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What is up Ninjas!
Today I want to share with you 3 things that EDM fans crave when they listen to new music!
These 3 things can help take your music to a new level of creativeness by providing some new inspiration.
Let’s get right into it.
Concepts or Ideas that tell a story
Think about this for a moment. You go to your favorite festival and as you’re watching your favorite DJ on the mainstage there are no lights, no visuals and no fireworks, just the music. At first this will be tolerable, but you will undoubtedly become very bored very fast and start scanning other stages to go to. This proves our minds desire to get a whole artistic picture. With music comes visuals, and these two combined work hand in hand to create a new concept that the listener can immerse themselves in. This is the escape from reality that all festival goers seek for.
A perfect example of this is Porter Robinsons ‘WORLDS’ tour. He absolutely hit the nail on the head with what people desire in dance music, and that is superb sonics and a backstory (anime) to go with it.
“EDM is entertainment, not art” – Porter Robinson, NME
Now for you reading this, I don’t except you to create an entire anime series for every track or EP you put out.
I am however suggesting for you to come up with a concept or theme for music you release.
It will not only leave a unique imprint on the listeners mind, but will appeal to the senses more and give them more than just sound, but a story to go with it.
A Clean Professional Sound
We have all heard Frankie repeat over and over in his live streams that a LOT of the songs submitted have very great ideas musically. But the problem is in the execution and getting a professional sound out of those ideas.
Many of us want to think that our tracks are the shit just because we made it, when in reality the listener doesn’t know you at all. So they are judging your ability based on output and not on your intention to be amazing. You do however have something to your advantage … and that is the first few seconds that a person is interested in your track and clicks play.
What they hear can be something very advanced, but more than likely this person has no idea about music theory so what they’re really listening for is something catchy and high quality! The listener judges your track on the benchmark of their favorite artists and they don’t care if you spent 15+ hours developing unique chords (brutal I know). If it sounds like ass then they will stop listening. This is why I believe a good mix and master trumps good ideas.
We can see evidence of this is right in front of our faces in almost every major label release. The musical ideas behind them are elementary (most of the time) but they execute them with such high precision to make it sound tasteful, interesting, and crystal clear. This refreshes the ear and pulls the person into the track.
So I urge everyone reading to either invest in learninghow you are holding your body? or find someone professionally who does. If this part is ignored you are simply wasting your time putting out mediocre tracks that may be well made compositionally but lack a professional luster which is what your everyday listener will be looking for.
EDM fans enjoy being edged!
When we think about the structure of all pieces of music, at any given point, we are either moving to or away from some focal point in the song. In dance music this journey to and from is far more dramatic than other genres of music. Because of this, EDM fans love to be teased into different parts of the song and then absolutely smacked in the face with a drop that leaves them wanting more.
We can call them masochists but it is the truth about dance music in general. Everyone is in it for the rollercoaster ride of emotions and as producers we have to play into this and give everyone what they want. These things include drawing the listener in at the intro of the track so we don’t lose their hamster attention span, having a buildup that teases the heavy drop, and then unloading the tension we created.
We then rinse and repeat (with variation) to complete the track. I don’t suggest formulizing all dance music into one clump of composition, but however you decide to structure your song make sure that we always have the listener anticipating the next thing coming in your track. They should always want to hear more and have interest with what’s coming next.
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