This workflow works. The order is not that important. If you feel a sound in your head as you are laying down another, ride that inspiration. People tend to change it up between deciding to start with their drums vs their melodic elements. Either works - try both to get different kinds of outcomes. I have put the chords prior to the bass line as often the bass line is the root notes of the chords (or some variant of them), though of course also often not, but either way sort out the bass together with the drums (the low end).

To start with make an 8 (or actually 16 or even 32) bar loop. That will be your core idea that would typically make up the 'drop', in arrangement terms. The elements will act as your palette for the whole track. Decide the key you want your track in at the start of this process. Typically a minor key for my kind of music and most dance music.

Keep the 8 bar loop simple: Most great EDM tracks are simple at their core. It is the 'sparkles', random synth stabs, and particularly the automation on effects (e.g. filter cutoff) that actually make them appear more interestingly complicated. One of the biggest mistakes new producers appear to make is too much melodic complexity (something I am only now starting to avoid, 20 or so tracks into my producer life).

Then start arranging the elements, add in the interest sounds that will transform your whole track. Mix quite a lot as you go, the quicker you get at mixing, the more you do it during idea development as it won't interfere with your idea flow. Key is to get down the 8 bar loop pretty fast.

Mixing and mastering is pretty methodical (but fun!)

Prepping your DAW ready to start developing your project. Consider setting up a good template in Ableton with empty tracks ready for your ideas and your standard mixing chain on each track. Increasingly I am moving away from this as it just delays Ableton from loading at the start, though many people swear by it. I have my own midi effect racks pre-put together so can add the items once Ableton is open very quickly.

This is to get some kind of background vibe playing as you start producing the other components. The sound(s) will be relatively low in volume most of the time (maybe raised up during breaks if it makes sense to have it there). There are many options here, simpler the better. This component will help fill out the track with energy, very subtly, but it is pretty vital for most tunes.

As a sample: Select an atmospheric sample of your choice, sound design it as needed, job done. Field recordings are great for this (e.g. birds in a forest), rain.

As a single note: Pick typically the root note of your track's key, and the track will be a long sustained version of that playing all the time. Select an appropriate droney kind of sound for it.

As a chord or chord progression: Design your chords(see below), and play through a pad sound.

Rhythm / Movement Enhancement: Consider enhancing the sound you choose so it has a slight, or more, rhythm, / pulsing kind of vibe over the note(s) being played. Something so that it is not totally static. You can do this in many ways such as adding an LFO to the track and modulating a parameter that leads to a rhythmic effect. Sidechaining it to duck under the kick is effective to give it a rhythmic pulse and probably enough. Increasingly I am getting a lot of milage out of multi-effect plugins such as Tantra 2, RC-20 Retro Colour, Thermal and then modulating the mix knob on them over a period with an appropriate pre-set selected.

High / Medium / Low: Consider setting up multiple versions of this component for different parts of the frequency spectrum. They are to support your other sounds, add energy when needed, but not the main focus most of the time.

Introduction

16th notes: To understand the basics of a drum pattern consider the 'bar' as the main measure of time, which includes 16 16th notes (and 4 beats across those). You then need to decide what sounds to put where across those 16 16th notes.

Drum components (patterns & sounds) for EDM tracks - at least the ones I make (melodic techno / techno / tech house / house) are pretty similar in their foundation. The differentiators between one track and another come from
the sound selections (sample) for each component,
the variation in the percussion element patterns particularly (see below - item 4), - [other elements can and do vary of course, but particularly here]
the top loop components particularly (see below - item 5),
the turn-around components

"Turn around components": For all the standard patterns described below it is good to have some variation in design on the last bar of every 8th (or sometimes just 16th bar). This could be as simple as a double kick at the end, or some extra percussion not heard till then. This indicates to the listener that they are moving from one musical phrase to the next and keeps their interest.

What are the key ingredients for the drums of a track? - see image above:

1. The kick drum - this is the foundation. You will have 4 kicks playing during each bar, one every 4 16th notes - so on 16th notes 1, 5, 9 & 13. Getting the sound selection / design right for this is critical for your track to fit in with your genre. The easiest way is to get a good sample pack of kicks that are current for the genre you are using so you don't get into the rabbit hole of kick drum design. You want to make sure that the sound length is right as well - too long and the tail of the kick will interfere with other components of your composition for instance, particularly if you are sidechaining against it (see the NotesOn processing below).
   Should you tune your kicks? - There is a lot of debate about this (e.g. see DeadMaus5 - says it doesn't matter - keep your kicks short and issues mainly go away; F9 (makers of incredible sample packs / and world class producers to boot [e.g. Freemasons!]) - show convincingly why you should make sure your kick and bass notes do not clash so as not to rob the power from the kick).
   The Sub - (not always there depending on the sound used for the kick itself - may already have plenty) this is a deeper version of the kick drum (typically lower than 100 Hz) playing the same pattern as the kick drum (1, 5, 9 & 13) - this will often be brought in and out at key sections of the track such as the drop, or parts of the drop (see arrangement for definitions of these). Typically it will be a simple sound such as a sub oscillator sine wave, and played in mono, EQing (high cutting) out any harmonics (sounds playing beyond its fundamental frequency). It will add weight and drive when it is heard. The sounds source could be something more complex such as a Tom.

2. The snare or clap - will play with the kick, but on every other kick. So they play on the 5th & 13th 16th-notes.

3. The open hat - will play in between the kicks: kick, chhh, kick/clap/snare, chhh, kick, chh, kick/snare/clap, chh. So they play on the 3, 7, 11 & 15 16th-notes.

4. Percussive elements / groove / swing - with the kick and the open hat sorted you have used up 1,3,5,7,11 & 15 16th notes. You therefore have the 2,4,6,8,10,12,14 & 16 16th-notes to add in extra elements. These components are key and give your track groove (see Luca's vid). Use up some of them to make your drums come alive. Add swing in Ableton to make it all more danceable / less robotic. For sounds, just experiment, but typically things from higher in the spectrum work well - closed hats, more snares, odd sounds such as field recorded doors closing, rim shots. Experiment.

5. An energy track - using all the 16th notes - (e.g. Shaker, Closed Hats). This is the track that will really drive your danceable energy and really brings the beat alive as you can add so much variation during the bar / 4 / 8 bar loop as this plays out. It is typically where a sound is placed on every one of the 16th notes, though deviations of that rule work well.
   Also varying the velocity through the bar helps give groove to this track (also applying swing in Ableton carefully is really powerful).
   Typically sounds here are high up in the spectrum - think kch kch kch kch driving along.
   This is a great part of the track to experiment with top / shaker loops (samples) - so putting in an audio loop rather than midi. You can chop up parts of that loop and piece them back together to easily make something very unique. This can all get excellent results fast. Play around with some of the mutli-fx plugins (e.g. Tantra 2, Infiltrator, Portal, Slap from Yum Audio) automating the mix % with some presets to add even more variation for the loop.

6. Don't forget those turn-around components to all of the above

Some NotesOn processing with your drum components

• You will typically sidechain other components to sit under your kick track so you don't lose its energy. A useful way to do this is to set up a ghost kick track (that doesn't make a sound) and sidechain against that (using a compressor and selecting the ghost track as the Sidechain input - the compressor only compresses the volume when it has the kick input). This can allow your other components to continue their pattern of ducking when the kick drum isn't playing avoiding them coming in a lot stronger otherwise on those occasions.

• Another great option is to use something like Shaperbox's volume control, which automatically ducks the audio (and selected frequencies only if you want) on a rhythmic basis.

• Another great option is to use Trackspacer, that has a similar effect, though is more sensitive to only ducking the frequencies that the kick is occupying. Sidechain compression and shaper box tend to have more pumping effects. Trackspacer, less so, but guarantees that the kick comes through cleanly. A combo of Trackspacer with one of the other 2 works a treat.

Chord progressions are the background to much modern dance music. They can form the basis for the other components in your track also - e.g.

• The melodic components can map to the notes in the chords.

• An arpeggiator sequence can be built straight from the notes in the chords.

• The chords can be the main melody, particularly if say as chord stabs

• The bassline can be built from the lowest notes in a chord sequence (many other options also!)

• The chords may be used to generate the ambient track components that sit way in the background and used identically elsewhere also, say for a stronger piano track.

• The may not even be used in the track, but just used to generate the above (and hence define the harmony for the track).

Simple recipe for creating a chord progression (note as with everything, all these guidelines / rules are there to be broken)

1. First decide on the key your track is going to be in - typically minor for most dance tracks

2. Make a basic melodic progression of say 4 notes, about a bar long each

3. Convert those single notes into triads (as in add notes above them, in scale, 2 above the first note and then 2 above the second

4. Play around with those note positions (the voicings) to develop your sound - move them up and down the scale

5. Experiment with additional notes in each chord to make the sound richer

6. Try inverting some of the notes within the the chords to make them more spread out (i.e. take a note and up or down it an octave) - Shift upArrow / downArrow in Ableton

7. Consider adding little flourishes between where one set of chords switches to another by adding in a short (say 16th note) chord stab of a different progression prior to the next main chord - this helps emphasis the next longer chord

8. Explore having one of the notes in each note be the same as the other chords - this can gel the progression together

9. Explore using tools like Captain Chords, Cthulu or (fav>) Scaler 2 to give you chord progressions. These will have a good bank of chord progressions to use and will recommend suitable additional chords given a starter that will work harmonically

Design Notes

• Note: When you are listening to your chord progressions make sure that the instrument you are playing them with is a polyphonic synth so you can hear all the notes!

• Note: The top note in each chord will be the dominant sound so position that carefully

• Note: You can adjust the velocity of individual voices (the notes in the chords) to emphasis it or not

• Note: You can play with the articulation of the notes in a chord to give them a more organic feel (e.g. so they are strummed with each note coming in at a different time). Scaler 2 has many options for this for inspiration and will export the midi capturing the articulation.

• Note: Often just two chords works as well as 4 or more. The more complex your chord progression then the less complex your other progressions - e.g. main melody (so as the sum of all the complexity doesn't overload the listener).(Sophisticated) Simplicity is best.

It is useful to think of a bassline as one of your melody, but typically serving the key purpose of providing rhythm as it does tend to repeat in pattern more than say your main lead melody. Your initial design choice is going to typically be from one of 3 options:

1. Do you want it to be a rhythmic melody (as in driving notes limited changes in tone)? (most typical)

2. Do you want it be made up of longer chord like notes? (a little less typical)

3. Do you want it to play the role of the main melody which otherwise your lead track would normally cover less typical)

Spectral position: The bass line plays in the lower octaves in a similar space to the kick drum (hence it is called the bass!), so <150, aside from harmonics or a higher bassline track. Typically it is used to carry the rhythm along with the drums (hence option 1 above is the normal goto)

Volume / Composition Position: Often it is there as energy in the back ground to allow the main melodic components to sit over the top of it, though can rise to the fore on the high energy sections. Hence you will be setting the gain a little lower to allow other lead components to carry over the top. If say your Kick is playing at -10dB, then your bass would typically be at-12dB (pre master)

How many basslines?: Lots of room for having multiple bassline tracks say a low and a low mid

Bassline patterns: There are a few key standard patterns, worth trying these and then varying from there (thanks to Dilby's video that superbly goes over these):

1. Off beat - as in not coinciding with your kick, lining up with the typical placement of your open hat. This avoids much of the clashing that can occur between your kick and bassline otherwise. Very dancey (it is a word).

2. 16th notes: Very driving, high energy bassline - A baseline on every 16th note, play with the velocities on different notes to add some more pattern. This can coincide with a shaker pattern also typically on every 16th note. Variations include playing with the velocity patterns across the notes, changing every few notes by an octave, changing one note at the end of every 4 by an octave or other step size. If you play with different notes in different positions, consider having different bass instruments playing the notes at different levels (e.g. subby for the lower notes, etc)

3. Off beat, but some notes off the grid, effectively giving it more groove: Makes the beat more groovy / funky than a straight off beat. Adds groove to the whole production.

4. Sustained bassline - long notes, lots of sustain (not plucky bass sound). This bassline is adding ambience and energy as opposed to clear drive like the previous three. Perfect if you have plenty of other strong rhythm components in your track (assuming something to dance to is what you are going for!)

5. Long continuous bass notes, non plucky: Rhythm, but not so much transient drive. Play with the resonance etc through the bars to add more rhythm. This bassline leaves plenty of room for more drive to come from other rhythmic components.

The bass sound: So many options! The below are well renowned and full of amazing bass sounds

• Trillian is awesome and widely lauded (Spectrasonics) - really easy to know what to modulate to change the sound as it has a simplified frontend over the top of the full Omnisphere synth. Also the Seismic Shock extension pack for Omnisphere has some really extreme sounds.

• Diva and Serum have some amazing preset packs that deliver great bass sounds

• Knifonium is really good for bass sounds (and many others) - such a rich and powerful sound

• Substance from Output is extraordinary and again has some very well thought through macro controls to adjust the sound very effectively - something to always look for to give interest into your sound during track progression.

Processing: Richer bass sounds tend to have lots of harmonics (sounds playing higher up the spectrum above the fundamental frequency of the bass sound). This can cause interference and reduce head room for components designed to sit higher up the spectrum. On the other hand the harmonics can make the bass appear bassier on playback devices that can't replicate the lower sounds well (e.g. in-ear headphones). So consider adding harmonics (eg. through saturation) to get that bass sound on headphones etc, or high cutting - cut the harmonics - if you want to make sure the other components do not compete. In most cases you will also always be sidechain compressing the bassline under the kick drum to make sure that the all important kick comes through.

What are these?: These are often not mentioned explicitly by the YT channels and courses as being a distinct element. However I have noticed they are a key component of most dance music tracks - one of the most important - and it is really useful to think of them as their own separate entity that have a specific purpose to the other components - to bring in drive and energy in a similar way say to a shaker, but with a very distinct sound where you can adjust the energy they bring depending on the sounds source and particularly where they are playing in the spectrum.

• They will typically consist of a track with a single note playing repeatedly in a pattern similar to a 16th note driving bassline, or even say one of the drum component patterns

• The sounds will be in the higher octaves than the bass line

• There can often be a few of them at different octaves

• Synths will typically be used as the sound source (e.g. plucky sounds with transients)

• The sounds choice is particularly important here as they can be quite prominent sounds and therefore constant ear candy

• The lend themselves particularly well to progressive processing to make the sound change as the the track progresses. This can be playing with the synth source directly (e.g. opening the cutoff, extending the delay and sustain to make the sounds move from plucky to pad like), but what works really well are these multi-FX plugins that will mangle the sound. Find a good preset and mix in the FX as the sound progresses. Automation is key here of course.

• These are often introduced very gradually so you can hardly tell when they came in.

An arpeggiator track is a variation of these, and I consider them to have the same main purpose which is to provide drive and energy to the track. The arpeggiator track essentially has more melodic component, but all the same observations and guidance above applies.

Disclosure: Frankly - I more often than not, don't include vocals in my tracks (though that is increasing a lot recently), hence take the notes below with that into consideration. Guest writer welcome if anyone wants to write up a more comprehensive overview of what to consider with the vocal component of a composition....

Source early if the vocal component will be dominant (e.g. for longer samples): If the vocal component is going to dominate then choose it early and work the other components around it.

Key the vocal is in: Establish the key of the vocal component so you can make sure that your track will fit round it. Sample packs will typically have this on the vocal sample. You can run it through something like Scaler or Mixed in Key to give you the answer also. Or play a melody that is in a certain key, put the track against it and see if it clashes by ear - transpose the instrumental melody till you find one that does not clash. Alternatively you can repitch the vocal track using your DAW's sampler functions to adjust the vocal to the key of your choosing - though this often doesn't work as well as playing it in its original. Sample sites such as Loopcloud, Splice, Output Arcade will set their samples including the vocals to the pitch of your choosing.

Vocal sample types and their typical positioning in your arrangement (as in what is their purpose in the story your track is telling?). Any vocal sample makes a huge difference to a track by its presence just because people respond so strongly to a human voice. It also positions your track into or out of specific genres more so than many other compositional components - e.g. pure techno...used to be strictly no vocals - though even this thinking is on the move (see here):

• Chops - short, a few seconds long. Used as interest fills in the same kind of way as a synth stab might be used. These can be dispersed all over your arrangement in the same way as say a melodic motif / hook might be.

• Longer vocal samples - typically need to be beautiful and can be considered as the main flavour that people will come to taste. Positioning is therefore often in the main breakdown / build up prior to the main drop where they can be heard the most clearly (as the vertical arrangement is sparse at this point).

Sources:

• Record yourself. However crap a singer you are (me, utterly), particularly if you are just going to use vocal chops, then this is a pretty viable source. The amount of processing you can do on a vocal to make it acceptable in a track is huge.

• Common sample libraries: All the main ones are full of vocal samples (e.g. Loopcloud, Splice). Chance of others using the same vocals is of course high.

• Less used, slightly more hassle option: Tracklib - where you can get a sample from old productions, and then pay a flat rate (typically $50) plus a royalty, typically up to 20% of your revenue for that track, but higher depending on the source). There are quite a few acapallas here and my guess if that they will be less used than say something from Splice.

• Hire a pro to do it for you: friends / fiverr

Processing

1. Check the vids below for ideas.

2. To clean up the vocal you are looking at EQing, De-essing

3. To mangle / adjust the vocal so that it becomes even more interesting you are looking at something like little alter boy where you can play with the pitch and formant to adjust the vocal. Other things to consider could be waves harmony to give the vocal depth, interest and movement. Consider taking two copies of the sample and pitching one up and the other down, panning to different sides, adding a chorus effect at different times to keep the interest in the vocal

4. Though you will probably still want to be sidechaining the vocal along with everything else under the kick, the other components of your track will often benefit from being sidechain compressed under the vocal to make sure it stands out

5. Compression is often particularly important for the vocal track as their tends to be more dynamic range in a vocal than other more synthesised components - hence you need to bring down the particularly loud parts of the vocal so you can raise up the rest of the volume and make the whole vocal track punch through

This is where the design fun really starts for me. If you can play an instrument well and are used to making your own melodies then that is going to be your starting point. If you can't (and many music producers can't or at least wouldn't live), then your piano roll in your DAW is going to serve you just fine.

Learn the theory: There is a ton of music theory on melody production. The below is in no way meant to cover any of that. I highly recommend doing more learning on this if you haven't as it pays off well. I have taken a few paid for courses on this and would highly recommend the Production Music Live's "How to write melodies course". The YT videos below are pretty good as well and as top-ups. Finally, nothing helps as much as just making melodies and making the rest of the track to go with it (context is key to assess if the melody will really work - see complexity advice below) - the full production experience is second to none in terms of an improving force.

Some melodic design approaches:

• Rhythm first: A good way to design your melody can be to put in some notes (the same) that form a nice rhythm first and then adjust the notes from that rhythm to different notes (moving up/down), to then compose your melody.

• Chords as the foundation: Try making your melodies out of the notes used in your chords. This can guarantee cohesion with the rest of the track (with your melody played with a different instrument and maybe also in a different octave to avoid clashes in the same frequency.

• Keep it simple: For dance music keep it simple. The big mistake that most new producers make is making their melodies too complex. Get some banging tracks made with simple melodies in initially and experiment with more complex melodies later. See the arrangement section for my thoughts on a 'Complexity Budget'.

Types of melodies: You will typically be looking for a few melodic components (beyond the bassline, the rhythmic melodic components and any lead vocal component that is covered elsewhere in this workflow). Examples could include:

• A lead melody - this is likely the main ingredient people will come back for: It can be teased earlier in the track (not playing all of it), and then will come in in its full glory on the first drop / or breakdown. An 'A' version and a 'B' version to be used say on the second drop / break can be useful also, though not vital depending on how much variation you have going on with other components.

• Another lesser lead melody - this can be a different pattern, with less importance than the first one and also used at different sections (with a different sound source / instrument from the main lead melody. More and more of these could be made of course, but don't overload on the overall complexity of the track.

• A set of call and response melodies - very common and can be considered as a group to be the lead melody. This is where you have one instrument play one set of notes and another instrument play another set of notes in response to the first - like one singer singing and another responding.

Variations in melodic design - getting the most out of your melodic design work!

• Simplified, then full: With your compositions all being about the flow of energy - build up / and release, one of the ways to orchestrate this flow is to bring in the full melody gradually. So you can take the full melody designed in say your core/8-bar loop and then when that melody appears earlier in the song, it doesn't cover all of the notes, just a hint at what is to come

• Same melody, different instrument: A simple powerful way to provide variation with the melody is to play the same melody, but using different instruments at different times in your track (with the most powerful sound reserved for the main energy / drop of your track). This can be another way to do a call and response design is to have the same melody, but played by one instrument followed by another.

• Layering: Duplicate the melodic track and play each version with a different instrument at the same time. The instruments can be set in different octaves to avoid clashing, or just mixed well together so that they complement. The use of the full layered stack can be reserved for the higher energy sections of your track with only some layers coming in earlier / remaining later.

• Different notes, different instrument: This is a highly recommend tip. Duplicate your melodic track across different tracks. Delete some notes in one track and some in another, essentially distributing all the notes across multiple tracks. Use a different instrument for different sets of notes. Adds great depth to a melody and can make it go from good to great (and your whole track with it). It is another quick way to set up a call and response set of melodies as well - though different from the other options above as the melody was designed as a whole initially. (Dilby illustrates this whole idea really well here)

Overall approach to creating your arrangement

Create core idea: Start with creating your core idea (typically referred to as the 8 / 16 / 32 bar loop). This will be everything (and maybe a bit more) that will be in your drop/chorus. Consider this then your pallet from which to paint your tune. Position this in your DAW so that it ends on about the 64th bar (which is approximately where it will likely end up anyway). I tend to make a 32 bar core idea including a Drop 1A and Drop 1B, and hence start at the 32nd bar with that.

MACRO ARRANGEMENT - Copy and chop: Then move the elements over from the initial idea to start painting in the intro sections. Either copy the whole core idea over and delete the bits you don't want, or copy over an element at a time. Repeat this process for the other sections, now at this stage. Don't worry during this phase about getting any of it sounding interesting as it flows from one section to another - that is next. To repeat that for emphasis - probably the most important idea I have benefited from for progressing my tracks faster is this: Create an approximation for the whole arrangement down first at this stage, as then you are just (heavily) tweaking, vs dealing with the tyranny of blank sections of your arrangement.

MICRO ARRANGEMENT - design flow and interest for every phrase (8, 16 32 bar sections): This is where the real magic starts. (I always feel like I am discovering the song vs creating it, particularly through this phase). This is where you are looking at each phrase and making sure it has a clear purpose, that interest remains through it and that it transitions well from one phrase to the next (see the Sparkles, Interest Elements and Transition FX section below of this work flow for the many ways to do all of this). You will often be changing your initial arrangement decisions (e.g. including shortening or lengthening phrases). You are likely to be adding in a load of new elements, and adjusting existing elements for each phrase / phase to make them more suitable and build the story of your track. For example, you may be thinning out a melodic component earlier on in the track so as to not give away the best bits too early; you will be introducing synth stabs, vocal chops, and other ear candy generally to keep life in the track; you may well be writing new melodic components such a melody for the break; You will be adding in say a riser FX to emphasis a change in phrase; A notable key activity at this stage in the design is going to be adding automation to your individual tracks to make them change over time (like increasing the cutoff on a synth track, or the wet/dry mix knob on a multi FX plugin.)

What is the name of each part of any arrangement?:

To plan your arrangement (and understand the advice in courses and YT videos) it is useful to know what the names are of the typical sections of an arrangement. Unfortunately there is absolutely no consensus on these names. Some people use the terms Chorus and Verse (I find this old school and typical of tracks with a clear vocal lead). Others use Drop (the high energy bit) and Break (the more melodic bit that leads into the drop) and often both these sets of key term are used to add to the confusion. I prefer the Drop and Break schema as it plays more nicely with my less vocal heavy tracks I listen to and produce.

Typical arrangement sections - and some arrangement section names:

Below is a typical flow of a track with the various names (my preferred first) of each section and its rough length and purpose. This covers a pretty standard break >> drop >> break >> drop pattern. This is for a club dance track including a DJ intro and Outro to allow the mixing of the track with others. Likely be 6 to 7 mins long at 123 BPM.

1. [DJ Intro][or just intro]. 16 or sometimes only 8 bars long. Designed to allow the DJ to mix one track with another. Typically consists of simple barely changing components e.g. such as a drum element, a rhythmic melodic component, and maybe a simplified version of the bass line with much of the energy EQed out of it - best to have no to minimum melodic components to allow the track to easily mix with whatever the previous track was.

2. [Real intro][or just intro][Constructor][Verse]. 16 bars. More elements introduced, variation on what is already there to keep interest. Perhaps the top end of the kick. Lots of automation at the end of the 16 bars, increasing the anticipation for the next phrase. Perhaps start introducing some of the lead melodic components in a watered down form.

3. [Build][Constructor][Verse]. 16bars. Building up the energy, anticipating the first drop. Lots of automation at the end of the 16 bars, increasing the anticipation more. Add in a few synth stabs and other ear candy, that people will want to hear more of later.

4. [Drop 1][Chorus]. 32 bars. The first high energy part of the track. Full bass and full kick being introduced. This can be split into Drop 1A, then Drop 1B with a change up in focus and often a mini break for 1 bar to heavily signify the transition between the 2 drop elements, which can consist of removing a lot of the components. Drop 1 is likely predominantly what you created for your initial idea 8-16-32 bar loop.

5. [Breakdown][Chorus]. 8-16 bars. Starting to wind down some of the elements ready for the first full break. Pulling out say the bass, some of the melodic rhythmic components, high energy drum components such as the shaker. You may want to introduce the start of a main melody to play during the break. This may be the same as one you use in the drop or distinct

6. [Break][Verse]. 16-32 bars. This will be the quietest part of the whole track. Typically lose the kick drum (or its sub component at least). A main melody for the break should be continued here (or started). This will be where it will have the most space to stand out. A lead vocal could also be played here for the same reason.

7. [Build][Verse]. 16bars. Like the first build, but with more of the main/break melody involved and more anticipation being built as a longer run in to the next drop

8. [Drop 2][Chorus]. 32 bars. The full high energy part of the track - needs something more / different to the first drop, but this can be subtle and achieved just with effects on the track components. Also often split into Drop 2A and Drop 2B with some different elements in each. Perhaps you may have more of the main lead included than in Drop 1.

9. [Breakdown][Chorus]. 8-16 bars. Winding down some of the track components

10. [DJ Outro].8-16 bars. Minimal components, but still rhythm, this is to allow it to be mixed with the next track and a DJ's set, so preferably minimum to no melodic components.

Reference tracks: the best source for arrangement layouts: Use these heavily to establish the different sections of tracks, when they come in and out, and the components of each section. Note the transition effect and phrase developments that are done as well. This will give you different variations on the above 10 part break down and are what reference tracks are easily useable for. To do this, load in the track to your DAW and add markers along the reference track for each section, including notes on track components. You can use this as your starting point for your own arrangement.

Key ideas to have in mind when considering how to design your arrangement

1. Energy flow and interest: The arrangement of your track will be the key thing that leads to the energy in the track ebbing and flowing. This is a key design idea. You need to vary the energy so people have time to rest and time to dance, and also their enjoyment of the track massively increases the better you play with this dynamic. This is the same for all art that has a time component to it (a book that is read from start to finish, an amazing meal with multiple courses; a film etc). Also keeping the sense of build up and then release; a sense of anticipation/expectation and then fulfilment; is a core part of all good dance music design for maintaining interest - this all comes from managing the energy. Consider the energy flow when making your arrangement decisions.

2. Key guideline - maximum of 3 prominent elements at any one time: Any 8 bars / 15 seconds (or longer) of your track should have a clear purpose - e.g. introducing the main arp sound; establishing the main groove; introducing the main melodic lead and making the listener want to hear it more; building up the anticipation to a drop; providing all the energy and danceability of the drop. Take any favourite tune and listen to any section of it and see if you can detect its main purpose - and consider how many elements are at the fore of your consciousness. To build that purpose the standard wisdom is that it can be weaved out of up to, and no more than, 3 prominent elements + all the rest as background ambiance, non-consciously supporting the story being told by the 1,2 or 3 prominent elements. These prominent elements could be say the bassline track, the rhythmic-melodic track and lead melody...or say all the drums with all their interesting groove elements, with the bassline and the lead vocal track etc. etc. When you are thinking about the components of your arrangement for any phrase (an 8/16 bar part of your track) consider what the purpose is of the section and make sure that purpose comes across strong - consider what the prominent elements will be to achieve that purpose. This advise is as important to consider when mixing as it is for arrangement, but the foundation of any great mix is the arrangement.

3. Complexity budget: There is only so much complexity a human brain can address in their head, and for dance music you don't want to overload it. Dance music to a large degree is about repeatable, predictable patterns, so you can anticipate and predict how to dance. Over complexity reduces the repeatability, predictability and danceability. Think of each tune as having an overall complexity budget that you extract from as you make each of your design decisions (design decision examples - range of instruments used, number of tracks playing at any one time, number of melodies throughout the track, number of say riser FX you decide to use for your different buildups etc.). The number/complexity of any one of these draws from your complexity budget. So - if you have lots of complex melodies, then you may decide to offset that by aiming to reduce the variety in instruments you are using as sound sources; if say your drums are complex, then that will reduce the number of rhythmic melodic components; if your bassline is more melodic than rhythmic, then that will give you more room for your melodic rhythmic components (but less for a complex melodic lead). Everything is give and take. Consider this idea as you design your composition and arrangement.

With the components of the core part of your track complete and the initial pass done of you having arranged those components across your song's duration you will need to add interest elements through the song progression to keep the track proceeding and the listener enjoying. There are many many ways to do this. The vids contain many options. Below I have listed them out, grouped them and linked to the time spots in the videos where that technique is being taught. Come here and dip in for inspiration. This list, like everything will be updated regularly as I come across new quality content:

Transition / Interest element options:

Adding Elements

1. Call and response synth elements

2. Adding a formant shift to an extra vocal element at certain points

3. Creating a vocal throw

4. Adding answering vocals

5. Adding Shimmering sounds

6. Adding percussion responses

7. Risers

8. Reverse transitions

9. Using Sample instruments, layered

10. Reverse percussions

11. Filling the spectrum with ambience / noise;

12. Adding layers;

13. Adding synth 'attacks' (stabs/phrases/risers) and drum fills;

14. Add high energy percussions (>8KHz)

15. Revers reverb

16. Hook hinting

17. Repetition of core elements

18. Building background ambience to increase energy (such as noise)

19. Adding melodic tension

20. B-sections

21. Adding high-end (frequency spectrum tension)

22. Resampling

Applying automations and FX

1. Automations generally - e.g. filter cutoff, decay times and resonance all moving at the same time;

2. Adjusting a loop length to introduce stutter effects

3. Spatial Washouts

4. Adjusting the envelope (e.g. shorten attack / cutoff);

5. Open up cutoff;

6. Increasing the perceived tempo;

7. Low cut & fade to grey;

8. Creative audio effects;

9. Pitch bending

10. Filter automation

11. Filtering

12. FX automations

13. Automating reverb

14. Atmosphere FX and percussion elements;

Making space / Adjusting the arrangement

1. Stripping out other elements to clear space

2. Stripping out core elements

3. Making a gap / removing elements briefly

4. Delayed drops;

There are two steps to mixing - Mixing As You Go and The Mix Down.

Mixing as you go:

You have likely been doing this anyway, and through this you get much of your mix sorted. On the one hand it is a great thing to do as it helps you make sure your ideas are going to come through as you want. On the other hand it can distract you from the flow of laying out your main idea. Getting your whole idea down in a good time should be your priority. Generally you will get faster at this as your skills pick up and that will leave less work for the mix down. Typical mixing activities that make sense to do as you go / you are likely to want to do include (all of the below you will likely be tweaking during the final mix down as well, but you can most of the job done in the initial composition phase):

• Gain staging: Making sure that you are not distorting your signal (letting it go in the red) on any one track so that you are actually hearing the processing you want. To do this, if you are clipping / going into the red, keep the volume down for the tracks in the mix and turn up the volume on your playback system. You will sort out the overall volume for your whole song in the mastering stage anyway.

• Setting the relative volume of each track to the other tracks: Volume setting is your key mixing tool. You want to get this right to make sure that each phrase has its main idea coming through with up to 3 key elements only and the rest are supporting, not distracting from the mix at that point. It is best to put a utility on your track (that allows you to change the gain / volume) and play with the volume there as opposed to adjusting the fader at the end of the track. This will also allow you to automate the gain as you need to during the track and then during the final mixdown you can set the relative volume of the whole track relative to others retaining the changes in volume that you have programmed in from the automation.

• Ducking: Sidechain compression / volume shaping / trackspacing: Automating the volume of a track so that it ducks under another component so that one track is suitably dominant over another. This has such a big effect on the overall song that it is worth doing as you go along. Once you have dialled in the setting for one device to do this on one track you can just copy it to other tracks and tweak to taste, so pretty quick to do.

• Adding colour: saturation / distortion: This can effect the sound of any one track substantially and is worth getting approximately right during the composition stage as it will effect so many other decisions you are making.

• Adding automation: (e.g. mixing in a distortion effect up to 100% at the end of phrase): This is kind of an extension of the previous item (adding colour). This will be a key part of your composition design and so you will want to do it as you are moving from your basic arrangement into refining it, before the final mix down. The success or otherwise of your automation design will lead to you leaving or changing your arrangement. Also the impact the automated track will have on the others may be significant and lead to you needing to make adjustments to them as well as part of the initial design:

• Dialling in some reverb / delay: (An increasing amount of this will likely be done in the mix down)....Again, like adding colour - this can have a big impact on the overall design. You may well want to automate the mixing in of the effect as well and hence it can be useful to get it done before the final mixdown.

• Panning and positioning: (An increasing amount of this will likely be done in the mix down)....Position your individual tracks in the 3d mixing space. Left and right is easy to do with the pan settings on each track (50L....Centre.....50R). For depth - positioning close up or far away, you can achieve through reverb setting and simple volume control, and compression also - more compressed, the closer it can sound.

(General effects addition process)

When you are adding an effect to a track then take head of the following below to make sure that what you are adding is truly making a difference.

1. Add effect to track

2. Turn up effect 100% wet to establish what it does

3. Turn down the effect % till it is what you want it to be

4. Gain match: Turn down gain (using utility plugin at end of chain / or something like volume buddy to do this automatically as you adjust the effect), so that the volume is the same as before the effect was added (and your ears don't just think louder is better)

5. Then turn the effect on / off to make sure it really is making it better with it on (try this with your eyes closed, rapidly pressing on/off till you are not sure what state it is in and then listen for which is better....trust your ears)

6. Do all this with the track soloed so you can hear what the effect clearly, and then in context with the other tracks, so you can hear its impact on the whole tune

7. Keep or delete the effect depending on whether it sounds better or not

The Mix Down

The purpose of The Mix Down: Once you have arranged your track, added in all of your transitions, automation and ear candy and done some elements of mixing, you are ready to complete your final mix down. The purpose of this is to make sure that each section of your arrangement sounds as clear as possible and the purpose of each section comes through in the best way you can make it. Chances are you have already been doing a lot of mixing as you were completing your arrangement and adding interest elements. The point of The Mix Down stage of the workflow is to formally go through each track and systematically ensure it is set right (volume, FX etc.) to complement the other tracks. Though you will have been doing this a lot already as you developed your idea and arrangement, this is the time to ensure you have paid this kind of attention on every track. You may find that through this process you end up continuing to tweak the arrangement, add elements etc. That is ok, though try to have as much of that finalised as you can before you embark on The Mix Down.

The steps for your mix down:

Work through one section of your composition at a time in approximately this order:

1. Your low end - kick, sub, bass

2. The rest of your drums (clap, snare, percussive elements, shaker etc.)

3. Your rhythmic melodic components

4. Your lead components (melodic / vocal etc.)

5. Other elements

For each section do the following in this order:

1. Gain stage: Check there is no clipping (going into the red) on the track or any of the devices on your track. Turn everything down & turn your playback device up if there is.

2. Set the volume: Get the relative volumes set correctly for the elements you have mixed in so far (using the faders at the end of each track), and then automating the gain on a utility plugin through the arrangement as needed to adjust the volume at different parts of the arrangement

3. Simple harmonics adding saturation: Explore whether saturation will enhance the track

4. Subtractive EQing: EQ out any unwelcome frequencies using a transparent EQ that does exactly what it is supposed to such as Fab Filter's EQ, or stock Ableton (no colouring). For most tracks this will include cutting out the low end below say 150 Hz (though not for tracks where that is wanted such as the bass, sub, kick)

5. Compression: Control for the dynamics of the track, reducing spikey peaks, bringing the track forward in the mix and it gives you the option to further turn up the track and avoid clipping

6. Add more colour: E.g. through adding volume at certain frequencies by EQing, particular through analogue modelled EQs such as pultek clones, to say boost a frequency that adds to the tracks impact - these analagoue clones are not clean hence tend to add some harmonics that can be pleasing. Other colouring options include mutli FX plugins such as Infiltrator, chorus, flanger

7. More subtractive EQing: to cut out any newly introduced unwanted resonances or extra unwanted low end or high end.

8. Ducking: Check that you have the appropriate sidechain compression in place to duck each track relative to the dominant track normally the kick, but sometimes against other tracks that are fighting for the same place. Use sidechain compression (sidechaining against the track to duck under), or volume shaping such as using the LFO tool or Volume shaper, or Trackspacer. All achieve similar goals.

9. Pans & Sends: Position the track to the left or right as needed (or widen using the width knob on say Ableton's utility. Send the track for some parrallel processing to a Send track where for feed it into a chain of effects along with other tracks. Typically done for reverb for instance. This is recommended so that multiple tracks sound like they come from the same place. Though in most of the mixing demos you see online, a lot of FX that could be done via a Send channel are actually done on the individual tracks. If you find you are applying the same settings for an effect across multiple channels, then put those effects on the send channel and send the signal to there instead. Remember to EQ out the low end on the Send channel as well as duck the send channel under say the kick.

As you apply the above to each section, expect to find yourself working back into sections already mixed to adjust them to accommodate the new track / section you are bring in.

Why?: This final stage, the mastering stage, serves two purposes. One is to raise the volume up to match that of other mastered and released tracks. The other is to put the final polish to the track and make sure it sounds like it will sit well (as in similar volumes across the frequency spectrum) as other tracks in the genre. This last point should have been looked at through out the mixing process, but this is where you can put the final touches on that goal.

Mastering in the mix down project or on a separate project?: You can "print" (export) the mixed down track to a single WAV file and then apply the mastering processing to just that. This is useful to make you focus on only adjusting the devices on the mastering chain and not going in and remixing, arranging etc. But it is also annoying for the same reason in that you can't go in and do that easily. If your computer has the power to take on the mastering plugins into the mix down project file then just go with that and try to get disciplined to just master.

Your master chain should have the following devices on it (any inputs should be really small at this stage 1-2 dB range for the final touches), and you should work through each one in order like so:

1. Spectral balance: At the end of the chain put on and EQ so that you can look at the spectral balance of the track at any time

2. Loudness monitoring: Also at the end of the chain put on something like Youlean Loudness Meter so you can monitor the loudness of the track as you complete the processing below.

3. Reference Track monitoring: Add in something like Adptr Audio Metric A/B to allow you to easily compare your track with a reference track. This also would replace the need for a separate loudness monitoring app as it will tell you the LUFS volume like YouLean will. You should use this to flick to your reference track all the time as you go through the steps below to help you with your decisions. Adptr will gain match your reference track with the track you are mastering at each stage to allow the referencing to make sense with both tracks at the same volume.

4. Utility plug in: This is to set the gain at the start of the chain so that it is at an optimal volume for any analogue imitating plugins you have on your chain. Initially set the gain so that the LUFS comes through at -20 dB - this is the optimum setting for the plugins down the line that mimic analogue circuitry to perform at their best

5. Saturation: To add some broad saturation to the entire track. Oxford Inflator is a good target for this. Adjust the gain using the utility plugin to compensate for this so that the LUFS gain remains at -20dB and so that you can hear the change and not just appreciate the louder volume it is inducing.

6. EQ: To apply both additive and subtractive EQing to bring the track into line with a suitable reference track. It is also to cut out very low end overall (<30Hz), and low end in the side channels (<150 /Hz) and unnecessary very high end overall (>30k Hz). This is all done prior to the signal being pushed through the limiter to give you maximum headroom. Again adjust the gain to keep the -20dB LUFS and listen for not-just-louder improvements.

7. Compressors - glue compressor and then a compressor with a little more colour such as a pultek clone, and maybe a multi-band compressor such as Ozone's. All will allow you to reduce the dynamics and therefore boost the volume. Apply very small changes to each of these, and boost the output from each to compensate for the reduced volume of the compressor. Then adjust the gain again on the utlilty plugin to keep that -20dB

8. Harmonic exciter (multi band saturator), such as ozones exciter: This is to add more saturation, taking advantage of the increased head room provided by the earlier processing. Add a little more of this, less the lower down the frequency spectrum.

9. Multiband Imager (such as ozone's imager) - to expand the stereo width for different frequency bands (more width the higher up the spectrum you go. Increase this to taste. Push fairly wide. Adjust the

10. Limiter: This is to push the volume up to export ready volumes. Make sure you have only turned this on at the end of the process! Push it till you have reached your target LUFS (-14dB for streaming, louder for clubs).

Once you have completed this processing and you are happy that it stands up against your reference track, you can then export your track. Leave it for a few days and check it again with fresh ears. Tweak to taste. Job done.