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Author
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Melody thread ?? , The mother of all
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
84
Posts :
981
Posted : Oct 29, 2007 12:13
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I consider myself a musician more than a producer, I play the piano and I'm probably better at that than I am the technical side of things. Once you know a few scales, there really is no method to melody. Notes in any random order and a rhythm give a melody.
As proven by Howard Goodall in his tv show called 'How Music Works'. He walked down the street and asked random strangers to pick notes out of a bag and others to pick the time between them. Voila, instant new melody.
This is pretty much what I do when writing a melody, even 'going to school' and learning what I'm doing when I pick random notes just helps me avoid ones that aren't in the scale. If there was a formula, other than adjusting by ear to fit your song, everything I made would be based around that formula and thus boring. There is no formula beyond scales.. even then you can pick notes outside the scale as accidentals.
There is even a sample in a Voice of Cod song that says something about using notes in no particular order to create melodies we all love..
Chords are something else entirely, but then, I don't use them, I only create harmony between instruments. |
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mk47
Inactive User
Started Topics :
118
Posts :
4444
Posted : Oct 29, 2007 13:22
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man .. how i regret quitting piano lessons as a kid .. yeah .. if u know how to play an instrument .. thats more than halt the battle won .. arp presets is easy way out but not good for the most part .. anyway ..since i got a midi keyboard .. what i do is try and recreate any really catchy popular melody that i get in my mind .. can be from anything . for eg .. power of celtic , deep purple - smoke on the water riff , or just about anything .. any simple catchy commercial tune ..whatever .. and keep an eye on the piano roll to see what notes im playing .. then record ,, quantize if need be .. layer some beats around it ..
i know it may seem silly if ur trained in piano or whatever .. but hey we all start somewhere ..
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piXan
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
107
Posts :
807
Posted : Oct 29, 2007 14:47
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learning scales and chord progression is basic even when using arpeggiator or other midi tools. i have never been to music school, but ive taught myself reading about the above melodies. also good software like Nut Chords which is great and free, theres also another called Scales. If u dont have a midi keyboard get one, and practice your playing of it a lot. also i find the creative editing of midi using different note lenghts, quantize, velocity its all in ur imagination. one cool thing about scales is that if it sounds great , then u know ure on the right scale. develope ur ear. if u play another instrument like guitar try using ur knowlege on technique on the keyboard and midi. watch videos . i like tal tolchin essentials of piano , is the closest to an actual piano class. get NI akoustik piano and watch the video. ull catch up quickly. there are also bunch of tools to help u out like midi , arpegiators, randomizers , step sequencer plugins but i suggest u learn basics first , then break them..
  www.soundcloud.com/elektroakustica/sets/downtempo/ |
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brasirc
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
10
Posts :
299
Posted : Oct 29, 2007 17:55
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Quote:
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On 2007-10-29 13:22, mk47 wrote:
i know it may seem silly if ur trained in piano or whatever .. but hey we all start somewhere ..
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hey... look at me...i can play the intro of Imagine...
and that christmas song...
thats it xD
but yeah, have been familiarizing with scales and chords for a bit...
i find chords a bit easier...
and scales, everytime i use a specific scale for a project...half a way in the project i already have the scale memorized...
what helped me quite a bit also was studying a project someone done before...reading their melodic midis...and reading their patterns...
i wasnt used to any instrument before, but i belive i got now a decent theoric knowledge of music theory...i just need to find more pratical ways of putting it to use, then again...only thing that can teach me...is practice =p
  un-fucking-believable |
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Mike A
Subra
Started Topics :
185
Posts :
3954
Posted : Oct 29, 2007 23:17
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bukboy
Hyperboreans
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
803
Posted : Oct 30, 2007 08:19
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erm - obviously all that stuff that they teach for years in a music school is uhhh worthless coz u can do it on your own. plonking away at random notes.
Yup.
Ok no more out of me. |
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Adharaguy
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
37
Posts :
138
Posted : Oct 30, 2007 15:41
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first..... play a note....and then close your eyes and go experimentation put a note were and puts another note there..... you have many notes to play....so play it.... the rythmic of a melody is very important to..... of curse its help when you now music theory because its camme more natural(and more,more,more fast)..... try this
put a note...1/16 and then put another note 3 notes above....and other 2 notes above to...that is the basic to do a chords....and then copy paste and puts somme note in the black.....for leads its works......for pads and things like that the story is differents.. for pads works long notes and (use the must used notes of you bassline) |
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Work4Acid
Started Topics :
2
Posts :
30
Posted : Oct 31, 2007 02:39
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just lock yourself into your room and take LSD (a lot), The next day you will have a masterpiece all done! garanteed!
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m4f14b0y
Started Topics :
2
Posts :
12
Posted : Oct 31, 2007 15:37
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Quote:
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On 2007-10-26 19:56, Saf wrote:
If you're good at sequencing drums parts, but not doing melody, try this:
Make a drum sequence in midi with Battery or something, and then delete battery and drop in a synth to play the notes instead.
There's a rhythm for you, now move the notes to follow whatever scale you're trying to be in.
I can't even believe I'm giving advice on this since I haven't made a decent melody in months
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i´m a drummer, but a crappy melody maker... i´ll try your advice!
tnx
  Purple Haze all in my brain/lately things don't seem the same/ Actin' funny but I don't know why/ 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky |
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aciduss
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
112
Posts :
1490
Posted : Nov 2, 2007 00:42
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Hi. I'm still so noobie at both, production and music.
I came across this problem before and well.. In a way i still struggle when creating melodies but i have found many interesting ways of acheiving that. Many have been said here and in the Mother of Music theory but i will list them anyway:
- Get a midi controller even a 25 keys one will do the trick, nothing like playing with your hands on a horizontal keyset (not a vertical piano roll).
- Learn basic music theory, as someone said... all what you learn will teach you to forget the same stuff with time, but learning how to break the rules is the trick. I've read about notes, chords, scales, progressions, etc.
- Have the melody in your head. Imagine how you want it to sound, sing your tunes, find the right notes to match what's in yer head. Most important of all, try to express something, to tell a story to make people feel something in particular not just a melody.
The raven spiral helped me a lot and so did this tuto:
http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=360771&perpage=12&forumid=&pagenumber=1
So well. Good luck with music. I like to say music is a bitch, sometimes it can flow so nice, sometimes it will refuse so hard.
cheers |
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djbadboy
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
4
Posted : Nov 2, 2007 01:47
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Kaz
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
90
Posts :
2268
Posted : Nov 2, 2007 13:49
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In the words of Simon Posford: "There are only 12 notes in Western music"... Seriously, learn what a scale is (minor scale, used in melodic trance: C, D, D#, F, G, A, A#... want it with a darker, deeper edge? C, C#, D#, F, F#/G, G#, A#/B... want it more "up"? C, D, E, F, G, A, A#/B... etc).
As long as you stick with a scale your melody will be all right. You can go one step further (like appregios do) and work with chords: C, D#, G, A# (the Cm7 Chord, most common one in psytrance) - you can even sometimes change a combination of notes - as long as you're in your scale, it'll be all good. And nearly any combination of 6 notes that are more or less spaced around your 12 notes will create a scale - as long as you stick with your scale in all elements IT'LL SOUND FINE HARMONICALLY, all you need to do is work on the sound/groove of it. And any combination of 3-4 notes out of these will create a chord, and changing a chord will IMMEDIATELY give a different feel to the track, giving it a much-more-complex-than-it-realy-is feeling.
Transpose these notes to your base note (this short explanation is assuming you use C as a base note). Shifting scales and stuff like that is a bit tougher on creating harmonies, especially for beginners at this stuff, but give it enough practice and it'll become a second nature (like it is for any guitarist out there).
Appregios are only a use of this, nothing more. This is how they are built, and this way it allows you more creativity, and a much clearer use of a groove. BTW, if you're interested in seeing advanced uses of this, MFG and The Art of Trance are two acts that really have an in-depth touch for this. That's why they can create stuff more uplifting than any appregio-based full-on which is soooooooo friggin' common nowadays.
Example: write a simple 1 bar melody using the notes C, D#, and G (Cm is the name of the chord). Copy it again, and then once more - only this time, replace the D# notes with F notes, and the G notes with A notes, and copy it a fourth time, and replace the C note with A#, the D# with D and the G with F. Notice how this uses the basic melodic trance scale, never leaving it. Since it's a C scale, you can just keep the bassline on C. You now have a 4 bar melody with an impressive and "complex" feel to it. It'll still work, you're staying in scale.
It's just that simple.
Hope I've been helpfull.  http://www.myspace.com/Hooloovoo222 |
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soulfood
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
10
Posts :
875
Posted : Nov 2, 2007 21:42
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Quote:
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On 2007-10-29 12:13, Tomos wrote:
I consider myself a musician more than a producer, I play the piano and I'm probably better at that than I am the technical side of things. Once you know a few scales, there really is no method to melody. Notes in any random order and a rhythm give a melody.
As proven by Howard Goodall in his tv show called 'How Music Works'. He walked down the street and asked random strangers to pick notes out of a bag and others to pick the time between them. Voila, instant new melody.
This is pretty much what I do when writing a melody, even 'going to school' and learning what I'm doing when I pick random notes just helps me avoid ones that aren't in the scale. If there was a formula, other than adjusting by ear to fit your song, everything I made would be based around that formula and thus boring. There is no formula beyond scales.. even then you can pick notes outside the scale as accidentals.
There is even a sample in a Voice of Cod song that says something about using notes in no particular order to create melodies we all love..
Chords are something else entirely, but then, I don't use them, I only create harmony between instruments.
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I guess this is kind of true but when I learn a scale I don't just learn how to play it, I learn the difference between each and every interval involved so I can use it in my head, making the writing process much quicker.
Oh and if you're creating harmony between different instruments then you are indeed using a chord.
I think the most fun I can have when it comes to creating something new out of what I know in terms of melody, is creating my own scales. Most of them don't "work" in the traditional western sense, but for example a 2 octave scale can be a tense son of a bitch.
Also people should learn the difference between knowledge and rules |
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aXis
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
116
Posts :
2562
Posted : Nov 3, 2007 16:23
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thanks fr sharing ur inputs ..
theres a lot to learn here already ...
pls carry on |
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:smoke2:
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
150
Posted : Nov 7, 2007 10:15
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just jam |
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