Hi folks,

Major apologies to those people this post my offend due to my inexperience & lack of knowledge (if helping a newbie upsets you in anyway please exit this topic!!!! :-) ).

I have just about every post on the producers message board for the last 6 months or so, but still I struggle a bit to understand theory (although I have been reading heavily, especially Derivative's & Diginut's extremely helpful posts, not to mention Mr Mystery's!).

I think I speak for a lot of people starting out on the journey trying to make music, in that understanding harmony and music theory is bloody difficult. In saying that though admittedly reading heavily and practice does bring rewards. I've just started piano lessons (although I'm no spring chicken!... being over 30) and that's helping also.

I still have some burning question's as a result, one's which many people will have also I think, so I felt I had to post and see if you guys can help me. I've done a midi and I was hoping that I might get some reply's also either in midi, mp3 or flp form so that other people can also benefit. To that end I'm willing to 'reward' the person who I consider the best 'helper' either to a cd, voucher, something of ebay or credits for downloads (whatever they choose, say up to £20 or equivelent, hopefully that's a fair swap).

Here is the midi (a simple if not crap 8 bar progression dreamed up by myself!)...
[[ LINK REMOVED ]]


& mp3....

[[ LINK REMOVED ]]


My stupid questions...

* What is the root note here - is it A.. as I have started with this? or C as all the chords are all I, ii, iii & vi - from C (which what I was trying to do)? Or am I missing the point here?

* What can I use as bass melody, other than following the bottom note of the chord, which I don't want to do as I always do that?

* What notes can I use over the chords to be in harmony other than those 3 notes in the chord? Anybody care to share a simple melody & why in theory it works?

* What would be a good progression from here? Again any helpers?


Anybody choosing to help I bow my cap to you and wish you many thanks. And as I say anybody posting an example midi or flp even more thanks & I will honestly reward the best person & post the name at the end of this thread.

Thank-you all so much.

Mike

I don't think anyone here desires any kind of reward here, beyond the occasional 'thank you.' The tutorial services provided here are all for the sake of helping fellow producers improve. Please don't offer recompense for something we'd all provide willingly otherwise.

This is actually probably one the most common chord combination in trance (not a bad thing). you've got an A minor, D minor and E minor chord, with an E major and a C major chord thrown in there, which gives it a bit more uplifting vibe. I'd say this track is in A minor, mostly because it starts on the A minor chord and resolves there.

Personally, I'd just repeat a one measure pattern on A while arping to G, C and D once in a while. This creates dissonance on the Em, Emaj, and Cmaj chords (so that last measure sounds very taught, and enhances the resolution.

Technically, this is because the bass makes the entire song up of A chords, so that you get chords like fifths, fourths, minor thirds and octaves from that A root, then some added tones way up there, like 14ths and up.

Of course, it really depends on if you're looking for an uplifting track or a darker track. The musicality of each style is characterized by a different chord progression. The one note idea is good for the darker sound. You'd probably want to go between A and C ever two measures for an uplifting sound. Then again you could do an arping bassline between the notes I mentioned a la Spicelab. See this midi:

Yousendit crap.

Here's an mp3 of what I did with it using Synth1, tweakbench pressure, one of BrenF's kicks, and some sidechaining between the kick and bassline.

More yousendit crap.

Couldn't tell you why the arpeggio works, though. That one was just a nifty thought that passed through my head, and worked out in the end.

___________________

www.jexmusic.com - My website

Last edited by thoughtlessjex on Feb-10-2006 at 21:51

thoughtlessjex:

Thank you so much for your reply, and the midi & mp3 are really great. I struggle a touch with some of the technicalities of the theory you write but I understand 80% of it , many many thanks.

Just on the point of reward, I didn't mean to offend anyone, that was the last thing I wanted to do! I know that people go out of ther way to help other individuals on this site & in this day and age that is refreshing to see. I know to answer my queries takes time and effort and it was just a way of showing my appreciation for anyone who was willing to help me.

Hey if it offends anyone I apologise now.

Thanks once again, Mike

hey there... ive fiddled about on this one, and i made this melody.. its an arpish thing thats based on the chords, only with an upper melody to supplement the chords.. ive done two changes to the pad, and that is to stretch one of the bars a little, cus it suited my melody better and i pushed the last lower note in bar 4 to bar 5... i chose to make the bass follow the lower notes, cus it sounded better in my ears..


mp3 -> http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=...WL3KSJQGSET5W3O

flp -> http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=...4X1I5JSU9XHHHT0

and even if thougtlessjex gets offended by a reward, i dont, cus im in the military and im getting paid 12 bucks a day so yeah.. feel free to reward me if youd like.. (did that last part sound like something out of a bad porn flick? lol)

edit: did a superstab anthemy thing to...

mp3 -> http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=...XU3F1P2TZUSQB2U

flp -> http://s46.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=...XL1JXWTP9AFV7KB

___________________
BA-DUM-TSS

quote:

ALFI - BOHICA - DJ MIX (Stream+Dropbox)

Last edited by itsamemario on Feb-12-2006 at 02:08

dj_alfi:

Cheers mate - you've really helped me here (and a few others no doubt). Love what you've done.

I'll let the thread go just one more day.

Do you have any examples of a full track you've done? Been producing long?

Cheers Mike

Practice!



Sadly, it really is the answer.

In this Midi file you'll find two tracks.
The Mp3!

I used your chords, but changed the way the longer chords are played.
I kept your rythm although with a beat you can't put the snare on 2 and 4 al the way because your 16 bars are not devided in 4x4 bars.
I created a melody using the changes in the chords and the rythm you gave.

thanks everyone who replied.

really appreciate the time & effort, hope this helps other people also

mike