I've always found that the best lead riffs weren't great because of the notes they played, but because of very well thought-out modulation, filtering, etc... They make the sound actually speak and tell a story. Kind of like the difference between playing a musical instrument(guitar, etc...) proficiently, and being great at it. I try to acheive this by carefully modulating various parameters to give a a steady sense of movement, or to accent a particular beat or note, but it always seems kind of hit-or-miss, does anybody have any thoughts/ideas/theories they'd like to share?
When I was studying in a music school, my piano teacher always asked me to sing while playing. This helps a lot to feel the correct articulation.
I think the same can be applied to electronic music - nearly every phrase, even non-harmonic can be kind of "singed", at least inside your mind. It will make it easier to analyze what should be more accented and what less.
aciduss
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Posted : Jul 6, 2009 19:23
I asked about riffs time ago and got pretty nice answers... maybe when the search function is back on i could get the thread linked for you.
About the modulation thing i just remembered when linking velocity to cutoff and/or resonance of a synths filter knob, you can do it with other parameters too like PWM, reverb, drive, etc...
About theories to share... well i have many of my so called "loop theories" most of them for standard 4/4 patterns... most of my ideas are simple but difficult to explain in text... i can advice to dance to your patterns, if you find it hard to dance your music then other people will fill the same, a working riff will be always driving so when it is not ok you can find a way to make it better dancing to it and feeling what is extra or missing.
For nice riffs i always take into account: percussion, syncopation, octaves, the second and fourth quarters are strong because of the kick+snare so i try to build everything around the contrast that the snares and openhats create, every riff is created to empower this contrast and thus the willing to dance or impulse an idea/emotion into the track.
my 2c.
ohshit
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Posted : Jul 6, 2009 20:07
-choose the right timbre
-minor and phrygian scales works well
-play with the I, the III, the IV and the V rhytmically
-consider always rhythm, tone and velocities
-variations are good
Koozer Mox
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Posted : Jul 6, 2009 20:12
cool topic =)
i personnaly for example..i wanna find the notes of a specific melody first sing the melody then find the starting note
after that everything start to appear by itself (most of the time)
playing with various octaves maybe same notes but in diferent octaves with some changes between them
You can use phrasing like, 4 bars of 7/4 which add up to 28, which is the same as using 7 bars of 4. It will change your melodic structure there and make for some very interesting riffs that people won't be able to completely anticipate, but will stay within the structure of the 4/4 song.
Becktrank
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Posted : Jul 6, 2009 20:47
Quote:
On 2009-07-06 20:41, Obelizk wrote:
To mix things up.
You can use phrasing like, 4 bars of 7/4 which add up to 28, which is the same as using 7 bars of 4. It will change your melodic structure there and make for some very interesting riffs that people won't be able to completely anticipate, but will stay within the structure of the 4/4 song.
After those 4 bars of 7/4 you can go back to writing melody in 4/4 and it will sound almost like a time resolution.
i dont get totally, 7/4 makes me confused
hey, if i m righting a track in one key, is it ok to it to have some riffs in other keys?
``We shall not cease from exploration - And the end of all our exploring - Will be to arrive where we started - And know the place for the first time.``
bahia
aciduss
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Posted : Jul 6, 2009 20:58
can we have more on the 7/4 thing... i din't get it right... how many kicks are there in a 7/4 bar?
Crap... I can do all of the technical dorky stuff really good, but I can't sing or dance....
This is interesting:
Quote:
On 2009-07-06 20:41, Obelizk wrote:
To mix things up.
You can use phrasing like, 4 bars of 7/4 which add up to 28, which is the same as using 7 bars of 4. It will change your melodic structure there and make for some very interesting riffs that people won't be able to completely anticipate, but will stay within the structure of the 4/4 song.
After those 4 bars of 7/4 you can go back to writing melody in 4/4 and it will sound almost like a time resolution.
Cheers for that, I believe I've heard this kind of thing before, but didn't quite understand how it was done. This also kind of ties into "making a riff talk", I've noticed in alot of Middle Eastern music, the rhythm seems to be "rapping"(ala Snoop Dogg, etc...) to me... At one point I found this great website on Middle Eastern rhythm, but almost none of it was in 4/4, so I gave up on trying to apply it to conventional psytrance.
Axis Mundi
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Posted : Jul 7, 2009 11:41
You can always add onto or take away from a MIDI or audio riff in order to "fit" it into a standard 8-bar psytrance 4/4 progression.
sp0ok
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Posted : Jul 7, 2009 12:08
Sorry to hijack this one ... but figured that since we were discussing modulation in riffs and leads i might as well post this here.
0:43 to 1:08
How did they do that ??
"Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth."
Neo: "What truth?"
Spoon Boy: "There is no spoon."
sp0ok
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Posted : Jul 7, 2009 12:10
Quote:
On 2009-07-07 12:08, sp0ok wrote:
Sorry to hijack this one ... but figured that since we were discussing modulation in riffs and leads i might as well post this here.
0:43 to 1:08
How did they do that ??
Nice 303 line at 2:35 too ... =)
"Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth."
Neo: "What truth?"
Spoon Boy: "There is no spoon."
ouroboros
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Posted : Jul 8, 2009 00:08
whats tat weird fade out-fade in wit the sample...
n why does it sound like a remix of deeply disturbed??
n if it is a rmx of deeply disturbed...cud someone tell me the trk details?? plz http://www.myspace.com/musicouroboros
**treat ur mind like a bad neighbourhood - dont go thr alone**
