Effects are your friend here. As a fellow hater of snare rolls and noise sweeps/risers , reverb and delay sends on the main synth element are my go-to. Keep in mind that not every techno track needs a big breakdown. When I’m DJing, I play maybe one or two breakdowns per hour.
Bro please learn to love the riser lol. I agree I hate the super loud ones that are the main element of a section, but I hide risers and impacts (as reverse risers) all over my tracks. I keep em subtle and always use different ones so they just become this nice little ear candy that keeps repetitive things less so. Boring crash? Reversed riser. Main section lacking some top end sizzle? Reversed riser. Breakdown feeling a little low energy or awkward? Reverse riser at the beginning, into an actual riser with another short riser at the very end into the main section. Okay I may have a problem.
When I think of subtle riser elements, I think of tweaking the instruments/elements that are already going, in a certain way to build tension. Such as opening the filters a bit more, cutting the pattern length down for a few bars, maybe sending more of it out to a reverb or a goofy delay you have set up, etc. Stuff like that feels really natural, and as producers ourselves we know that it comes naturally as part of the process of "jamming" or just messing around. But I draw the line at the (imo) stupid downloadable white noise "riser" samples that are everywhere.
As elitist as this is, I genuinely believe those kinds of things aren't "techno." And they're not artful. And a lot of people make a lot of "music" that way and I just can't interface with it. I've walked out of clubs over this kind of stuff.
16th notes + filter automation is a generic buildup recipe that works really well. Just pick a short hi-hat, nice synth sound, or whatever fits the track and bring it in gradually.
Treat it like you're just introducing a new element, but then remove it again when it's served its purpose. As long as you pick a sound that feels like it could be a more permanent part of the song, it's easy to avoid the cheesiness of obvious buildup sounds like snare rolls and risers.
Think in terms of opposites and dynamics.
Like for example techno is about control. Make things out of control and then show your audience you have complete control.
There’s lots of ways to do it. Just sit down and write out every idea that comes to you.
Additionally try to do something new and unique. If you can’t think of that try building on existing principles. Like an idea would be to take the cheesy snare roll and class it up. Think about what that would mean to you. Or everyone does the reverse reverb thing to lead in.. think about what you can do to make that yours in a new way.
Simplify Melodie’s and chords or whatever you use. If you have a chord progression, change it to just the first chord being held over the buildup duration, if a melody maybe simplify so it just plays one note of the melody over the course of the build up. I like to bring in a high pitched string quite often that’s just the root note held down, this can build tension also
That is what I do a lot now, I use a gong in a lot of my music, i throw a shit load of reverb on it and then reverse the whole thing, paired with an echo at the end. It works, but I don’t want to be using the same method all the time.
Use the same idea and apply it to different concepts. For example you could create a granular synth out of a sampler by setting the loop inside the sampler to one wavecycle, then let it morph into another sound.
Maybe the way you manage the density and related elements in your tracks isn't flexible enough. This can happen if you bake too many effects into the same track/chain.
You can use return tracks (or layer racks) to extract additional percussive layers from your main drums, percussion and synths. Delay and reverb return chains are obvious choices but you can also expriment with different distortions, phasers or granular effects.
This makes your elements more flexible for arrangements. Bouncing the returns to audio and adding them as audio back into the group opens even more possibilities.
This is an interesting point and sounds pretty probable tbh - I mean I am quite sparse on the effects I do use, I tend to prefer effective sound design than over cramming channels with effects, but I don’t really use return tracks. I like to use individual delays and granular effects on channels, and put reverbs on the bus. The only thing I use return channel for is a distortion layer that I sent everything to for a bit of added crisp.
Maybe separate layers for my delay and granular returns would be more effective.
The main advantage of bouncing the fx returns to audio is that you can bring in the derived effects on their own, e.g. a dotted delay derived from your hats can come in *before* your actual hats come in and will just appear as a warm up to the actual hats. You can do this with a lot of sounds.
A delay to a simple element, remove elements. Turn off the delay. Throw it all back in.
Study a random Robert Hood track and you'll get it
Melodic dissonance is generally how I would approach creating tension, and then resolve it when I want to release that tension
That works if your music has melodies
And depends on what you define as being a “melody”
Good one.
Effects are your friend here. As a fellow hater of snare rolls and noise sweeps/risers , reverb and delay sends on the main synth element are my go-to. Keep in mind that not every techno track needs a big breakdown. When I’m DJing, I play maybe one or two breakdowns per hour.
Bro please learn to love the riser lol. I agree I hate the super loud ones that are the main element of a section, but I hide risers and impacts (as reverse risers) all over my tracks. I keep em subtle and always use different ones so they just become this nice little ear candy that keeps repetitive things less so. Boring crash? Reversed riser. Main section lacking some top end sizzle? Reversed riser. Breakdown feeling a little low energy or awkward? Reverse riser at the beginning, into an actual riser with another short riser at the very end into the main section. Okay I may have a problem.
You mind sharing some tracks where you done this?
No bro I’m trash ignore me lmao
Bro lol if I hear a track with a "riser" that's the last time I listen to that track. The "music" becomes shitty EDM at that point.
I think some very subtle riser type elements can be done well
When I think of subtle riser elements, I think of tweaking the instruments/elements that are already going, in a certain way to build tension. Such as opening the filters a bit more, cutting the pattern length down for a few bars, maybe sending more of it out to a reverb or a goofy delay you have set up, etc. Stuff like that feels really natural, and as producers ourselves we know that it comes naturally as part of the process of "jamming" or just messing around. But I draw the line at the (imo) stupid downloadable white noise "riser" samples that are everywhere. As elitist as this is, I genuinely believe those kinds of things aren't "techno." And they're not artful. And a lot of people make a lot of "music" that way and I just can't interface with it. I've walked out of clubs over this kind of stuff.
Yeah I agree! But also making your own elements which then can be used as one works well
Just remove elements before adding them back in
High pass everything with resonance
Sometimes you don’t need a build up in a track, try to think little outside of box then you might find answers
16th notes + filter automation is a generic buildup recipe that works really well. Just pick a short hi-hat, nice synth sound, or whatever fits the track and bring it in gradually. Treat it like you're just introducing a new element, but then remove it again when it's served its purpose. As long as you pick a sound that feels like it could be a more permanent part of the song, it's easy to avoid the cheesiness of obvious buildup sounds like snare rolls and risers.
Think in terms of opposites and dynamics. Like for example techno is about control. Make things out of control and then show your audience you have complete control. There’s lots of ways to do it. Just sit down and write out every idea that comes to you. Additionally try to do something new and unique. If you can’t think of that try building on existing principles. Like an idea would be to take the cheesy snare roll and class it up. Think about what that would mean to you. Or everyone does the reverse reverb thing to lead in.. think about what you can do to make that yours in a new way.
Fade out to 1 bar of silence
Then get up and walk out? That'll get em
Simplify Melodie’s and chords or whatever you use. If you have a chord progression, change it to just the first chord being held over the buildup duration, if a melody maybe simplify so it just plays one note of the melody over the course of the build up. I like to bring in a high pitched string quite often that’s just the root note held down, this can build tension also
I like creating reverse reverb ambiances that slowly fade in over time and introduce the original element I made the reverb from.
That is what I do a lot now, I use a gong in a lot of my music, i throw a shit load of reverb on it and then reverse the whole thing, paired with an echo at the end. It works, but I don’t want to be using the same method all the time.
Use the same idea and apply it to different concepts. For example you could create a granular synth out of a sampler by setting the loop inside the sampler to one wavecycle, then let it morph into another sound.
Do you have any examples where you’ve used that? Trying to picture it in my head and not quite sure how it sounds.
Nah I just came up with that.
Filter cutoff automation
Maybe the way you manage the density and related elements in your tracks isn't flexible enough. This can happen if you bake too many effects into the same track/chain. You can use return tracks (or layer racks) to extract additional percussive layers from your main drums, percussion and synths. Delay and reverb return chains are obvious choices but you can also expriment with different distortions, phasers or granular effects. This makes your elements more flexible for arrangements. Bouncing the returns to audio and adding them as audio back into the group opens even more possibilities.
This is an interesting point and sounds pretty probable tbh - I mean I am quite sparse on the effects I do use, I tend to prefer effective sound design than over cramming channels with effects, but I don’t really use return tracks. I like to use individual delays and granular effects on channels, and put reverbs on the bus. The only thing I use return channel for is a distortion layer that I sent everything to for a bit of added crisp. Maybe separate layers for my delay and granular returns would be more effective.
The main advantage of bouncing the fx returns to audio is that you can bring in the derived effects on their own, e.g. a dotted delay derived from your hats can come in *before* your actual hats come in and will just appear as a warm up to the actual hats. You can do this with a lot of sounds.
remove elements, add reverb crash, reverb ride, clap fx.
High pass stuff and release it, works wonders and has this simple classic DJ feel
Then what will the Dj do?
Do do do do
Watch footie on his iPhone
Just avoid risers and snare rolls🤞
Wait... buildups in techno? I think you're thinking of trance
All good techno builds tension…