Melody!

[thierry_le_dj]

ok been practising and practising and still not working for me!
i've even check out a few melodies tutorial on youtube and still not uderstanding i've even read the dubstep bible

can anyone here help me with melodies and if you do know any good tutorial's too please?

and also i keep getting told by other's my track's sound's like am doing old skool dubstep but don't know what they mean by that
could anyone explain to me the diffence between old and new skool to me?

[nowaysj]

Sounds like new school to me, based upon your sig track.

[back2onett]

Start learning scales after that the melodies make themselves, it's not really something that can be taught

[DZA]

Fuck scales and all that shiz
Just role with what sounds good

[thierry_le_dj]

ok will learn some scales then go with the flow!
cheers.

[DZA]

NO

[thierry_le_dj]

ok..
will see what happens
just hope i improve on melodies soon

[j_one]

Fuck scales and all that shiz
Just role with what sounds good

Generally what I do. I know fuck all about music theory tbh.

[DZA]

I know fuck all about music theory tbh.

Same i need to start learning up on some but just cba

[kaiori breathe]

Writing melody lines is a fairly simple endeavor if you know how. First thing you need to do is decide what key your track is going to be in (i.e., what scale you're going to be using)

Let's choose A minor natural for simplicities sake.

Scale of A Minor: A,B,C,D,E,F,G,A

Since we're using the scale of A minor in our track, the first thing we should do now is figure out what chords are in A minor. Basically if we want to know what makes up the chord of A, we move 2 notes to the right, which lands us on C, so we know A and C are contained in A's chord, we move up 2 more notes, and find that we land on E, so now we know that A+C+E are in the chord that makes up A... That chord, A+C+E is A minor. We do the same process with the other notes. So we take B to find out what notes are in its chord, and we move up 2 from B and land on D, move up 2 from D and land on F, so whatever chord B is contains the notes B+D+F which is B Diminished. I've written out a little table below, the top line is the notes of the scale of A, the two lines below show what notes are contained in each individual note of the scale's chord.

A---B---C---D---E---F---G---A
C---D---E---F---G---A---B---C
E---F---G---A---B---C---D---E

ACE = A minor
BDF = B Diminished
CEG = C Major
DFA = D minor
EGB = E minor
FAC = F Major
GBD = G Major

I like to write the chord sequence before I write the melody line. The reason for this is that if you write a melody line then try to put chords under it you may find it difficult to get a chord sequence that works under your melody line due to clashing notes. If you write your chord sequence first you'll never have this problem, because you'll be able to hear the clashing notes as they happen.

I won't go too much into chord sequences. But if you're writing a chord sequence you should try to include A minor as the first or last chord of your sequence. If you use E minor you should try to move to either D then A, or to A (you can ignore this but these are the strongest chord movements for establishing tonality) You may also want to avoid using the diminished unless you want your track to have a dark or mysterious sound to it. The diminished tends to create that dark/mysterious vibe, so if you're going for sad you should maybe avoid it and use B minor instead (BDF#) - It's not technically included in the scale of A minor natural, but you can use it none the less (this is called using a borrowed chord). - Should warn you though, using that B minor will make things complicated when it comes to establishing tonality, because to the listener it will be hard to discern whether F or F# are meant to be a part of the scale. So at your stage the best thing to do if you're not going to dark or mysterious is probably just to skip using that B all together.

Anyway, once you've got your chord sequence down it's time to write your melody.

The most important things in writing a melody are to
a., try to keep it simple and memorable
b., move in a direction,
c., if you're just starting out you should try to keep your melody to one octave for now
d., keep it rhythmically simple
e., try to use notes that compliment your chord sequence

If you listen to a melody line hundreds of 16 notes all moving in different directions and spread over two octaves, chances are it's going to sound like shite, lol, to put it bluntly.

So you should first choose a direction. You should choose to have an overall direction going upwards or downwards. If you choose to go up, then not every note in your melody has to go up, but the overall direction should be there and at the end of a 4 bar melody you should see some sort of gentle slope moving upwards. Same applies to going downwards only in reverse.

You should also try to keep it rhythmically simple, nobody will ever remember a melody line where the first note is 1/16 and the next 3 are 1/32s and the next one is an 8th followed by a 1/4 followed by 10 1/16s. It's just too complicated, as well as that it'll sound jarring and confused. So try and decide on an overlying feel. Do you want your melody notes to hit on the offbeat? If so you should try to keep this rhythmic theme and not deviate too massively from it.

You should also keep your movements fairly similar. For instance if you're moving a small distance, i.e., B going to A, then A to G it will sound a bit weird if you go from G to the C below that, it would probably be better to move to the C above it. To keep the distances your moving in a little more universal. People don't tend to remember the big jumps in melody lines as well.

You should also try to use notes that compliment or add to your chord sequence, for instance, let's say my chord sequence is A minor, E minor, D minor, D minor. The notes I should use in my chord sequence should add to those chords or at least compliment them.

If I play my first A minor, and the first note of my melody line is the B above the A in my A minor chord, it's not going to work very well, because I've created a hideous clashing chord. If however I play my first A minor chord and the first note of my melody line is G this works, because I've created a nice minor 7th chord, if I then move that G up to an A while the A minor is still playing, it sounds great, because that G feels like it is being pulled up to the A note and the A note adds even more to the chord than the G did, it sort of makes the chord perfect.

Each note in the scale has it's own pull that you should be aware of. As a rough guide, B pulls to C, D pulls to E, E pulls to A, G pulls to A. These pulls can be used to your advantage to create suspense or tension. For instance playing that G over an A minor chord will create a bit of tension, because the listener will feel like the G should move up to an A, then when you move that G to the A the tension/suspense will be released. You don't have to use these but they can be fun to work with.

There are exceptions to all these rules though, and ultimately you can ignore all of them and go by your ear, they are just rough guidelines.

[thierry_le_dj]

thanks heaps kaiori!
yea i also don't know nothing about music theory but i learn production from a dj point of view
but wish i studied music before i got into production instead but was djing yrs before it..wish i was the other way around..
thanks everyone for your help.

[fhsueh]

kaiori pulls out the masterclass again! nice.

what are some of your favorite pieces of music of all time? you can usually remember a hook from each of those tunes. those are usually part of the melody. it's easy to not focus on melody when you're trying to nail down the rhythm section. but try to think about the melody like laying a vocal over your instrumental. just hum something to yourself while looping. it's not such a bad thing to have something catchy.

as for all this theory, it really may help you to take some melodies you like and actually learn how to play them, and the chord structure underneath. the more melodies you try to learn, the more you absorb the tonal relationships between the notes, and figure out which notes of that scale sound good on the downbeat/upbeat, etc. This can only be learned by active listening and practice.

listen to Barney. amazingly simple and catchy melodies. or showtunes.

or old hymns.

[Filth Collins]

Trying not to sound like a preachy dickhead - but i dont know how someone can write songs without knowing basic music theory - shit sounds strange to me...

[kaiori breathe]

Trying not to sound like a preachy dickhead - but i dont know how someone can write songs without knowing basic music theory - shit sounds strange to me...

Some people learn it instinctively over time. Like they won't know what a false relation actually is but they'll know what it sounds like and they'll use it from time to time. They mightn't know what a chord inversion is but they'll use them all the same. They mightn't know why a modulation to the 4th sounds good or even what it is, but they'll luck out and do it once, realize it works and keep in their 'inventory' for later use.

And some people just have a great ear for melody and chords and the likes.

[Filth Collins]

Fair i guess, just sounded strange

[j_one]

I hit random notes until the freshhhhh gauge lights up.

I think I'll definitely try and learn some proper theory soon, been more involved in mixing techniques as of recent so I think it's time to get some good theory down. This is why I love production though, there's a million things to learn and with each new thing new ideas pop up for tracks.

[fhsueh]

This is why I love production though, there's a million things to learn and with each new thing new ideas pop up for tracks.

This.

[Frodo Bassbins]

i think what they mean by oldschool dubstep is not super agressive sounding wobbles

[Subject 1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nc-23JUvSI

Hope that Helps

[deadly_habit]

yea she's a cute girl
oh wait this ain't doa