[SlvrDragon50]

I just dove into trying to produce a song a couple of days ago and followed Sonic Academy's tutorial to making 'Main Room House'. I'm having an extremely difficult time coming up with a melody since everything I'm making has too much of a classical sound (probably because I played piano and french horn).

In the tutorial, they use vocals as a melody, but I'm an awful singer and I can't write lyrics. I wanted to just use an instrument in place like a piano or string... but this leads to my question.

The song I put together is just simply too repetitive (I think so...), and I want to try and diversify it.

The song is in Cm.

I would post a link to the song... but I don't ahve the post count.

Any and all tips are welcome.

[redeyeglasses]

Try improvising over your chord progression on the piano. And it might sound "classical" because you're using a lot of stepwise movement, try limiting yourself to chord tones a bit more, or use a pentatonic scale or something.

Also, you could put up a soundcloud URL or whatever with the periods replaced with "(dot)" so we can hear it.

[SlvrDragon50]

Originally Posted by redeyeglasses

Try improvising over your chord progression on the piano. And it might sound "classical" because you're using a lot of stepwise movement, try limiting yourself to chord tones a bit more, or use a pentatonic scale or something.

Also, you could put up a soundcloud URL or whatever with the periods replaced with "(dot)" so we can hear it.

Thanks. I'll try out the pentatonic scale. I'll have to figure it out on my midi keyboard though since I only know it on the guitar (I memorized fingerings instead of actual notes )
snd(dot)sc/QWhITU

[StkMtd]

A lot of house to me isn't so concerned with melody. There will usually be a melody, but they seem to focus more on well-placed rhythmic chirps, and varying the tone used to play the melody.

Whatever melody there is, it's usually very basic. Avoid the fancier elements of theory, unless you're trying to create some kind of jazz-fusion house.

[AbM]

I think there's a valid piece of research online (google search), whereby an individual breaks down the key for 1500 house records and establishes that, from his research, the top 3 used keys were Am, Dm, Gm. May be worth checking out. i.e. generic house structure. Also, I think a lot of those house melodies may be happy accidents. If you check out some of the futuremusic magazine videos on youtube, you can see a lot of house producers in work. A lot of the time they appear to be browsing through presets completely unable to play any music theory... Maybe just use an arpeggiator and then randomly delete some of the midi information; perhaps even put some 1/4 dotted on there. Boom.

[PeterBeckhart]

In my opinion there is nothing wrong with some classical elements going into house music. I honestly like hearing more variety of chord structure and melodies. Don't think it won't fit in just cause it sounds classical.

[SlvrDragon50]

Well the biggest issue I have with the classical sound is that it doesn't have the quick, staccato stabs that my beat has.

I think the other problem I'm having is that I'm having difficulty making a melody that is different from the stabs. Just need to do some more experimentation, can't wait for exam week to end!

[joshmg]

Try finding someone on youtube to sing the vocals, there are plenty of aspiring singers just as there are aspiring producers.

[bbb]

To be honest, while I'm horrible at playing piano/keyboard I love playing stuff out to the best of my ability on my keyboard though.

The great thing about electronic production, if you happen to play something that sounds decent to you, you recorded it. You can fall into whatever it is without expecting to. You can just play endless while recording your midi clip. You can take your very slow and poorly timed play and shorten it up. You don't have to use an arpeggiator, you can plug that stuff in manually. Replay it over and over.

I'll even use a dummy note to help with my play. It's usually my base note that I'm trying to use throughout. A bit like a drummer I guess. I'll hit it, maybe even move around the original bassline pattern with my left hand, doing faster play(staggering notes sometimes) with my right an octave up or as far apart as my keyboard will alloy me. I can rip out the left hand play becuase it's all recorded on midi. \o/ Then once you figure out what you like, maybe even start using both hands together on the higher pattern to get the same effect if not faster, whatever works for you.

Just play around, as for what I've learned to play...At this point, I've sort of have a memory of what I like note-wise, if not I have a system of keys I run to while testing out notes. I never get them all right, theory would probably help that.

And you don't have to play everything at once. You can layer multiple instances of the same instrument and play different layers and patterns to eventually build the larger pattern. It doesn't have to be about playing it all at once, showing how great a player you are. BUT....

Chords....Fucking chords....They are a pain in the ass, they sound so awesome but without any knowledge of them, they really screw up my workflow. If nothing else, I need to learn about chords. They sound so great but take one note and lining it up with the next in my normal play, does not compute when you're playing 3 and then another 3 back to back.

Of course, there is the midi effect named chords. I haven't used it but I think it could be helpful(if you have Live).

Sorry for the rant, if not helpful. I'm still a nubbin. =D

[SlvrDragon50]

My music theory is somewhat decent since I play guitar, piano, and used to play french horn, and I took AP music theory in high school.

I just feel that I'm too classical for the same reason I think I'm better suited towards trance. Only a couple more days of exams and then I get to go back to my midi keyboard

I'd really love to learn how to create more complex drumming patterns. I think that's another big barrier I'm facing right now, I have trouble 'hand drumming' different beats on different hands. More practice I guess

Very helpful though! I listened to more house songs and I think I just need more riffs?