David August Scale

[Deisss]

Hi,

I'm having a hard time figuring out this one:
https://youtu.be/l9tRdSmVZAc?t=1365
Song start min 23.

The main synth progression is a unknown scale to me, sounding detuned/off but yet very pleasing (at least to my ears )

The notes played here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9tRdSmVZAc&t=1577s
At 26min 17sec.

Are as follow: A3, C4, A#3, A3, D2, A, A#2, F3, later there is also F#, G and D# (and maybe the extraction wasnt perfect)

In attachment, the midi I could come up with using ableton sound to midi + a lot of cleaning...

Im very interested to know what part of music theory ive missed to have such a off-tune scale that sounds yet so pleasant to me

[BertKoor]

The video is over an hour long.
Time marks don't work with embedded videos
Could you write them down as well plz?

PS, my reflex to someone writing A# in between an A and a C is:

A#
Bb

[Deisss]

Oh sure, the song start at 23min, the highlighted moment/midi is at 26min 17sec...

And the song stop at 27min 40sec

[AsPeeXXXVIII]

If the song (or that section of it) is in a key of A, the notes you listed off - counting out the F# - would correspond to the Locrian scale.

[Deisss]

PS, my reflex to someone writing A# in between an A and a C is:

A#
Bb

Lets agree on the fact im not the best at music theory - but still redoing/relearning all atm, and enjoying it so far

[shawshawraw]

You found the correct notes The synth is a little detuned so a bit hard to grab!

It's just a regular minor.

[jancivil]

It's in G minor, all of the pitches listed in the OP are fully explicated as G minor. An F# gives a harmonic form of G minor.
G A Bb C D Eb F, G natural minor, w. F# is G harmonic minor.
A guitar (or something) has a wobbly vibrato attached to it in some way, that's 'out of tune', but that has nothing at all to do with the scale or harmony.

I *strongly* recommend getting your ear together before getting into 'theory' ie., language first, let alone the crutch of a software before you have stood up to walk. The tonic G is as clear as can be. This is your primary step right now.

EDIT: the MIDI seems more or less congruent, but things are missing which would explicate the melody better. There is a F moving directly to F# 6 seconds in, and the F descends in that natural minor (descending melodic minor too) way (there's a kinda sorta Bb major aspect, I wouldn't call it G Aeolian, it's harmonic fabric<- maybe don't worry about that at this precise juncture) before we get the F#.

[Deisss]

I *strongly* recommend getting your ear together before getting into 'theory' ie., language first, let alone the crutch of a software (to trust that implicitly is a mistake, might be lucky, might not) before you have stood up to walk. The tonic G is as clear as can be. This is your primary step right now.

Thank you all

About that quoted message, you mean like ear training? In this case what resources you recommend if I may ask

[jancivil]

Yeah, train your ear. When I started I didn't have resources, I picked things off of records by ear. In a scholastic setting we sight-sing.
I can recommend that you learn to recognize intervals quickly, both on some instrument and with yer voice.
the track likes A and Bb: so sing that A against a Gm chord, against a Bb major chord, and like that. First identify the root and 3rd of the tonic chord Gm, be certain you have that m3 down cold. Sing Bb A G F# against the G minor harmony and get to recognize that, there's a very identifiable effect...

Sing any of these 8 against any harmony from G minor and see what you think about what should happen next, in any/all cases.

[jancivil]

the F# btw makes it *harmonic minor* because in the D harmony ("v") it - the leading tone of the scale/key - makes that harmony dominant by it, ie., now it functions harmonically, as they say in the trade.

[benzene]

Thank you all

About that quoted message, you mean like ear training? In this case what resources you recommend if I may ask

This is just one resource which helped me, but a mobile app I found helpful is Functional Ear Trainer. It's free (donation based) and I think has a desktop version too. It works progressively so it'll start playing you a major chord (to establish the harmony) then will play one note which might be 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the (major) scale which you then select. As you get more accurate it levels you up to more notes.

I used it a lot on my commute (easy to jump in and practice when out and about). I was always getting it wrong but accuracy slowly went up over time. OK-ish now.

More important though to listen to real recordings and try to pick out small parts of melodies. When a tune starts does it begin on the tonic? Or maybe it's the fifth? Over time you might go - oh I like how that melody just hung on a minor third. It's very learn-able with some patience and time.

It's definitely worth the effort IMO - best of luck.

Edit: Having said all that, I should caveat I'm not very far along on my journey. Give precedence to jancivil's pointers on playing/singing and hearing/feeling the intervals, ultimately what's important over what any app can do.