what do we do well remember we can either add instruments and expression to increase the energy or remove instruments or reduce expression to reduce the energy we're so early in the song that I can keep increasing the energy so what I'm going to do is increase expression to the drums for this next two Loops before the drums are kind of quiet [Music] and that's on purpose because I have plenty of room to add things like hi-hats and a bigger more present clap snare so alone just by increasing the expression of the drums [Music] and I can add even more energy to this section by adding a base and although this is all technically enough to increase the energy feel like adding a counter Melody because that'll help the main Melody not exhaust so exit side of the transition is good let's add a little drum fill to the entry side foreign [Music] so here we are at the fourth section of the song the fourth section of two Loops of the chords we can either keep increasing the energy of the arrangement like we've been or we can begin decreasing now there's no right or wrong answer regarding whether we increase or decrease energy at this point but I could tell you this since all of our major instruments are already in this section it'll be really really satisfying if we reduce energy and go back into just the chords and to make this transition even more satisfying which by the way it's one of my all-time favorite transitions to make which is going from high energy to nothing we take all the instruments and cut them out and leave them empty for that last bar before you get to that next transition and then make a little drum fill I like making these drum fills where I take the snare and I move it forward a couple beats and I'll do a little drum fill but needs one more thing a lot of producers like to do like a crash symbol or something there but I think this is way deeper and it just captures the soul foreign [Music] now this is a pretty significant part of the song Because what are we gonna do now well this all depends on what kind of song we're making if this was a radio pop song I would take all of this and just repeat it and maybe make little changes in the second half but I'm an EDM guy so what I have to do here is start building up to the draw and the way that would happen is we would have to take two more loops and this entire section here will be the breakdown and then the drop would happen right here and we'll make this the color gold because it's like the pot of gold at the end of the arrangement and so now what we do here is really important because this is where we're going to start introducing the excitement of a draw so I'm going to take this piano Melody which is kind of exhausting itself at this point it's like okay we get it I heard it eight times already so I'm just gonna take these and we're gonna put them on a different instrument and I'm gonna give that Melody a break for the entire duration of this build up so let's take this which by the way the new instrument is just a synth pad [Music] foreign [Music] and I got rid of the melody that was over top of these root notes because I'm just over it at this point and what we can do now is just go straight chords now listen how pretty this shift in Dynamics is n't that wonderful watch this I'm just gonna keep applying the principles of the rule where every two bars something's got to change go ahead and bring back in our drums so we have a break with no drums and then the drums are going to come in I'm going to enhance these chords for the second two bars because if they stay the same it's going to get boring [Music] let's make these dark and get people really pumped up [Music] we need drums here but I don't want to go back into the same Rhythm I'm gonna make a drum roll so now watch this one of my favorite shifts in Dynamics where we go loud to quiet and then to loud again right before the drop would happen here foreign [Music] so pretty [Music] it's tense [Music] and then the craziest drop should happen here but I didn't make a drop like you can't fail if you follow that two Loop rule it is a golden Arrangement rule thanks for watching guys if you enjoyed this lesson and you would like to learn more about learning music production the right way visit my website in the description below and enroll in my EDM boot camp course program this program offers a structured path to learning music production and also comes with access to my inner circle where you can ask me questions and share your songs with me for feedback right now you can get a free consultation for the EDM boot camp with me and I won't be offering free consultations much longer so go ahead and enroll below and I'll see you in there

Channel: Alex Rome

Views: 649,813

Keywords: how to make electronic music, music writing tutorial, how to make edm, edm tutorial, song writing tutorial, how to make chords

Id: IH-zpS7gxxg

Length: 9min 49sec (589 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 08 2023