Generic EDM prompts often produce a drop that does not drop. The music gets louder, but nothing lands. The reason is that a drop is a structural idea, not only a sound: it works because of the contrast with what came just before it. A prompt that only describes the drop gives the AI nothing to contrast against.
This guide explains the anatomy of a drop, the vocabulary that helps, prompts for the main sub-genres, and how to fix a flat drop on Autunes without throwing away the rest of the track.
Anatomy of a build-up and drop
Most dance tracks follow a familiar arc. Knowing the parts lets you ask for them by name.
- Intro: drums and a hint of the main idea, often kept simple so DJs can mix in.
- Build-up: usually 8 or 16 bars. Tension rises through a rising synth, a filter opening up, a snare roll that speeds up, and a white-noise riser.
- The gap: a beat or a bar of near silence, or a short vocal line, right before the drop. Removing energy here makes the drop hit harder.
- Drop: the full kick and bass return with the main hook, often a lead synth, chopped vocal or chant.
- Breakdown: energy falls away, chords or vocals carry the song, and the cycle sets up a second build and drop.
Pick a sub-genre, not just 'EDM'
EDM is an umbrella. Each style has its own tempo and its own kind of drop, and naming one gets you a more consistent result. Tempos below are typical ranges, not rules.
- House and progressive house: around 120-128 BPM, four-on-the-floor kick, piano or plucked lead, wide chords.
- Big room: around 126-130 BPM, huge kick, simple lead, crowd-chant energy.
- Trance: around 130-140 BPM, rolling bass, arpeggios and long euphoric builds.
- Dubstep: around 140 BPM, felt in half time, heavy sub-bass and growling mid-range bass.
- Future bass: often 130-160 BPM with a half-time feel, lush chords, pitched vocal chops.
- Drum and bass: around 170-175 BPM, fast breakbeats and rolling bass.
- Bollywood and Punjabi dance: often 100-128 BPM, dhol or tumbi hooks over an EDM drop, made for weddings and sangeet nights.
Prompts that pair the build with the drop
Each of these names the build-up and the drop together. Paste one into the style box and edit. A prompt steers the arrangement but does not guarantee every element on every take, so compare a couple.
- Progressive house, 126 BPM, 16-bar build with rising filtered synth, snare roll and white-noise riser, short silence, drop into sidechained bass, punchy claps and a plucked lead, euphoric
- Dubstep, 140 BPM half-time, dark atmospheric build with risers, heavy sub-bass and growling bass drop, aggressive
- Future bass, 150 BPM half-time feel, lush supersaw chords, build with snare roll, drop with pitched vocal chops and snappy drums, bright and emotional
- Bollywood EDM dance track, 124 BPM, Hindi vocal hook, dhol build-up with rising synth, big drop with dhol, bass and synth lead, wedding party energy
- Melodic techno, 124 BPM, hypnotic arpeggio, long filter build, dark rolling bass drop
Using lyrics and section tags to place the drop
If your track has vocals, structure tells the song where the drop goes. The lyric editor offers tags such as [Intro], [Verse], [Pre-Chorus], [Chorus], [Hook], [Instrumental] and [Outro]. In an EDM song, treat [Pre-Chorus] as the build, with a few short rising lines, and put the drop at [Chorus] or [Instrumental] with a short hook or chant. Keep the drop lyrics minimal; a long verse over a drop smothers it.
- [Pre-Chorus] हाथ उठा, आवाज़ बढ़ा / Haath utha, awaaz badha
- [Chorus] नाच ले, नाच ले, आज की रात / Naach le, naach le, aaj ki raat
- Punjabi hook: Bass vajje, dil nachche
- English chant: Lights down, hands up, here we go
Step by step in Autunes
Everything runs in the browser at www.autunes.com. New accounts get 15 credits once, enough for one track.
- Pick a genre preset such as EDM, House, Trance, Dubstep or Drum & Bass, or paste your own prompt. Switch on Instrumental only for a pure club track.
- Set the BPM in Custom mode so it matches your sub-genre.
- Choose Zori5 Turbo (10 credits) for drafts or Zori5.5 XL (15 credits) for a fuller mix.
- Generate. A track is usually ready in 2-4 minutes, up to 3 minutes long on Free and Pro and up to 5 minutes on Creator, which leaves room for two builds and drops.
Fixing a drop that lands flat
If the track is good but the drop underwhelms, keep the track. In the Studio editor, select the drop on the waveform and run a variation: only that section changes and the rest stays identical. A variation costs 5 credits; the free plan includes one and Pro and Creator are unlimited. You can add a short style note to the variation, such as 'bigger riser, harder kick'.
Change one thing per attempt so you can tell what helped. If the whole track lacks contrast, go back to the prompt and make the build quieter and sparser rather than making the drop louder. Contrast is what you hear as impact.
On Pro and Creator, stems (5 credits) split the track into drums, bass and the other parts, so you can check the kick and bass hit cleanly on their own, a common habit in dance production. MIDI export lets you rebuild the lead in your own software, and Layer Studio adds an extra drums or bass layer for 5 credits.
Licence for DJ sets, reels and releases
Free-plan tracks are for personal use. The ₹9 single-song licence gives you the download and commercial use of that track. Pro (₹599 for 30 days) and Creator (₹2,999 for 30 days) cover every track for monetised YouTube, reels, events and release on Spotify and other services through any distributor, with no royalty to Autunes.
Common mistakes
- Describing only the drop and not the build.
- Saying 'EDM' without a sub-genre or tempo.
- A build as loud as the drop, so nothing changes when it hits.
- Too many words over the drop.
- Regenerating the whole song to fix one section.