Yeah, it helps me. Can't guarantee anything for you, but personally it allows me to come up with chords pogressions which are unusual. Then again, I play very much by ear, and have quite a good ear, it may not work for someone who doesn't intrinsically know what sounds good or what they want...

EDIT: Sorry, it sounds like I'm implying you don't know what you want/ have no ear. Didn't mean it that way.

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it's kinda like painting by numbers for music...

i like to just randomly go on tangents and brainstorm sounds... not saying it works better, but i find it more fun

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quote:

Originally posted by Sonic_c Ok can we turn this thread into a share what you know about theory because it would help so many. One thing I want to know is how in some tunes the big pad drop is real euphoric and moody and it builds and builds but then seems to gain energy as the chords are higher. Not an octave higer mind but just higher. These cant be just inversions or the harmonics would remain the same. Does anyone know what i mean. It could be a key change but does anyone know the theory behind changing the key of a trance song without sounding to out of place?

i think a way of gaining energy in the pads as they build is to maybe to cut the high end to begin with then gradually bring it in then eventually have a little boost around the 5kHz range maybe.

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quote:

Originally posted by djandymac i think a way of gaining energy in the pads as they build is to maybe to cut the high end to begin with then gradually bring it in then eventually have a little boost around the 5kHz range maybe.

See useful to the thread!

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Processing a highly structured and complex pattern of sensory input as a unified percept of "music" is probably one of the most elaborate features of the human brain.....understanding how music is perceived and how it may elicit intense sensations is far from being understood.

quote:

Originally posted by Sonic_c See useful to the thread!

layering works well for pads.a sring section is how i go about making my shit build and work for me.
i recomend this to anyone practice first by pulling on all the real music synths you have.select a nice siring play a few notes or cords and look for the other srings and sounds you need or like dont always go for the good one every time other wise it wont balance out.

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how about lowpass filter?

I think I can do this in under 30 (well maybe) words.

Western Tonality in a nutshell.

-Quality types-
(i'm using C as a base)

Major:
C-E-G

Minor:
C-Eb-G

Diminished:
C-Eb-Gb

So pretty much I'm gonna try to teach ppl how to make good chord progressions.

Uppercase is a major chord, lowercase is minor, and this* is diminished.

MAJOR:
I - ii - iii - IV - V - vi - vii*

Minor:
i-ii*-III-iv-v(V)-VI-VII

Every key or scale has these chords build into them. If you move from your ROOT chord to other chords it will sound good. Pretty much id you are in C major then you move to a D minor it's gonna sound good because D minor is a part of the C major chord progression.

What I think some ppl get stuck on is they think that if they are in a minor key, all their chords should be minor, NO. You wanna switch from minor to major.

Also if you are finding it hard on choosing where to go next in your chord progression try useing this.

Up a 4th, down a 3rd, up a 1st. Up a step would be this, you are on C you move up 4 from C which is F (you start counting 1 on the not you start on).

You know I could go on and on, just about good chord progressions, but I'm gonna stop here cause this is getting kinda long.

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quote:

Originally posted by offensive_newbi how about lowpass filter?

could make the pads sound dull, unless u mean to start with then bring the high freqs back in to gain energy.

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a way i learned to remember the keys of a major chord were the pattern, its the same for every major chord and goes like so:

wt = whole tone
st = semi tone

wt,wt,st,wt,wt,wt,st

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quote:

Originally posted by Frost-RAVEN I think I can do this in under 30 (well maybe) words. Western Tonality in a nutshell. -Quality types- (i'm using C as a base) Major: C-E-G Minor: C-Eb-G Diminished: C-Eb-Gb So pretty much I'm gonna try to teach ppl how to make good chord progressions. Uppercase is a major chord, lowercase is minor, and this* is diminished. MAJOR: I - ii - iii - IV - V - vi - vii* Minor: i-ii*-III-iv-v(V)-VI-VII Every key or scale has these chords build into them. If you move from your ROOT chord to other chords it will sound good. Pretty much id you are in C major then you move to a D minor it's gonna sound good because D minor is a part of the C major chord progression. What I think some ppl get stuck on is they think that if they are in a minor key, all their chords should be minor, NO. You wanna switch from minor to major. Also if you are finding it hard on choosing where to go next in your chord progression try useing this. Up a 4th, down a 3rd, up a 1st. Up a step would be this, you are on C you move up 4 from C which is F (you start counting 1 on the not you start on). You know I could go on and on, just about good chord progressions, but I'm gonna stop here cause this is getting kinda long.

PLEASE CONTINUE THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I STARTED THIS THREAD!

Seriously I know most of you know all this already but i can assure you there are lots of people like me who these bits of info really help!

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Processing a highly structured and complex pattern of sensory input as a unified percept of "music" is probably one of the most elaborate features of the human brain.....understanding how music is perceived and how it may elicit intense sensations is far from being understood.

Last edited by Sonic_c on Dec-17-2008 at 14:19

quote:

Originally posted by djandymac could make the pads sound dull, unless u mean to start with then bring the high freqs back in to gain energy.

yes thats what i meant!

Here are some interesting link about voice leading for everyone:


general guide about voice leading:
http://www.tonalityguide.com/tkvoiceleading.php

a very good lesson on youngcomposers.com. Understanding and learning all that requires some time and patience though

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum...aeus-10757.html

another one:


http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum...tist-10759.html

How to use neapolitan sixth chord:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=230781

wikipedia article about musical modes, good to know!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode


And remember. A newbie, who just starts producing without any musical experience often does too random or too predictable melodies.

With too random melodies, well they sound just like a random note generator (bad).

And with too predictable melodies you'll sound like a newbieish generic trance song.

Sometimes they produce a somewhat decent melody but which might have some parts or notes horribly clashing with others. And or the tonal center might abruptly move at inappropriate place and without preparation.

I plan to make some examples of these things but I currently feel very unispired, maybe i'll try later today.

Last edited by offensive_newbi on Dec-17-2008 at 15:06

quote:

Originally posted by Sonic_c PLEASE CONTINUE THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I STARTED THIS THREAD! Seriously I know most of you know all this already but i can assure you there are lots of people like me who these bits of info really help!

Okay...

So now that you sorta understand the I ii iii IV V vi vii* & i ii* III iv v(V) VI VII thing, there are certain chords from these that move better to certain places.

Oh btw, the reason why in the minor chord progression i have v(V) is because you are aloud to move certain notes in the minor scale. The major V chord is really important, just take my word for it okay. If ppl really wanna know why, that's like pages and pages.

ANYWAY...

I & i, this is the root, the tonic, or the one. It can pretty much go anywhere and it will sound good, because it's your base note. Though moving up a 4th, down a 3rd, and up a 1st, isn't a bad choice as I said in my earlier post.

ii,ii*,IV,iv,ii7,ii7*, yeah i know I threw some 7s on there all that means is your adding an extra note to the chord, IE C-E-G-B, anyway. These chords are known as sub-dominant function chords. You can also employ the up 4, down 3, up 1 method and it will work out, but where this chord realllly wants to go is to the dominant function chord (WTF is that?). I'll tell you what that is.

V & vii*, these are known as dominant function chords. The V is probably the most important chord EVER. These chords want to go somewhere pretty specific, and that is back to the tonic, or the I & i. The reason is because the third note in that chord is the leading tone. If that sounds like made theory stuff then just take my word for it, the V wants to go back to I or i. The vii*, which sounds cool cause it's diminished MUST go to the one, it's the only place it can go. If you wanna pull a Chopin, you can make it go to the ii, but pretty much it should go to the I/i. There is one exception, the V can go to the vi/VI
and it sound pretty cool. There is a fancy name for that progression btw.

All this chord stuff assumes that you have good voice leading.

Okay so if enough like my babblings about music theory (btw I got a B in the class), I'll continue with more of it.

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