You’re not alone. Many aspiring musicians, from guitarists shredding solos to vocalists belting out tunes, find themselves playing by ear or rote memorization. While that’s a fantastic start, there’s a vast, rich world beneath the surface of every song – a world governed by music theory.

And before you picture dusty textbooks and complex equations, let’s stop right there. Music theory isn’t about stifling your creativity; it’s about empowering it.

The Myth vs. The Reality: What Music Theory Isn’t

Myth 1: “Music theory will make me sound robotic.” Reality: Quite the opposite! Understanding theory gives you the tools to break rules intentionally, to create unique tensions, and to craft more compelling melodies and harmonies. It’s like learning grammar before writing a poem – it gives you the framework to truly express yourself.

Myth 2: “It’s only for classical musicians or composers.” Reality: From pop to rock, jazz to EDM, every genre is built on theoretical principles. Knowing why certain chords sound good together, how a melody evokes a specific emotion, or why a bassline grooves the way it does will profoundly impact your playing and writing, no matter your style.

Myth 3: “It’s too hard and boring.” Reality: Like learning an instrument, it takes dedication, but with the right approach, music theory can be incredibly engaging and immediately applicable. Think of it as learning the secret language of your favorite songs.

The True Power: What Music Theory Is (And Why You Need It)

Imagine these scenarios:

• You’re trying to write a song: Instead of aimlessly searching for chords, you’ll understand why a certain progression creates a feeling of joy, sadness, or anticipation. You’ll know how to build a chorus that lifts and a bridge that provides contrast.
• You’re improvising: You won’t just be playing scales; you’ll be navigating chord changes with confidence, hitting “target” notes that make your solos sing, and expressing emotions through your melodic choices.
• You’re learning a new song: You’ll pick up on patterns and structures faster, understanding the underlying harmony instead of just memorizing finger placements. This drastically speeds up your learning process.
• You’re communicating with other musicians: When a bandleader says, “Play a ii-V-I in G,” you won’t stare blankly. You’ll instantly know what to do, making collaboration seamless and enjoyable.
• You want to understand why music moves you: Theory provides the vocabulary to articulate the magic behind your favorite tracks. You’ll appreciate music on a deeper, more intellectual, and emotional level.

Ready to Unlock Your Musical Potential?

If you’ve ever felt limited by not knowing why certain things work in music, or if you’re eager to take your playing, songwriting, or overall appreciation to the next level, then it’s time to demystify music theory.

At Morning Dew Media, we believe that understanding music theory should be accessible, practical, and, most importantly, fun! That’s why we’ve created the Music Theory for Beginners course.

This course is designed specifically for aspiring musicians like you, breaking down complex concepts into digestible, easy-to-understand lessons. You’ll learn:

• The fundamentals of rhythm, melody, and harmony.
• How to read and write basic music notation – we also work with piano roll!
• The secrets behind chords and progressions.
• What scales and modes really mean for your playing.
• And practical ways to apply everything you learn to your instrument and songwriting!

Stop guessing and start understanding. Stop memorizing and start creating with intention.

Your musical journey is about to get a whole lot more exciting and fulfilling.

Click here to explore our “Music Theory for Beginners” course and start your transformation today!

Also check out my video “Learn simple music theory in 5 minutes“!

// Mattias Holmgren – Composer & Educator
Morningdew Media Education

The post Unlock the Secrets: Why Every Aspiring Musician Needs Music Theory (It’s Easier Than You Think!) appeared first on Morningdew Media.

NEW! Join my Logic Pro for beginners course http://bit.ly/3yYtSDI

What is Chromatic Mediant Modulation?

Chromatic mediant modulation is a harmonic technique where a chord progression changes from one key to another that is a chromatic mediant away. What does that mean? It means that the new key is three half-steps up or down from the original key. For example, if you’re in the key of C major, the chromatic mediant keys would be E-flat major or A-flat major.

The Magic of Chromatic Mediant Modulation

So, why do composers love chromatic mediant modulation? Because it creates a sense of surprise and tension that can be incredibly powerful in music. It’s like taking a sudden turn down an unexpected path. The listener is taken on a journey that is both exciting and satisfying.

Chromatic mediant modulation can be used to transition between different sections of a song or to add an emotional impact to a specific moment. It can also be used to create a sense of resolution or to create a feeling of unease. The possibilities are endless.

Famous Examples of Chromatic Mediant Modulation

Many famous composers have used chromatic mediant modulation in their music. For example, in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the transition from the third to the fourth movement uses chromatic mediant modulation. In Chopin’s Prelude No. 17 in A-flat major, the modulation from A-flat major to F-sharp major is a chromatic mediant modulation. And in the Beatles’ “Something,” the modulation from C major to A-flat major in the chorus is a chromatic mediant modulation.

Try It Yourself: How to Use Chromatic Mediant Modulation in Your Own Music

Now that you know what chromatic mediant modulation is and why it’s so magical, it’s time to try it out for yourself. Here are some tips on how to use chromatic mediant modulation in your own music:

1. Identify the key of your song and find the chromatic mediant keys.
2. Choose a moment in your song where you want to create a sense of surprise or tension.
3. Use chromatic mediant modulation to transition to a new key.
4. Experiment with different chord progressions in the new key to create the desired emotional impact.

In conclusion, chromatic mediant modulation is a powerful music theory trick that has been used by some of the greatest composers of all time. It can add a sense of surprise, tension, resolution, or unease to your music. So go ahead, give it a try, and see where the magic takes you!

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5 tips to improve your piano playing

Here are a few different concepts you should practise to become a better piano player:

1. Arpeggio – Break up the notes of the chords in the progression. Play them in arpeggios with your right hand, and play the bass (in octaves) in your left hand.
2. Timing variations / flairs – Don’t just settle for straight notes…like quarter, 8th, 16th notes. Add some trioles or more fluid rhythms. Spice the performance with some musical flairs and make the part come alive.
3. Inversions & octaves – Play the broken chord arpeggio in different inversions and walk through different octaves.
4. Arpeggios with both hands – Play the chord arpeggio with both hands. Start from left and walk up to the right hand (and maybe back)…or why not start high and walk down. Anything goes, as long as you play with passion! I know this is a bit hard to master, and get the notes fluid and tight… but it’s super rewarding so make sure to practise this key concept.
5. Ostinato – Select three notes that can play through all the chords in the progression. Play these notes in a repeating figure with your right hand while you walk through the chord progression with your left hand. Try to swap them out too.

Where to go from here on the piano?

These are just a few concepts you could practise. As you can see/hear in the video I often pick a few of these concepts and randomly switch between them as I perform on the piano. My tip is that you start practising these concepts one by one to get a good feel for their flow and sound. Then try swapping between them as you play through your favourite chord progressions.

Great finger excercise for the piano player – How to build finger strength

You should always strive to improve your finger strength and constantly challenge yourself with new rhythms and chord voicings. With time this will really pay off in your piano playing and piano improvisation.

If you want to improve finger strength and at the same time accuracy, a simple excercise is to place one of your hands firmly in front of you on a table. Let your hand be slightly curved like if you were going to play on the piano keybed.

Begin with your thumb, lift one finger at the time and place it down with a “thump” like if you were playing a key. Try to play with the same pressure on all fingers when they go down.

In the beginning your thumb, index and middle finger is probably going to be the strongest. But with this excercise (and some practise) even your ring- and pinky finger will get stronger.

The great thing about this excercise is that you can practise this fake “playing” wherever you are. Practise on the job, in the couch, on the bus, in the car. Yes, I used to practise this on the stearing wheel when I was driving to/from music school.

I hope this video and article on how to improve on the piano was helpful!

If you like this piano playing concepts video you can check out these additional videos I did and learn more about ostinatos and pedal point!

More videos on piano playing and composition techniques

Feel free to ask me any questions in the video comments! I try to answer every comment I get!

Thanks for reading / watching!

// Mattias

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Let’s break down a Pirate game loop I produced for Peak Games (game company from Turkey).

To record and compose the music we work with Studio One. But you can basically use any DAW to replicate this kind of music as long as you have the right samples. Importantly, we look at arrangement, chords, melody, instrumentation, layering.

Furthermore, I explain why I select each specific instrument for the pirate music cue.

Pirate melody and chords

In the video we talk about the melodic phrasing and question / answer in melodies. Importantly this will give you some helpful tools to write great pirate game music.

Pirate theme for games

Pirate melodies and rhythm tend to be jumpy and bouncy so that’s what we are working with, without going too much into Pirates Of The Caribbean.

The pirate game music loop was going to work in the background of a pirate themed game, so I needed to keep things a bit on the calmer side.

• For an instant pirate sound, accordions work well. They’re also characterised by a stride bass pattern (bass note on beats 1 and 3, chord on 2 and 4)
• pirate music is often based on folk-style melodies which are heavily swung, lots of dotted notes.

If you want to listen to a great pirate game score I highly recommend listening to the score of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. The game Black Flag contains a very cinematic pirate game score composed by Brian Tyler.

Pirate music instrument, Hurdy-gurdy

One of the most common and iconic instrument I can think of when it comes to pirate music is the hurdy-gurdy. Sometimes called wheel fiddle. The hurdy-gurdy features three strings strung across a wheel that accesses a bow. You turn the wheel and it vibrates the strings. Two of the strings are droning and the middle string has wooden keys on it that you use to play a melody.

It’s like a very primitive violin. The hurdy gurdy is a tricky instrument to play but instantly gives a pirate sound. When you hear it in context it reminds of a bag pipe.

If you play games like Assassins Creed – Black Flag, Sea Of Thieves, watch films like; Black Sails, you can hear the Hurdy-gurdy all over the place.

Instruments in pirate music

Other typical instruments found in pirate music themes is the cello (preferably staccato), violins, accordion, military snares, cornet / trumpet and flutes etc.

In the pirate music video above I talk about why we often hear staccato cellos, trumpets and military snares in pirate themes.

When we want to convey war we use these instruments because it’s sub-consciously those instruments used throughout the ages in war-related scenarios. Burials (trumpets), marching troops (military snare), war horn before battle (trumpets). So the typical use-cases of these instruments go way back. We can use this to our advantage when selecting instruments for our pirate music cue.

Get in the right pirate music mood

In this pirate music cue I was depicting some kind of war scenario, not actual battle, but a foreboding war between the english and caribbean pirates.

It will help tremendously if you set up a topic and scenario in your mind before starting to work on any creative piece. I do this all the time in any type of music track or art piece I create.

Learn more about pirate music as a “genre”

Pirate music, also known as sea shanties, are a traditional form of maritime folk song that were sung by sailors and pirates during the golden age of piracy in the 18th and 19th centuries. These songs were used to pass the time and improve morale during long voyages, and often featured lyrics about life at sea, adventure, and maritime folklore.

If you’re interested in composing pirate music, there are a few key elements that you’ll want to consider in order to capture the feel and spirit of this genre.

Chord Suggestions for pirate music:

One of the most distinctive features of pirate music is its use of simple, repetitive chord progressions. These progressions often consist of just a few chords that are repeated over and over again, with the lyrics fitting into the chord changes. Here are a few chord progressions that you might consider using in your pirate music compositions:

• I-IV-V: This is a classic rock and roll chord progression that works well for pirate music. The I, IV, and V chords are the tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords of a particular key, and can give your music a sense of forward momentum and energy. For example, in the key of C, the I, IV, and V chords would be C, F, and G.
• I-vi-IV-V: This chord progression adds a bit of variety to the I-IV-V progression by including the vi chord (the minor sixth) as well. This can give your music a slightly more adventurous or exotic feel. In the key of C, the chords would be C, Am, F, and G.
• I-IV-vi-V: This chord progression is similar to the I-vi-IV-V progression, but replaces the minor vi chord with a major vi chord (the major sixth). This can give your music a more upbeat or celebratory feel. In the key of C, the chords would be C, F, A, and G.

Pirate Instrument Suggestions:

There are a wide range of instruments that you can use in your pirate music compositions, ranging from traditional maritime instruments like the accordion and fiddle to more modern instruments like electric guitar and synthesizers. Here are a few instrument suggestions to consider:

• Accordion: The accordion is a popular instrument in pirate music due to its ability to play melodies and chords at the same time, as well as its portability. It can add a lively, festive feel to your music.
• Fiddle: The fiddle, also known as a violin, is another popular instrument in pirate music. It can add a lively, energetic feel to your compositions, and can be used to play both melodies and chordal accompaniment.
• Mandolin: The mandolin is a plucked string instrument with a bright, ringing sound that can add a touch of whimsy to your pirate music. It is often used for melodies, but can also be used for chordal accompaniment.
• Electric guitar: The electric guitar can add a modern twist to your pirate music, and can be used to play both melodies and chords. You can use a variety of effects pedals, such as reverb and distortion, to give your guitar a more “piratey” sound.
• Synthesizers: Synthesizers can be used to create a wide range of sounds, including sea shanty-inspired instrumentation like accordions and fiddles. You can also use synthesizers to create more modern, electronic-sounding elements in your compositions.

Learn more about pirate music in my article – Composing Pirate Music: Tips and Techniques

#piratemelodies #piratemusic #studioonetutorial

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Better chord progressions

The first thing to investigate in improving your chord progressions is to find out ways to arrange the notes in the chords. It’s easy to just grab some random chord progression from the web or your favourite artist. But how do you arrange the notes in the chords to make them sound lush and interesting?

Voice Leading – Arranging the notes between chords

The concept of voice leading is to arrange your chord notes so that you have the minimal amount of movement between any two chords, in your chord progression. Let’s take this progression as an example:

C – Dm7 – G7 – C

Notice that I’m leaving out the extras (add9) from the video. If you grasp the basics in voice leading, you can of course spice your chords with more notes. Not everyone know how to read sheet music but anyone can look at a piano-roll and understand the notes. So here we go!

1. Basic note layout – throwing out the notes

In the first chord structure we basically just throw in the chords in root position. Root position means that every chord is played with the root note as bass, second note is the (3rd) and the third note is the (5th). So a C would be played (left to right on a piano) C – E – G. Like in the example above. This is where you start before you start re-arranging your chord notes.

2. Voice Leading

In the second example we try to move the notes so we have the smallest amount of movement between our notes, between any two chords. This makes the chord progression sound much smoother.
We also look for similar notes between any two chords. These similar notes can effectively be still without any movement.

Voice Leading – Arrange your chord notes so that you have the minimal amount of movement between any two chords.

3. Voice Leading + Spread Chords

In this part we re-align the first chord further so we get a more “open” sound. We continue and re-align the other chords for a more spread and open layout. Pay close attention to the bass which now goes down and then makes quite a huge leap before returning home to the root C.

For the Dm7 chord we actually change the bass to be the fifth of the chord instead, which is an A.

Huge leaps is not common between your general chord notes.

Remember we want to make smooth transitions between the notes. But the bass is its own entity. Therefore the bass is allowed to make huge leaps without destroying the smoothness of the chord.

Avoid parallel motion between chords

In classical music parallel motion was considered awful. Even in todays poplar music it is still common practise to avoid it. Although we still see exceptions. For a true cinematic sound be sure to avoid these parallels. Especially the parallel fifth.

Importantly, look in your chords and see if there is any parallel motion between the notes. Does the progression sound good to you?

Use your ear, it’s your music!

My favourite chord progressions for EDM

Here follows some of my favourite chord progressions at the moment, in no particular order. They are just nice progressions that I think work well in many genres and for epic EDM music.

The arrangement of the notes differ slightly from what I showed in the video because then I was playing the piano. Playing the piano makes me select certain chord structures in order to play them more easily. It’s probably plenty of muscle memory involved, more on how muscle memory effect your music writing / composition in this other article I wrote some months back.

Chord Progression 1

First off, this is an interesting progression in the key of C major (or Am depending on your melody and mood). Am7 – Cadd9 – Fadd9 – Fadd9. Yes that’s two bars of Fadd9 at the end.

What’s up with those 9s?

Why do I add the 9 (add9)? Because it gives the chord a smooth / buttery feeling. We also give the chord this additional note so that we can lead every note from the Am7 into something. Am7 includes four notes: A, C, E, G. While a C major triad chord only include three notes: C, E, G.

Here is a suggestion on the note layout for these chords:

Chord progression 2

This one is also nice, I gave it a little bit more spread than the chord progression above. We are using the chords: Am7 – F7 – Cadd9 – Gadd9

Pedal notes

A pedal note (or organ point) in music is basically, a sustained note over a bunch of chords. If you have a chord progression, look if there is a similar note between the chords and then let that note hang on throughout the whole progression.

Furthermore, it can also be used to tie a progression / musical piece together where you use more uncommon and dark chords in a progression.

Ostinato

In music, an ostinato is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch.

In film music you here this all the time. Hans Zimmer made it impossible to score movies without using ostinatos. Just kidding, but he is using it effectively in many of his scores.

Just listen to the famous Batman – The Dark Knight score.

Final thoughts

I hope these tips to make better chord progressions will give you some tools to enhance your music. If you want more content like this be sure to subscribe to the Morningdew Media weekly and also my You Tube channel which is filled with creative techniques in music and sound design.

Have a wonderful weekend!

What gear I use in the studio? Check out the Resources Page.

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Watch the video below and get the additional details in this article.

Watch the final Kickstarter trailer

If you are impatient, you can also watch the final Kickstarter trailer here on the official Red Scales Publishing facebook page.

Background to the kickstarter – The Koryo Hall Of Adventures

I got a message the other day from an old friend of mine. A film director operating in South Korea named Aurélien. We have been collaborating on many films since 2010. I wrote the music for short films like; Call Coho, Fender, Sedae, I’Profess, Bag of Bones, Saede Chai etc. You can probably find reference to them on my imdb page.

My friend runs a production company called AJP in Korea. At the moment he is about to launch a Kickstarter campaign for his latest endeavour, The Koryo Hall Of Adventures.

It was time for another collaboration in writing the score for his Kickstarter trailer video. I really liked the trailer video he sent me so it was time to pull up the sleeves and dig into the Korean culture.

The brief – The Koryo Hall Of Adventures Kickstarter

So how does a Kickstarter product trailer project begin? It all begins with the brief.

He sent me a quick brief about the concept. A Dungeons & Dragons campaign with a strong Korean flavour in concept and culture.

We discussed thematic material and instrumentation to really push for a Korean vibe. I’m from Europe, born and raised in Sweden and have very little knowledge of Korean culture except for the past films I’ve worked on. On some of the past films we have been discussing Korean instruments but rarely been strict on going all in.

I received several videos of original Korean artists, instrumentalists, chanters and other good reference videos.

Reference videos is really helpful if you are working in a territory not so familiar to your regular work expertise.

Finding the pace of the Kickstarter background music

The first thing I do after receiving a product trailer to score is to do a spotting session. It’s called spotting because you are watching the video and finding important places in the film. Cue points if you will.

The spotting session is all about finding the tempo and also important points where you might want to enhance / lift the scene with the music. It’s all about telling the story.

So to find the tempo, press play and tap your foot or a finger to see what tempo might suite the scenes. I write down, or in this case due to the small scope, make mental notes of important cue points in the trailer.

There was this dark lurking demon in the background which was also hinted in the voice over. This dark creature was one thing that I wanted to lift in the score, but with delicate and subtle brush strokes.

Big or small score for the Kickstarter background music?

Since the Koryo Hall of Adventures trailer was a quite short trailer with tons of voice over throughout, I knew we had to keep the score in the background. Except for the ending part where we have the smashing logo and the grand finale.

Firstly, the director requested the music to start at 24sec into the trailer.

Secondly, we discussed keeping it quite small and delicate. The reference music (or temp music if you will) was very sparkling and flowing.

Furthermore, in trailers you can either go full on Hans Zimmer orchestra with the Inception / Bat Man braams and epic booms. Or, you can go small and tight with a close arrangement to reach the heart of your audience.

In conclusion, the animated and colourful imagery leaned toward a small light musical arrangement.

Instrumentation for the Kickstarter trailer background music

There is a great collection of free sampled Korean instruments that are typical for the culture in the webpage of Center for Arts & Technologies Seoul National University. Aside from these I have a ton of other oriental sample libraries like Silk and RA from East West. And I also have a deep sampled Guzheng with some interesting articulations like tremolo, e-bow and pluck.

So when writing the motif and theme for the Kickstarter trailer music I used some of these instruments. Importantly, I began playing with the Korean instruments GeoMungo and GayaGeum to find the sweet spot where a melody would suit the instrument range and sound qualities.

When the melody was defined I layered the tracks with various articulations and instances of the Guzheng to breath even more flavour into the melody.

Arranging the Kickstarter background music

The intro was arranged lightly with some wood wind and string patches played in con sardino (a muted / soft sound) from the Albion Tundra library. We lightly touch the theme and play the smallest parts of the theme, called motif. Then we slowly start to bring in the instruments and fill out the sound spectrum. Importantly, we gradually make the soundtrack wider and deeper in all axis.

Later I bring in some more traditional orchestral strings (courtesy of Albion One and Cinematic Strings) to beef the soundtrack and give it a slightly more cinematic character. It’s a trailer, we need to have some cinematic spice.

No Kickstarter trailer music without Omnisphere

Speaking of cinematic. You can’t score a trailer without using the Omnisphere 2 vst instrument. So I brought in Omnisphere and used this lush patch during the intro the enhance the brilliance of the con sordino strings.

You can watch a video I did on this new updated Omnisphere 2.6 instrument.

The extra layered Omnisphere preset consisted of a hang drum played with a toothbrush!

Yeah I know it sounds silly. But it’s actually a very unique and wonderful sound and blended perfectly well with the con sordino wood wind and string arrangement during the intro.

Cello and Sub Bass for Kickstarter trailer background music

After adding the Albion One 8va Cello patch to the last part of the arrangement I felt it lacked a little bit of low end. Again, it’s a trailer, we need deep low end. It’s like the final piece of the puzzle.

I created a quick patch in Serum with dual oscillators of triangle waveform with a subtle pulse width modulation going on. I also gave it a tad of saturation. This patch acted as a sub bass pad and was layered below the strings and cello to give the low end depth of a trailer.

Usually I go for a pure sine wave in the low end (sub bass) but sometimes it can also be suitable to go with triangle. While a sine wave is one pure fundamental tone, a triangle has upper harmonics. Importantly, this makes the sound come across better on small speakers. Hey, people watch trailers on the phones all the time these days.

Grand finale of the Kickstarter background music

Now it was time to make the bombastic ending of the cue. I brought in some epic percussion from 8DIO, the Dhol. And an impact from Albion One. The rest of the track just had some light percussion like Korean Cymbals and bells. Importantly, for the end part we want to end with a bang.

A grand finale!

So the project was a wrap. Or so I though. But there was something missing.

The director persisted we added some more nerve into the cue with a 2-string bowed instrument. Luckily I was on a trip to Cambodia a few months back and brought a Tru Che with me from the area.

Apparently they have a similar instrument in Korea and so I wrote a soaring melody to give the cue some nerve. This kind of string scrubbing and scraping was heavily used in the Witcher 3 soundtrack. And it’s really a favourite of mine. So it was fun to bring this to the table.

Conclusion

The project was finished and the trailer now had a suitable delicate score that would not fight against the dialogue / voice over. It was a quick and fun project and another customer satisfied. I hope you enjoy this article and video about the process of scoring this Kickstarter trailer.

If you have any questions or want a score for your own game, film or Kickstarter please get in touch.

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Importantly, we talk about focusing your sounds for specific frequency areas in the spectrum and how you can achieve a big lush mix suitable for the Kawaii Future Bass genre.

During my previous live stream someone asked me if I could do a Kawaii Future Bass track video. I’m by no means an expert on the genre, but I took up the challenge to make this fun track.

Love music challenges, especially when it’s something I haven’t produced before.

Of course, we also talk about creating fat basses and how you can get there with the stock plugins like Alchemy in Logic Pro X. Although the track was created in Logic you can practically do the same arrangement in any type of DAW.

Kawaii Future Bass Chords

While Kawaii is a spin off to the downright Future Bass genre it still relies on the same type of chords. If you are familiar with standard Future Bass that means we are working with 7:th chords with added flavours like 9, 11, 13 etc. The bigger chords, the juicier futuristic bass outcome.

Let’s take a look at the chords used in the video tutorial:
We have BΔ7add9 – C6 – FΔ7add9 – Dm7add13.

Making Future Bass is all about finding a sweet chord progression and setting up your synths for some filter wobble.

Presets for Logic Pro X

Check out my preset pack NEPTUNE, for Alchemy synth in Logic Pro X. It contains carefully crafted & production-ready presets to use in your tracks.

Vocal Chops for Kawaii Future Bass

After you have built a solid drum groove and added those pulsing wobble chords we have to add that final ingredient that defines this Kawaii genre.

That’s the cute vocal chops in Japanese. Any phrase will do as long as it’s female, high-pitched and from your favourite anime movie (sample pack with cleared rights for the audio). =)

A good workflow is using a long sentence in Japanese. Throw it into your sampler of choice (Kontakt?) and set the different keys to play different parts of the sample. Now you can randomly hit the keyboard and find out which of the vocal chops work with your track.

Make pitch adjustments to each sample-key separately so you can fine tune the chops to fit with your track key or melody.

Male samples sometimes also work, but be sure to add a good pitch effect to make it sound more female.

One really good pitch plugin for transforming vocals is the Little Alter Boy from Soundtoys.

Note: you can also use the native plugin in Logic Pro X called AUPitch. You find the AUPitch plugin in the Apple plugin-category.

You really want that high end to poke through in the mix. We want cute, happy and joyful words sparkling all over our track.

I spice the track with these vocal chops at a few well thought out places to give the track that final top line.

Listen to the final result below!

#kawaifuturebasschords #howtomakeanimefuturebass #futurebasstutorial

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When we are done you will be able to build your very own first drum kit and program some groovy beats. So let’s talk drum production!

The two most important parts that make up your drum kit is the kick, and the snare. We will begin with the kick since it is the heartbeat of a song. This is the first sound I think about when creating a new track. If you pick (or create) a good kick from the start you have a very good starting point and reference for the rest of your drum kit. Building a good sounding kit is about finding balance.

How do producers make drum kits?

Think about what kind of track you want to create. What kind of mood do you want to express with the music? Is this a heavy EDM banger track (read Dubstep), a soft soaring ballad, a euphoric EDM track (read Trance) or a laidback jazz track?

Importantly, if you want to set out and finish a track without spending days finding the correct sounds and vibe, it’s a very good idea to define and set the genre right at the very start. Take it one step at a time and you will be up and running with awesome grooves in no-time.

Why a producer selects the mood and genre carefully before production start.

It’s very easy just to dive in and start experimenting with several parts of a song like drums, melody and harmony at the same time. But this is not necessarily very good practise. You are ultimately splitting your focus. Especially if you are not a seasoned producer with many tracks behind your back.

This is why we choose to begin by building our drum kit at the very start. Here we focus solely on the percussive side, the rhythm, the riddim… And we begin by finding a good solid kick for the foundation.

Kick – Finding a solid kick for your drum kit.

The kick is the heartbeat of your track and needs close attention since it’s the pulse which will drive the track. Selecting a kick can be cumbersome if your ears are new to a genre but if you have selected a good reference track this will ease the process tremendously.

Setup some A / B listening in your DAW, this can be done in many ways. Or you can just have a folder open (or iTunes) with the reference song with that booming deep thuddy kick you want to imitate.

A good way to see that the kick fits your genre is to program a beat and switch kicks while the pattern is running. Program a quick looping pattern with some kicks beating similar to your reference track. This does not have to be too extensive and long, 4 or 8 bars i enough. Let the pattern run and swap out the kick until you find the right one for your track. You will instantly hear when it’s getting close to the reference kick.

What defines a good kick in a drum kit?

A good kick will sound punchy and often be the loudest sound in your mix so it’s important to find the right kick sound for your track. If a sound is loud and upfront it’s very important that it “rocks your audience” and has a good sound.

Furthermore, the kick might be the deepest sound in your production, or the bass, depending on your genre and style. This means that the kicks first harmonic resides somewhere around 50hz. A kick is often created by a quick pitch envelope from high-pitch to the low-pitch which will give the sound a bit of high-end as well as the deep bass sound.

Firstly, let’s take a quick look at the different important frequencies of a kick sample.

There is of course information further up in the frequency range in the kick too, but we are focusing on the low end thump.

How do producers make drum kits?Important frequencies in a kick.

20 – 60 Hz – Sub Bass.

Boost in this range to add low-end punch. This frequency is really felt in your stomach. Be sure to have good studio monitors and a good room to mix in to adjust this frequency area properly.

60hz – 250 hz  – Bass.

If you have a weak kick in the bass, you can experiment with adding a few db in the 80-100hz area. The bass area can also be divided further from 150hz to 250 hz if you need to dissect your sound further and make more refined adjustments.

In the 150-250 hz area you can probably cut a few db (decibels) to reduce potential boominess in the kick while allowing the lower bass frequencies to come through. Cutting here gives thickness to the low-end without adding muddiness to the overall sound.

300 – 600 Hz – Low Midrange.

The area where you find the annoying cardboard sound on bad samples. If your kick drum sounds boxy, try with a drastic cut in this area (6 – 8db). Some drum microphones even come with a pre-set EQ curve that scoops out the mids to reduce boxiness and to help the kick sit properly.

2 – 4 kHz – Midrange.

This is where the snap and crack of a sound resides. If you have a hard time getting the kick drum to cut through the mix, don’t increase low-end content, instead add to the mids. A broad boost in this section can bring out the beater sound (if you are working with an acoustic kick sample). In pop you often boost with a broad band EQ at 2 kHz. Furthermore, a narrower boost at 4-8 kHz will bring out the click you hear so prominently in metal music.

10+ kHz – High End.

This area can be left untouched (or filtered out completely) depending on the genre you are working with. You can try to boost this range, if your song has a very minimal instrumental setup. Try to add a bit of “air” to your kick sound by boosting slightly and find out if your kick has content up in the 8-10khz area. Importantly, always remember to leave room.

Glitch Hop Kick for snappy drum kits.

If we were going to create a semi-aggressive glitch hop kit with a bit of retro-ish vibe to it we would select a kick with a snappy attack and heavy body.

On the other hand, if we are going to create a trap / hip hop beat we would rather select a more light thuddy kick with a light body. A kick without too much low end, since we would probably going to add an 808 bass to the track which will really fill in that low end.

Great starter drum kit for producers

Trap Kick

Snare – Selecting a snare to fit your kick sample.

Now when we know what our kick sounds like we can begin the search for a snare to fit in the pocket where the kick does not hit. Well if you are programming a four on the floor kick you will probably have the snare on the 2 and 4, but you know what I mean.

Firstly, a snare usually has it’s fundamental (fundamental frequency) at around 150hz – 300hz.

This is the key frequency you are looking for when selecting a snare for your specific genre. Find out the fundamental of the reference snare (or what’s typical for your genre) and go look for a snare that has a strong hit in that frequency. You can also pitch snares up or down to make them sit in that range. Genres like Future Bass tend to have higher pitched snares.

Should I use a snare sample from a pack, or create my own sound from scratch?

Your DAW probably comes with a range of good snares ready to be used, Though genres and sound evolve quickly these days, and more often those DAW sounds might be a bit dated. So my suggestion is to find samples from recently released sample packs from dedicated and professional sound designers.

Find a pack with a focus on the genre you are working with.

I find it’s a lot harder to pick a good snare than finding a good kick to work with. If you buy some recently released sample packs, like the Producer Essentials Pack Vol 1 for Bitwig you instantly have access to some good and ready to go snares.

Creating your own snare for a custom drum kit.

If you are at medium level in music production I would suggest you start experimenting with creating your own snares. Creating your own sounds will help build your identity and brand as an artist. Furthermore, you can really come up with exotic snares by layering different snare samples (and foley sounds) on top to create new smacks (read snares).

Be sure to use EQ on each snare layer to remove unnecessary frequencies in the sound. This will probably mean some cuts in the low and top end. And maybe some cuts of a few db in the 350-500 hz range. The low mids is usually a problematic spectrum to mix so be extra careful with that.

Now, program some snare hits into the pattern you created above.

Producers layer snares for a fatter sound in their drum kits.

If you find it hard to select a snare to the kick, just play your reference track and A/B with the snares you have at your disposal. If you need more “air” in the snare, try to add a subtle layer of noise on top. Or try a reverberated foley sample. Anything goes as long as it works!

This is what I came up with while selecting the snare for my track.

Kick & snare drum kit pattern.

Great, now the foundation for our drum kit is defined and we can continue and select some more exotic percussive sounds to fill out and sparkle our beats. There are many tracks that just use a kick, or a kick and a snare and are totally fine with that. Be sure to have a lot of high frequency content on your kicks and snares if this is the case.

But we like to add spice and sparkle don’t we? So let’s add some hi-hats and cymbals.

Hi-Hat – The sizzling top layer of your producer drum kit.

In the previous chapters we selected a kick and a snare. This gave us the low-end and mid-meat in the frequency spectrum of our drum sounds. But to wrap it up and close the circle we need to add the icing on the cake, some hi-hat sizzle. This will add the final touch and sprakle to the drums.

Again, listen to your reference track and listen to what kind of sizzle in the top end you hear. A hi-hat isn’t too hard to select if you already made the kick and snare. The top frequency content of your drums can be anything from noise generated hi-hats, to short foley sounds.

I selected a sharp hi-hat typical in trap music. I made it play 8th notes and also sprinkle some 16th notes on a few places to make some variation. This is typical in trap beats.

Drum pattern with hi-hat included.

Furthermore, we can also make this pattern even more interesting. It feels a bit dull and stale. It does miss some soul to make it come alive and make us dance. How about adding some additional percussion or foley sounds into the drum pattern?

I watch for empty spots in the pattern where the kick and snare is not hitting and carefully place some foley sounds into those empty places. Experimentation is key here so be sure to walk through a few sounds before you make the decision to stick with a sound.

Trap pattern with additional foley percussion added to the drum kit.

How do producers make drum kits – Conclusion

With this article I hope you grasp how producers make drum kits. It takes some time and practise to master different drum styles, but begin with some basic patterns and imitate your favourite producers. You will be a rock star beat programmer in no-time.

If you are just starting out as a producer it might be good practise to use pre-existing samples. And select the best possible quality samples you can get your hands on. It will really save you time because there is nothing more frustration trying to get a dull (bad) sample to sound decent. Just give yourself an early / late Christmas present and you should be able to create awesome beats in a few days.

You can grab some great samples in my webshop here.

When you have been creating beats for a while, be sure to explore your own ideas in sound design and start to create kicks, snares and all the other sounds for your kits. It will give your tracks an identity and help you build a brand of your own. These are exciting times and there are million ways to create unique sounds with the tools available.

I hope you found this article useful for your beat creations.

Making Beats like a Bitwig Pro Producer featuring Maschine Jam

A great tool to sequencing drums and give your drums life with dynamic automation is the Maschine Jam from Native Instruments. I wrote an article on using Maschine Jam with Bitwig Studio here.

Furthermore, you can watch a video tutorial on how to program drums in Bitwig for various styles like Hip-hop, Trap, Glitch Hop and DnB.

What gear I use in the studio? Check out the Resources Page.

Join my exclusive community: https://www.patreon.com/gelhein

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In this video we look at a Christmas Game Music track that was composed with presets from the Producer Essentials Pack Vol 1 for Bitwig Studio 2.

I wanted to show the broad spectrum of tracks you can create with the presets from the Bitwig pack. The pack is very versatile and a great starting point for all kinds of tracks. The track has some Future Bass vibe going, but overall I wanted a happy uplifting game touch and tone.

/Kind regards,
Santa…I mean Mattias.

How do you define Christmas music?

When we think of Christmas music it’s easy to start thinking about bells, chimes, gospel choirs and the usual carols. If we use these elements and keep to tradition it’s not that hard to come up with a carol of your own. Listen to some classical Christmas chord progressions and typical melodic content and you are good to go.

Or, why not take a slightly more exciting path?

This year on the other hand I wanted to do something fresh and new so I came up with the idea of selecting retro game sounds. Let’s go retro and take it to the happy Christmas land.

Sorry, there are no hidden gospel choirs in this Christmas game music cue.

Where to begin when composing Christmas game music?

So I knew this was going to be some kind of uplifting track. Probably in a major key and with light arrangement. The song should have feel-good vibe and some fun sounds to make up for a light and “snowy” atmosphere.

First thing when I started working on this Christmas track was to decide tempo. And I decided to go with 110 bpm which felt like a good start when clapping on my knees and just feeling some kind of vibe.

Thereafter, I made the decision that the melody should be very sparse. I didn’t want to have too many notes in the main lead.

This is indeed good practise!

Leave room in your melodies, space is key to a good melody!

Leave room for some call / answer type of melodies with a secondary, more subtle melody instruments. I used this effectively and added some lighter sine-bleeps or arepggios to fill in some blanks when the melody was not playing.

I wrote a simple laidback melody with a uplifting vibe to carry the Christmas vibe to the listener. Then the melody was doubled with a few layers of different synth presets which makes the sound unique.

Next up when the melody was in place, I used some really exciting chord notes to be played by a filtered synth. The notes were spread out in the register to back up the melody, without obscuring the lead register.

Using foley / wood sounds in place of drum samples

Furthermore, for the percussion, I also wanted to give the track a non-traditional feel. I selected a few “found sounds” samples from my Wood Sound Pack to be placed instead of the regular drum sounds. I usually do this in many of my tracks to give them an original touch and a fingerprint of my artistic touch.

Lo-fi bass gives the Christmas track some crunch and lowend.

The bass is a preset I created in the Producer Essentials Pack called “LoFi Bass”. Importantly, it’s a crunchy bass that really fits the fun / quirky start of the track.

Composing the chorus of a Christmas game music cue.

When the chorus kicks in I opened the filter on the verse synth and some other sounds to make the song sound huge. This is a standard trick to make your song grow and make the chorus the climax.

Furthermore, in the chorus I gave place for some real drums to come in and make the song groove more. I also added some big claps mixed with some more wood clutch samples. These wood samples were offset slightly to make the music sound more like a whole christmas party clapping.

If you want to learn more about creating melodies, you can read this article I wrote on coming up with melodies without effort – How to write better melodies.

What gear I use in the studio? Check out the Resources Page.

Join my exclusive community: https://www.patreon.com/gelhein

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Muscle memory can be a gift and a curse. If you repeat a physical task your muscle nerves will react and increase in response time. It is the nature of motor learning and makes us perform tasks without conscious effort. 

This article is really about balance. 

A balance between, using muscle memory, and using alternative ways to bring forth new music. We will start a bit on the philosophical side and then we will dig in to some helpful tips and tricks on how to create better melodies.

Break the “listen, learn and repeat”-cycle and write better melodies.

Just like running or walking, the physical movements become programmed and you no longer think, you just do! Therefore, muscle memory will also “help” you into playing the same chords and melodies over and over.

Practise makes perfect, and so you remember all the parts of that new hit song you are learning.  This is great when you want to learn new things in life!

Muscle memory is the “beauty and the beast” of practise.

I was enlightened in how the muscle nerves effect the playing technique when I was studying piano in the teens. Time had come to present last weeks homework, playing back some classical piano piece. My teacher made me aware that my playing was heavily by muscle memory, and not by reading the actual notes.

Looking hard at the note sheet but playing it slightly different, repeatedly. 

Thus I was repeating my own musical interpretation (read “mistakes”) of how the piece should be played. It’s just natural, nothing wrong with that.

This can be good to some extent. Importantly, if you want to learn new music scores and improve your playing skill on an instrument, muscle memory is very helpful.

Furthermore, when you are composing new songs, muscle memory can be a barrier for you to grow and explore new phrasings. When practising how to write better melodies you really need to be aware on these things that effect your musical outcome.

Writing good melodies is about listening to the inner mind and heart.

To create a new melody I listen to what comes up in my mind. Then I try to transcribe what I hear down to my fingers, or program into the piano roll if I’m in edit mode. As soon as I perform with my body I know that muscle memory will have it’s effect on how I write and phrase the melody.

Muscle memory is inevitable when writing melodies.

Importantly, it’s something to have in mind when you start to wonder why it’s hard to come up with new exciting rhythms and melodies from time to time.

Of course, everyone is different, and that is good. Uniqueness is what makes YOU different than anyone else.

If we are aware of the fact that we repeat the things we learned by heart (read muscle memory), it’s easier to step outside that box and do things slightly different to come up with totally new ideas.

I did a recent article about my best melody writing tip here where you can get some inspiration during a writer’s block.

We like to repeat, it’s how we are wired.

The process worked in the past, so why change?

We humans are lazy by nature, or our brains are lazy by nature. As “habit people” we stick to routines and things we have grown used to. If we struggle and learn a new fingering on the guitar it’s added to our memory database. After hours of practise it will be close in reach whenever we need that fingering in our playing.

How can we break the habit of playing the same melodies and phrases?

Is there any way we can break the habits of crafting similar products every time we create something new. May it be music, art or some other form of design.

I have found some tricks to jump over the habit-barrier and create more unique designs and that is to shift the way that I produce. To change the process of how I create. 

Change the process, change the outcome.

– Mick Gordon (DOOM composer)

Change the process, change the outcome.

In a composition session this can be shifting into note programming / editing in the piano roll rather than actual playing the new melodies. Find out that you really can expand your melodic and rhythmic ideas this way. It can be an eye opener if you are used to write all your melodies by playing on a piano (or any other instrument).

…Yeah, I know most bedroom producers of today doesn’t even play on a keyboard, guitar or an instrument… That removes some of the muscle nerve memory issues from the equation.

When you add notes in the piano roll (with a mouse or touchpad) you are disconnected from the muscle memory that is reaching for certain keys, phrases and chords. You brain will probably guide you to certain reference notes, but it will not be as obvious as when performing on an instrument.

How to write better melodies? It’s about shifting your environment.

Shift writing styles and write instantly better melodies.

Try to shift in the middle of a writing session. Jump between performing and note programming / editing. Or if you are old school, take out that pen and paper (note sheet) and write out your song…

Or why not jam the song out on a Maschine, or other sampler? Come on, loosen up!

Your melodic foundation will come alive.

I think that it’s good practise to use both methods; performing, and note editing. Then, when your melodies are defined it’s time for a musician to perform the melody.

Instruments recorded by performing musicians will always have more interesting and unique organic feel to it compared to a programmed part. There are so many subtleties that a musician can breathe into a melody.

Some melodies and arpeggios, like über tight EDM notes are of course totally OK to program.

Learn how to create better melodies!

Start with a rhythm

Clap a compelling rhythm on your knees or chest to get a feel and foundation for your melody. Don’t think about actual notes at this stage. Keep it rather simple. 

When you have a beat going, start using your voice to hum or sing a melody on top of the rhythmic idea.

Use your voice

How can we write a memorable melody? What defines a memorable melody? If you can sing it, you can probably remember it too.

With that in mind, start your melodies by humming or singing it out loud. This way you also make sure that the melody is singable and not too much far away and large jumps between notes.

Keep it simple

Write a simple motif which consists of a few basic notes. When you are happy with rhythm and notes. Expand the idea into a more full blown theme.

Expanding

Expand the basic motif melody into the full melody. There are multiple ways to expand an idea; inversion, repetition, space, reverse, retrograde, repeat melody on another chord tone etc.

From here you can go anywhere!

How to write better melodies – Conclusion

When memory of certain phrases and rhythms generate hits!

How come Avicii and Alan Walker melodies are so memorable and loved? They use quite a simple formula for their melodic themes and you can also hear them repeat these formulas between songs.

It’s great to find YOUR OWN melodic formula, may it be rhythmic or by melody. But also keep in mind to give yourself room for expansion or you might end up in a loop. Writing the same song over and over.

To really grow your musical vocabulary it’s great to break away from the habit of playing the same rhythm, melody and chords.

I hope this article will help you get comfortable writing new rhythms and melodies and aware of how to shift your process to generate new ideas.

You can read more about breaking out of the loop and gain momentum as a songwriter in my previous article: Stuck in the 8-Bar Loop – How to finish songs faster.

What gear I use in the studio? Check out the Resources Page.

Join my exclusive community: https://www.patreon.com/gelhein

Be sure to sign up to our newsletter for new exciting articles in design, music production and sound design.

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The post How to write better melodies – Muscle memory a gift & curse. appeared first on Morningdew Media.