A writing teacher once said- theres no such thing as writers block-if you KNOW YOUR CRAFT it will carry you through"
It seems a lot of beginners have trouble finishing tracks- they get a break and bassline down and then get stuck. If this is happening to you, you have to face and own up to the fact that, despite being a drum n bass "fan", you really dont know what goes into a drum n bass track. Sure, you know the obvious bits, like the breakdown, the bassline , etc. but the ability to put together a whole track eludes you because you don't know the subtleties and intricacies. You have to admit that harsh reality, go back to your record collection, and LISTEN. Dont go back to your mixtape collection, because DJs usually mix in and out during the intro and outros and you wont learn how to do those. When you listen, think in big chunks- every 16 or so bars ask yourself- what's changing now? ("Oh, i see, hi hats came in." "Oh, I see, hes filtering/playing with the bassline. "Oh, I see, he took out the percussion"). To help you out, here is basic dnb structure (the really big chunks, each one 32-64 bars or so):
1. Part One: Introduction- the themes here dont NEED to appear anywhere else!!
2. Part Two: your main theme (usually starting with a breakdown)
3. Part Three: your main theme "pumps up" with percussion or what have you
4. Part Four: Two and Three REPEAT!!! WIth subtle variation of course, shorter too.
5. Part Five: Track deconstructs, sometimes a repeat/variation of introduction
So in essense, your gonna need THREE main ideas- Your Intro (which you have alot of free reign with), your main theme, and then what happens to your main theme to "amp it up", whether that be added percussion, another theme, or doing something wicked with the sample. DO NOT ADD AN AMEN!!!! You can make an entire amen based track of course, but adding an amen to pump up a non-amen track is the ultimate sign of newbie cheesiness.
You dont even need to listen to that many tracks . Take one or two good records , listen, break it down, and listen again and again, until you understand without question or ambiguity whats happening at each stage of the track. If you understand fully the construction of a single track thatll carry you over into making your own. One thing youll find is that THINGS LOOP MUCH LESS THAN YOU THINK!! Your sequencing need not be rigidly mechanical and mathematical- sometimes things come in after 8 bars, sometimes 16. Often in the intro, the second time an atmospheric pad or FX sound loops around, something else drops in (so that sound, in effect, is never heard looping by itself). This and many other subtleties of sequencing will open up to you once you get complete pro tracks (from vinyl or internet), and listen, listen, listen. :)
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