Treat me like a muppet :-) help required please

woodzy dj

New Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2009
Location
west mids
hi there,
i am brand new to dnb to be fair, have been djing house/electro ext... for about 8 years but after attending a few dnb events i feel that this scene is very strong and has an immense following who seem a wkd crowd :)...

anyway i have been looking into producing not specificaly dnb just music i can make drum loops and layer the snares and kiss ext.....
BUT MY REAL STUMBLING BLOCK IS WAHT KEYS WORK WHEN IT COMES TO PADS/STRINGS/BASSLINES EXT......!!!!!

it has been doing my head in for ages now im fed up of just djing i want to put my own ideas down on the computer and look for my own style hoping maybe you guys and girls may be able to help me;)

basically i dont want to take over the world and my tracks want be the best but just really want to give it a crack..

so if start with a c in the piano roll what would go next and after that and after that ext......

at this point i am not working with vocals ar just looking to make some nice riffs that i know are in key(y)

any help would really,really be apreciated

thanks for your time,probably bored the f*ck out of everyone but hey how:oscar:
 
To treat you like a Muppet would require insertion of a hand up your rear end, which I don't do on Tuesdays.
 
Seriously, if you want to give it a try, the best thing to do is to give it a try. Do you have a daw? synths? samples? anything? Just try and get some decent sounds and an idea of how everything works before worrying about keys and melodies and stuff.
 
thanks guys i am currently using fruity 8 and i am ok with layering beats and adding f-x ext....

basically i just want to start bringing some long pads and synths into the intro ext.......

on my piano roll i start with a "c"key for instance and stretch it for 4 beats then want to switch the key on the next four to make a very simple 16 beat loop :)

any help would be wkd
thanks for your time upto now tho :)
 
thanks guys i am currently using fruity 8 and i am ok with layering beats and adding f-x ext....

basically i just want to start bringing some long pads and synths into the intro ext.......

on my piano roll i start with a "c"key for instance and stretch it for 4 beats then want to switch the key on the next four to make a very simple 16 beat loop :)

any help would be wkd
thanks for your time upto now tho :)

What I found helpful back when I used FL9, was trawling through the FL thread sticky, i know this is crap advice but you never know
 
Dude I use FL8. I havnt a clue about chord progressions or anything, I just play around until my ears tell me it sounds good. Would you like me to write a 8 or 16 bar simple riff and zip it up as a flp. file? You can then open it and see where Ive placed stuff?
 
I'm by no means any good with music notation but it has been explained to me like this. Whatever key plays first is the scale that is used. That can then be linked to any chord that contains a note from that scale. You use C as your example and that is one of the easiest scales as it is basically any major note (the white ones).

I found it really useful creating an ableton session with all the scales and chords mapped out across the channels so I can preview any synth/sample to find out where I like to pitch the part and as a guideline for checking after. Just to confuse you further, the bottom line is "if it sounds good..."

Hope that helps,

Peace
 
Here's a starter.

Hopefully you have a keyboard so you can put this into practice. Other instrument (guitar, oboe, sackbut, etc) are OK but keyboard instruments help you visualise it all more clearly.

Pick a root note, say a c, this is the first note of your scale. You can have major or minor scales, minor have a slightly more melancholic sound to them. Each scale will have a number of sharp or flat (black) notes.

C major for example has no sharp or flat notes, making it one of the easiest. More on major scales: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_scale

A minor again has no sharp or flat nores, making it the easiest minor to play:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_scale

Now the bad news, all the other scales will need those black notes; however the following diagram helps heaps, print it out and stick it on your wall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Circle_of_fifths_deluxe_4.svg

So now you've got a scale, you want to be using notes that fit in that scale; of course you can have 'accidentals' (notes which don't belong in that scale, say an F# in a Cmaj scale) but to keep it simple at first, lets go with a Cmaj being C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C. Now as C is your 1st note, certain groupings of the scale work well together to form chords or as progressions in a melody - there are heaps of variations, but you might like to start with a 1st, a 3rd and a 5th; C,E and G. Experiment with others to see what sounds cool.

So that gives you a first chord; progression from there can pretty much be anything, but certain patterns work well (again, a 1st, 3rd and 5th) so you could play a bar of Cmaj (1st, 3rd and 5th notes of C), then a bar of Emaj (1,3,5 of E) then a bar of Gmaj (1,3,5 of G). Just an example, would probably sound crap if you actually used that.

Fourths can sound good (1st and 4th notes of scale), there are heaps more variations. I think it is valuable to have an understanding of music theory, stick at it and good luck.
 
Yh i understand what your all saying all that is pestering me is i want my riffs to be in key so what wont work like if i put a c then another key after i want it to flow and obvoiusly all be in key Thanks for all of your advise Guys been a big help to me
 
No worries mate, will sort it out for you.

What VST's do you have? I can create a patch in one of them and lay it out on the piano roll for you to see. Even if it's just something like the FL Sytrus plugin.
 
Easy mate ive hot predator and all the standard fruity plugins mate that would be brilliant if I could see where your placing things
Thanks
 
Check your PM's mate, you should find a link to the file.

Theres about 42 bars in total in there, a drumloop, bassline, strings, and piano, building up progressively so you can see what I've done.

Take a moment to look at the mixer channel too, see what I've added FX wise and to what. Might help you out a little more mate.

Hope this helps.
 
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