Some self promotion...

Please check my own eurodance act at 

http://www.retrotopian.com

(blog will still remain closed)

A Happy New Year!

I wish you all A Happy New Year, this blog won't be updated anymore since I am now working on my own project. Of course there is a lot of information that could be added, I hope other eurodance enthusiasts will do that as well; so anyway I still hope you will find the existent information useful, thanks :)

RapidComposer - Eurodance Music Composition Tool

Today I'm going to present you a great music composition tool, suitable for all music genres, but of course we are going to use it for creating Eurodance music in a fast, easy and pleasant way.

The software we are going to work with is called RapidComposer.

RapidComposer is non-destructive, phrase based music software.

RapidComposer can work with either absolute or relative chords. It depends on how the "Chord Naming" master track setting is set.

So whatever notes you will be using in a phrase, RapidComposer will know how to adjust so it can fit the respective chords.

You can play the phrases by MIDI keyboard, or create them inside the phrase editor. You can even create patterns so you can use them later in other projects. The many generators included in the software will help you create great musical ideas in no time. More than that, you can use RapidComposer as a VST host.

So let's start making Eurodance music with the help of the RapidComposer!

STEP 1

Once you've started a new project begin defining your desired scale and the tempo.

STEP 2

Define the rhythm track, we will use a bass drum.

STEP 3

It's time to create the riff. Once you've created the first phrase you can easily move it over the next chords. It will automatically change its notes to fit the chords.

STEP 4

Let's add the bass. We will use one of the existent Eurodance phrases (download link available at the end of the post).

STEP 5

You can now export the track in MIDI format so you can use it in your favorite DAW.


RIFF GENERATOR

How about generating unlimited number of Eurodance riffs? You could find one that you like, if necessary do some extra modification and have a great riff for your track.

As we've already discussed, the Eurodance riffs have some general properties: the repetitive up-down movement and the monophonic notes being the main ingredients.

Here are below some settings you can use to generate Eurodance riffs with RapidComposer.

Feel free to experiment with the settings in order to obtain various results.



BASS PHRASES

This archive contains several Eurodance bass phrases to use with RapidComposer. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD LINK



DEMO VIDEO

How to quickly generate Eurodance riff ideas with Rapid Composer




Type F to automatically fill the chords with your riff or copy/paste holding the ALT key.

New updates coming soon

Dear visitors, I have good news for you. Soon I will make new posts showing you valuable software tool on how to create Eurodance music fast and easily! Stay close, coming soon!

Purchase FL Studio 11 with a 10% Discount

Support us! Purchase your FL Studio 11 copy and get 10% discount! Click here to purchase.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

This is the last post of the tutorial, since from now I will be busy working on other projects. I hope you will find the material written here valuable and helpful for your music journey. Thank you everyone!

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

news update: June 17, 2014 :  well, it seems not, because the tutorial will be soon updated again :P

Interview with producer Oleksandr Hrytsiv

Nick: Hello, Oleksandr, and thank you for accepting this interview! Please introduce yourself in a few words.

Oleksandr: Hello, Nick! Hello to all eurodance fans! I am a producer of eurodance band Free 2 Night and a remix producer Real Thing. I live in Tarnopil in Western Ukraine.

Nick: Please tell me when and how your eurodance passion started...

Oleksandr: I loved European dance music since my childhood. My first favorite groups were ABBA, Modern Talking, Sandra etc. And here is the big paradox – I started to listen eurodance only since 1998 when it was already on the decline.

Nick: How do you create an eurodance song? Which is the basic process?

Oleksandr: I started to learn music when I was 7 years old. I played piano a lot as my mother and my aunt – they are professional pianists. I created my first early eurodance in 1999 when I really fell in love with such music. When I create music at first I play my keyboard to feel how the bass line sounds with the melody which I composed in my head. Then I start to combine kicks and basses. It is the main process because if it is not right then all the tracks will sound very cheap.

Nick: Please tell me a little bit about the gear and the sofware you use.

Oleksandr: I always use FL Studio 8 and 9 with added vsti and my own samples libraries. Also as I said I have a very good keyboard M-Audio and a several types of 3-linear high quality speakers.

Nick: Do you want to share some tips and tricks about making eurodance music?

Oleksandr: The main tricks are to have a good musical hearing, to love a good music with all of your heart and never stop learning. And there is one more important thing to know how to work in a group and with other people.

Nick: Which are your favorite 90s eurodance music acts?

Oleksandr: There are so many great eurodance acts from the 90s! I think my favorites are 2 Unlimited, Culture Beat, Dr. Alban, Snap!

Nick: Tell me a few things about your new eurodance project "Free 2 Night". Which are your future plans?

Oleksandr: I don’t want to call it “plans”, because only God knows the future of each. We have many ideas about new singles, albums, videos etc. We will do the best!

Nick: Do you think the classic eurodance genre can return on the commercial scene one day?
 
Oleksandr: I think it will return if people will really want that. It depends on only of each one of us.

Nick: Please tell a few words about our eurodance tutorial blog, do you find it useful?

Oleksandr: Yes of course! I find it very useful to all the people who wants to start to create eurodance tracks and to learn something new.

Nick: Thank you, Oleksandr! I wish you lots of good luck!

Oleksandr: Thanks for interview, Nick! The same good wishes to you and to all eurodance fans and composers!

How to make the 90s Eurodance Kick

Interesting tutorial found on Youtube

Interview with producer Mike Hoffmann

Nick: Hello, Mike, and thank you for accepting this interview! Please introduce yourself in a few words. 


Mike: I'm musican, 34 years old, living in Leipzig, Germany. I'm married since 8 years and fan of the classical eurodance-sound. And since March 2013 musican and producer for the eurodance-act "Flash Point"


Nick: Please tell me how you've started your journey into the eurodance world

Mike: If I remember rightly, this journey started with a class trip 1993. It was the first time where i heard songs like "Mr Vain", "No Limit" and "What is Love", as some mates played this music in their ghettoblaster all the week. *laugh* It was the beginning of my love to the classical techno-trance -and eurodancesound until today.


Nick: How do you make an eurodance song? How it all starts and which is your basic process?

Mike: Normally, first i write the song on keyboard. And than i melodize the song in the classical eurodance-style. Here i'm starting with the choice of sounds. First kick, hat's, snare and bassline, than arps, pads, strings, leadsound, and than all other elements. In the 2nd phase i build the arrangement. Here can also some sounds change, until everything sounds great for me. The next step is the recording of the vocals. And then i'm starting with the mixing of the song.


Nick: Please tell me a little bit about the gear and the sofware you use. How important it is?

Mike: In my home-studio i'm using almost entirely software. The DAWs "Fl -Studio" and "Studio One", some vsti-versions from classical Korg-synths, the Synapse Dune and a large colletcion of sample-libarys from the 90's. I think, the gear is importent, because without the gear you can't produce music. But the best gear is just as good as the man or the women who is using that.


Nick: Could you please tell some "secrets" for the people who want to create eurodance music?

Mike: I don't know any secrets. I think, the most importent thing is to have a passion for this kind of music.


Nick: Which are your favorite 90s eurodance music acts?

Mike: I really like all the eurodancesongs with trance-elements inside. Songs from Snap, Culture Beat, Magic Affair, Jam & Spoon, General Base and also songs from Intermission, Captain Hollywood Project, Real McCoy, Pharao and 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor. But also i like almost every other eurodance-song. I think there are just a very few eurodance song that i don't like.


Nick: Tell us a few things about your eurodance project "Flash Point". Which are your future plans?

Mike: Yes. The idea to "Flash Point" was born on a eurodance-party in March 2013. We thought, we like it to hear all the old songs again and again. But also, we want to hear new songs in the same style like the old hits. But he old acts just release new versions of their old songs year by year in the current sound. So we thought, ok, when WE will make the new songs, we want to hear. *laugh* Our next step is to release a follower-song for "Follow Me" in late 2013 or early 2014.


Nick: Do you think the classic eurodance genre can return on the commercial scene one day?

Mike: No, i don't think so. I think the time of music for the masses is slowly drawing to an end. It comes up more and more subgenres, provided by specialized independent labels for listeners with an individual musictaste. Because, today it's easy for any musican to make pro music for a low price, to make cooperations with musians from all over the world, and for independent labels to provided the fans on the whole planet.
I think, maybe the classical eurodance-scene of one single country is very small, But the classical eurodance-scene worldwide is big, with hundreds of thousands or millions of fans. So i think, acts like Free 2 Night, Acting Lovers, Pulse Of The Beat or likewise Flash Point belongs to an next classical-eurodance generation, that is specialized for an individual musictaste of the  eurodance-fans worldwide. But not for the masses of millions people, provided by the big music industry, like in the 90's, where classical eurodance was a part of it.

Nick: Thank you, Mike! I wish you lots of good luck!

Mike: Thank you, Nick! The same to you!

Making eurodance riffs with arpeggiators

Another technique to build eurodance riffs is with the help of arpeggiators.

It takes a little study but once you find how it works you can make great riffs.

I recommend you using the Kirnu Cream arpeggiator: http://www.kirnuarp.com/