it would take me longer to actually look at the midi than just listen to a song for 10 seconds. The melodies in trance are extremely simple and tend to follow harmony syntax 100% of the time. I assume most pros are also adept at just hearing a song and knowing what is going on within seconds.

As far as a strategy ? Learn harmony. Take a year or 2 to really learn it and i guarantee there won't be a song you won't be able to figure out in less time than it takes to make a grilled cheese sandwich. In your quest of learning harmony , make it a point to learn it while using the piano so you can apply it to your own music.

quote:

Originally posted by RichieV As far as a strategy ? Learn harmony. Take a year or 2 to really learn it and i guarantee there won't be a song you won't be able to figure out in less time than it takes to make a grilled cheese sandwich. In your quest of learning harmony , make it a point to learn it while using the piano so you can apply it to your own music.

Any good tip in how ?

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buy a book and just hack away at it. It isn't that hard to get started. Most of the stuff you would use in lets say trance is pretty simple. YOu could learn enough theory and harmony in 3 years to listen to any orchestral work and know what chords are playing.
As far as what book , maybe someone has mentioned something already but i would just go down to your local music book shop and find something that has alot of examples and not too much writting that will just confuse you.

I guess you have to be able to sort of read music but that should take you a day or 2 to at least understand haphazardly. So learn to read music a bit , then go buy a keyboard harmony book. I say keybaord harmony because traditional harmony books like Adwell And Schacter's Harmony And Voice leading deal with alot of things like proper resolution and preperation of dissonants which altho important , might confuse someone who is just trying to learn enough so they can improve their production craft.

I remember entering Music school at mcgill in drums not knowing how to read music and could barely play the piano. In a year , i had discovered harmony and it totally changed everything. After a year , i had gone from not knowing anything about music to being able to listen to any song and tell you what chords were playing. After 3 years or so of studying music theory and harmony, i can honestly say there is little music i will listen to a wonder what is going on. It really is powerfull.

So just like you spend time learning how to make synth sounds , spend an hour of day going thru a harmony book. It will pay off.

this was an assignement i made my first year. So basically going from not knowing anything to this took me about 6 months.

http://www3.telus.net/joanmey/choir-01b.mp3

you should be able to make a rmx without a midi file. it takes five seconds to replay any melodies that someone else has played in the original version.

i never understand people moaning about lack of midi files in rmx packs. id rather have 3 decent wav's than a whole pack including a project file for the sequencer i use.

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A few months back I ripped a sample from a track that I really liked and was able to write other rhythm in the same key for the sample.
I was so happy with myself haha .
Learn to do it by ear because you won't always be able to get the midis.

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quote:

Originally posted by richg101 i never understand people moaning about lack of midi files in rmx packs. id rather have 3 decent wav's than a whole pack including a project file for the sequencer i use.

How the hell could you not understand that?

Because you are blissed with the skills and patience of reading other music, doesnt mean other people like me, are ABLE to do the same thing.. I couldnt hear if I played the right key even if I pressed it.

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Its not hard to transcribe music without having notation, tablature or a MIDI file. All music will come down to permutations of 12 notes. 7 whole tones and 5 semi tones.

Even without any knowledge whatsoever you could simply trial and error it by cutting a loop, time stretching it so its really slow and easier to follow. Then play each one of 12 notes until you get the right pitch reference. Then move onto the next note. Its slow and tedious but its not hard.

Learning the theory for the purposes of transcription just makes the process of transcribing tunes quicker. And when you get good you don't need to do things like slow a song down to make out all the notes as most music is based on scales and common chord patterns making it fairly easy (in most cases but not all) to guess whats coming next.

not comenting too much but i will say this id rather load a midi file and re compose the notes then sit there and attempt to recreate a note structure that might be impossible for me myself and end up kicking myself for hours whereas taking someone whos allready attempted that might not be spot on and make it spot on...... but what do i know im a shittie producer with way too much musical background. id tend to agree about remix packs having a midi is nice to atleast give you something to work with in respects to see what an artists felt worked best and your job is to make it better not just copy the midi sequence.

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If you're not skilled enough to hear how the music goes, you should not take on a task like remixing.

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quote:

Originally posted by Snakebyte If you're not skilled enough to hear how the music goes, you should not take on a task like remixing.

You are kidding me? what a statement

Typical "I know how its done, so should you"

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quote:

Originally posted by Snakebyte If you're not skilled enough to hear how the music goes, you should not take on a task like remixing.

That's bullshit.

A midi helps and I always prefer one, but I can make my own.

Then again, you can come across a track where so much is going on that it's virtually impossible to get all the midi's correct.