I know nothing about music theory..

[carsonac]

and i just have a few questions.

I am wondering if a song can be written in more than one scale or if you should only stick to one scale?

For example could you use a D minor scale as well as using a D pentatonic scale (or w/e)

if someone could shed some light for me that would be great

[dr_winston]

you can always change key. to do so effectively you need to find the right notes. try the notes which the two keys you are trying to transpose have in common.
I hope that's right!

[ninjadog]

You will find some info on that in the production bible stickied on the top of the forum.

[tripwire22]

i also dont have much knowledge but i do kno C minor sounds good and C # those together r ok for like arps. it really comes down to what sounds nice together

[arktrix45hz]

I know absolutely sweet FA about music theory other than a couple of time signatures, don't worry about it too much.

[Diddley]

jazz players will use tha hole chromatic scale in tha course of a tune an those guys kno there shit no rules gotta use dem holes on tha side of yer dome bro me i jus use 2 or 3 notes its dance music ffs

[misk]

yeah when you say "scale" you're really referring to the key a song is in. You can have key changes more than once in the course of a song. really key changes are what elicit an emotional response in the listener. Sure this is "just dance music" but how far do you want to push yourself? there's a lot you can do with melody and harmony with a little knowledge of this stuff, that you'd be hard pressed to haphazardly throw together, without a clue as to what you're doing.

Also, it's not that hard to learn say, the five finger positions for each scale on the piano, and then work from there. All the major, minor, harmonic minor, relative and parallel scales are interrelated in cool ways - and i barely know shit

[tavravlavish]

write all your songs in C flat bro thats the best root note ever, makes your bass sound fat

[deadly_habit]

how do you guys not know about the enhanced audio response systems
what i rely on

[youthful_implants]

key changes are good ways of lifting the mood, or lowering it.

get amongst it.

[carsonac]

ok,
But what about using multiple scales in a song?
I get that you can change key but is it musically correct to use 2 or more scales in a song?
If so, how could i tell which ones work well together

[zitanb]

yeah when you say "scale" you're really referring to the key a song is in. You can have key changes more than once in the course of a song. really key changes are what elicit an emotional response in the listener. ....

Good response from Misk - big up. I've played keys over quite a few dubstep tunes and know a bit about theory. I make the comments below just as humble opinion cause I'm a noob to the production side....

In all honesty (from what I've seen) classical music changes the "key", but most forms of modern music / songs (not saying all, but in general) stay in "one key." Most dubstep tracks are based around one set of bass notes (can be "chords") (within a key) that play throughout the song, getting louder (in the drops) and softer (in the interludes). Simple chord structures have produced so much fantastic music ftw (two or three chord wonders ).

I would definitely recommend staying in one key, particularly if you are just learning about this. What you might do however is change your "bass notes" in one part of the song (staying in the same key though) - which is what happens in most "choruses" for folk/rock/blues etc... (And some dubstep songs .... not heaps .... but some for sure)

"Keys" are identified by how many sharps (#) / flats (b) they have (the black keys). C major has none, G major has one (F#), D major has two (F#, C#), A Major 3, and so on. The "scale" is all the notes in the key. Wikipedia can tell you these, or get a scales book as Misk says not too hard to get the idea.

Imho you want to write dubstep tunes in a *minor* key (sounds "sad") - and this is one of the reasons I love dubstep so much lots of minor keys !! The most used minor key is just the "natural minor", where A minor = same notes as C major (-3 C -> B -> A). Wondering Why (Kryptic Minds) is in (F) natural minor (with just two bass chords/notes Fminor -> C# major)

See 8A and 8B on this "key matching chart" (trade marked in that ) Linked from this site:



-- these are the major key -> relative minor .... = subtract three from the major scale. You can see what is being suggested here in this chart for "key-matching" when mixing, is just based on either finding tracks in the same key, or finding tracks going from major -> relative minor (useful idea for mixes!).

The other scale to check out BTW is Harmonic Minor (Eastern Jam for example).

The key you choose tells you what notes you can use in your baseline, and which notes you can use in your harmonies.

Hope that helps.

Z.

[zitanb]

I just realised : http://www.dubstepforum.com/music-theor ... 54823.html

Lol -- real good read bro =)

[Depone]

write all your songs in C flat bro thats the best root note ever, makes your bass sound fat

Thats complete nonsense, its relative to the room / speakers your making the track in. C flat might sound biiig to you, but in someone elses space it might be F sharp... Getme?

[gravity]

read this...http://www.scribd.com/doc/5220863/Raven ... -Theory-06

seriously one of the most useful things i (as a non-traditional-musician) have ever read with regards to theory

[s i c k b o y]

write all your songs in C flat bro thats the best root note ever, makes your bass sound fat

there is no key of C flat, it would only occur if a C note was lowered due to a mode scale being played. C flat is the same as B.

In response to the first post, you can use both D minor and D minor pentatonic, as they use the same notes. The only difference is that pentatonic only has 5 of the notes (hence the name pentatonic), where D minor has 7 notes.

Often it is effective to write in minor pentatonic and add a few extra notes from the minor, as the pentatonic is a strong harmonic scale - good for basslines and melodies.

[marshy]

write all your songs in C flat bro thats the best root note ever, makes your bass sound fat

Thats complete nonsense, its relative to the room / speakers your making the track in. C flat might sound biiig to you, but in someone elses space it might be F sharp... Getme?

Think he was joking, C flat doesn't exist.

[Depone]

write all your songs in C flat bro thats the best root note ever, makes your bass sound fat

Thats complete nonsense, its relative to the room / speakers your making the track in. C flat might sound biiig to you, but in someone elses space it might be F sharp... Getme?

Think he was joking, C flat doesn't exist.

It does in some musical notation, depends on the key and stuff

[s i c k b o y]

write all your songs in C flat bro thats the best root note ever, makes your bass sound fat

Thats complete nonsense, its relative to the room / speakers your making the track in. C flat might sound biiig to you, but in someone elses space it might be F sharp... Getme?

Think he was joking, C flat doesn't exist.

It does in some musical notation, depends on the key and stuff

Im trying to work out which scale it would exist in, but I can't think of any... I thought of A Aeolian at first but the b3 would just make it C natural rather than the C# usually in A major.

If he was joking about C flat then now i seem silly but i proper cant understand sarcasm on an internet forum its just not the same...

[hurlingdervish]

Changing keys= AWWW FUCK ITS THE SAME PART AGAIN SLIGHTLY HIGHERR

dont do it


changing scales....

if you wanted to get technical, each chord in the song has a specific scale attached to it, but 90 percent of the time its the same scale as you started with but starting on a different note.

in layman's terms
really just use the notes make up each chord and maybe pitch up or down a couple in the riff to make it interesting.