Arranging into a New Song - Part 1
Lesson 21 from: Songwriting in Logic Pro X for Electronic Music ProductionTomas George
Arranging into a New Song - Part 1
Lesson 21 from: Songwriting in Logic Pro X for Electronic Music ProductionTomas George
Lessons
Writing Drums and Bass Part Introduction
01:11 2Making Drums Beats with Ultrabeat
14:27 3Beats with Ultrabeat and Drummer
08:48 4Writing Bass Parts - Part 1
15:03 5Writing Bass Parts - Part 2
04:53 6Writing Drums and Bass Parts Assignment
00:44 7Writing Chords Introduction
00:56 8Writing Chords
19:38Experimental Chords
09:44 10Writing Chords Assignment
00:56 11Writing Melodies Introduction
00:58 12Writing Melodies - Part 1
19:28 13Writing Melodies - Part 2
05:12 14Writing Melodies - Part 3
10:38 15Arpeggiator
08:02 16Writing Melodies Assignment
00:59 17Arrangement Introduction
00:45 18Arrangement
18:14 19Arrangement Continued
16:16 20Adding Effects and Instruments
18:28 21Arranging into a New Song - Part 1
14:57 22Arranging into a New Song - Part 2
17:31 23Arranging into a New Song - Part 3
08:24 24Arrangement Assignment
00:38 25Mixing Introduction
01:02 26Cleaning up and Basic Mixing
15:52 27EQ
11:46 28Tuning Drums
05:58 29Compression
10:56 30Sidechain Compression
10:30 31Reverb and Delay Sends
07:58 32Automation
06:59 33Mixing Assignment
00:58 34Recording Audio Equipment
10:55 35Recording Audio
04:01 36Vocal Melodies Introduction
01:04 37Vocals Intro
00:26 38Verse A Section
06:56 39Chorus and Harmonies
05:12 40Verse B and Pre-Chorus
05:20 41Verse 2, Chorus and Middle 8
17:37 42Song Title
00:50 43Vocal Melodies Assignment
01:00 44Lyrics Introduction
01:02 45Creating a Story with Lyrics - Part 1
15:25 46Creating a Story with Lyrics - Part 2
14:37 47Lyrics Assignment
00:54 48Adaptive Songwriting with Peter Darling
12:13 49Thanks and Bye
00:09Lesson Info
Arranging into a New Song - Part 1
Hello and welcome to this lecture. So previously, we created and arranged this track here. Now, what we're going to do is actually rearrange the whole track based around a new idea because when songwriting, it's not always the first idea that becomes the main hook or becomes the melody or becomes part of the track. Sometimes it's when you continue to write and you come up with something new. That is when you rearrange the whole track and change it to constantly improve. It's about small improvements, songwriting and arranging. I wouldn't get too emotionally attached to one idea because if you think of something better, I definitely recommend going with that. It's always try and improve, try and think of the best thing possible. Try and think of something clever, try and think of something catchy, try and think of something that your audience will like. That's really what it's about when writing music. So previously, we actually came up with this idea, this marimba idea and it clashes w...
ith some of the arpeggios and it also clashes with some of the melodies. So I'm actually going to rearrange this track, but around the Marimba this time, rather than around the melody. So, what I'm going to do is actually go file save as and then just rename this something different. So we can always go back to this original idea just so we have a backup of it here. So what I'm going to do first is actually select all command a, just drag this all back quite a bit. So it doesn't really get in the way. Now, we have a fresh slate to work with, but we have all of our ideas over here. So what I'm going to do is drag some of the new parts over and then try and make a new arrangement and try and make something that in my opinion is a better song. It's more catchy, it fits better. There's more space for each instrument to be heard. It's more melodic and just generally flows a lot nicer and isn't too messy. So I'm actually gonna start the track with this Marimba over here. So naturally command and C and then past stick man and V also wanna start with a kick drum. So that's fine. This purple bit here I remember was a kick. So I'm just showing you this as an example of how you shouldn't get too attached to a certain part or a certain melody. Always strive for improvement. Always try for something new and try and make the best thing you can really. So let's hear this back now. And now I think the track's too slow. So we're gonna go. So let's go to beat some project. I'm gonna change this up to and I'm also going to duplicate this. Copy it down. Hold out. Oh, and I'm gonna make octaves now, cos to me it feels like there's a lot of space there. I could have some octaves to really beef it out and make the rift a bit more powerful. So let's go down to this region Midi Fruit area and transpose it up 24 octaves cos previously it was on plus 12. So another octave is plus 24. Another thing we can do if it doesn't work like that, we can actually go into the pr roll editor and then just physically drag it up. There we go and this purple one or pink one just click on this and the same again, physically drag it up. So this is a F OK. Let's quantize this as well by hitting key. So it was slightly off and I'm just going to delete these and change the color of this just so that it's slightly different. Hold on. Oh, copy it over. Let's see this back. Now, you can hear the timing is a bit off. That's because this pink one here wasn't quite right. So that's a good thing to do is go in and correct the timing quantize it. Hit Q cos it can make a big difference like that when you're playing in unison but want them slightly off. OK. So it's that kind of thing. I think that sounds a bit better. There's a lot of space. We can add some string parts, we can even change the melody round a lot and I'm gonna add a clap there. So this time, let's just manually put the m just go over and just physically add a clap on the two and the four. OK. Let's hear this when the clap enters. I'm just going to copy over this clap and then just Recolor this slightly just so I know it's a little different. Let's say this back and I think I can add a new element there as well. So let's continue this clap over and let's just have a look at what we had before and see if we can put some of this in. So let's add this drum part here. So this is just about really experimenting, adding new ideas and building layers. But we're doing a club edit. You do really want to have a part with a drum beat so the DJ can mix it in. But if you want to make a radio edit or song for the internet rather than for a nightclub, it doesn't always have to be like that. It's going to here. OK. I'm just gonna keep these hats actually, maybe put these on the offbeat. OK. Let's play this back now. We've got a bit of a hat rhythm going and just copy this over doesn't quite sound right. To me, it's not quite in time. So quantize with Q and there we go. Now it's in time to drag this one over. Hold down ALTs. Now, I've got a bit of a groove going. So we just building layers here. That's really what it's about arranging and creating songs. Like I said, it's not gonna be perfect straight away. So don't get disheartened if you can't get it to sound just the way you want it straight away, just keep going, keep building, keep making ideas. And eventually, hopefully, if you follow the steps, I've been showing you you'll be able to make something that you're happy with. So let's add this piano part now. So I'm gonna add this of a piano pop. I think, I think piano can fit there. So let's just drag this over. So we're adding some more harmony here in different courts. Obviously, you can hear that. It's not quite in time. So we need to tidy this up q to quantize it's just that one note really and just drag this over and now we're adding some chords, adding a bit more movement and in my opinion, making it a bit more exciting. So we can always add this in again, this time with some drums. We could also add some busier drums as well. So let's actually go back to here uh these drums and here what this sounds like. So we're just taking some. So we're basically just taking the best bits from previously chopping it around rearranging it and just making some space and making ideas that work. Now, now we can clearly hear each instrument where previously we had, where we had the melody. We had the Arpe Gator. We had this marimba and we had the chords. It was a bit too busy and less. There's always more, especially if we do want to add any vocals or any of a lead instrument like a saxophone, you will need a lot of space for those instruments to be heard. Clearly, remember to always save command. OK. So I'm actually gonna create a new track here cos I like what we had before with the kick and the snare. So I'm gonna continue this over, but on this part, I'm actually going to take out the snare and gonna take out this kick and just have these kind of bongos going. Let's Recolor this Alton C just so I know it's slightly different. So this is kind of a bongo part now just to add a bit more percussion. I'm not happy with the shaker. I don't really think that fits. So let's find the shaker that was fine, just gonna move this down to let's hear this. OK. Great. Now we have a bongo part and we will look at mixing later, but I'm just going to quickly add a little bit of delay on this just to make it a bit thicker just to make it a bit bigger sounding and add some reverb too. So I'm just gonna quickly add on a delay. Let's choose a stereo delay. Let's hit this back, turn it down a bit. So this, this is without delay. This is with delay. But here I'm gonna add a little bit of reverb after this. So go down to Reverb. Let's choose space designer. So this is it dry and this is it with delay and reverb. Let's hear this in the mix. OK. So we're starting to get a bit more of an arrangement. Now, we kind of have the key ingredients. So we can always go through and slightly change each of them. For example, we could add on a piano stab this kind of thing just to kind of get a bit more movement, make it a bit more exciting. Let's say this always copy the Pater Nova. So I'm just gonna fast forward this and I'm gonna show you the pattern that we've created on the piano just basically copying this over. So now I've just dragged this piano pattern over and let's just add the kick drum again. It's all about really building layers coming up with new ideas and making slight changes and just making it exciting for the listener really. So let's just hear what this actually sounds like now. So there's still loads more we can do. But this is basically how we can rearrange from taking previous parts and then making a new track out of it, in my opinion, improving this track. In the next lecture, we're going to continue building this track and actually turn it into more of a song. So thank you for watching. I hope you found this useful and I'll see you in the next lecture.
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