I hope someone here can help me with a completely novice electronic music question. I'm currently producing some techno music tracks. For research purposes, when I listen to techno albums I hear a bunch of tracks that build and develop in, usually, 8 bar segments and build up over the course of a minute or two into a frenzy and then take off in another direction.
However, when I go out to a club I hear DJs playing records that just loop the same bar or two over and over for 5 - 10 minutes with no change whatsoever. The arch of song development is closer to 20-30 minutes, rather than the 1 or 2 minutes on the album cut.
My question is this: What do I give a DJ if I want him to play my track... a really long loop that he/she can use while cueing up the next record... or my faster-developing track as it is and let the DJ make the loops happen live and decide the rate of development for the track?
Any answers from people who've produced techno music would be greatly appreciated... or DJs are welcome too! Thanks!
Comments
Its entirely up to you. Most 12" are mixed to be mixed (if you g
Its entirely up to you. Most 12" are mixed to be mixed (if you get my meaning). Many start sparsely with just a kick and gradually add in more voices like hats, caps, fx, bass lines and so on. This is generally done to make the DJ's life bit easier in mixing tracks together seamlessly.
it's kinda hard (albeit impossible) to loop vinyl (unless it's a locked groove)
Not so. Many DJ mixers these days have built in samplers to allow for loops to be captured from source and messed about with "on the fly". The technology crammed into DJ mixers these days is quite staggering, with filters, multi-fx, cut/boost switches, and all sorts of gubbins added to give the DJ a broader pallette to work with.
In general however, i wouldn't worry too much about the structure so much. If you've got a thumping tune with a killer bass line and some neato groove goin on in there, a DJ's gonna play it anyway. The key thing is to get copies to as many DJ's as possible. Plus - make sure it's vinyl. I know it costs a bomb to duplicate, but if you wanna get serious play in clubs, this is the way to go.
are we to assume that the tracks you will be handing out are cd
are we to assume that the tracks you will be handing out are cd format? it's kinda hard (albeit impossible) to loop vinyl (unless it's a locked groove). if you will be handing out cd's, then why not put both versions on the disk. make everybody happy.
this message has been brought to you by the letter B. (as well as a dj and club music producer)
/peace