A lot of people struggle with the structure of their tunes, and the intro often gives them the biggest headache of all. It's a delicate balancing act - how to stay interesting, whilst still mixable and useful to DJs in their sets? Let's go in a little deeper and see how you can write the intro that your track needs!The first thing to consider; The fact that dance music is a very functional beast. It's not just for listening to on your mp3 player, but it has to work in a club or on the dancefloor. That means it needs to be mixable by a club DJ - ideally, it should even be fun to mix.
So let's start at the functional, DJ end of things. You need a clear signifier at the start of the track, with a good transient that's going to be audible on headphones in a loud club. This could be a kick, a crash cymbal or just a hi-hat, but it's essential that a DJ can use it to beatmatch the track. An intro also needs to have a fairly predictable structure; with elements coming in and departing on 8 and 16 bar markers, so that it doesn't throw off a mix, and so that it will blend well with any track layered on top of it.
Your intro should also be a sensible length; again, this is to tailor it for DJ-ing purposes. Dubstep tracks frequently use 32 bar introductions, although sometimes as short as 16 bars is useful for those DJ's who like to mix quickly and double drop. House and trance, on the other hand, use a longer intro and can easily be 48 bars in length (or more) to allow a DJ to gradually blend two tracks and layer them up in the mix.
Your choice of genre will also dictate how your intro should bring about the main section of the tune. In dubstep and jungle, this is all about the drop. As a distinct moment when the bass kicks in; it needs to have impact, and sound big in the mix. Progressive music, on the other hand, doesn't always need a 'moment' like that; it's not mixed in the same way, and so the end of an intro can be signified simply by bringing in a sub-bass or the main riff.
If you want to create a 'moment' at the drop, then, there are a few things you can do. Firstly, consider contrast - you want the drop to sound big, so don't show all your cards straight off - leave a certain amount of percussion and melodic elements (as well as the bass) out of the intro so they have more impact when they arrive. You can enhance this by clever use of effects; consider bandpass-filtering your drums in the intro, so that when they finally kick in properly they suddenly sound bigger and fuller. You can also use effects such as reverb and delay on your drums to make them sound a bit more distant, and remove this at the moment of the drop - bringing everything into sharp focus with a bang.When actually writing the intro, it's usually best to work with elements from the main track, to help them lead into the larger section. You can then cut them down so that listeners only hear hints of what is to come, building up anticipation and stopping them getting bored when the full parts drop in. For instance, take a riff and filter it down, and perhaps only take the first two or three notes from a two-bar loop. If something is later to be repeating every bar, maybe have it only once every four bars in the intro. Any sound effects from later in the tune may be liberally sprinkled all over the introduction too. As you're working with a smaller sound pallette, it's often good to have things coming in every 4 or 8 bars to keep the interest up, and this is where sound effects can really help, without having to resort to using your big lead melody straight out of the blocks.
Having said that, of course, if you have a strong and recognisable sample in your track, it's good to make use of it in the intro; this way, when a DJ is mixing the track, the sample will be heard over the top of the blend and people will be able to spot your tune long before it drops, making people's ears prick up on the dancefloor.
As usual, there are the exceptions to the rule here, and some great tracks don't follow the intro rules at all. Consider Skream's remix of 'In For The Kill' by La Roux - a track so enormous that it went to number 1 and still smacked it on the dancefloors, but was almost unmixable. This tactic is one for the confident; you can get away with an unmixable intro but only if the track is so strong that people have to play it anyway. Otherwise, they may just pass over it for something else that works better in their sets.We covered radio edits in detail a few months back on this blog, but it goes without saying that if you're aiming for a 3-minute version of your track, then a 90-second intro is simply unrealistic. In which case, go for 4 or 8 bars at most, get the melodies in early, don't worry about gradually developing the drums (in fact, consider leaving them out of the intro altogether) and get to the meat of the track (the main chorus or riff) as quickly as possible. It's not about DJ play this time, it's about grabbing an inattentive listener's attention within the first 10 seconds!
So, the intro is a complicated area which can make many novice producers struggle. But by following some of these hints, you'll soon have a quality, interesting intro that DJ's want to mix with and iPod warriors want to listen to all the way through!
