In any genre of music, song structure is extremely important but seeing as I come from a house music background, I will lay the focus on the structure of such tracks. Keep in mind that these are only guide lines because making music is an art, and as with all forms of art, it comes with a degree of freedom, with creativity and originality being the most important aspects.

A "Music Making Matters" Song Map

The picture above is commonly referred  to as a “song map” and it is something I stumbled upon sometime last year and started using it as a way to plan-out my tracks. I created the simple song map above to serve my article’s best interest and to allow me to explain to all of you with greater ease while leaving stuff up to interpretation. As you can see, the bar count goes as high as 208 bars because most club tracks are up to 8 minutes long. The graph consists of three visible parts which I will explain in more depth soon but it is immediately evident that the usual “intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge or hook, outro” song structure is not clearly present. This is because house music is created with various amounts of repetition, builds, filter frequencies and various other techniques that build tension to a point where a great deal of energy is released in what is often referred to as the “drop” which is where the “main” parts of the track are. Once again, this is only a guideline and I myself am guilty of creating club tracks with the structure of a pop song, mainly because I was working with a powerful vocalist and this structure suited both of our styles better.

The Intro (Bars 1 – 16)

It helps to be somewhat familiar with mixing music before attempting to produce your own house tracks. I’m not saying that you should be the most amazing “mixer” because there are many great producers out there that shouldn’t go anywhere near “decks”. The point is that club and radio “DJ’s” are the people that are going to promote your track and essentially make it popular to certain crowds of people, and therefore making your tracks “mix friendly” will make it more popular for DJ’s to use. This mainly affects the intro and outro of your track where a simple drum loop should be used that allows a DJ to sync your track with the track playing, in order to make a smooth transition between the two tracks (mixing). Once again, this is only the basic form of mixing, and more experienced DJ’s don’t necessarily use the first 16 bars of the track to mix-in. This is why I mad the first 16 bars of the song map “flat” because changes and builds within these bars will prevent a DJ from looping the beat to mix in to the track.

(Bars 16 – 32)

After the first 16 bars, it is common to introduce a new “instrument” which can be one of the synths you will be using throughout your track. In order to make it more interesting and full, you can also add a new element to the drum loop (claps, snares, etc) and use this drum beat throughout your tack which will keep a sense of familiarity within your track and essentially keep the people on the dance floor comfortable. Obviously elements in the drum beat can be added or removed in order to change the mood or build suspense. It is often effective to even remove the drum beat completely for a short period of time at the hight of the build, which I will explain in more detail later on.

Body 1 (Bars 32 – 48)

This is essentially where the main groove or melody is introduced and often contains most of the memorable elements that come with your track. It could technically be compared to a verse of a normal track but since it contains a note pattern often similar to the Main Body, it could also be considered a low energy “chorus”. These 16 bars should stay unaltered throughout to get the listener comfortable with the progression of the main melody. As you can see, much like Bars 16 – 32, the track builds in energy throughout the body. This effect can be created using sweeps, drum rolls, snare rolls, filter frequencies movements opening, or even a manual increase in volume but it is important to note that this build should only build small amounts of tension to save some “magic” for further on in the track to avoid a “dull” progression throughout the song.

Drop 1 (Bars 48 – 64)

This is basically the point in your track where people will start dancing with more energy, moving to the beat of the music and humming the melody. This is much like the “chorus” of a normal track and is called “The drop” because quite often it is the point where the tension from the build up is released and levels out on a high point (Usually has the most energy that the track has had so far). This usually only lasts for 16 or 32 bars depending on the mood of the track but is kept short to avoid losing the listener’s enjoyment of the track.

(Bars 64 – 80)

As the “drop” comes to an end, the track usually loses energy. This can be done by dropping the volume of the track, having no drum beat and sometimes marks the beginning of the next set of “low energy” vocals. At this point, the filter frequencies or filter cut off will close again so that it can slowly open once more to create that tension building feel. The transition from the “high energy chorus” can be softened using sweeps (in this case, the sweeps will “sweep down” i.e. they will decrease in energy and make it sound as though the “chorus” has teeters off). After the initial drop in energy, the track will slowly begin to build once more, but this time at a  greater “incline” than that of bars 16 – 32. In my graph, the final energy of this bar is higher than that of the initial “chorus”, but it is important to remember that the track is still building at this point and therefore does not reach a high point as of yet.

Body 2 (Bars 80 – 96)

At the beginning of the next 16 bars, a new element can be introduced such as a new mid synth or stab, a bigger bass synth, a new pad, a new percussion element etc but once again, this element may need to have less of an impact than that of the 3rd and final build and it is important to allow space for improvement to still be made on the next build. Once again, this is the part of the track where we begin to focus more on the build-up to the “drop”. The build-up in body 2 will be more sharp (greater incline in energy) and possibly longer (longer build, higher tension which equals bigger energy upon release) than that of the build up in body 1.

Drop 2 (Bars 96 – 112)

The second drop is much like the first but as you can see on the graph, it’s energy is substantially higher than that of drop 1. This is partly brought on by the higher tension build up in body 2 which leads to a higher energy drop. It is vital however, that you do not disappoint the listener at this point. The build-up in body 2 must be suitable for the drop and not build up to a higher energy level than the drop by building up expectation that your second drop does not meet. A new synth could be brought in during the second drop but once again, this depends on what feel you are going for as well as the particular house sub genre in which you are producing under.

(Bars 112 – 144)

At this point you should definitely have seen the pattern that we are going for here. House music builds and plays with the emotions of it’s listeners and by building up this tension and then releasing it, each time building more and more tension, excitement and energy within the listener is created which is why house music is the common genre that now appears in clubs around the world. The next 32 bars include body 3 which is once again a greater build than body 2. Do not fret, I will be posting an article in the near future on creating builds and the techniques that can be used to build varying levels of tension.  At the hight of the build which would usually be at the end of the last bar of the build unless a “pause” is used for an even more epic and tension filled effect, a crash can be used to emphasize the final release of energy. This technique can also be used in the previous builds depending on the mood and aim of your track. If a “pause” is used, an echo can be placed on the crash which is quite a useful suspense builder while the listener stands on edge, waiting for the drop.

Drop 3 (Bars 144 – 176)

The third drop should include almost all of the energy you want to include within your track. Please also note that by energy, I don’t mean every song needs to be pounding away with huge synths and bass. The energy will essentially be the emotion created by the song and by the third drop, the emotion you wish to portray in your track will almost be at it’s highest point. In order not to give the game away too soon, I have made the drop twice the length which allows people to really get into the third drop and release their built up energy. From the second half of the drop (16 bars in), the track will begin to build again but this time, the energy has not dropped which will create a different affect. The entire frequency spectrum should essentially be filled at this drop to give the impression that your track has a full wall of sound.

(Bars 176 – 192)

The next 16 bars will contain that little bit extra piece of magic that you have been holding back from the listeners. This part does not even have to be here but it will take the listener by surprise, thereby creating even more emotion and energy.

(Bars 192 – 208)

These bars will basically be used as the initial outro and just involves you slowly filtering down the synths and possibly volume of the track. Sweeps down can also be used. The energy should basically drop down to the energy that was created at bar 16 so that when the synth is finally dropped completely, the listener is not thrown off.

The Outro (Bars 208 – 224)

At this point, the synth is completely removed and we are left with only a simple drum loop. Once again this is to make it easier for the DJ who is mixing your track to make a transition to the next track in his/her mix. Do not make use of any automations or sweeps during this period as it is important to keep these 16 bars the same.

And there you have it, a basic outline of a house track, particular more suited to a dance or club track but many of the same techniques and structure are used in any of the house music sub genres.

Side notes:

1. Notice the use of the “Rule of Three” which is very clear on the graph (I will elaborate in future articles)
2. Be creative. This is only a guideline and is not always clear in tracks.
3. Make use of a “song map” to plan out your track to avoid “creative blocks”
4. This is a science but I have left it open to interpretation because it is an art. I also haven’t filled your mind with too many techniques just yet (I will do that in separate sections).
5. Besides the first and last 16 bars, the bar count can vary (8 bar build-ups, half bar “breaks” etc).
6. It is very important to introduce new sounds at the end of a certain period.  This period can be 8, 16, 24, or 32 bars but the most common and most effective is a period 0f 16 or 32 bars.

Please note: song maps are not an idea created by myself personally and many top artists make use of a song map of their own before each track.