Track Structure | DJing Tips

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http://www.djingtips.com/skills/track-structure

DJing Tips
The no B.S., no fluff guide to spinning records

Track Structure
By JM
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To mix well, youll need to become very familiar with the structure of

Fortunately, as if to make the DJs life easier, most records follow pre

Knowing this pattern will allow you to tell where the music is heading
accordingly.
Lets start with the basics. Every dance tune has kick drum beats

boom, boom, boom. The beats come in groups of four that are calle

bar is usually stressed to make it more distinguishable from the othe

waltz is one, two, three; one, two, three..., house and other club mu
four; one, two, three, four...
Heres the very first bar of one of my favorite tunes:

The bars are in turn grouped into 4- and 8-bar chunks called phrases. A 4-bar phrase has 16 beats (4 x 4) and an 8-ba

4-bar phrase from that same tracks intro, with a couple of seconds before and after it (the phrase itself starts between
00:09):

Phrases are important because all parts of a track (intro, verse, chorus and so on) consist of an even number of 4-bar

changes in the music take place at regular intervals that normally equal to one or two 8-bar chunks. Here's a typical ve
long (starts between 00:04 and 00:05, ends at 00:35):

Can you hear the notable changes taking place in the music at the beginning of each 8-bar phrase? At 00:05, SuSu Bo
00:19 and 00:20, the piano kicks in; at 00:35, the chorus begins.
Now that you know what bars and phrases are, lets take a typical house tune and break it down into parts. Heres Get
(Kenny Dope Original Mix):

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Track Structure | DJing Tips

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http://www.djingtips.com/skills/track-structure

Listen carefully! The record follows this pattern:

1. Intro 16 bars
2. Instrumental chorus 16 bars
3. Verse 8 bars
4. Chorus 8 bars
5. Verse 8 bars
6. Chorus 16 bars
7. Verse 16 bars
8. Chorus 16 bars
9. Bridge 24 bars
10. Breakdown 8 bars
11. Chorus 16 bars
12. Instrumental chorus 16 bars
13. Outro 16 bars

This songs structure is a good illustration of the typical dance track pattern: Intro, verses/choruses, bridge, breakdown

intro usually a pure kick drum with claps, snare and possibly some percussion, on top of which other instruments and
may end with a small breakdown that builds up the anticipation of the new track. Sometimes, like in Get Down, theres
of the breakdown that announces the track with a familiar hook.
After the instrumental chorus or the small breakdown, the first verse begins, which is followed by chorus. Then comes
second or the third chorus, there comes the bridge and then the breakdown, where the beat totally disappears; its the

During the breakdown, the anxiety rises higher and higher, and when the crowd is already screaming with anticipation,

reaches its climax the last chorus that may be repeated several times. The last chorus may be followed by an instrum
returns to the pure drum beat of the outro.

Of course, every song has its peculiarities and the sample structure above isnt followed verbatim by each and every d
general pattern is always the same, and well be taking advantage of it when learning how to mix.
Image credits: starrise

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JJ
Mon,
2012-03-19
20:46

buddy please send me the name

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buddy please send me the name of the track you used to explains bars... I need it!! I promise i won't
how it is.

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JM
Sun,
2012-03-25
10:58

Hey man, that's not a huge

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Hey man, that's not a huge secret or something :) The track is SuSu Bobien - Keep It To Myself
Mix).
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Jon N.
Thu,
2013-05-30
21:38

In this example, the intro

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In this example, the intro has 16 bars and the bridge has 24 bars. Do you refer to the intro as having

bar phrases? As well as the bridge, is it 8 x 4 bar phrases, or 3 x 8 bar phrases? I'm not clear on this
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Jon N.
Thu,
2013-05-30
21:41

Sorry I got my math wrong

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Sorry I got my math wrong with the bridge, I meant to ask if it is 6 x 4 bar phrases or is it 3 x 8 ba
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JM
Sat,
2013-06-01
11:22

Depends on what you consider

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Depends on what you consider a phrase as it could be 4 or 8 bars. I tend to think in terms of

changes in a track happen every 8 bars. So I'd say that that track's bridge is 3 phrases long.
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Tutti Serrano
Tue, 2014-09-09
17:43
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Hi there...
Hi there...
I just wanna say THAN YOU for your time and this awesome educational page!
May more knowledge come to you since whoever teaches only can get BETTER!
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JM
Sun,
2014-09-21
10:25

Thanks a lot Tutti!

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Thanks a lot Tutti!

reply

20/12/2014 06:29