do you find that you often have a really
good idea maybe like a cool drum loop or
a really nice bass idea but you struggle
to turn this loop into a full song with
a lot of variety interest and structure
if you do struggle with that don't worry
you're absolutely not alone and almost
all musicians and producers struggle
with the same thing we have hundreds of
cool loops cool ideas and we can
sometimes struggle to turn them into
songs the good thing is there's loads of
practical things you can do to help turn
this loop into a song and I'm going to
be sharing three of them with you in
this video the first one is all about
arranging your song so that it can have
structure variety and interest the
second one is about how to play along
with your song jam along with it whether
you're by yourself or with friends that
you can add sort of creative musical
parts to your song and keep it
interesting and the third part is all
about how to mix refine and organize
your project as you go so that you stay
motivated to work on it I'm Michael and
today I'm going to be sharing these
three strategies with you they're all a
little bit into woven but don't worry
because I'm going to keep it
straightforward and simple so let's get
right into it so this is my project
inside FL studio this is where I've left
it I only have a bass and drum lip so
the drums sound like this really simple
the bass is like this
and together they sound like this
it sounds okay but it's certainly not a
song a song is a story a journey it
takes you from the start to the end this
is just one kind of feeling or one
emotion locked into a loop the first
thing that you can do to get a loop into
more of a song format is to actually
just structure it like a song so I'm
gonna take this and I don't really think
this is how my song should start so I'm
gonna place this further over and this
is gonna be part of my chorus so I'm
just gonna drop it over here you can see
that these columns are sort of
distinguished into light sections and
dark sections these mark out each four
bars so I'm just going to drop it over
here into one of the light ones and
that's going to be the start of my
chorus and I'm actually going to label
that so I'm just going to select that
area press Alt + T I'm gonna name it
chorus 1 now what I'm gonna do is add a
verse before this no verses are
typically 8 to 16 bars long so in this
case it's 4 8 12 16 so my verse is going
to start just here it's gonna select
that verse before that verse I might
just have a little introduction here
then I'm gonna have my chorus last for 8
bars long which would just be copying
and pasting that to there then I'm gonna
have my verse start again just after
here there are loads of different ways
to structure a song but it's very common
to get sort of a 4 to 8 bar intro 8 to
16 bar verse 8 bar chorus then a verse
then a chorus again sometimes there's
chorus bridge then chorus sometimes
before each chorus you have a pre-chorus
or there's some kind of hook study the
genre that you're producing in C if you
want to fit into the way that other
people are structuring their songs if
you don't want to that's perfectly fine
but having a structure to work with lets
you know which pieces you still have to
fit in so let's work on the extra pieces
now so we've got a great big blank verse
how do we fill out the verse using what
we have here because I don't want my
bass line and my drums knocking away
throughout the whole verse that's not
the kind of idea I have I would like a
little bit more variety which is the
first point I mentioned in the
arrangement the arrangement needs
variety and it's dynamic and contrast
between loud and quiet if my verse
starts like this
then my chorus is never going to hit
hard when that comes in if you know
music theory this will be simple you
want to elaborate on this bass line
using chords but if you don't know music
theory don't worry I'll show you exactly
how to get the chords out of this bass
line so the first thing you're gonna do
is open up the piano roll for the bass
line ctrl a ctrl C to copy the root
notes of this bass line these are going
to be the root notes of the chords that
we create now I'm going to load open an
instrument so I'm going to use a piano
to start off with I'm using addictive
keys because of the piano that I know
and trust I'm going to create a new
pattern and then call it chords I'm just
gonna make it four bars long and paint
them across throughout the verse there
I'm gonna press f7 to open the piano
roll and I'm gonna start creating my
chords so I'm just gonna start by
pressing ctrl + V to paste in those root
notes of the chords from here you'll
want to make sure that you know the key
of your song you may already know the
key from when you start it but if you
don't know the key and you don't know
music theory just head to a site that
helps you figure out the key based on
the notes input your notes
it'll tell you what key and then what
you can do is click down here go helpers
scale highlighting and highlight the key
of your song in this case C major what I
want to do is use this root note to
create a chord but if you don't know how
to do this there's a straightforward way
here which you can use when you're
starting out which is a this is a D note
so what I'm gonna do is click up here
I'm going to select a major or a minor
chord depending on which one you want
let's say I want a minor chord click on
that D note and then it fills in the
chord for you
the next one I might want it to be a
major chord so I'm just gonna hit the F
and then G I'm just going to finish it
on a major as well
so those are the most basic versions of
the quartz now I would recommend
elaborating on this you can see from the
scale highlighting which notes are in my
key so if I want to elaborate on these
chords or voice them differently I can
sort of rearrange the notes in the
chords and find some more exciting or
interesting ones but for now we just
want to keep the momentum going I don't
really like that piano so I'm going to
swap it out for an instrument that
sounds a little bit more interesting so
I ended up finding this looping piano
inside a pulse engine called signal that
I like so I'm just going to be playing
the chords using that instead of the
piano and it sounds like this so it's
given us sort of like a sense of rhythm
so now what I'm going to do is go to
that third point which is about refining
organizing and just cleaning up your
project as you go so I'm just going to
quickly rename this piano at the side
give it the color of blue and I'm gonna
right click Auto named clips the next
thing I'm going to do is send it to the
mixer so in this case insert seven ctrl
+ L the piano will be sent there now so
what I want is a contrast between this
piano and this bass when this bass kicks
in I want that to actually feel huge so
in order for that to feel big I need a
dynamic change I need the piano to be
quieter so I'm just gonna lower this
down a little bit maybe not too much but
when that change happens I want it to be
quite drastic and right now it just
sounds like two parts of two completely
different songs
there's no journey transitioning us into
that chorus and we'll work on that in
just a moment but before we do that I'm
just gonna copy over this piano into the
second verse at least for 16 bars it
might only end up being 8 and what I'm
also going to do is copy this chorus
over after 16 pop it over their faults T
and then I'm going to call it chorus 2
and this way we already have a little
bit of a structure going so we can see
our verses we could see the choruses and
we know that we need to add some more in
what I'm gonna do to add a little bit to
that journey is to give myself a bit of
an introduction so instead of my song
just starting with just straight in with
the chord I'm gonna load an audio
recorder onto the master I have just a
regular piano playing now and I'm just
going to record the first chord
okay cool now what I'm gonna do is
reverse it so alt and the left arrow key
to reverse it now I'm going to press
ctrl + R to add some reverb to this so
now what I'm gonna do is just drag this
onto the playlist like so I'm going to
reverse it into the first chord just
gonna reverse but now I'm also going to
rename it to reverse chord something
like that give it a color sounds good
green Otto name clips I'm also going to
send this somewhere on the mixer so
let's hear what we have at the start now
it should be a little bit more flowy
getting us ready for that journey I
suppose now what I'm also going to do is
add a riser before that chorus just to
kind of throw us into that chorus a
little bit better so I have this one
riser that I like it's quite short I
might want to pick a longer one but I'm
just gonna reverse it into this chorus
here chop off the end and we're left
with something like this okay so what
I'm gonna do instead is actually cut it
off a little bit earlier so I'm gonna
just cut it off right here and I'm also
gonna cut off this chord just there okay
so it needs a little bit of refinement
now what I'm gonna do is cut off all
that volume on the piano so I'm going to
go into the piano on the mixer I'm going
to automate the fader just here and I'm
just going to simply drag that down
[Music]
that should help that kind of pull away
and then sort of slam into the chorus I
suppose now what I'm going to do as well
is I'm just going to group this with the
above track right clicking and pressing
G and then I'm also going to auto color
that group it's going to call this
volume Auto and in that clip now
everything's staying organized
[Music]
I'm also going to add a riser halfway
through the chorus and one just at the
end of the chorus sort of slingshotting
out into the next verse another thing
that I'm doing as I'm going is sort of
setting levels and sort of mixing
everything in together a little bit the
better it can sound the more motivated
you will be to keep working on it and if
you open up next time it's not going to
sound like quite so much of them a
massive ideas it might sound a little
bit more structured a little bit more
balanced now the next thing I'd
recommend doing is layering a little bit
so the piano here what I've decided to
do is layer it with another instrument
so I've just copied the MIDI across to
another instrument it sounds like this
on its own it's a lot more exciting and
interesting than just that standard
piano we had now together it's a lot
more interesting I suppose it just feels
more like a song at this point I'm gonna
leave the verse as it is the direction
of the verse will probably be heavily
dictated by what vocal goes on it their
vocal tone might dictate what
instruments you want to put in there if
you have a pre-chorus that's when you're
going to want to start increasing the
energy you might want to introduce the
drums more risers more followers that
kind of thing now we're going to go back
to the chorus and try to make this just
a little bit more exciting and
interesting so the easy thing to look at
is the drums because right now it's just
a kick and a snare
what I'm gonna do is add in a shaker to
this or like a hi-hat and what I'm going
to do is insert a track here I'm gonna
create a new pattern by pressing f4 I'm
just gonna call it shaker I'm gonna
paint it in at the second half of the
drop I'm gonna group this with the above
track also color the group call it
shaker then I'm going to auto name the
clips there we go so they're all colored
I'm just gonna paint these across here
this would be a lot easier if I had my
Akai fire here but unfortunately it's
still in the storage from traveling and
it's gonna sound like this I'm telling
you setting those velocities using fire
is a lot quicker than clicking away like
this so I'm just going to do that just
for now and what this does this gives
quite a contrast between the first half
of the second half of the chorus
it's simple but again it sounds a little
bit more like a song because we're
getting that aspect of variety and and
journey it's actually travelling through
lots of different sounds the next step
involves actually playing along jamming
along with your song because right now
this isn't that musical I've got basic
course basic bassline basic drums
there's nothing that sounds that
authentic or original to me in the song
yet so what I'm gonna do is play on MIDI
keyboard now it doesn't matter whether
you have a MIDI keyboard small
controller or whatever just try and play
along with it maybe you play guitar in
that case you can grab a guitar and
start riffing along but I would highly
recommend getting hands-on with the
music it will help you connect with it
it will help you write and come up with
something creative and beautiful what I
like to do is play on instruments that
are easy and fluid to play on one for me
is this sort of brassy analog pad
and for me for some reason when I use
that on the keys it makes things a
little bit easier for me I'm not a
natural Keys player I play guitar and I
play it pretty badly but when I play
this on keys
it just sort of feels quite inspiring to
me I don't know everybody's gonna have a
different sound some people would prefer
just a piano or some kind of harsh lead
so what I do is I play this pad it's
when I trust even though it won't
necessarily match this space and these
drums I play along the chords now if you
don't know how to play along the chords
just see them in the piano roll and
literally just just play them one at a
time until you actually figure out how
to play them once you memorize the
shapes and which notes you can and can't
hit is just gonna make life a lot easier
for you and I'd recommend just giving it
a go so let's try and see if we can come
up with something a little bit more
interesting just a basic chords
so once you can play around the basic
chords try adding in an extra note at a
time and this will help you develop
melody now this really is for beginners
if you're a keys player just ignore this
and skip to the next section but if you
play a chord
try adding in another note that works
one it's time
you'll figure out which ones do and
don't work if you hit a wrong note it's
gonna sound off like that
so experiment playing around like that
and that will give you the basis of a
melody it's one of these things where
it's gonna sound silly at first and the
more you do it the better it gets
[Music]
and don't worry if you hit the wrong
chord like that you know you'll find a
way to make it work it's very easy to
hear when you play a note that's that's
wrong or off it's just gonna sound
dissonant and wrong so don't be afraid
of trying something out and a melody
might come out of this for instance if I
head to a higher octave maybe a lead
might come out of this
[Music]
yeah like that
[Music]
and whatever you come up with you'll
know that it was you and it feels like
you it's got your signature to it the
way you play will be embedded into that
MIDI information and it's gonna not feel
quite so plastic and quite so fake I
suppose so I'm just going to create a
new pattern call it melody and I'm just
gonna play along and see what happens
this might be a bit rubbish no one
really comes up with a good melody the
first time around anyway but let's try
[Music]
so let's see how that sounded
[Music]
so again I'm just going to name it
melody I'm gonna give it a color and
also name clips and I'm gonna make sure
that it's centered a mixer here as well
and again I'm gonna try and blend that
in now going into the second verse what
we might want to do is keep the energy
high so keep the drums going as well but
what I'm gonna do is insert a track here
right click and I and then I'm gonna go
to my drum buss which I have an EQ
loaded on and I'm just gonna filter the
drums down so that in the verse I'm
getting that kind of vibe out of it so
I'm just simply going to create an
automation clip for this so I'm going to
keep it down during the chorus and then
as soon as the verse comes in we're
going to have that kind of filtered
energy
[Music]
might be a little bit too much often in
songs when the first chorus finishes you
want to keep a little bit of energy
going it might be that there's sort of a
subdued baseline of the drums carry
through often you'll want a faller to
match the riser so I'm just gonna make
the riser unique I'm gonna reverse it
and we'll play it into itself like this
there's a bit of a and this one I
probably want to extend out and make it
a lot longer again I'm just naming
everything and keeping it all organized
something that I also have is another
instrument here which is on analogue
strings which I loved what i have is
this reverb sort of ping that sounds
like this which i'm going to use to add
a lot of texture underneath the chorus
so I'm just simply going to print out
that that D note which is the root note
of the first chord I'm just gonna have
it play through the whole chorus I'm
just going to drag that straight into
the playlist here and I'm going to just
add it in here I'm gonna add another one
as well so I'm just gonna make it unique
and reverse it into itself so that it
comes just there and then another one to
match it
and that kind of gives it a lot of
texture underneath the track so now I
want to just quickly recap what we have
done and what we've done is we've taken
a fairly simple loop that just had the
drums and the bass line and we've
arranged it and given it structure it
visibly looks like more of a song now
the verse is a bit thin but we have
given it contrast some variety and
definitely given a journey throughout
the song we've sectioned off an intial
verse chorus verse and a chorus now we
might want another bridge in another
chorus every song is going to be a
little bit different so don't worry
about being locked into that grid we've
provided contrast by having quiet
elements loud elements given it dynamics
something you can do you know if you
want a really wide drop sometimes the
best thing to do is to make the verse
more thin I could have this piano and
pad be really thin in mono and then when
the chorus hits it's gonna feel a lot
wider because they haven't been used to
that wide stereo sound the next thing we
did was try to play the instruments so
that we could sort of fill this out with
something that felt a little bit more
normal and natural you know maybe play
the chords in on a piano or a guitar so
that it has an element of you your your
energy and your spirit in the music as
well didn't necessarily work today but
I'm not gonna beat myself up about it
sometimes the best melody doesn't just
come to you on the spot and the third
thing we did was refine and mix the song
as we go so most of this besides maybe
this looks good makes sense hasn't taken
too long and it means that when I leave
this song and come back to it this is
gonna make an awful lot more sense it's
organized it's clean it's sort of mixed
already so you know if I'm away from the
studio maybe I'm traveling I'm gonna
walk or maybe I'm working on a different
song in the studio and then a really
cool melody idea comes to me I can jump
straight into this project
put the melody idea in there's no
clutter and mess the other benefit of
keeping it organized is that I feel
proud of this song it doesn't
necessarily sound amazing yet but I feel
a lot more proud of it than if it was
just a load of grey and a mess I feel
that this is something I want to come
back to and work on and one thing that I
would stress to you is to not hang
around too long on ideas that aren't
working the melody for me wasn't really
working out great today I'm not going to
spend half an hour 45 minutes trying to
make my fingers play something awesome
if
not happening it's not happening give it
a break come back to it and when it does
work you'll know about it so don't worry
about that at all so hope this video has
been helpful I hope that this helps you
sort of turn your loops into a little
bit more of a song structure if you do
have any comments criticisms questions
please do leave them in the comment
section down below
I'd love to hear from you I hope you
have a great day a great week and I hope
to see you in the next video - bye for
now