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C minor is a great sounding dark key.

D minor really is the saddest key.

ScooterJack wrote:

Duskky wrote:Bach has nothing to do with Dubstep.

that's just wrong on all kinds of levels

you're kidding yourself. Bach's beats were shit

B minor is where it's at.

nowaysj wrote:I'm writing in F minor now. All my tracks mix together now, how nice.

Can someone point out a dubstep track where every line is in a different key, and all together it sounds good?

are you being sarcastic?

if not...

im sure any tone deaf producers are just aimless making notes for each line so i bet that counts

jazzsteppa had some switches from minor to major during a break on sweet tooth blues

pretty sure midnight request line has a key change


most key changes sound like a fatal attempt to prolong the songs though...

nowaysj wrote:Yep, totally serious, f minor, all the time, any time, every time.

If the intervals are all that matters, who cares what the root note is? F shakes like a mofo.

no i was talking about the second part haha

i can see why people do songs in the same key

but there is a mood difference when you play two songs in different keys back to back as opposed to when they blend together

i like it better to be different keys specifically so they don't sound like they are blending together, because sometimes it sounds like the same song
but thats the objective alot of times so...

http://www.mixedinkey.com/

I generally don't write in any key lower than E or anything higher than G# as this is the best range for your tune translating on a club system.

open up a spectrum analyzer while playing around with a simple sine wave in your chosen synth.... when its hitting around 40-50hz , thats the money shot... you need that in a club to really 'feel' the bass.... simplez!

I write in a key but I don't start with a specific key, if you follow. I find as I'm constructing a bassline or lead by ear the notes begin to fall into a scale because that's what sounds most 'musical' to me. Doesn't take long, I mean, having written a melody/bassline, to look at the notes, work out the possible keys, decide whether it has a major or minor feel and from there use the resulting key to match peripheral sounds to the main bulk of the track.

I'm still a little bit suspicious of the whole G is good for dubstep thing although i can see where the opinion comes from. I write in D minor a lot as a force of habit and end up with some deep subs..

R wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicophilia

i liked musicophilia, but u guys should read "this is your Brain on Music"by Daniel Levitin, i liked that one better

boot wrote:I generally don't write in any key lower than E or anything higher than G# as this is the best range for your tune translating on a club system.

I still don't get people saying this. Writing in a certain key really doesn't restrict where in the register you can play your tune. You don't have to be hitting C all the time to play in C. Are you not just talking about your root note?

I'm talking about the key. If you've got your overall tune gravitating towards a root of note of C, C#, D, it won't translate well on the majority of club systems. You really don't want the majority of your subs hitting much lower than about 41hz because anything lower really won't be represented to well on most systems. It's where the weight of the tune sits. I've heard this ad nauseum from tons of established producers (Phace, Noisia, Misanthrop, Psidream, Evol Intent etc etc etc)

boot wrote:I'm talking about the key. If you've got your overall tune gravitating towards a root of note of C, C#, D, it won't translate well on the majority of club systems. You really don't want the majority of your subs hitting much lower than about 41hz because anything lower really won't be represented to well on most systems. It's where the weight of the tune sits. I've heard this ad nauseum from tons of established producers (Phace, Noisia, Misanthrop, Psidream, Evol Intent etc etc etc)

I don't think you understood him. but that's ok.

I totally understood what he's saying.
But really, if you've got your tune in something like, say B, the root of your sub is going to be around 62hz (you could drop it an 8ve to 31hz but it's just wasted energy) which will firstly lose weight on a system and will be clashing with the weight of your kick. Sure, you're not going to be playing B all the time, but it's going to be the dominant (literally dominant, not the fifth) tone in your tune.

boot wrote:I totally understood what he's saying.
But really, if you've got your tune in something like, say B, the root of your sub is going to be around 62hz (you could drop it an 8ve to 31hz but it's just wasted energy) which will firstly lose weight on a system and will be clashing with the weight of your kick. Sure, you're not going to be playing B all the time, but it's going to be the dominant (literally dominant, not the fifth) tone in your tune.

what he is saying that you dont have to hit that note AT ALL

you can play an octave up, or have it not be played at all and implied

Fair enough. I was just pointing out that there are certain keys that translate well on a system, whilst others don't. It's important information for people wanting to write dance music. Didn't want to get bogged down in a discussion on semantics.