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Boring Melody

Always when i create my main melodies i come up with the same boring 8-beat melodies... When i listen professional trance, it's far more complex and it often takes 32 beats or even more until one melody-cycle is finished.

In my newest track, again, its far too repetitive, what can i do to lengthen this melody, any ideas???

http://members.chello.nl/dthijssen/...urs(beta_2).mp3

hmmmm sounds fine to me, it's got a nice vibe. For that lead try making another loop just like it except give it a couple extra notes and drop it in later in the track for a more "progressive" feel. imo of course

Sounded alright to me too. But the problem was the melody had 100% of the focus. There was 0 bass of any kind, or any percussion or anything. It'll sound fine once you get something else in there.

I'd say that's actually pretty good as an intro riff. Reminds me a lot of the demostyle melodies I used to hear. If it were my project, then for the "meat" of the song, I'd take that 2-bar phrase and extend it to an 8-bar phrase.

What makes a good melody is pretty subjective, but here's a super-abridged overview of what we learn in Harmony & Counterpoint (I'm assuming you have a good understanding of keys and intervals):

- Melodies should move in small steps as much as possible (no more than a 3rd);
- When a melody "leaps", it usually takes a small step or two in the opposite direction first;
- Don't use the tritone (i.e. C to F#) unless you're really sure of what you're doing;
- Melodies should return to the note they started on; the best overall "shape", at least for a classical-style (or trance) melody, is usually a simple up-down curve; if not a simple curve, a melody should visually be as smooth (as opposed to jagged or zig-zaggy) as possible;
- If you're writing a counterpoint (i.e. two melodies), you want them moving in opposite directions as much as possible, and definitely avoid parallel 5ths or octaves.

Of course, you'll end up with damn bland baroque-sounding melodies if you follow these rules to the letter - they're more like loose guidelines, and if you're working on jazz or funk melodies then the rules are completely different and take forever to learn.

I'm no expert at melody-writing, but I find that knowing the "rules" does help sometimes, in particular when you're feeling stumped. Hope that helps... apologies if I'm just telling you what you already know

I've found a great way to learn about composition is to grab a midi of some track you like (doesn't matter if it's trance), and making sure the midi has multiple parts written (the bass, the melody, etc.), Delete all parts except for the one part, maybe leaving just the bass, and then try to recompose the rest of the track from your head. Then do the melody and try to recompose the bass from your head. Then maybe keep some of the parts the same as the original but re-compose your own version for some parts... etc. I remember the first time I heard Traffic, and there's the crazy lead part that changes chords, but no drums underneath, and then when the drums finally arrive again, the lead goes back to the original. Well, in my version, I kept the chord changing part and recomposed a changing bass line, and it sounded really really cool. So, that can be a fun way to learn.

tnx mates, that is very useful information... I will try to add some extra bars with your tips in mind

I see what you mean.

What you have so far would be great for an intro, and then have a full 32 bar melody come down after a short breakdown.

There really isn't anything solid I can tell you about making melodies, since the possibilities are endless and complex. However, I can say this...

A melody is usually mostly filler sounds padding several notes that comprise the hook; that super catchy part that makes the filler sound awesome, and brings your track to life.

Usually the hook is 4 to 6 notes, play around with the lengths. If you have a midi controller or a key synth, it makes this entire process much, much easier since you can perform trial and error. If not, drawing things into your sequencer can work just as well.

Check out other people's midis and see exactly what they did. You can always tell by doing this when someone used a midi device (ie: lots of notes high up and then others low, playing off of each other indicating that they used hardware) or if they used a sequencer (ie: complex patterns playing off of each other, and usually singular but unique hook patterns).

Usually my melodies are the result of writing a 8 or 16 bar melody, and then tweaking it to make the next 8 to 16 bars similar but different in a catchy way. It's a tricky science, and sometimes you get lucky. When you need to, check out other people's midis to jumpstart your creative engine.

Good luck and don't give up, just keep playing around with it and you will find what you're looking for.

A little trick I like to use when I find that my melody is too repetitive is to add a variation that's either a couple of notes higher (I just select every note in the melody, paste them in a new pattern and drag them up a few steps), or I play the same melody again an octave higher. But really the possibilities are endless. You just have to experiment alot and find stuff that works.

quote:

Originally posted by Aquarian A little trick I like to use when I find that my melody is too repetitive is to add a variation that's either a couple of notes higher (I just select every note in the melody, paste them in a new pattern and drag them up a few steps), or I play the same melody again an octave higher. But really the possibilities are endless. You just have to experiment alot and find stuff that works.

That's a good one - what you're referring to is actually called a motif in music writing.

To put it in layman's terms, you basically follow 3 steps:
- Write a short melody A (2-5 notes)
- Write a short melody B
- For each note in A, transpose melody B, using A as the root note.

Of course you also have to make sure you keep it in key, and usually you'll change or ornament some of the notes. Take a very popular melody from the rave era:
A: A5 G5 A5 A5 G5 (first 3 notes are quarters, second two are 8ths)
B: A5 E5 A5 B5 (all same length)
Put it together and play it on your keyboard (all notes the same length): A5 E5 A5 B5 G5 D5 A5 B5 A5 E5 A5 B5 A5 E5 G5 D5

As with everything else I've mentioned, it doesn't follow the "rules" to the letter, but you can see pretty plainly how that riff was written. The point again is not to formularize music composition, just to give some direction if you're lost...

wow tnx guys!!! this really made me thinking

Something else that will help more than you may imagine: the sound you're using to compose with. You're tracks will have that flare when you get that lead sound that drives the melody without thought. Rarely, but still sometimes, I get sounds that my hands just fly over chords on the keyboard without thought, and I've never taken piano lessons. Starting with a really cool sound will get you working, not just: "K, it's going to be a supersaw lead when I'm finished, so for right now while I'm getting the composing done, I'm going to use a little temporary (crappier) supersaw." Bad idea, that's how shit is made.

omg I <3 demostyle

break out the chiptune vst

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut I'd say that's actually pretty good as an intro riff. Reminds me a lot of the demostyle melodies I used to hear. If it were my project, then for the "meat" of the song, I'd take that 2-bar phrase and extend it to an 8-bar phrase.

+1

Pretty sweet, but doesn't really sound like a full melody as he said.

I am amazed about the help and feedback i get all the time in here, i will definately let you guys know what the end result will sound like and it will be a co-production of 50.000 people in a way

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