How melodic can I get away with in EDM/IDM?

[Tricky-Loops]

Of course you can. There is no limit. It's just important to make the bass line simple if you have much melodic content in the lead...

[MeteoXavier]

Of course you can. There is no limit. It's just important to make the bass line simple if you have much melodic content in the lead...

Finally - praise the Lord, that's all I was looking for. Thank you very much.

Don't think I don't genuinely appreciate that with my snarky response. Every time I post on KVR, 99% of the responses are like here: "DERP TYPO! LOL" or "Hey, let's focus on a completely different part of your post that has nothing to do with your question." It gets frustrating after a while.

Awesome, good, so I can do quasi-mainstream EDM with melodies like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2xnstump2A 1:31 - 1:59? Why then do people still gravitate towards very minimal and repetitive house and such with weak or no melodic content?

[Tricky-Loops]

Why then do people still gravitate towards very minimal and repetitive house and such with weak or no melodic content?

Do they? For example, there's a lot of melodic content in the songs of "Enigma" (Michael Cretu), but nevertheless they are dance-able. I believe that even a piece of Mozart could be re-written as an EDM song...

[seismic1]

.... death people......

.... processional musicians......

New Orleans Jazz funeral

[tapper mike]

Someone faild to follow my link with the death percussionist. Not just tone deaf. Totally deaf.

If you want to make noise that is your purgative. No one may listen that's theirs.

Con't be consumed with stuff you don't like. It's a waste of your time and your mind. Concentrate on the things you do like. Don't just hear, listen. Pay attention. Try to recreate what you like.

[MeteoXavier]

Someone faild to follow my link with the death percussionist. Not just tone deaf. Totally deaf.

If you want to make noise that is your purgative. No one may listen that's theirs.

Con't be consumed with stuff you don't like. It's a waste of your time and your mind. Concentrate on the things you do like. Don't just hear, listen. Pay attention. Try to recreate what you like.

Thank you for posting a response that is both confusing and full of suggestions I already said were useless, but my question has already been answered. Took almost two pages, but I got it and I am satisfied now.

[highkoo]

I havent been sleeping well. I will bump this.

So "simple bassline" was all you needed to hear?
That was the signal that inspired you above all the noise of people telling you to listen?

It is really too bad you got away with the attitude.
Because its easy to tell that you dont even suspect that you are off base.
Insulting thread.
Yes, it is very hard to be good/get fans/break new ground in a genre you have no passion for.
And Id imagine especially so when the skills one has are based not on hearing, or even an apparent interest in the music.
Making good music takes a bit more than just asking how to do it.

Harsh truth:
Video game music is the only 'genre' that is actually paint by numbers.
(Well pop and country are getting there...)
Cant quite get away with it when people are actually listening though....
Basically, you have to care at least five times more than they do.

You think that the skills you describe using in VGM will instantly translate, passionless, over to EDM, and youll have fans. Understand that someone (fan or fellow creator) realizing you have that attitude might not like it. Even if you are a genius who can pull it off. When you combine that attitude with your tendency to call peoples advice 'useless', you might come off a bit jackass.

That said, serious answer from an admitted dedicated multi-decade viciously bigoted EDM listener;
"Overly", or heavily melodic commercial EDM is a folly, imo. Its a forced exercise, that can be a cool and valid experiment musically, but is very hard to force into a commercial peg hole, and is often sort of a frankenstein monster, even when its great.

(Two things really stick out for me as defining 'overly' and 'heavily' here. Two ways it commonly goes too far for the EDM side imo.
One, complex melodies that have short fast notes. If it is short and fast, it will have to start at like trance-gate simplicity and work up from there. Say the other extreme is a raging chopping violin solo wandering all over the place. Dont go there. Also, melodies that span many measures. The way that 4d/8s/16s are 'counted' by EDM listeners is different. The longer and more wandering a melody is, the harder it is to make it flow over an EDM track without a lot of added accompaniment in the arrangement to tie it all in. You cant just match a bpm and mix Mozart with Swedish House Mafia 1:1. Neither can you just cut a 'Mozart loop'. The result of both is just silly. That example is not to discount Tricky's thinking it could be done. It could absolutely be done, well. But what is off is OP thinking that maybe the way to do it is to just ask for the instructions, and in general, thinking that the results are a commercial sound.)

Its a mashup of disparate styles basically, and someone coming from a background heavily rooted in one side or the other will very easily fukk it up badly and make a track that sounds literally ridiculous to either the melodic people or the EDM people, or both.
Source; listening.

Ho-lee fukk. Rattled that off....

[deastman]

The title of this thread is confusing. Are you interested in making EDM (a very broad category) or IDM (a narrow, not particularly commercial subset of EDM)?

Assuming you are actually interested in IDM, that more or less falls roughly into two categories: melodic, and glitch. Some examples of melodic IDM which come to mind are Orbital and Boards of Canada. Autechre, who have mainly been known for their random, glitchy noise, also made a rather melodic album with their latest release. I'm not suggesting that you go analyze those to determine chord progressions to copy. I'm suggesting you listen to them as examples of IDM with an emphasis on melody and harmony.

Then go out and do your own thing.

Trying to learn a style in order to copy it and become commercially successful is going about it the wrong way. Create your own style. Do what you love. If you're good at it, persistent, and prolific, a fan base will naturally grow up around you.

And seriously, do you really think you can be commercially successful making dance music? Do you have any idea how many other people are doing the same thing? Yes, there are examples of people who get lucky and make a name for themselves, but those are few and far between. If you're only in this for the money/fame/success, the odds are against you, regardless of how talented you are. You hav
e to do this for the love of the music, and for that reason only. If you aren't genuine, the listening audience will spot that a mile away.

[Jbravo]

*deleted rant regarding walkthroughs for music genres*

[MeteoXavier]

So "simple bassline" was all you needed to hear?
That was the signal that inspired you above all the noise of people telling you to listen?

No, my question was (if you remember the topic title, which you should by now) whether or not I could make EDM or IDM highly melodic.

Finally, after a full page of people laughing at typos and focusing on my amusia for some reason, someone actually answered the question and even gave a helpful tip to go with it. That's all I was asking for.

If I have an attitude, its because it shouldn't take 15 posts to get to a "Yeah, you can make EDM as melodic as you want" or "Not really, EDM tends to focus on pumping rhythms and harsh bass, etc" from people who obviously only read like 1/3rd of the original post. I don't think that's much to ask for.

Thank you for your wall of arrogant bullshit and unprovoked dig at VGM. I'll move on to a post that's much more reasonable now.

Are you interested in making EDM (a very broad category) or IDM (a narrow, not particularly commercial subset of EDM)?

I'm interested in doing either or both, I just have a shit-ton of electronica samples and sounds and I want to work towards a genre with a dedicated listener-base that I could get a foothold in. I've already been doing the experimental/fantasy/prog/ambient/orchestral/electronica route and it wasn't getting me anywhere. I'm trying to pear that down and focus it into a better direction, using more sugar and less vinegar if you catch the old phrase.

I already know my chances of really getting it anywhere are slim, but I'd prefer doing failed music that at least had a chance with a good listener-base than music that didn't.

[metamorphosis]

There are no rules, only rule-breakers and makers.
Don't focus on making 'good idm/ebm', focus on making 'good music'.
Nobody called it idm/ebm when it was coming out, it was called music.
It still should be.
If you stick to genre you're doomed to make something unoriginal.
m@

[MeteoXavier]

Nobody called it idm/ebm when it was coming out, it was called music.
It still should be.

Hmm... you make an inspiring argument. I will remember this as I shift focus.

Excellent, thanks man.

[tapper mike]

There are no rules, only rule-breakers and makers.

If there are no rules then it goes to show that there are no rule makers and as well no rule breaker. You can't have something ideological that does not exist unless an idealogue creates it. The idea of rules. One can also not break something that does not exist.

[MeteoXavier]

There are no rules, only rule-breakers and makers.

If there are no rules then it goes to show that there are no rule makers and as well no rule breaker. You can't have something ideological that does not exist unless an idealogue creates it. The idea of rules. One can also not break something that does not exist.

Yeah, this is what I'm talking about. What does this have to do with whether or not EDM and IDM can be highly melodic? This is where I get my "attitude".

[deastman]

Yeah, this is what I'm talking about. What does this have to do with whether or not EDM and IDM can be highly melodic? This is where I get my "attitude".

Someone responded to your question with what they thought was a reasonable piece of advice. Someone else disagreed with the entire premise of that response, and said so. That is the connection back to your original question. Its a conversation which arose naturally from your topic.

Besides, I'm pretty sure your question has been answered. The answer is yes.