Blog #2 – Analysis of an EDM song

Song – “Antidote (Tommy Trash Remix)” – Swedish House Mafia

For this post, I wanted to break down a typical EDM song and hopefully learn / get a better understanding of a couple traits of the genre. The first concept I want to better understand is the physical structure of the song – i.e.  Where are the builds, drops, breakdowns, etc. and how long are they? The second idea, and the one which will take more time to grasp, is the composition of the music. In other words, what are the drum beats, the melodies, and accompanying sounds? How are these layered together? This question is more subtle, and a true understanding of these elements of song production is something that can only be acquired through years of experience and a keen ear for it.

I chose a remix made by Tommy Trash of the song “Antidote” by the Swedish House Mafia because it’s pretty popular right now, and its structure and sound is very typical of the genre. The manic build ups and frantic drops make it a great song to listen to when you need a bit of extra drive in the gym or even doing homework.

When I listened through the song a couple times and investigated its structure, I was surprised to see its simplicity. The total length of the track is around 5 minutes and 30 seconds, and this time-frame is divided almost exactly into two 2 minute and 45 second sections that are almost identical. The first time block is begun with a thirty second intro, which is primarily a drum loop repeating to the beat. Similarly, the second time block ends with a fifteen second outro drum loop. The rest of each block can be broken down into 15 second intervals.

First Block

Intro                                                    0:00 – 0:30

Build 1                                                            0:30 – 0:45

Vocals 1                                              0:45 – 1:00

Heavy Bass added                              1:00 – 1:15

Main Melody – begin build                1:15 – 1:30

Frantic Stutter – finish build               1:30 – 1:45

Drop 1 part a                                       1:45 – 2:00

Drop 1 part b  (drums change)            2:00 – 2:15

Vocals 2                                              2:15 – 2:30

build-up 2                                            2:30 – 2:45

At the end of the first block, the 2^nd build-up leads the listener to anticipate another drop, instead we get a breakdown, where the music quiets and the heavy kick drum sound is removed. This breakdown is also the beginning of the second block.

Second Block

Breakdown                                         2:45 – 3:00

Melody                                                3:00 – 3:30

Build 3                                                3:30 – 4:00

Drop 2 part a                                       4:00 – 4:15

Drop 2  part b                                      4:15 – 4:45

Fade with vocals                                 4:45 – 5:00

Melody                                                5:00 – 5:15

Outro                                                   5:15 – 5:33

I’ll now give a hopefully brief run-through of the composition of the song in lay-man’s terms, mostly because I didn’t play music near long enough to be able to decipher or recognize chords, keys, notes, etc. by ear.

The intro starts simply with a higher pitched piano sound, heavy bass drums and a light cymbal tap. Soon, a broader and more powerful synth string sound is added, and this crescendo. A static crack sounds and the main building melody is added. A few measures later the first verse comes in, and the heavy, thumping bass is added. After the verse the first build begins with the addition of a mid-high level synth sound. After a few measures of this, everything is stuttered and the pitch rises, building the anticipation for the drop. With the line “There’s no antidote” the drop hits and the song breaks into organized chaos. The melody is frantic and full of energy, with a grungy lead sound and something that sounds like a whip cracking. The melody part is a lower level tone, but is equally as frantic and grungy as the lead. Tommy Trash adds to the chaos using a static sound, which he later mixes into a hi-hat drum loop. We then hear the build again, but this time it leads into the breakdown. This leads us into a mix of a weaker version of the drop melody and the repeated lines, “ And there’s no antidote.” this sort of refrain section leads us into a new build, which is characterized by the background sound that resembles a turbine spooling up. This leads us back to the chaotic drop section. This fades back into a vocal section where the sound is deconstructed until we’re left with vocals, the grunge melody, a medium bass and a drum loop. Finally, the vocals and melody stop, leaving just a kick drum and a percussion loop before the end of the song.