Originally posted by another message board

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- The start and end of your track is centered almost entirely on one note
- Introduce a new melody early in the breakdown that will carry through the bridge of the track
- There is usually a breakdown, build, and climax
- Alternative to the breakdown a breakdown with beats and bass only
- After the climax and bridge, a second smaller breakdown is an easy way to lead ito the final out-tro (which as stated above, is usually centered around one note)
- 1:30 seconds seems to be the standard for a mix length, so you'll find many tracks keep layering sounds around one note until 1:30 where the track comes to live, the opposite is true at the end of the track where at -1:30 the track settles down to one root note/key.

A couple of rules i've found work well for me personally, maybe not rules but more of "things that work for me" (again in no particular order)

- Don't end your track the "dj friendly" way with just a kick drum and no elements that have a key (note), instead drop everything else out including the kick drum, and allow something very high, unique and piercing to play out in the silence ... this requires the DJ to match the key, but really allows them to mix for incredibly long times
- Snares work great with reverb cranked up (Thanks Sanyama)
- I seem to push up the high eq's on all hi hat and cymbal elements for some reason
- Use at least two samples for the kick drum (if you're not creating your own), one to give the initial sharp punch, and another to fill out the rest of the space (but don't let it fill out too much or it muddies everything up)

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