How to arrange any song

today it's time for arrangement  theory first we will take a look at   the structure types in arrangement and then  we will explain macro and micro arrangement   and of course finally we will take a look  at the examples from the real life so we   can understand a bit more the theory  together with the application so hop in   so i will use quite a bit of classical  music theory terms but i will also take   my initiative and modernize them according to  the electronic dance music that we have today   but to understand the arrangement we have to  understand first different structure types   that is used in the arrangement first and the  most important structural part in an arrangement   is probably the chorus the chorus contains  the hook of the track and it is accepted as   the richest part by having different type of  elements and having really high energy levels   many tracks actually repeats the chorus more  than once so you will probably hear the chorus   at the first half of the track and then you  will probably have a break and then you will   hear the chorus one more time let's take a  look at an example from Enrico Sangiuliano   in this track we have the first  course here and then the break   and the second course here so we  will start with the first course we hear out of like energy out  of like a upbeat tempo here and then the track goes into break here  and then we come back to the chorus again   and if we go back and you will see that actually   this part repeats twice in this track  let me show you how similar they are back forward i will say maybe 30-40 % of the  techno tracks today uses this structure   chorus break chorus let's take example from  another genre this time we have an example   from jeremy olander it's one of my favorite  artists when it comes to progress milk house   and we are looking at the summer hit steps  again the the structure is very similar we   have the first chorus here second chord  is here and a break here the first chorus i'm not able to play all the track due to   the copyright issues but you  understand the idea again here the main difference is the jeremy's track steps  has actually longer loop so the track loops   itself i think around the 16 bar so it feels  less repetitive because of that again go back second chorus so again the same idea let's  take another example this time we will make   it even more POP-PISH and we are going  to the daft punk classic one more time   this is a shorter version so intros and  outro is a bit cut so that we have the   faster development track hence the first course  actually comes much earlier in the track here and then they go into the smooth part the verses  and the bricks and then we get the same chords one   more time this is kind of ironic having one  more time twice and comes the second course   so the chorus are important the alternative  course is something getting more popular lately   it's not something that you will find  in the literature but alternative course   basically means that a slightly different  version of the main course so that we can   avoid repeating the same chorus  twice so when you are looking for   creating a track that takes your listeners to a  journey means that your track keeps evolving and   keeps the attention and curiosity of the  listeners up all the time this is the style   maybe you should consider for example if you take  a look at this track we are taking a look at the   return to us at bat remix so you will see that  we have a final course at the end of the track so we have this really rich synth  sound on top of that very heavy   very aggressive lead sound really important  now the alternative course here is actually   very smart laid down by artbot if you go  back our first chorus area around two to   three minutes you will hear exactly the same  sound but without the lead sound take a look   this is same almost like the chorus but the  main difference is that this there are some   of percussions that is gone and we don't  have that aggressive lead sound back again   so when you are creating your alternative  course it doesn't need to be super different   from the original course you just  need to do this additional touch   that makes it slightly different but they're  also of course more differentiating alternative   courses as well the bridge is the part where two  contrasting structure elements are connected to   each other definition changes depending on  the genre that you are looking for but in   modern electronic dance music i will say  that bridges are often less than four bars   and if they gets bigger than four bars they  often trade as they break i will give the bridge   example from my own track the on time because  there's a really clean bridge in this track and i want to of course connect this verse into   a course and here right before  the course take a look what i do creating this small type of  break basically bridge so that   these two different parts of the track can  connect to each other again one more time break is special version of the bridges  where the length is longer than the four bars   and it's extremely important for electronic dance  music because it is often used to create this   emotional pulse and relieving the tension  in the track and moreover it is the most   important contrasting element in your track so  if you are going for this dynamic feel in your   track this is the part you should be paying  extra attention and if you compare to the real   break of the track you can see the difference  between the bridge and break much more clearly   here the bridge was really smooth and not really  emphasized too much but if you go to the break   take a look how much the energy  levels actually drop in the brick we went all the way down with the energy and  of course and a whole track like 32 bars we   are just trying to put up on up and up  again until we reach the reverse here   so this is kind of the main idea of a break  which also brings us a drop drop is actually   a special double structure where the break and  the chorus comes together meaning that two most   contrasting elements comes right after each other  creating this big energy difference in a short   amount of time drops are mainly used to create  euphoria in the dance floor or people at you if you enjoyed the video up to now please don't  forget to subscribe the channel and hit that like   button but let's go back now the verse often  times is the place where the track actually   evolves if you consider for example the course  the highest part of the track it doesn't just   come middle of nowhere and if you are for example  using the double courses the same course device   you have to have another part in the track that  where you actually develop your ideas and those   parts that are often regarded as the verse mean  the varied ideas gets developed so when it comes   to the verse this is a bit confusing for the most  people but again i will go from my track so that i   can play language without hitting the copyright  issues but here i have a break in the wheel so first thing in the track is like smoothing  out the things so that we can develop back again   to the drop or the back again to the chorus so  we are developing that arpeggio item background we are trying to bring that arpeggios  and the the the chord sounds and now we go to the main course   so that verse and the choruses this transition  could be very obvious or sometimes it could   be like distracted smoother it's like you're  developing the idea and then finally you reach   the chorus and then you even develop the chords  even further because during this track for example   it even reaches the higher point i  will say this brings us to the intro   intros are mostly percussive and they're often  up to 32 bars at the beginning of the track   it is mainly used to make it easy for the djs  to mix the track because percussive part doesn't   have any tonal information meaning that you  don't need to think about the key of the track   while you are mixing in and the outros are more  or less the same but you use them at the end of   the track once you understand the structure it  comes to the point where you can actually arrange   your track into those structural elements  there are two different actually approach for   arranging the tracks this term is something that i  created myself but i think it explains quite well   i call them micro and microarrangement  microarrangement means that shuffling the   track by using 4 to 16 bar loops and creating  a concrete idea or a story for your track   in macro arrangement transitions automations  effects are really not important and you shouldn't   spend any time on them until you are happy  with the main idea and the story of your track   there are two different macro arrangement styles  the first one is called top-down approach and   the second one is called bottom-up approach again  these two terms are something that i created but   i explain why i call them this way on top down  arrangement we can actually simplify it to the   three steps first you create your course so that  you have as much as elements that you can have   in a sixteen order two thirty two bars loop and  step 2 just copy pasting this loop all over the   track and step 3 will be just deleting the  elements that you don't feel like belongs to   those different structures and hence this approach  is also called subtractive arrangement because you   are subtracting and deleting stuff from the full  track because we are used just a single loop this   is what i call single top down arrangement because  we had a simple chorus and we arranged everything   from there this video is sponsored by skillshare  skillshare is an online learning community where   you can find hundreds of thousands of different  inspiring classes for example at the moment i'm   taking premier processes and i'm taking photoshop  classes in and in the meantime i'm taking a look   at the cinematography and lighting and so on  so i can create a bit more entertaining and   fun videos on youtube and improve my youtube game  probably you have already noticed that and if you   wonder why skillshare and not youtube tutorial  first reason and the most important reason is   that in skillshare you will have the lessons  structured and in the meantime you will also find   all the related documentation together with the  video as well and the other reason of course to   when you are focusing on learning you don't want  to have the ads and in skillshare you can have the   ad free experience and if you want to take a look  and trade yourself you will find a link below in   the description and the first thousand people  who clicks the link will get the three months   free access to the skillshare so it's a perfect  opportunity to to try it yourself and see how   it works but now let's go back to our tutorial  so let's try the single top down arrangement   i have a loop that we can use for this it's not  the best but it will do for now sounds like this so we have almost all the things that we need  to build a full track here you can definitely   argue maybe there should be a fxs and so on but  remember in the micro arrangement we don't really   care about the local changes or local effects  so it doesn't matter how i would like to start   often times that i try to create an idea okay how  can i proceed with this track ableton has his own   markers here but i feel like they are not really  visual enough i often create a midi channel at   the beginning and the first and just name it  like this so here we can use this like intro   right and i like the color code exactly the same  way all the time so i understand what's going on   this is our intro this is a techno track i think  16 bar enough for techno djs to blend it in we   have quite a bit nice percussions as well good  maybe we can put a build up kind of a verse here   i will say go for another 60 bar and then let's  put it into like a little greenish color meaning   that we are developing the energy levels right and  then here we have a small bridge maybe a bar or a   half bar i don't know yet just to conclude  the intro to now or the build up now to our   first verse i like to use the yellow out versus  let's call it the verse right you you should be   able to take and look at the minutes here because  remember the first choruses we would like to hit   there's no rule about pitman two and three  minutes hitting the first goal is a good thing   and so that our listeners are not really waiting  too much to hear the first course so it's like if   you take a look at here 115 330 we have one and a  half minute here so we can actually extend maybe   the verse around three minutes so we are able to  actually faster than most of the techno tracks i   will say which is fine it doesn't need to be a  bad thing and then we can hit the first course   here right maybe we can go for again 32 bars here  for the course part and let's put the bridge here   and the rest should be the brick and it depends  on what type of breaks that you are going for   i like to for example time to use the long breaks  i quite enjoy them let's do it this way break and   then you go for the probably second verse here  you can even go for a second short build up   right here another bridge and a big chorus and i  will say build down cool of whatever you call it   and then get an outro so what you should do take  a look at the overall length if you are happy with   if you want to make it longer and shorter so if  you take a look at we are starting around the   minute mark and then we are ending out the eight  minutes so it's kind of like a seven minutes track   so once you've got this copy this paste here  and then you duplicate all the way around here   the one thing that i intentionally did is as you  can see the first verse is actually longer than   this right so if i do this for example you will  see that there is an extra but i'm going to   delete this here and do it twice so that i have  the same idea twice one more time one more time   so basically we are just a seven minutes of  loop at the moment and we have to somehow work   this out now you have to remember everything  that we talked in the structure intro what   do we need percussions do we need the kicks  and so on i don't know what i'm gonna do is   first start with pads i don't think i need i i  want the melodic elements here right take it off   play good do we need all these subs  and bases i don't know let's try zero that late sounds we definitely don't need  we don't need them probably until the   chorus at the first part right easy hi hats do we need these heights at the beginning  of the track we don't need them so i'm going   to pick the probably i don't want to hear them  first probably eight bars so we can take a look that right sound we definitely don't need until  the second course the rise is the most energetic   and one of the most energetic elements you delete  them up you don't need a million in the first   chorus it's just overkill i in my opinion so i'm  going to just delete until here so easy let's play now we can different like okay you can actually  use a filter to make the kick even less bass   sound doesn't matter again these do all those  works are micro micro arrangement we don't need   it we just need to over light it here good this  time like this right and then maybe we introduce   the hats do we need the driving hats i don't  think so so let's see which one is driving hat you don't need this let's delete this until here   the second driving hat this one let's  delete this as well let's try if this works and here we introduce the base i don't think we need the pads still  i want to introduce them in the first   verse because i think they will be able to  carry the track in the first part so let's see good time to introduce this let's energy build with this short hats call   right remember we have a bridge what do  we in the bridge take off some elements   take this off i don't think we need the base  elements here maybe something like this right delete look at this it just works out you know  if you know what you're aiming for like   this bridge is perfect you just need to put  some effects maybe some automation is done again remember we had the collapse so my idea here  is like after first eight bars let's introduce   the claps and you see there's a different layer  so let's introduce the first layer of the clap   here after the first part like bam bam again don't  over complicate it this is just macro arrangement flaps here actually you may consider adding a first kind  of elite sound just to kind of hint what's coming   out again in micro micro engine  you will definitely put some   filters and so on some don't make  it obvious but we'll keep the idea blah blah blah the coolest part you know we will  probably do micro arrangement here play with the   effects and so on so that we have a more linear  height and when it comes to when it comes to   bridge probably we don't need all the the first  thing i'm going to do take it off we don't need   this at the brick but on the bridge part we  may need the kick right we can filter out and i don't need these guys  at least sounds go away probably like this we have this deep sound here of course we will   the idea here claps are not hit but maybe we can  bring it here to give this driving feel back again here definitely we will be doing  filtering right this won't be this dark and then maybe bring the leaves right here now we are building up right this up now when history builds up i definitely don't  want the leads because we have a chorus they   come back we don't want to reveal everything  what we can do is take off the driving hats   right to make it a different vibe here so i  want to try to create a contrast between here   and there so you see these are here taken  away these are here taken away contrast so i realized we could definitely  take even the clubs here right   again i'm going from the feeling like we had  the clubs maybe we should just avoid it here i can't even consider here actually taking off  the pads probably in the micro arrangement i   will filter them really deep so that we have the  dark but to remind myself i'm gonna keep this off   and then brings in perfect and then we go here you see we go again like it feels  that we are going again here and then remember those right sounds  then we can create this even more   highest pointing track by introducing rice and the rest is slippery is a wheel down you  start taking off again probably you can just   make it a bit symmetrical to do intro and  then you're done this is it this is the macro   arrangement you know like if you know what you're  looking for it's really straightforward and it's   easy to get along get along with the only problem  with this type of arrangement is it creates kind   of more linear development in in your track  because you see here we kind of take the wave   take away the things it's kind of more linear that  will open here maybe it's be broken down linear   a little bit but again because we are going from  the single source it creates more linear project   another thing of course it requires kind of an  experience of the sound structure in the modern   electronic dance music so you have to have an  idea how this for example here this structure look   looks looks like but if you don't know that  doesn't matter because you can also use a   reference track as a source for structure of your  song let me explain a little bit more with the   reference track now i have a reference track from  joy house or it's like a similar vibe right so it   makes it makes sense to use a joy house or track  reference track the only thing that you need to do   is actually matching your bpm so the easiest way  the thing that i do is just match the first kick   here right as you can see earlier what you need  to do increase the bpm until it matches like   here it matched let's lose mouth some more  and see if it is deviating from the source   more and more you see that's deviating a bit  more so it's probably another 30. let's put   right there now the kicks are on the bar perfect  goes and goes and goes you can always check this   is it this is all the thing that you need to do  how you see how good actually it matched the the   joey house track so this is the most of the tracks  that follows like here probably we have the intro   and then we have probably you see the bridge  and then we have a build up getting bring   more in more stuff the difference here is they  actually probably had a kind of a small brick   this is the reason that the track length is  extended a bit so what you can do here okay   i want to do it like joy house right they i  like their style let's try this style so break   you can even color it a bit lighter because  it's lighter brick right first verse probably first course yeah the first course  here earlier than what we did actually   probably this is the second break i i would  say it's a bridge style break because it's   not really really brick but we can still use  the brake we can use a bit darker blue because   it's a bit heavier brake and we have a small  bridge here we have the verse horizontally yeah   and the bridge yeah what is this there's a build  down and then we have the big brick here we go   bomb let's make it even darker and then we  have this yeah the chorus smooth them out   i think we have a couple of bridges here but i  you know the idea we don't need to do it again   probably build out the said bridge it's good that  they have the elder bridges so that you can also   a bit more and then we have the final verse and we  have another which they they like their bridges it   looks like and you also when you do this you also  understand a bit about the art style right for   example when you look at the toy hustle track  i can see that they like the bridges and the   bricks i would assume that because this really  works in advanced floor because every time you   have a bridge and a break it's the time that  you can give a contrasting energy levels and   make the people happy in the dance floor and  here we go like we already deciphered the   arrangement of the joy house of track and now the  same idea we can do it again we start okay intro   we have a build up to this way and  you can even listen to here like   okay they have a kick and bass hat i can do the  same here because i have already made everything   here i can just paste it here i can continue this  way so if you are a bit less experienced if you   are a bit hard time to understand these different  structures use a reference track if you do it all   yourself do it like me put the things that you  think make sense and go from there and this was   just the first one there is actually two more of  this however it doesn't need to be always this way   the way i like mostly is actually double or triple  top down rather than just creating the chorus   loop for example double tap down means that you  create one more loop what i like to do for example   i create the chorus and then i create the brick  means that i can fill the rest of the information   by using two different loops rather than one  making my break for example much more personal   and interesting which gives the opportunity  to making the break much more contrasting   to the chorus and even increasing that different  feelings in different parts okay the double top   down arrangement what we have this time is  the same thing the chorus that we had earlier write the same thing but rather than having only  this one and try to build whole track out of it   this time we also have the second top  structure and we have also the brick the additional thing here is that we have new acid  lead and we have a couple of extra elements to   make the break different from the really in the  main course the good thing about this is now we   have more tools to build a full track and when  you're building this type of track when you go   from double top i would also suggest that in your  head try to come up with how the chorus and the   break will look like positionally so i will i'm  thinking like okay i will have my break and then   i will have some verse 8 between and i will have  a chorus means that now i can fill the previous   part of this track here with the choruses and so  on and then i can develop further here here and   on i'm not going to do the same thing because  it's exactly the same idea okay what i can do   from here i can duplicate this again like we did  before and then i start taking off stuff and here   i can duplicate take off stuff and here i can do  the same thing again and again this is much much   easier to work around compare the single tap down  again because we have the break already and is   slightly different and slightly more personalized  and trying to make it break out of the course   but there's also even one upgrade version of it  let me explain it first a new guested triple top   down means that you have instead one loop you have  three loops meaning that now you can actually have   the chorus the drop and alternative chorus you've  tried to create these three different parts in   your track before you start arrangement once  you're done those parts then you start a into   the rest of the part i think i have made 80  of my tracks past three years by using triple   top down approach because i feel like it really  leads to very interesting organic results and   deviates from this linear progression a bit more  which brings us to the triple top down arrangement   this is the one that i use all the time and  i think like 80 percent of the tracks that   i made last two years i use this technique this  is extremely easy this is almost kind of a cheat   if you are really having a hard time with the  arrangement but let me show you how it works   so we start with this the course single tap down  double tap done we had the break we separately   built the break somewhere around in the middle  and now the extra is creating also the alternative   course before we start the arrangement again i  try to put alternative alternate cores somewhere i   think that it makes sense right if i put it here  then i have enough time to cool down the track   and then the second because i have enough time  to cool up or to build up the track right and   here what i'm trying to do okay i have this and  this let's kind of create something that is good   enough to drive a first chorus but it's not more  energetic than the second course let me show you we find the use case for this acid sound and bring  the pads a bit on them from so that they can carry   a bit more but they are not as heavy as this  final course take a look at the final scores now here and you definitely see the resemblance their pets  are saying maybe pass it a bit lower loudly in the   first alternative course but then they cut down  but then have we have the second more aggressively   sound coming and the rides are coming in so we  are more energy once you understand triple top   down arrangement style the next is just filling  the gaps you just need to put find a way to do   cool it down we just find a way down to carry this  track until here that being said i won't suggest   you to go more than three if you try to come okay  i want to build my verse i want to build blah blah   it means that you have held of different things  that you build separately and that may lead to   track being almost like three different tracks  combined together i really feel like the optimum   point of the tree top down even in this case  if you're not experienced enough you may end up   building the alternate of course much different  from the main course and making still like two   different track glued together with the break here  so you have to be careful but if you ask me this   is your cheat this is the thing that you should be  sitting down and trying at home and understanding   how easy it makes the whole arrangement that  being said let's take a look at the other options   as well in the bottom up arrangement you don't  really start with a full loop the main idea is you   make your track on the go for example what to do  you start with the intro the easiest part of the   track and you build up your drums and then you  start with the verse you know what the verse   is it you have to develop an idea so you start  to introduce maybe some melodies some arpeggios   and you reach the first first alternative chorus  and then you build your chorus and then you try to   go to a break afterwards build it on the go and  then the second drop this is the hardest way to   arrange a track if you are beginner and if you are  trying to use this management style in your tracks   you can have really really hard time because it  is really hard to keep the consistency and it is   really hard to not get tired of your track however  that being said there is a shortcut to bottom-up   approach which is using a reference track in this  approach you took the reference track put it on   your arrangement and then you create the same  elements that the reference track has it doesn't   mean that you create the same loop it means that  for example at the et intro you hear okay i have   a hi-hat i have a kick i have a bass and i have a  pet sound then you create your own paths on your   hats on your kicks and the second part in the  verse you see that there is a melody introduced   and you do exactly the same you introduce your  own melody and the chorus part you say that okay   there's another additional aggressive lead and  you introduce your own aggressively so you keep   the structural evolution of the reference track  and the structure elements but you do it your   own way this approach is also one of the easiest  way to create the track so in the bottom approach   you don't have anything you don't have any loop or  anything else what you do is you start with your   intro and come up with a drum loop and then you  try to follow some kind of structure and try to   go up in the way almost of the case you don't even  have this one so it looks more like this you just   have nothing a clean sheet and then you try to  build up something on the go this is especially   suitable for live music because then you do a  lot of additive stuff you start with your drum   seconds and then you try to add something that  you come up with at the stage and then you go   forward further from them from there and it's  really cool for building a lap building up a   live track but it's really really hard to build a  track this way when you are sitting in the studio   that being said like i said earlier there's a  cheap version of this makes it extremely easy   what you do in this part is actually you put a  reference track that you really love and you want   to build in style and then you just do one by one  you'll come here and listen but what we have here we have kickrumble synth and a percussion what you do  then is like you build the same   kick idea here right you you create something  like this okay i have kick i need rumble   i need a synth right and then  you go here then you have this and then you have percussion  let's stay then you have your perk and you follow exactly the same element same style  elements all the way up to here i don't want to do   of course on the go like this but you get the idea  and you come to build up here now and loosen here   okay we need the hats you add your hats you create  a similar one that you have here okay what is   next break take off the the kick should be here  but here we take out the key and we introduce a   problem lead sound here we put it here i think  this style like putting a reference track and   making your own arrangement is extremely extremely  useful if you are like at the first year of your   production game because you don't really know much  about arrangement and you need the source to learn   and this provides perfect source to understand how  the arrangement are built and how you can actually   come up with your own style afterwards because  rather than using somebody else's reference track   after some point you will actually start using  your own track as a reference like i do it all   the time like i put my other my old track as a  reference track and then just follow the things   that i liked in this track and maybe put some  additional stuff and every track is kind of a   step further from the previous track while keeping  my consistency between my tracks it's a very   useful way so if you're a beginner definitely try  this out i'm sure you will learn a lot from this   and this brings us to the micro management but i  think i will explain microarrangement in another   video because this video otherwise will be hours  long so if you enjoyed the video and if you want   to hear more about the micro arrangement it will  be a new video probably in upcoming weeks so don't   forget to subscribe the channel and hit the like  button of this video so that i know people want   a microarrangement video as well other than  that i hope you enjoyed the video and i hope you   learned something and i will catch you next month  goodbye double or tripled up double or tripled up

Channel: Yalcin Efe - Mercurial Tones Academy

Views: 53,740

Rating: 4.9794135 out of 5

Keywords: ABLETON LIVE 10, music production, edm production, how to, how to make, ableton, ableton live, techno production, how to techno, how to edm, audio mixing, mastering, ableton live 11, how to make music, music arranging, music theory, arranging music, song structure, fl studio arrangement, making a song, techno arrangement, house music arrangement, edm arrangement, how to arrange, any song, making a beat, arrangement lesson, music theory lesson

Id: N4EvL6Nndg8

Length: 38min 31sec (2311 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 16 2021