Author Topic: Learning to write music (Read 12826 times)

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #15 on:** August 01, 2012, 12:18:29 am »

Quote from: squidgetx on July 30, 2012, 08:49:18 pm

Quote from: DJ_O on July 30, 2012, 11:27:14 am
Unfortunately, I do not know much about the musical notation, because I use DAW's that are grid-based and am more visual, but one thing I notice is that for more complex music, where there is more than one track, a lot of people have troubles getting the bassline key right. I'll use one of your song Squidgetx, as example:

What I am talking about is, for example, at the 0:06 mark in this video, one bass note is off-key...

Yeah that was a mistake that I got too lazy to fix lol since it didn't sound that awful. Technically the bass note does fit into a (diminished) chord, although that's not what I intended .

I did make a slight edit of that song actually though for other stuff, you can find it on my soundcloud (see sig)

You should actually put them in the downloads section or update the existing files too, so that Juju can accept them in the radio and Omniplayer

nitacku · « **Reply #16 on:** August 01, 2012, 12:58:10 am »

When I create music, I don't worry about music theory. I only focus on how it sounds. (I do happen to know music theory though

)

I can offer some tips for creating music with software:

1: Create a 16 measure loop (Assuming you're using 4x4 time, 16 measures will create a complete phrase)
2: Create your bass chord progression with single notes. Think Pachelbel's Canon. The opening does exactly this.
3: Insert a new instrument. Add notes to chord progression. This would be the harp & violin you hear in the beginning of Pachelbel's Canon.
4: Flush out the chords if you want.
5: Be creative! Copy that 16 loop and tweak with the note lengths.

Eventually you will have 16 measures that you're satisfied with. This should be your chorus. The entire song focuses around this 16 measure loop. You also know what instruments you're going to use now. You can create an intro and ending by layering instruments for example: A-> A&B -> A&B&C -> A&C -> C

I hope this helps. This is roughly the process I use when creating music.
Also, if you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong

EDIT: Pachelbel's Canon for reference

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #17 on:** August 01, 2012, 01:56:26 am »

Nice tutorial Nitacku. That can be another way. I personally prefer to have the bass chord progression first, since it acts as a guide, sort of.

Adriweb · « **Reply #18 on:** August 01, 2012, 02:55:41 am »

This reminds me of my 2-year music theory courses I took (I had to stop doing so because of school, though

) for my Computer Music degree a few years ago (compositing more than computer, though, for the 3rd year) (btw, first year was focused on using VST instruments and Finale to create pieces, - I was using Plogue Bidule vst host and Crystal vst, mostly, and some Cubase and Kontakt sometimes. Second year was more oriented on Midi controllers, especially from Finale and Kontakt, and the goal of the year being the ability to create as well as possibel a classical piece (the most real-orchestra-alike sounding))

I did learn Bach's [complex] theory and techniques on how to start pieces, from basic ones to much more complex (4-5 instruments, quartet/quintet, with Counterpoint and Fugue theory).

I will see if I have any files/stuff left

Yeong · « **Reply #19 on:** August 01, 2012, 09:26:02 am »

Quote from: ruler501 on July 31, 2012, 10:35:05 pm

Quote from: yeongJIN_COOL on July 31, 2012, 09:41:08 am
Well what I use to make music is MuseScore because I'm more familiar with notations and whatnot. After MuseScore, I save it as midi and convert to mp3 with Direct MP3 Converter since it has awesome soundfont.
While I've been playing around with musescore I found this soundfont http://www.musescore.org/download/fluid-soundfont.tar.gz
With it and .ogg exporting i never have to export it out of musescore for rendering.

Also I still dont get how chord progression works with solo parts. I see how it works with parts that can play multiple notes at once(I think) but how does it work when the instrument can only play one note at a time?

There's a 4 squares with different colors in the top menu somewhere. That's the one you're looking for. You'll realize that when you first edit stuff, your line is blue. If you click the squares, it changes color, which means different chords.

ruler501 · « **Reply #20 on:** August 01, 2012, 01:49:28 pm »

Quote from: yeongJIN_COOL on August 01, 2012, 09:26:02 am

Quote from: ruler501 on July 31, 2012, 10:35:05 pm
Quote from: yeongJIN_COOL on July 31, 2012, 09:41:08 am
Well what I use to make music is MuseScore because I'm more familiar with notations and whatnot. After MuseScore, I save it as midi and convert to mp3 with Direct MP3 Converter since it has awesome soundfont.
While I've been playing around with musescore I found this soundfont http://www.musescore.org/download/fluid-soundfont.tar.gz
With it and .ogg exporting i never have to export it out of musescore for rendering.

Also I still dont get how chord progression works with solo parts. I see how it works with parts that can play multiple notes at once(I think) but how does it work when the instrument can only play one note at a time?
There's a 4 squares with different colors in the top menu somewhere. That's the one you're looking for. You'll realize that when you first edit stuff, your line is blue. If you click the squares, it changes color, which means different chords.

Actually I believe they call them voices and the guide says that they are used to write multiple notes of different length on the same line. On the saxophone/clarinet though you cant play both so i was wondering how chord progression works with that

Keoni29 · « **Reply #21 on:** November 18, 2012, 09:03:08 am »

Go mainstream: build your way up from a simple kickdrum to a quite decent repeating tune that will get stuck in your head. Then, when you expect it to happen, make it drop and start all over!

Let's just forget about that

I never really think about chord progressions, keys and all those good things while making music. Just play around with a tune you just thought up and the rest will follow soon! It's only a matter of hours before you have a solid tune. Sometimes you just have to step away from it for a few days and inspiration will come!

ruler501 · « **Reply #22 on:** November 18, 2012, 10:03:27 am »

holy necropost batman

I had forgotten about this topic. I've worked a lot with music since then and I know a little more then I did, but I still have some questions though these I think are more dependent on how you write music. What are good ways to create specific feelings in the music you write? How do you release tension you build up in a piece without it sounding weird? How do you know when/where to release tension.

Keoni29 · « **Reply #23 on:** November 18, 2012, 10:05:03 am »

You can feel when to do so. There are rules for that, but who likes that?

ruler501 · « **Reply #24 on:** November 18, 2012, 10:07:04 am »

I'm one of the people who likes some rules. The outline of what to do that you can change is nice imo.

I see rules as something that can guide you, but you can always go a different way if you want to whatever is best.

Jonius7 · « **Reply #25 on:** November 18, 2012, 05:41:31 pm »

Quote from: ruler501 on November 18, 2012, 10:03:27 am

holy necropost batman

I had forgotten about this topic. I've worked a lot with music since then and I know a little more then I did, but I still have some questions though these I think are more dependent on how you write music. What are good ways to create specific feelings in the music you write? How do you release tension you build up in a piece without it sounding weird? How do you know when/where to release tension.

There are quite a lot of ways to create specific feelings.

Major or minor tonalities to a particular phrase can change the feeling you get from a piece. Especially if you mix tonalities together a bit eg: Major chord one bar, minor chord next bar. In this way creating a chord progression can help. You can release/create tension by changing the rhythm, melody, articulation, instrument.

This is very vague, but you can use rules/structure, or just go with how you feel, or somewhere in between.

EDIT: May expand later.

SpiroH · « **Reply #26 on:** November 19, 2012, 09:26:21 am »

Music, poetry, feelings, touch and women/man do have a lot in common, really. The hard part is always the explanation, because there's no such thing. You just feel it, period.

Yeong · « **Reply #27 on:** November 19, 2012, 09:35:58 am »

For basic, one could go I, V, IV, V. It's really simple chords to use.

Adriweb · « **Reply #28 on:** November 19, 2012, 10:37:48 am »

III, VI, II, V, I

Also... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_progression

Author Topic: Learning to write music (Read 12826 times)

DJ Omnimaga

Re: Learning to write music

nitacku

Re: Learning to write music

DJ Omnimaga

Re: Learning to write music

Adriweb

Re: Learning to write music

Yeong

Re: Learning to write music

ruler501

Re: Learning to write music

Keoni29

Re: Learning to write music

ruler501

Re: Learning to write music

Keoni29

Re: Learning to write music

ruler501

Re: Learning to write music

Jonius7

Re: Learning to write music

SpiroH

Re: Learning to write music

Yeong

Re: Learning to write music

Adriweb

Re: Learning to write music