Dance Music Production Techniques
Birthed from the cities of Chicago and Detroit, electronic dance music has moved from its underground beginnings to mainstream radio. It's grown into a plethora of sub-genres: drum n' bass, trip hop, dub, trance and many others. Dance music producers are always looking for ways to create a signature sound for themselves using a variety of techniques.
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Fade In/Out
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The simplest techniques are sometimes the best. Gradual fade ins and fade outs work well in some instances for transitions in a song as well as crossfading.
Filters
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With a wide array of filters on the market included with sound modules and software setups, it certainly would behoove a producer to use them during dance music production.
High and low pass are the most common, with slight variations on that same theme like band pass, 2, 4 and 6 pole versions.
One trick is to cut frequencies that are competing in the mix dynamically such as ducking the mid frequencies from a sound as the vocals enter.
To get that classic radio effect with EQ, cut your low end at about 85 Hz. Then raise your frequencies at 190 Hz, 620 Hz and 1665 Hz. Set the Q at around 9 for the first two and 18 for the last two.
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Fills
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A drum fill at the end of a phrase works well to keep a listener's attention, if used sparingly. Even something simple like a small shuffle or snare triplet timed right will do the trick.
Arpeggiator
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Dance music is known for it's arpeggiated rhythms for synth lines, especially for trance. Programming your own and then switching to different patterns in a song is one production technique, as well as using the same pattern but morphing to a different sound.
Loops
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There are some elitists who frown on using loops, but don't discount them. Loops are great for grooves and if you import them into a wave editor, apply filters and/or effects processing, they can add a whole new dimension to the song. Many times you can't recognize the loop from the original because it's been creatively mangled so much.
Stutter
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The stutter effect, though considered old hat now, is still a great dance music production technique to have in your arsenal. This can easily be achieved by using a program called Re:Cycle and applying a gate to an imported loop. Another way is to open your DAW, chop up the waveform on the down beat, and position the pieces with small gaps in the track. Of course, this method is tedious, but is a simple matter of cut and paste if you want to do it again once you have it set.
Drop Off
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Similar to its cousin the fade out, this technique concentrates on a certain frequency being dropped from the mix. The length of time varies from one beat, a bar or a whole phrase. This is done by cutting a filter (EQ) in your DAW, which can be automated or performed in real time. Quick drop offs that occur sporadically are best performed manually. If you are operating in the box (computer software), you'll need an outboard controller like the new Akai APC40.
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