00:00what's good everybody my name is alchemy
00:02welcome to the channel today you and I
00:03are going to be talking about what do
00:05you do when you're stuck on a track yay
00:07there's pretty much three options that
00:09you can do and plus I'm going to be
00:10leaving a tip for you uh to be able to
00:12kind of like help you out with figuring
00:15things out if you don't necessarily know
00:16what one of those three decisions are
00:19but before we do that I've got lots of
00:20sounds that I'm going to be playing for
00:22you today I actually have two finished
00:23tracks in a single project that we will
00:25be using as a case study and uh if you
00:27want to support the channel then check
00:30where actually the sounds that I've used
00:31in phas plan are available of this new
00:33Drummond based preset pack that I did
00:35from our challenge with the
00:37advertisement out of the way let's talk
00:39about this so you are stuck on a track
00:42you don't know what to do you've got an
00:44eight bar Loop and you're like where do
00:45I go from here that happens to all of us
00:47the number one thing that I want to
00:49mention is duplicate and variate
00:52duplicate and variate and that has a
00:54huge world of context but to put things
00:57simply you basically need to take
00:59something that you have have from one
01:01section here so let's say I've got this
01:04particular thing right here which is my
01:07main section so take a
01:20listen right so with this I've taken
01:23this section I've duplicated it and
01:25actually elaborated on the music in the
01:52so all you have to do is take something
01:55that works or that you really like
01:56within the first part and move it over
01:58to the second part now this can be uh
02:00melodic motifs it can be a sound it can
02:02be a groove it can be something that is
02:05a very minor change that could be like
02:07yo I'm just going to add high hats to
02:09this section it doesn't have to be super
02:11contrasty it can be but within the
02:15duplicate and variate or within writing
02:17another section there's basically three
02:19options that you have there's four the
02:21fourth one I'm just going to give away
02:22it's you give up don't do that but what
02:25we want to talk about here is this
02:27aspect of where does it go so either a
02:30you duplicate and variate where we
02:32covered this already too where you take
02:34something from your first section and
02:36relay it into the next you B write a
02:40completely different section and then
02:41figure out how they connect so let's go
02:43ahead and cover this one because in this
02:45particular tune we went from the super
02:47melodic section to something that is
02:49completely different so
03:03now I want to talk about this for just a
03:04second because if you do this then what
03:07ends up happening is you have two
03:09completely separate sections and now
03:10you've got a piece of the puzzle which
03:12you can see that this is scary part but
03:14I have been like all right how do I lead
03:17this section back into this section and
03:19the answer with that is you duplicate
03:21and variate so you take some elements
03:23from this section you put it in the
03:24middle you take some elements from this
03:26section and you put it in the middle and
03:28with this transition in particular the
03:29reason why it helps connect things so
03:31well is because there's lots of silence
03:34and lots of unfolding saying hey there's
03:37a big long change now you can in theory
03:42uh make these two connect back to back
03:44but in order to do that you have to do
03:46something that is called foreshadowing
03:49you have to have something that's going
03:50to signify a change and if you listen to
03:52this right here the way that I'm
03:53building tension it's doing that uh in a
03:56way that to me feels more natural but
03:58listen to the chord progression here
03:59about how I'm utilizing this along with
04:01other risers and stuff to create
04:03something that's like hey something's
04:09happen see how it's slowly building up
04:12over time now put this in your pocket
04:15because I'm going to come back to this
04:16in just a second but utilizing something
04:18like that is saying hey something's
04:20going to move and if I'm trying to make
04:21this kind of blend faster it's you're
04:24you're going to have to play it by ear
04:25and see what the appropriate time to
04:27make that change is at the same time
04:29time having anything like this will help
04:32you figure out what to do next but if
04:34you write two completely different
04:35separate sections then a lot of times
04:37you can be like all right now this is a
04:39game of figuring out how these two meet
04:41and there's nothing wrong with that
04:42right because you don't need to write
04:43music or compose in a linear fashion
04:45it's more so of a means of hey how do I
04:47want to express or what you know what
04:50parts are coming into my head right so
04:52the other thing which is the number
04:56sometimes you might just want to make
04:59completely new material in a completely
05:00different song so over here I actually
05:03have a part two of this track um which
05:06is similar but also different so if we
05:08scroll over to part two um I have
05:49now the thing is is I probably could
05:52maybe if I forced it try to find a way
05:54to make all of that link together um but
05:57shout out to Zayn for kind of helping me
05:59decide what I wanted to do with this
06:01track uh it's this is already 4 and 1
06:03half minutes about and so within this we
06:07already have tons of stuff that the
06:10track is pretty much complete in fact I
06:11wanted to write a halftime section to
06:13this but it was just becoming too much
06:15so instead I could either a do a part
06:17three to this or if you are just like I
06:20want to utilize this material or maybe I
06:23just am in the mood to write something
06:24else like don't be afraid to start a new
06:26project or maybe take really small
06:28pieces of this and relay it to something
06:30that's completely new so what do you do
06:33if you don't know how to duplicate and
06:35variate you don't know none of this
06:37stuff is working or you don't know what
06:38to do next this is the most important
06:40part of this video in my opinion because
06:42it's a lot easier to like be like I know
06:44what I want to do versus like having no
06:47Direction the most important thing is
06:49exactly what I was talking about earlier
06:51with basically leaving your stuff on a
06:54cliffhanger um so let's say you write a
06:56section let me find where main section
06:57one is again and you're like all right
07:00I've got up to this part written out but
07:02I don't know where I want it to go
07:04having something that is building a
07:06transition over time and this is
07:08something that you'll hear in my music a
07:09lot lots of risers lots of stuff that
07:11helps things connect so take a listen to
07:18sound right different things kind of
07:24that really help with saying hey I'm
07:28going to sign sign ify a change here and
07:31what I want you to do whenever you have
07:34something like this is like let's say
07:35you've only written this main section
07:36you have no idea where to go next the
07:38first thing that I would go for actually
07:40is to try to speedrun an intro even if
07:42it's stupid because what ends up
07:44happening is if you have an intro and
07:46you have a main section you have a song
07:48because all you have to do in order to
07:51finish the song in theory or finish the
07:53arrangement is do like a Reverb you know
07:56a Reverb blast you know the song's done
08:00or you know take what you did from the
08:02intro and basically un deconstruct
08:05what's happening in the outro or if you
08:07have an outro then you can deconstruct
08:08what happens in the intro or you know
08:11vice versa and the thing is too is like
08:13if you pretty much if you have a main
08:14section you pretty much have a song
08:16because you can literally just have a
08:17reverse sound and then go right into the
08:19thing it becomes so much easier once you
08:21have the core idea of the song Because
08:23that's the main idea you need to find a
08:25way to get into it then you need to find
08:26a way to get out to it or to get out of
08:28it when you have or expect or desire
08:31multiple sections but you don't know
08:32what to do next you need to make a
08:34cliffhanger you need to do foreshadowing
08:36and that basically means giving some
08:37kind of clue of either a what's going to
08:39happen next or B that something is
08:41getting ready to change and so with that
08:45once you kind of have that and you don't
08:46know what to do step away from the dog
08:49doesn't need to be like it could be for
08:515 minutes it could be for 10 minutes you
08:52could put it away for a week whatever
08:54but what you want to focus on is
08:57practicing imagining or ating thanks to
08:59Corey for this but practice Audia where
09:02do I want the track to go where do I
09:05want it to go and initially I didn't
09:07know what I wanted this to be that's not
09:09true I actually did know what I wanted
09:11this to be um but in a lot of cases if I
09:13want to add more content to the track
09:15for one don't add content just because
09:17you want to add content you know if the
09:18song is done and it's a good idea and
09:21it's this long just let it be that but
09:24what I did was I stepped away and I had
09:26these other parts written out to where I
09:28have notes and making notes with dummy
09:30Clips is one of the best things that you
09:32can do um you will see them littered out
09:35see buildup section right here I didn't
09:37know what I wanted there other than hey
09:38I wanted this to be a buildup section uh
09:40in some of these other cases I don't
09:43know where exactly but you'll see music
09:45break right here so these are little
09:46notes that I wrote to myself of like
09:48different things change the music uh
09:50that I wanted to signify with stuff that
09:53I wanted to be different but I didn't
09:55necessarily have the context in my head
09:57but basically audiation is PR practicing
10:00imagining what you want to do your
10:03intention it's practicing intention with
10:05what it is now I've talked about this in
10:07several other videos about how to
10:08actually audiate especially with
10:10experimental sounds or things that
10:12you've never made it's about placement
10:14um I've got a 2hour video on it actually
10:16that you should go check out that being
10:18said once you kind of have that aspect
10:20of audiation you're able to marry the
10:22sense of Discovery with the sense of
10:25intention and eventually help complete
10:27this with all of these you know it's
10:32it's if it's just not working out the
10:35number one thing that I would say is
10:37simplify if you're trying to do too much
10:39it just might not be ready for you or
10:41you know whatever but don't be too
10:43attached to the pieces of music that you
10:44have because I believe that and I got
10:47this also from Corey but she's over
10:48there but if you were a creative person
10:51then you create an abundance uh we don't
10:54really believe that there is a muse we
10:56don't really believe that it comes to
11:00you um that's some long story
11:03short if you're a creative person you're
11:05constantly creative so submit to your
11:07creativity and understand that on
11:09certain days you do have a
11:11capacity but don't let it come to you go
11:15to it you have to go to it you know um
11:19because if you do that and you allow
11:21yourself to constantly create even if
11:22it's in a completely different place
11:24than what you're used to then you will
11:27allow that to kind of Channel through
11:29and just be creative um it's something
11:32that we can talk more about in a future
11:33video but it's really good advice that
11:35she gave me and like I took that so
11:37close to heart and has helped me write
11:39so much more music I've written over 40
11:41tracks this year um they're not all
11:45great but not all of them are going to
11:46be great but they got written out and I
11:48used to struggle with beat block for
11:51years years years years and her and I
11:53had so many talks I had so many talks
11:55with other people that I was taking
11:56lessons from like man I just can't get
11:58this out and it's because I became too
12:03too uh judgmental or or too picky with
12:08the things that I was making as opposed
12:10to just letting myself create and if you
12:12recall in November 30-day challenge you
12:15know and uh even last month 30-day drum
12:18and bass challenge so I'm just
12:19constantly writing and November's
12:21challenge I forced myself to finish
12:22whatever I wrote uh every single day so
12:25short bodies of work intro main section
12:27outro for for last month's challenge it
12:30was 30 days of drum and Basse write an
12:32eight bar Loop which is kind of the
12:33opposite or just write something that is
12:36uh a drum and based drop every single
12:38day doing these statistically you are
12:43extremely likely to write something that
12:45you like um it's just the way that it is
12:48and when you're talking about connecting
12:50ideas and finishing this or whatever you
12:52know if you've got an idea that you
12:54already like again I'll summarize
12:56duplicate and variate write a completely
12:58different section figure out how they
13:00connect or start something new or take
13:03the material that you have and write a
13:05completely new track with it you know
13:07there's nothing wrong with resampling
13:08the entire idea which if you've watched
13:11my resampling video talking ahead the
13:13music is good but it doesn't really fit
13:15with the way that it's working out we'll
13:16toss it into you know a beam or portal
13:18or something make something completely
13:20different out of the music that's what I
13:21did for part two I resampled all of the
13:23music like the musical stuff in this
13:26section and threw it through beam and
13:29then with part two I ended up getting
13:38Motif you know what I'm saying so it
13:40just helped give me a new idea for new
13:42material to just keep going and that's
13:44what the most important thing is is to
13:46just keep going there's a lot of really
13:47good advice that I've had or that I've I
13:50feel like I've given you like this is
13:51really high quality stuff that I value
13:53within my own music production and
13:55composition um I owe a lot of thanks to
13:57a lot of people for helping me out with
13:58this Corey included um Chi and and zaye
14:02and and cage like these are the things
14:03that we discuss uh shout out to that
14:05person on Reddit that said that I don't
14:07have any compositional skills double
14:09 you um let's see you do better than
14:12this but if you like the video then uh
14:15please do me a favor and actually hit
14:16the like button subscribe to the channel
14:17and check out alchemy.com if you like
14:19cool bases and stuff uh kind of like the
14:21ones that you heard in this track um
14:24with that being said I'm going to play
14:26this track out and this will hopefully
14:28give you some kind of inspiration and
14:30again this is a direct F you to those
14:32people that keep giving me those hateful
