How to Make Your Own Rave Music
Rave music, or electronic dance music, has been around since the days of disco in the late 1970s. From the back rooms of Chicago grew what is considered the first rave type music: house. Next on the list is an array of techno birthed out of the Motor City: Detroit. Across the pond, Europe was forming a movement of its own with electronic music artists such as Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk and Thomas Dolby.
Today, rave music is in the mainstream and with the advent of computers and digital audio workstations (DAW), creating it has never been easier.
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Instructions
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1
Listen to different electronic music artists to an idea of the sub-genres that are a part of the scene. Study the genre thoroughly and identify which style you like the best. Take notes on certain aspects of the music: beats per minute (bpm), techniques utilized, song lengths and so forth.
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2
Open the DAW. You should have a blank slate to work with.
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3
Create a dance music template (this step will vary, depending on which DAW you are working with). Label each track with the appropriate instruments and save it to be loaded whenever you want to make a dance track. This saves time in the long run.
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4
Set the tempo. A slow to mid-tempo track is around the 120 bpm. An extremely fast track will be 160 or more.
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5
Start with basic "four on the floor" bass drum pattern that hits on every down beat. This is standard in dance music. Add a snare hit on every second and fourth downbeat. Then add a high-hat pattern. Do this every four bars.
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6
Set the drum sequence to loop. Select another track, fire up the synth and pick a sound that has some bottom end on it for the bass line. Play along with the drum sequence until you have what you like. Record the bass line.
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7
Experiment with the different sounds on the synth to determine what will be the best sound for a lead line.
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8
Create the next section of the song repeating steps five through seven.
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Tips & Warnings
Try to have about three synths to choose from. Certain synths are geared towards electronic music. Analog software emulations that are affordable are the ImpOSCar, Sytrus, Vanguard, Triangle (free) and M-Tron.
To save on CPU, invest in at least one hardware synth. Buying a rack unit model will always be cheaper. You can then simply buy a keyboard controller to play it.
Save your work constantly, preferably after you make a change to the song. It's a good idea to set your DAW to autosave (if it has the feature). Save two different versions of the song. This is in case a file is corrupted somehow. If you only have one version saved, you'll never be able to retrieve it and all your hard work is gone down the tubes.
References
- Photo Credit DJ at work image by Barlev from Fotolia.com
