A few questions

[BobCarter]

I have ton's of VST's (Albino, Atmosphere, Trilogy, Absynth, Zebra, etc) and over fifty snippets of songs that I haven't completed...

Basically I feel like I have all the tools of trade but I am having trouble finishing a song.
Is there anyway one of you pro's could give a greehorn like me some advice on hip hop song structure or arranging? I know how there are 16 bars in a typical verse and theres a hook but it's mainly the little transitions and fine points that are giving me trouble and are making me reluctant to try and finish a song...I have slight OCD which doesn't help. I also have ADD which makes me extremely creative yet hinders me in actually being able to finish something. (I need to overcome this or I will go nowhere)

At the end of each verse in most songs, there's a swelling/keyboard lick, silence, or interesting way that the producer transitions the verse into the hook..how do I do this better?

The clock's ticking for me to put out a sampler, and I am freaking out..

Any suggestions/tips would be appreciated. Also have any of you ran into these problems when first starting? I hope eventually this will come easier to me.

 

[LDB]

The best way to learn is to listen.....you're obviously already doing that! Stop doing and start applying WHAT U HEAR. And stop second guessing yourself. Don't move to another song until you complete A SONG.

Having variations in your songs is a good thing but definitely not the most important. If you're trying to "make hits", "simple and catchy" should be your guide. Save the extremely elaborate chord progressions,100 piece symphony orchestrated, bombastic music for the album!

I found the best way to learn song structure is to mimic what you hear. Try and recreate you favorite song, or a hot song on the radio right now. "HOT" doesn't necessarily mean "THE BEST", but it does mean "most requested and most played".

Everybody copied somebody to get started, from there they added their own twist to make it there's...DO THE SAME.

 

[2GooD Productions]

The best way to learn is to listen.....you're obviously already doing that! Stop doing and start applying WHAT U HEAR. And stop second guessing yourself. Don't move to another song until you complete A SONG.

Having variations in your songs is a good thing but definitely not the most important. If you're trying to "make hits", "simple and catchy" should be your guide. Save the extremely elaborate chord progressions,100 piece symphony orchestrated, bombastic music for the album!

I found the best way to learn song structure is to mimic what you hear. Try and recreate you favorite song, or a hot song on the radio right now. "HOT" doesn't necessarily mean "THE BEST", but it does mean "most requested and most played".

Everybody copied somebody to get started, from there they added their own twist to make it there's...DO THE SAME.

I couldnt agree more.


@ Bob. By the wording in your post you have a pretty good idea of whats required, like little changeups at the end of 8 bars or an extra instrument layer for the hook.
Like LDB said, really listen to some hiphop that you really like, and study it hard.
I have always done this with hot beats, to see how a particular producer does his variations and changeups.
I then try to apply what I have learned to my own beats.
I used to make loads and loads of tracks without ever finishing them off, Id get stuck at a certain point and not know where to go with a beat. I get that a lot now with DnB. Just keep grinding and eventually through trial and error the peices will start to come together.


Also dont feel pressured into finishing something just to have a sampler, the beat will suffer as a result.
Im sure when you have done a beat that you feel is of a standard, you wont hesitate to post it.
Just dont get put out by any negative feedback, thats part and parcel of being a producer.

 

[Step Soprano]

I have ton's of VST's (Albino, Atmosphere, Trilogy, Absynth, Zebra, etc) and over fifty snippets of songs that I haven't completed...

Basically I feel like I have all the tools of trade but I am having trouble finishing a song.
Is there anyway one of you pro's could give a greehorn like me some advice on hip hop song structure or arranging? I know how there are 16 bars in a typical verse and theres a hook but it's mainly the little transitions and fine points that are giving me trouble and are making me reluctant to try and finish a song...I have slight OCD which doesn't help. I also have ADD which makes me extremely creative yet hinders me in actually being able to finish something. (I need to overcome this or I will go nowhere)

At the end of each verse in most songs, there's a swelling/keyboard lick, silence, or interesting way that the producer transitions the verse into the hook..how do I do this better?

The clock's ticking for me to put out a sampler, and I am freaking out..

Any suggestions/tips would be appreciated. Also have any of you ran into these problems when first starting? I hope eventually this will come easier to me.

look i feel u man, same shit happens to me on occasion, shit natural... i got add too, but at same time... shit. U gotta focus on the task at hand... get urself to dr or somethin for the add cuz i did that when i went back to school last year and now i got a 3.5 in college... shit, i never got an A all through highschool. Shit does NOT affect your creativity( the meds i mean, if u start takin em). But back to the music... definitely gotta try to listen to as many instrumentals as possible, and after gettin the structure of the instrumental down, listen twice as many times to the full song so that you can see how the structure really comes into play... in accordance with the vocals and what not. It'll give you a lil reference to how the real fire ass producers use those lil entracasies to liven up/vary the track, while at the same time keepin the basic melody/structure simple. I'm talkin ur mutes, and snare breakdowns(particularly in southern shit), ur bridges, ur breaks... wtv u do dependin on the style of song u makin, nah mean? its the lil things that seperate the elite from the youtube hitmaker... and if u got writers block or wtv, or stuck on a song, instead of startin a new one, work on the little things, like i said. Addin ur drops/mutes/wtv... and takin the time to PRECISELY adjust your velocity/asdr's and other dynamics of the track to give it that stand out feel. All comes with time man, and as they said... u gotta have thick skin as a producer, that soft shit gonna have u cryn to moms in bout two hours if u come like that(not talkin bout u, just in general). I kno how it is, i been at this shit since iw as 12 till i was like 16 till i got caught up... my SHIT WAS TERRIBLE!! like straight ass! i didnt focus tho really, enjoyed and loved it, but was not right minded for it... from 16-till like 6 monthes ago i was on some bullshit, but as soon as i got back to it earlier htis year... not only did it come back, but it came back 1000x stronger than before... SO STICK WITH IT MAN. and keep goin at it, use the hatin/critique as motivation and focus on ur craft. and remember the little shit is what seperates...

Mixin a whole other bitch...

 

[BobCarter]

thanks for the feedback you guys....i actually just got put on this stuff called Vyvanse....it's like speed for adults that stops ADD..a lot of people say they have ADD and ruin it for the people who do, but i'll be in a room and literally the next thing i know its twenty minutes later and i have no idea what happened.. (i was tuning out unconciously)...but this medicine (besides making my forum posts way longer than usual) has helped me alot with finishing certain things...and since I started this post i've come a long way...i can't wait to put out a few samples of my works for yall to critique

 

[Step Soprano]

good to hear man

 

[eldiablo]

a beat is a simple building block to a song. unless your an instrumentalist. uh.. is that a word. everyone who makes beats/produces and has done it for a while has a stockpile of beats. i dont consider anthing finished until theres lyrics. then i structure the beat to enhance the lyrics = finished song.

 

[MagnaOpera]

thanks for the feedback you guys....i actually just got put on this stuff called Vyvanse....it's like speed for adults that stops ADD..a lot of people say they have ADD and ruin it for the people who do, but i'll be in a room and literally the next thing i know its twenty minutes later and i have no idea what happened.. (i was tuning out unconciously)...but this medicine (besides making my forum posts way longer than usual) has helped me alot with finishing certain things...and since I started this post i've come a long way...i can't wait to put out a few samples of my works for yall to critique

man what the fuck like not to go offtopic here but you're taking SPEED to slow you DOWN? I've been in that situation; you're probably going to start feeling really gross soon (speed does that to you)... Get off the drugs man. It's not difficult to "control" ADD/ADHD.

 

[Step Soprano]

man what the fuck like not to go offtopic here but you're taking SPEED to slow you DOWN? I've been in that situation; you're probably going to start feeling really gross soon (speed does that to you)... Get off the drugs man. It's not difficult to "control" ADD/ADHD.

then you didn't really have add...

 

[MagnaOpera]

then you didn't really have add...

LOL alright doc.

 

[Kontents]

Everyone get back on topic please.