Understanding Song Structure
From intro to outro, look at where the sound increases and decreases within a track.
On the previous page, we explained that several bars group together to form a phrase.
Within a track, these phrases continue one after another, and
Sounds are added.
Sounds drop out.
The singing begins.
The track builds up all at once.
changes like these happen.
A track is made up of sections with different roles combined together.
A track is divided into several sections
In dance music, the following terms are commonly used to describe the sections of a track.
Not every track has all of them.
The order and length are not fixed either.
The names can also differ by genre.
For now, it's enough to get a rough understanding of what role each one plays.
Intro
This is the opening of the track.
In tracks made for DJs, dance music may start from relatively simple sounds such as the kick and drums.
Because there are few sounds, it's easy to overlap with the previous track, and it is often used as the place where a DJ brings in the next track.
When you brought in track B in "Connecting Two Tracks for the First Time," you also used the opening part of track B.
Verse
Mainly in tracks with vocals, this is the part where the song moves forward.
In some cases it is close to what are called the "A-melo" and "B-melo" sections in Japanese.
Not all dance music has one.
In tracks that are not built around singing, such as techno in particular, the verse division is sometimes not used.
Break / Breakdown
This is the part where the track calms down for a moment, as the kick, bass, and other sounds that had been playing drop away.
When the sound suddenly thins out from a track that had been building, it creates contrast with what comes after.
Sometimes only the vocal or melody remains.
Track A used in "Connecting Two Tracks for the First Time" has no clear break. The top-layer sounds thin out in the last 8 bars, but the kick and bass keep playing.
Build-up
This is the part that raises tension toward the next peak.
Sounds are added little by little, or the rhythm gets finer, creating a development that makes you feel
"something is about to happen."
That is the kind of development it creates.
A structure that goes into the drop after a build-up is common in EDM and similar genres.
Drop
After a build-up or similar section, this is the part where the kick, bass, and so on come back strongly and the track really peaks.
It may help to picture a scene at a festival where the whole crowd jumps at once.
However, the shape of a drop differs quite a lot by genre.
It does not necessarily become a flashy sound.
Chorus (sabi)
In Japanese, the especially memorable, repeated central part of a track is called the sabi.
In tracks with vocals, it is sometimes used with a meaning close to the English "chorus."
In dance music, some tracks have the chorus and the drop in a similar position, but it is not fixed that chorus = drop.
In this textbook, we name sections according to the role they actually play in the track.
Outro
This is the part heading toward the end of the track.
Unlike the intro, it may be structured so that the sounds decrease little by little.
In tracks made for DJs, a drum-focused outro is sometimes provided at the end so that the next track is easy to overlap.
Looking at actual tracks
Let's look at the two tracks used in this textbook's simulator.
Track A goes
from a part with thin top-layer sounds → a building part → a part where the top-layer sounds thin out
in that order.
Track B goes
from the opening part → a building part → a part heading toward the next peak
in that order.
Looking at a track from above,
it isn't the same music playing the whole way through; sections with different roles are lined up in order.
You can see this.
A DJ mixes while looking at the structure of the tracks
When a DJ mixes two tracks, it isn't only about the beats lining up.
Which section of track A you overlap with which section of track B
also matters.
For example,
you overlap the simple opening part of track B
where track A is building up.
And then,
at the moment track A builds up,
track B also comes to the front.
Doing this makes the development of the two tracks more likely to connect naturally.
That is exactly what you did in "Connecting Two Tracks for the First Time."
At that time,
the moment A pulls back and the moment B comes forward
were matched.
Don't decide by the waveform alone
In DJ software, by looking at the waveform of a track you can check, to some extent,
where there are many sounds
where there are few sounds
where big changes happen
.
However, the waveform doesn't tell you everything.
Even places that look the same can differ in the sounds actually playing and in their roles.
Look at the waveform, and also listen with your ears.
Use both to understand the structure of a track.
Summary
- A track is made up of several sections with different roles
- There are names such as intro, breakdown, build-up, drop, and outro
- In DJing, you mix by thinking about which sections of the two tracks to overlap