In certain club sets which focus on Top 40 remixes & Electro House, I feel like there are too many ‘breaks’ or ‘drops’ (if you will) in the beginning of each song. With most tracks I get from pools, there is a very quiet 32 intro with barely anything, then a boring 32 or 64 beat 4/4 section, then a breakdown/drop where the vocal or melodic hook comes in without any drums beneath it at all until the build or chorus. So many tracks are like this that it begins to feel repetitive that I play one track until a climax then the set drops energy again as soon as I get to the next track. Ive tried to collect more tracks that don’t have such breaks/drops but they are actually hard to come by. Ive also tried to cross over to the next track earlier during the 32 beat intro rather than right at the break, but those intros are usually so boring and basic that it sounds funny to play by itself. Does anyone understand what I mean and have some feedback on this?
Keith is bang on. Top 40 commercial dance is like that. Start messing around too much and you alienate your punters. They don’t really care as long as they hear what is played on the radio. Mix it up with cue points and edits and they become confused.
I run into this problem quite often because I mix exactly this.
My biggest tip is cue points. Also, look for edits with Acap out as well as in. Then, let the energy build up again and work into commercial house where there are less breakdowns.
I use my MF3D to get a piece from the track im playing, cut and mash the crap out of it (usually a Vocal piece or Electric Sound) and add a couple of effects to it, whilst bringing in a Build up/Beat from the next track i want to play. Not really eliminating the build up, but creating them where i want them.
Why not just not include the parts you don’t like? That’s how house and hip hop started… eliminate the parts you don’t want of the song,and include the good hooks.
at the end of the day drops and breakdowns are a fundimental part of the song and that moment really makes it what it is… i sometimes edit the track in ableton to take out/shorten the breakdown, or as i dont have a light jock where i play, i have to control the lights myself, so i use lighting to take some of the emphasis off the longish silence.
Having been listening to House music and it’s variants since 1988 I have found that even many of the non commercial tracks have long break downs much more than there ever used to be. Hardfloor’s Acperience in '92/'93 was one of the first I can remember that had a long breakdown that went into a big crescendo. It was new and very exciting, and actually way better crafted than much of what you get today.
The whole long b-down thing is very annoying and shows a lack of imagination. Most breaks don’t have the energy to dance through.
Thank god for cue points
As stated, cue points, don’t start the song at the beginning, loop the outgoing beat, bring the incoming track with no drums in, then when the build starts, filter out the beat or fade it down. Also, there are alot of edits available that have the beat and go right into the first chorus. Get creative, loops are your friend, filters are your friend, effects are your friend…