TIP: 5 elements to a song.
these are the 5 elements with the usual suspects.
1. the base: kick & bass
2. groove: hi hat, shaker, tom groove, snare etc...
3. pad: strings, pad, electric swells etc...
4. lead: vocal, electric solo, sax etc....
5. fills: synth, toms, background vocals etc...
In any good song all 5 elements are going to be present. why is this important? Because half the battle of a good song is in the arrangement. There is a lot to be said about this. knowing how to arrange a song well, is very important, even more important than the mixing. It creates tension and release that allows for a song to flow. There's so much that can be said about this and there are doctoral studies on this subject... let me just scratch the surface and help you recognize it's importance. If your song feels boring ask yourself what element is it missing? what can i add? or do i need to subtract something? At any given point in a song there should only be at most 4 of these elements, generally, otherwise it gets too busy. Happy music making!