Letter of Transmittal

To: FL Studio Music Producers

From: James Hendrie (aka Hendrie Beats)

Musicians have more access to the tools they need to produce music than ever before. Personal computers have allowed artists to produce music easier than ever. Unfortunately, most music producers dont have a reliable method to produce music and find themselves constantly unorganized and lost inside complicated projects. Artists that dont have an efficient and effective process of producing music are missing out on many benefits that complete design processes have. My free paper, Building Blocks, details a design process that gives music producers the power to stay creative and not get lost in the organization of their project. It was written for music producers with intermediate to advanced experience with FL Studio. The process consists of developing music in a loop-based manner first and then arranging its arrangement/structure second. Building Blocks works well with all styles and genres of music.Stop wasting time and precious creative energy on a process that is supposed to be fast and easy. Please download Building Blocks be emailing jhendrie25@gmail.com and asking to be sent a copy.

Thank You,James HendrieEmail: jhendrie25@gmail.com

Building Blocks

The Instrumental Design Process for Versatile Music Producers using FL Studio

Written by: James Hendrie (Hendrie Beats) This is a book that allows instrumental producers to unlock true creativity by providing a design process that is efficient and effective. The process uses a loop-based technique to build instrument layers first and arrange those instrument layers second. The DAW of choice is FL Studio 11.

Table of ContentsList of Illustrations3Executive Summary4Introduction51Organization Conventions61.1Numbering61.2Ordering61.2.1Melodic Instruments61.2.2Percussion81.2.3FX81.2.4Vocals82Pattern Building92.1The Building Process92.2Incorporating Different Size Loops102.3Linking Tracks to Mixer112.4Trimming Waveforms112.5Transitional Structuring142.5.1Organizing Step Sequencer142.5.2Expanding to Mixer142.5.3Expanding to Playlist143Arranging164Collaborating185Conclusion20Works Cited21

List of IllustrationsFIGUREDESCRIPTIONPAGE

Fig. 1Build Several Tracks9

Fig. 2Solo 1 3 Instruments9

Fig. 3Build New Instrument Tracks9

Fig. 4Repeat Fig. 1 -310

Fig. 5Duplicate and Create Patterns10

Fig. 6Link to Mixer11

Fig. 7Extended Waveform11

Fig. 8Cut Waveform12

Fig. 9Zoom Into Waveform12

Fig. 10Resize Waveform 113

Fig. 11Resize Waveform 213

Fig. 12Move Waveform13

Fig. 13Delete Extra Pattern(s)14

Fig. 14Split by Channel14

Fig. 15Arrange Song17

Fig. 16File Browse 118

Fig. 17File Browse 218

Fig. 18File Browse 319

Executive SummaryBuilding Blocks is a design process for music producers that have intermediate to advanced experience with FL Studio. Building Blocks breaks the design process into two parts; Pattern Building & Arranging. Pattern Building is a process of adding instruments, melodies, and other elements. Arranging is where those patterns are taken and arranged in a song format (chorus, verse, bridge). Building Blocks includes some highly effective organization conventions to keep projects easy to read and modify. Finally, it discusses a way to collaborate with other music producers. Building Blocks purpose is to provide a smooth production technique for armatures and professionals alike.

IntroductionMy name is James Hendrie aka Hendrie Beats and I have been producing music for a little over five years. I know from experience that using a reliable design process when producing music is invaluable especially when artists get in their creative groove. An article titled, Streamlining Your Songwriting For Maximum Results published on Songwriting Secrets, explains this well when it said,Do you sometimes feel your songwriting process is a mess?By this I mean, do you feel as if there is no structure and youre always jumping from one thing to another.And because of this, you let ideas get away from you. You may have a moment of inspiration, but it doesnt always translate into a completed masterpiece.Also, you dont complete nearly as many songs as you feel you should. Youve always got half finished material that ends up being forgotten.If this is true for you (And believe me, most songwriters feel this frustration), why do you think this happens? Its a good question to ask, because if you can get to the bottom of this issue if you can learn to streamline your song writing process youll end up writing many more songs in this lifetime, and at the end of your life youll be able to look back at these songs and say, I didnt live my life with my music stuck in my head! (1)This paper will describe a highly efficient design processes that does not cause artists to sacrifice quality, but instead allows artists to focus further on it. This paper explains how to build songs, organize them, and collaborate with other music producers. This document was written for music producers who have intermediate or advanced experience with FL Studio.

Organization ConventionsThese organization conventions are primarily focused on channel naming and ordering. The Step Sequencer, Playlist, and Mixer are all organized in the same fashion. If the instrumental design process explained later in this book is used properly, music producers should only have to name and organize the Step Sequencer once. The Playlist and Mixer should inherit the Step Sequencers organization.

NumberingOn many occasions, a project will have multiple instruments. For example, a project could have three kicks. These kicks should be labeled: Kick 1, Kick 2, and Kick 3. This numbering system should be applied to all instruments even if there is only one instance of that instrument type. Lets say, for example, that an artist has a song which contains one piano. If they reach the Arrangement step and decide they want to add another piano, but didnt number the first one, theyll have to rename the original piano in three different places (Step Sequencer, Playlist, and Mixer). To remove that risk of ridiculous renaming, always add a number after each instrument.There is no need for leading zeros. You never need to write, Piano 001, or Piano 01 you can write Piano 1, instead.OrderingThe ordering of tracks is a valuable and complex process. It is broken down into four categories and each category has a unique way to be organized. Each category gets organized and then they all get arranged in the following order:1) Melodic Instruments2) Drums3) FX4) Vocals.Melodic InstrumentsMelodic instruments are a fundamental part of music and are placed first in mixer, playlist, and step sequencer organization. Melodic Instruments are all instruments except for percussion, FX, and vocals. These Instruments are broken down into three subcategories Melody, Harmony, and Accent.

MelodyTom Zarecki, Radio Broadcasting professor at Western Connecticut State University, explains in his article, Music's DNA: Melody, Harmony, Rhythm. He says,MELODY - the primary sequence of notes in a song. Usually the melody is the part people sing along with. In songs with vocals, words will be assigned to the notes and the lead vocalist(s) is/are performing the melody.During instrumental songs, and during non-vocal parts of vocal songs, the melody will be played by one or more musical instruments.Sometimes in songs the melody is prominent and very "singable" (example: country or rock songs), while in other songs the melody is not as much a sequence of notes than an expressive chanting series of words (example: hiphop or rap songs). (1)Melody Instruments must be placed first in the Melodic Instruments category. Vocals do not fall into this category even though they can be very similar in nature.

HarmonyZarecki continues to describe Harmony instruments,HARMONY - the secondary series of a particular sequence of notes or chords which occur simultaneously with the melody.A song's harmony always has a different series of notes from the melody, although sometimes when the harmony is played simultaneously with the harmony the notes in both may be the same briefly. When two singers or instruments are playing the same notes instead of harmonizing notes, they are no longer harmonizing but instead said to be playing "in unison" or together.Harmony can be provided in a song either by voices or instruments, but either way, harmony is added to a song to compliment or enhance the melody. (1)Harmony includes all secondary Melodic Instruments and chord progressions.

AccentThe third subcategory of Melodic Instruments is accent instruments. These instruments dont have a complete melody they could only contain a few notes, repeat the same note, or generally have a minor contribution to the melody. An example of this could be a cello pattern that consists on one single low note. Another example would be a piano that only repeats one note throughout an entire pattern.

PercussionThe Percussion category contains percussion instruments and is placed directly after the Melodic Instruments. This category is organized by placing certain common percussion instruments first and last leaving a large portion in the middle to place uncommon percussion instruments. The following percussion instruments get placed at the beginning of the Percussion section in this order:1. Kick2. Snare3. Clap4. Hi Hat5. Open HatUncommon percussion instruments get placed directly after the designated common percussion instruments in this order:1. Shaker2. Maraca3. Tambourine4. Djembe5. Tom6. Congo7. Clave8. Wood Block9. Triangle10. Ratchet11. TimpaniRides, Cymbals, and Crashes get placed at the end of the Percussion section.FXThis category is intended to be populated with sound FX and follows the Percussion category. The following sounds are all examples: Airplane takeoff Crowd cheering Car driving past Nature sounds (birds and wildlife) Cell phone voicemailVocalsThe final category is Vocals and is placed last because vocals are normally the final addition to an instrumental. This category gets filled with lead vocals, background vocals and adlibs in that order.

Pattern Building

The Building ProcessExtend Pattern one to eight, sixteen or 32 bars (16 is most common). Add instruments to that pattern until the pattern sounds full. A pattern is full when it sounds like adding any more instruments would be overly complicated, messy, or unnecessary. This can usually be achieved with 4 9 instruments (figure 1). Fig. 1

BUILD SEVERAL TRACKS

Once the pattern sounds full, mute every track except for 1 -4 instruments so it sounds empty (figure 2). An empty pattern sounds like it is incomplete or it has more space to grow. Fig. 2

SOLO 1 3 INSTRUMENTS

You will then be able to add more instruments to fill up the pattern again (figure 3). Fig. 3

BUILD NEW INSTRUMENT TRACKS

As this process continues, choose different instruments to start with to give variation to your design process (figure 4). Dont always start with the same instrument track when you are building the pattern.SOLO DIFFERENT TRACKS

BUILD NEW INSTRUMENT TRACKS

Fig. 4

NEW INSTRUMENT TRACKS

Incorporating Different Size LoopsIf someone wants a 16 bar loop and a 32 bar loop, they should create a second pattern, extend it 32 bars, and duplicate the first pattern (figure 5). Continue to duplicate and add patterns as needed. Certain things such as background singing call for a very long loop. You can duplicate as many times as you need to give the singer ample time to record.DUPLICATE PATTERN 1

CREATE PATTERN 2

Fig. 5

Linking Tracks to MixerThere will be plenty of instances where someone would want to link an instrument to the mixer to add effects while they are building their pattern(s) I do it all the time. Properly rename the instrument before linking it. When an instrument is linked to the mixer, the mixer track receives the name and color of the instrument (figure 6). If the instrument has a funky name, then the mixer will also have a funky name. This is only to prevent people from having to rename things more often they need to.Fig. 6

Trimming Waveforms1. It is very common for a vocal or instrument track to extend past the loop size (see figure 7). Fig. 7

2. Cut the track at the beginning / end of the loop (see figure 8).Cut Waveform

Fig. 8

3. Make sure to zoom in and check if the cut was exactly on that line. Many times FL Studio slices the audio inaccurately and that can cause problems for the overall loop. Resize the waveforms to line up with the end of the loop exactly (see figures 9 - 11).Fig. 9

Fig. 11

Fig. 10

Move Waveform

Resize Waveform

4. Move the extended waveform to the beginning of the loopFig. 12

Move Waveform

5. Delete the secondary portion of the loop.Fig. 13

Delete

That is the full process required to trim extended waveforms to fit inside loops.

Transitional StructuringOrganizing Step SequencerRename and order the step sequencer using the Organizing Conventions in chapter one.Expanding to MixerLink each instrument channel to the mixer that havent been previously linked. Organize the mixer to reflect the step sequencer. Artists should verify that the mixer channel names match the step sequencer channel names. Mixer channels that had previously been linked could be misnamed.Expanding to PlaylistSplit your pattern(s) by selecting Pattern Selector > Split by Channel on the step sequencer. (see fig. X)Fig. 14

Note: Make sure all patterns are placed on the playlist before you split them by channel. If they are not then artists will have to add each newly-split pattern to the playlist individually. That can get annoying.At the close of the pattern building process, you should have one or more patterns with many instrument channels (about 11 30). Keep in mind that a large project does not equal a good project. Simplicity is sometimes the best route to take. Sometimes musicians start with a great song, but continue to build it until there is too much going on and it is not-so-great anymore.

ArrangingArrangement takes the pre-built patterns and organized them on the playlist. This is when a songs structure is decided. Choruses, verses, bridges, intros and outros are all elements of a songs structure. Mahmoud Ibrahim, owner of Song Writing Fever (a song writing collaboration website), spoke about song structure in his article, How to Get Started with Songwriting. Ibrahim said,A song usually has three short melodies, two of which are repeated several timesChorus: The chorus is a lyrics-music combination that is repeated with little or no change throughout the song. Usually, the chorus's lyrics include the song title and give the listener a general idea about the song's topic. The chorus music includes the catchiest melody in the song and it is usually the part that your listener will remember from your song.Verse: The verse has the second melody of the song; this melody hardly changes throughout the song. The verse's lyrics are actually what usually change; as the verses usually give details about the song's topic. Notice that no matter how the lyrics change they all have to fit the same melody, without having to look "artificial"...This actually is a great challenge for the lyricist ;).Bridge: The third melody and the one that -in most song structures- appears only once. It is better if the listener gets a small surprise in the bridge; may be a change in the chord structure or a smooth shift to another scale...etc. However, the bridge's melody almost always ends by shifting back to the original mood and repeating the chorus all over again. As for the bridge's lyrics they usually represent a conclusion or a flash back to the whole song, this adds to the surprise. Sometimes, -especially in Rock- the bridge is just an instrumental solo with no lyrics.But how are those three parts arranged in the song? Well, you got Chorus, verse and bridge...Yes, arrange them in any way you want, but don't get too messy or your listener will get lost. To make it easier, songwriters have come up with these agreed-on song structures. Most of the songs follow three structuresverse / chorus / verse / chorus / verse...etc.verse / chorus / verse / chorus / bridge / (verse) / chorusverse / verse / bridge / verse (1)Duplicate a loop between ten and twenty times (see figure X). Subtract patterns until the song takes shape (see figure X). Fig. 15

DUPLICATE PATTERN

ARRANGE SONG

START WITH YOUR LOOP

CollaboratingExporting FL Studio project files is the easiest and most beneficial way to collaborate. The single and sizable opportunity cost of collaborating via project files is that you are only able to collaborate with producers using the FL Studio of the same or higher version. When an artist collaborates with another artist using project files, the receiving artist has full control over the project. Artists should create a folder on their desktop named Collaborations. This will be where collaboration projects will be housed. Properly rename any projects before exporting them.1. Artist should export a songs project bones to their Collaborations folder (see figure 16). This option can be found in File>Export>Project bones. This will create a folder named after the project and will place five additional folders inside of it (see figure 17).

Fig. 17

Fig. 16

2. Artists should then export the Project data files into the newly created folder that is named after the song by selecting File>Export>Project data files (see figure 18).Fig. 18

3. Lastly, artists should move the project file to their project bones folder DO NOT COPY. If artists copy project files instead of moving them, they would have to update both project files whenever they make a change. Also, artists are less inclined to modify the project. If artists modify the project even a little they will have to re-export their entire project to keep it accurate.Importing a project that was compiled in this fashion is simple; open the .flp file.

ConclusionBuilding a song from scratch can be a difficult and daunting task. A project can get unorganized and confusing very quickly without a dependable design process. The article titled, Streamlining Your Songwriting For Maximum Results continued to say, Its vitally important that in your song writing process you keep the CREATIVE tasks and CRITICAL/ORGANIZATIONAL tasks separate. There are some very interesting psychological reasons for this. To give you a brief overview, when you COMBINE these different tasks you will block much of your creative potential, therefore sucking a lot of the power out of your song writing process. (1)The organizational techniques described in this document will allow artists to truly keep their creative tasks separate from their organizational tasks. The explained design process will allow music producers to create more freely by allowing their workspace to be organized and easy to navigate.

Works Cited

Ibrahim, Mahmoud. "How to Get Started with Songwriting."Song Writing Fever. N.p. n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.Secrets, Songwriting. "Streamlining Your Songwriting For Maximum Results."Songwriting Secrets. N.p. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.Zarecki, Tom. "Music's DNA: Melody, Harmony, Rhythm."Hub Pages. N.p., 13 Jan. 2013. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.

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