The main point here is the time taken to polish off and complete a track.  You can create a trance track in half an hour, but the more time you take rounding off the edges and fine tuning, the better it will sound – in theory.  It is possible to over-do the fine tuning and end up breaking the feel of a track, but ultimately let your ears be the final judge of whether or not what you’re doing sounds good.

One great feature of FLStudio is the “File->Save New Version” option.  I like to use it often, especially before I do any major changes.  If by some chance you do break the track, you can easily open up an earlier version, instead of losing all that hard work.

Fine Tuning
One aspect the track is lacking is the introduction segment.  Generally, the introduction should include at least one of the elements of the track, most often the beat in trance combined with some atmospherics.  It generally starts quite simply, and builds up to introduce the main theme of the track.  In a way, the introduction is like the buildup segments I talked about in the first tutorial, but often toned down and not so theatrical.

I am going to base the introduction around the beat, and build up from there.  You will find many trance tracks written specifically for parties will do this, as the beat makes it much simpler for the DJ to cue and beat match the track.  There are some exceptions, for example if the track is to be played by itself or on radio, there’s no need to add a long, winding introduction.

Back to the track (if you want the project file from the first tutorial, click here), first, I select all (Ctrl-A) and move the entire song across 16 bars.

Then fill in the beats and add a crash cymbal at the beginning.

If you listen to this, it sounds bland.  The beat is far too repetitive, and there are no other sounds in the introduction to capture the mind.

First, we can improve the beat.  So far, the beat I’ve used has been a 1-bar loop, with no variation, all the way through the entire track. 

To remedy this, you could create lots of small patterns with slight variations.

Or…

Beating, slicing and flattening (Sounds violent, no?)
In FlStudio, I find the easiest way is to flatten then slice the pattern in the play list.  So first, I merge all the “Beat” patterns by right clicking “Beat”, then selecting “Flatten Selected”, which results in this - One really long drum pattern:

I can recall many mistakes that I’ve made because I edited the wrong place in an overly long pattern.  Keep patterns short if you can – long enough to make them useful in terms of adding variation without jumping back and forth between patterns, but not so long that you get lost and wind up editing the wrong part.  For the flattened drum beat, I’m going to use the slicer to chop it into a more manageable size:

As you can hear, slicing and flattening has no effect on the way the track sounds.  They are simply useful tools for keeping things neat and easy to work with.

Rhythm is one of, if not the most important part of a dance tune.  A good beat is fundamentally simple, but with a complex array of tiny variations.  The variations are necessary; otherwise the listener’s ears will fatigue from lack of interest, and fall off.  But if you overdo the variations, it can sound forced and lose the flow.

This is the current beat:

To spice it up, play with variations, but try not to lose the simple nature of the beat.  If you create too complex a beat, it will compete with the lead elements of the track.  Too much complexity can result in something that sounds like a mish mash.  There should be plenty of empty space between each percussive instrument, so the rest of the track’s elements have somewhere to fit.

This is a beat with some variations.

I’m going to repeat a copy of the first bar only of the Euroarp pattern.  I clone Euroarp, slice the first bar, and then delete the remainder, then fill in the intro and add some automation so it looks and sounds like this:

I do the same thing for the bassline, repeating only the first bar for the introductory section of the track.

After this, I slide the two “Sonar Ping” melody patterns to the start of the song.

This is how it looks and sounds after this:

Where does it end?
A common problem for musicians is to know when to stop changing, and when to announce a track as finished.  It’s a tough call, because there is always something that can be changed, something that would sound better a different way.

There is a point however where alterations become destructive to the initial track.  You can end up improving the track so much it ends up sounding nothing like the original.  If you’ve used “Save New Version” a lot, this might not be a bad thing, because now you have two different (but similar) tracks.

If you just sit there and keep adding more and more elements, it may sound good to your ears because you’ve sat there from the start to the finish of the track, and it all seems to fit.  But to another listener who has never heard it before, the effect may very well be like someone starting to tell a story half way through – none of the elements make sense because they never heard the beginning.

Sometimes it helps to spend time away from the track, and then come back to it to see if it still sounds good.  A fresh pair of ears is the best tool for spotting problems, unlike if you’ve been listening to the same track on loop for days on end.

I could continue to alter and improve the track presented in this tutorial, but I believe the point is clear.  The simplest way to create a finished track is to create the basic structure, get all the elements necessary together in their most basic form, and then start making improvements to different parts of the track.

It’s not the only way to do it, but it is a way, and it works.

As for this track, I will call it finished for now.  As a final change, I vary the EuroArp lead slightly after the second buildup, to break up the monotony in the second half of the track.

(You can download the second project file here)

Comments

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James - Nice IP:207.6.251.84 | 2007-07-31 17:50:41 Nice job on the tutorial. Where did you start when learning on this? Did you buy some books or pick things up from someone. If you could let me know how you first started learning I would really appreciate it.

Alex IP:202.72.171.153 | 2007-07-31 18:28:06 Hi James, I'm glad you like the tutorial. I first started learning about 17 years ago using tracker software (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracker for a good explanation of what a tracker is). I learned by listening closely to music that I liked to see how it was made, and by experimenting with different sounds and combinations of notes. I also showed my creations to people and listened to their feedback, and I am always keen to improve so it is vital never to give up if your first attempts don't sound right. Learning how to use the software was just a small part of it, I also had to develop an ear for "what sounds good" which was a long term thing, and involved a lot of experimenting and reading of anything I could find. If you have some music experience already then you are probably better off than I was when I first started. When I first started I had no musical training, just a love for creating music which is the most important thing. I quickly learned how to use the software by simply experimenting with all the different instruments and effects, but it really took a lot longer to develop musical skills (which are still developing now - like peeling back an onion there is another layer underneath). I found that many people are more than happy to listen to my attempts music and give constructive feedback, and by applying their criticism to my composing efforts I improved a great deal. If it gets to the point where you can put your music on around a group of friends and no one says "Hey, is this one of yours?" in a tired, monotone voice, you know you're doing well. I once owned a couple of books on synthesis and sampling, but they are quite outdated and the best thing is to search wikipedia, join in on discussion forums and ask plenty of questions. If you have a specific problem at the moment I'd be more than happy to give some specific advice if I can. More recently I am spending a lot of time reading people's ideas on musical theory, and learning about chords and relationships between notes. Practicing these ideas gives me some good inspiration for my music. Ultimately though, musical theory doesn't determine if a song is good or not. A song is good if people like it, and I try to write music that people like rather than music that stems from theory. I wish you the best of luck on your musical journey, and if you have any questions I am always happy to have a go at answering them.

James - One more question IP:207.6.251.84 | 2007-08-01 06:07:08 Hey I hope im not harassing you too much but how do you go about writing music. Do you sit in front of FL Studio and tinker till it sounds right or do you use graph paper or something. Im at one of those "stuck" points where things have seemed to slow down.

Alex IP:202.72.171.153 | 2007-08-01 12:17:15 Some of the time I will have an idea in my head, I can hear the music in my mind and I have to tinker around like you say to make the music sound like what I imagine. Other times, I will plug the MIDI keyboard in and select different patches and mess around playing different chords until I find a catchy riff, which I'll play with some more to see if it has potential and if I like it I will hit record in FLStudio and start recording myself playing. Some people with superhuman musical ability might use graph paper, but I find the piano roll in FLStudio does pretty much the same thing with the added bonus that you can actually hear the note instantly instead of having to give the sheet music to a band and wait for them to learn it so you can hear what is sounded like. If I get stuck the best thing (for me at least) is to play an instrument and just make up melodies on the spot, then program what you come up with into your sequencer and start adding layers around it.

Andrew McLellan IP:82.10.136.72 | 2008-02-05 08:52:13 Hi Alex. Great tutorial. I was wondering could you show/do a tutorial on the automation part. I see many good tutorials around but none of them show how to do the automation, eq etc etc. Thanks Andrew

Alex IP:202.72.171.153 | 2008-02-05 14:23:31 Hi Andrew, That's a great idea - thanks... I'll make a note of your request.

Astrobouncer - thanks, nice tutorial but IP:75.138.58.133 | 2008-03-07 02:37:31 How did you know which automation to modify to get that sound? I cant even find where to click to mod the x or y envelope.

jacob - confusing IP:87.50.54.239 | 2008-03-30 07:56:32 its a great tutorial, but it is not for totally beginners :o it took me quite some time to understand what you were doing and such, but i learned from it to :p the worst thing about the tutorial is the danm font color

Alex IP:202.72.171.153 | 2008-03-31 11:06:48 Astrobouncer - Try right clicking on the X or Y automation knobs and selecting "Create Automation Clip" from the menu. Jacob - Did you start with the first tutorial which starts this tune from the beginning? Regarding the font color, I'm seeing a kind of pale yellow on top of a dark blue background - is that what you see? I'm glad you managed to get something from it and thanks for taking the time to give feedback.

Tim - font IP:58.178.6.237 | 2008-04-26 00:06:18 No, for me the font is black on a darkish grey background! Pretty hard to read! I had to copy it onto a word document first before I could read it. Great tutorial. Now I just need to get FLStudio or similar so I can get started!

Alex - Hmmmm... :/ IP:202.72.171.153 | 2008-04-27 21:08:59 I'll have to fix the site then. Granted the template is now a couple of years old and doesn't conform to web standards heh... I've a couple of ideas for a new look, I'll probably go for a more simple and functional design, tone down the colors a little so I can focus more on the music and less on the look. Thank you all very much for the feedback, I have been given so many ideas from all this on how to improve things around here.

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