Where edm comes from
The term spread in the United States around 2010 as electronic dance music filled festivals such as Electric Daisy Carnival and Ultra. Producers including Swedish House Mafia, Avicii and Skrillex brought the build-and-drop shape into the mainstream.
What makes a track sound like edm
- Clear build-and-drop cycles
- Heavy side-chain compression
- Wide, bright leads
- White-noise risers
Typical structure
Intro, breakdown, build, drop, second breakdown, second build, bigger drop, outro.
Vocals in edm
EDM vocals usually carry the emotion in the breakdown, then return chopped and processed in the drop. Ask for "an emotional female vocal in the breakdown and vocal chops in the drop".
Prompting tips
Tell the generator what the drop should be: "supersaw anthem drop", "big room drop" or "melodic future bass drop". Give the build length in bars.
A prompt that is only "EDM" produces something general. A drop style plus a mood gives you a far better first result.
Prompts to start from
Festival EDM at 128 BPM, emotional piano breakdown, 16-bar snare build, huge supersaw anthem drop
Melodic future bass with wobbling chords, vocal chops in the drop, uplifting mood, 150 BPM half-time feel
Big room EDM with a tribal drum intro, short punchy lead drop and crowd-chant style vocal chops