arranging advice any1?

[Shaman X]

ay ima new sp 404 user and a newbie 2 da sampler world (i useta just work wit reason 3.0) umm i was wonderin if anybody had tips on arrangin ill hip hop tracks on da 404? like do u record separate verses and hooks and string 2getha on da pattern sequencer? or iz there anotha way? and, besidez the technical ish, any advice on da format of a fly track? like wheres da best place to drop a beat break or a bass solo?

ps: check out my tracks at shamanx360.imeem.com they were made on reason b4 i got my 404

thanx

[cartesia]

the bass solo should always be on the 273rd beat

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

Yes you can make several parts with the step sequencer that have variations like bass solo's or drop a certain part of the beat out and so on, but as far as when to do so there are no rules, thats why hip hop is great in terms of composing, make what sounds good to you.

[Jason13]

the bass solo should always be on the 273rd beat

Classic!

Seriously though, just listen to loads of your favourite music and make some notes about what you like or don't like on a track. Pretty soon you can work out your own formula for the kind of stuff you want to do.

[Shaman X]

wats this about the 273rd beat?

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

So thats how you do it I've been dropping my break on the 273rd beat, shit.
Basically he means figure it out yourself, no one is going to teach you to make a beat, because most people have spent years of their life in pursuit of how they make their beats and they don't want somebody biting their style or technique....it just takes time, but I will say that if you read every thread on this site and pay attention you may find some clues.

[cartesia]

^ What he said

persistence is the art of writing music... go for months on end making crap beats then keep making crap beats for months more. . then you might start to notice yourself improving.... IF you dont go insane first and throw your sampler out the window/into brick wall.

[606man]

A good place to start with arranging is to listen to your favorite songs and make notes about the structure of the song.

I assume you know about bars in music, so start by just noting how many bars each part of the song goes for. Then you can start tracking individual sounds in the the song and writing down on which bars they occur. etc.

This is all just a learning experience - once you have spent some time dissecting other people's music you can approach your own arranging with more confidence.

There are websites dedicated to song structure too, but they invariably deal with pop music only...

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

^ That's a good suggestion, being able to count bars accurately is crucial for sampling, timing, DJing or arranging music, a good exercise I like to do is listen to old breakbeats and try to figure out how to make a similar break with my sampler, then once you have a good foundation look for instrument breaks to play with it.

[fauna]

careful what you wish for tho. i spent a fair amount of time listening to some pretty solid instrumental hip hop only to find that some artists record entire albums with songs that follow the exact same arrangements. every. single. song. it got to a point where i could predict every arrangement change, break, fill, etc. before they happened. it has ruined a couple of artists for me.

on the other side, it make me 10 times more impressed by other artists. good way to learn tho.

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

Make a beat anytime you have an idea then record it and go back and listen and learn from your mistakes or advances.