How important do you think it is to stay in key?

[hifi]

What a completely incessant, unnecessary amount of "smileys". I must have struck a nerve. Stay mad.

[hutyluty]

Hypefiend v 3za tune battle

[gcraz]

i don't think studying music theory is relevant at all. studying good music is definitely where it's at. but as a producer, you can't really study the changes in tonal content without an understanding of a keyboard since you're using a piano roll. this is why most really dope producers played in bands earlier in their lives. they loved music, they wanted to learn, and the only way to stay motivated to keep learning was to have fun. so they played their favorite songs. this trained their ears to know which notes worked well in series or combination. so pick up a bass guitar and start playin some b-lines or somethin. i was lucky enough to dream of being the next slash when i was 12

and to help out the dudes w/ the sub bass issues. you definitely shouldn't be going lower than a D# (even an E) in your tunes. No sound system will deliver a note below D# that will hold a consistent energy with the rest of the notes. that being said, it could add some dynamics in the mix if you're not playing the low C for too long (since it will basically be inaudible compared to the higher notes on ANY system). i hear of most producers using the key of E, F, and G for most of their tunes because this is where they can resolve to a powerful root note for their subs. technically speaking, you shouldn't use a note that's below 40 hz (D# is 38.89 hz).

hope this helps!

[VirtualMark]

i don't think studying music theory is relevant at all.

Well, we can pretty much disregard everything you say after this then!

[Monosphere]

i don't think studying music theory is relevant at all.

Well, we can pretty much disregard everything you say after this then!

Considering a lot of the big producers out there have admitted to knowing nothing about playing instruments or music theory I don't see why you would disregard that.

[VirtualMark]

i don't think studying music theory is relevant at all.

Well, we can pretty much disregard everything you say after this then!

Considering a lot of the big producers out there have admitted to knowing nothing about playing instruments or music theory I don't see why you would disregard that.

Fair comment - i'll not deny it's possible to make great music without knowing theory, but i'd never say it's not relevant! It's only going to help you if you have a better understanding of what you're doing and why you're doing it.

[Aphile]

What a completely incessant, unnecessary amount of "smileys". I must have struck a nerve. Stay mad.

that guy is a serious shitposter. 3000 posts of useless, moronic British autism.

There is no other user I see frequently stir up as much shit as he does. His comments are rarely informative.

[hutyluty]

What a completely incessant, unnecessary amount of "smileys". I must have struck a nerve. Stay mad.

that guy is a serious shitposter. 3000 posts of useless, moronic British autism.

There is no other user I see frequently stir up as much shit as he does. His comments are rarely informative.

Saying "your music is garbage" is a bit deep tho, no?

I mean, call me anything you like but insulting someones tunes is just mean imo

as i said+ tune battle is the only way to settle his

[fragments]

I don't see how you can make this statement:

i don't think studying music theory is relevant at all.

Then follow it with this:

and to help out the dudes w/ the sub bass issues. you definitely shouldn't be going lower than a D# (even an E) in your tunes. No sound system will deliver a note below D# that will hold a consistent energy with the rest of the notes. that being said, it could add some dynamics in the mix if you're not playing the low C for too long (since it will basically be inaudible compared to the higher notes on ANY system). i hear of most producers using the key of E, F, and G for most of their tunes because this is where they can resolve to a powerful root note for their subs. technically speaking, you shouldn't use a note that's below 40 hz (D# is 38.89 hz).

hope this helps!

^That is music theory, man. How is it not relevant? Having a basic understanding of how harmony and melody work, chord progressions etc can only be useful. Are there some people that just naturally have an ear for it, sure are...but doesn't mean everybody does.

This is such a tired discussion. Learning a little theory never hurt anyone. InB4: "music theory destroyed my creativity" (<---such bullshit)

[Aphile]

What a completely incessant, unnecessary amount of "smileys". I must have struck a nerve. Stay mad.

that guy is a serious shitposter. 3000 posts of useless, moronic British autism.

There is no other user I see frequently stir up as much shit as he does. His comments are rarely informative.

Saying "your music is garbage" is a bit deep tho, no?

I mean, call me anything you like but insulting someones tunes is just mean imo

as i said+ tune battle is the only way to settle his

i'd never run around and make the statement myself, but we can all have our own understanding of the truth after you look at his chunes.

on topic: theory is everything. if you're using ableton learn how to use the midi programming to your advantages. you can create amazing, in key melodys at random with very little effort.

[therapist]

What a completely incessant, unnecessary amount of "smileys". I must have struck a nerve. Stay mad.

that guy is a serious shitposter. 3000 posts of useless, moronic British autism.

There is no other user I see frequently stir up as much shit as he does. His comments are rarely informative.

Saying "your music is garbage" is a bit deep tho, no?

I mean, call me anything you like but insulting someones tunes is just mean imo

as i said+ tune battle is the only way to settle his

Yeah that was one of the lamest things I've ever seen on this forum. You might not agree with the way 3za made his point but he actually contributed (in the end) some useful information. It was only other posters getting precious that made it a big deal.

Anyone can dig up the tunes of someone they're arguing with and say they're shit.

Anyway. My two cents is that key signatures are more useful (in this instance) to identify why something sounds bad, rather than a blueprint for what will sound good. If your track falls in to a certain key it can be useful but it shouldn't be a constraint.

[extremesociety]

Key signatures are irrelevant - see: modal music.

Keys are irrelevant - see: atonal, serial, aleatoric music

Having said that. I have to say, I probably know more theory than I care to. But, I do think your music needs to sound just. People are going to notice, whether they know music or not—if you have a big C major chord, but your melody is dancing around B major, there will be a bunch of head scratching. Well, unless you mean to write your melody hitting all the altered extensions—in this case the Gb major pentatonic scale (b9, #9, b5/#11, b6/#5, b7 of C dom 7).

Ah fuck it, using theory you can pretty much justify any of your musical choices.

[hifi]

i don't think studying music theory is relevant at all.

Well, we can pretty much disregard everything you say after this then!

Considering a lot of the big producers out there have admitted to knowing nothing about playing instruments or music theory I don't see why you would disregard that.

Name one great composer who doesn't know how to play a single instrument, and doesn't know a single bit of music theory. This goes out to VirtualMark, gcraz, Monosphere. Just a simple question, may not seem relevant.

[constrobuz]

aphile was talking about 3za.

[hifi]

aphile was talking about 3za.

oh, makes more sense now.

[Efrafa11]

i don't think studying music theory is relevant at all.

Well, we can pretty much disregard everything you say after this then!

Considering a lot of the big producers out there have admitted to knowing nothing about playing instruments or music theory I don't see why you would disregard that.

Name one great composer who doesn't know how to play a single instrument, and doesn't know a single bit of music theory. This goes out to VirtualMark, gcraz, Monosphere. Just a simple question, may not seem relevant.

I'm pro-theory, but to play devils advocate (and cause i wanna use a factoid) Ornette coleman was notorious for not giving any fucks about key or time sig.
His record the shape of jazz to come is one of the great jazz standards.

[fragments]

^Not giving a fuck and not knowing are two different things ;p

[Dyssomnia]

I think it's funny that basically all the people who say that theory is not important at all, are usually the ones that don't know anything about theory and have no melodic productions or whatever. No offense, I don't even think music theory is THAT important in Dubstep production, but if you consider yourself a 'musician' rather then a 'producer' then you should know your theory.

[Maxxan]

There's a big difference in style between producers with no musical knowledge and those who have it, if you ask me. Look at Zedd's tunes for instance. That dude is very gifted musically, and his melodies and songwriting are far more interesting than those of your ordinary dubstep producer, because he uses more exotic scales and more imaginative chord progressions etc. Now, some of his older songs are TOO musical imo, they're just a little too weird, but he's finding a nice balance in his newer stuf though.

My point is that if you don't know a lot of music theory/aren't very 'musical', your tunes are most likely going to focus more on monster bass and sound design, rather than actual musical ideas and melodies, thus they easily end up sounding pretty generic, even if they're not 'bad'. I guess a lot of my tunes are pretty bland, musically. I have a musical background but I still struggle a bit with composition at times.

[Efrafa11]

^Not giving a fuck and not knowing are two different things ;p

Haha, very true.