Hi,
I am really struggling on good catchy melody and have a small task to ask....
Here's the crux of the problem: I can create fairly catchy bass lines and chords - that part isn't my issue. The issue comes when I've laid down my basic bass line and drums, and begin then to actually compose a melody. I have worked hundreds of hours at this stage and it's driving me insane. When I mentioned 'catchy melody' I'm referring to any of the following example tracks: http://tompatrick.co.uk/music/tracks_i_really_like/
I ask of you fellow KVR members, if you would be my savour, truly, to help me out. My idea is to attach one of my looped drum and bassline (see attached), and I'd sincerely appreciate (even willing to pay!) you to record yourself from start to finish (NOT only the final piece) so that I can hear how you go about making a tune over my melody. Obviously you can loop the audio clip many times so you have time to export your full playing.
I realise this is a longshot, but I want to try it.
Thank you. And yes, I am happy to paypal you over a tip for doing this, and no I'm not interested in using your melody, I just need to hear how someone else does it.
http://tompatrick.co.uk/music/mine/rhythm_3.wav
It is in 120bpm, and 3 bars it is in D and the fourth bar in F (correct me if I'm wrong)
Fancy helping a member out? - Play over my bass line and drums
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- KVRist
- 103 posts since 24 Dec, 2011
Last edited by maudioradium on Thu Jul 30, 2015 9:21 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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- KVRAF
- 2394 posts since 10 Jul, 2006 from Tampa
This sounds interesting...but it begs a few questions:
Which style of music do you want "around" the melody? (You can change how the melody is received by changing the style of music around it, to a degree.)
Which instruments would you like on the track?
What is the tempo and key for the .WAV file? (I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.)
Do you want the raw .WAV stems when its done, or would you like the DAW project file (in case you want to make some tweaks)?
Steve
Which style of music do you want "around" the melody? (You can change how the melody is received by changing the style of music around it, to a degree.)
Which instruments would you like on the track?
What is the tempo and key for the .WAV file? (I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.)
Do you want the raw .WAV stems when its done, or would you like the DAW project file (in case you want to make some tweaks)?
Steve
Here's some of my stuff: https://soundcloud.com/shadowsoflife. If you hear something you like, I'm looking for collaborators.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 103 posts since 24 Dec, 2011
It is me pulling my hair out trying to come up with a way to help me off this block that I've been stuck on for a very long time. After failing a number of techniques, I thought this different approach may help.planetearth wrote:This sounds interesting...but it begs a few questions:
I don't mind. Any melody. I am purely interested in how someone else composes, so I can pick up how they do it. I seem to have a mind block - I sometimes find myself practising the keyboard more than anything else rather than melody.planetearth wrote:Which style of music do you want "around" the melody? (You can change how the melody is received by changing the style of music around it, to a degree.)
Just a main melody (lead, I imagine), it doesn't matter which instrument(s) are used.planetearth wrote:Which instruments would you like on the track?
It is 120bpm. Thanks for reminding me, I'll put that in the post.planetearth wrote:What is the tempo and key for the .WAV file? (I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.)
As for key, for 3 bars it is in D, and then in the fourth bar it is in F. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm pretty out of touch when it comes to theory.
I'm happy just hearing an mp3 or wav, it doesn't need to be any DAW file.planetearth wrote:Do you want the raw .WAV stems when its done, or would you like the DAW project file (in case you want to make some tweaks)?
Thanks.
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- KVRAF
- 1595 posts since 17 Nov, 2007 from Seattle, WA
You're actually in the mode of D dorian, I think. It'd be D minor if you'd flatten the 6th scale degree. Though dorian is a great mode. I actually made something in G dorian a few years back.
I don't know where you're at in theory knowledge, or just practical composing experience... But I get the sense this bit might be relevant: A melody doesn't usually go anywhere interesting in pop music without an overall chord progression of some sort to carry it. In the link above, my progression was just going back and forth between the 1 and 3 chords, simple as any progression gets. Not very exciting, but it did make a back and forth flow. Composing over your loop, however, could prove difficult to make catchy on it's own since there's no inherent progression, just the 1 chord. There's no way to plan how a melody starts, makes drama, and resolves - it'll be prone to either meandering or lying flat. Maybe. More experienced composers will surely laugh at this assertion, hehe. But at least a pattern of chord change ensure's it can't sit still.
Maybe try i-v-VII-IV. Pretty synth pop compatible, I suppose.
Focusing on melody.... Call and response. Over and over, in everything, try out focusing on call and response. Look over there. Now look over there. Back and forth. One part sets up another, maybe from the same instrument, maybe not. But somehow differentiated from the last riff it did. Maybe one part isn't even a melodic riff but just some kind of salient sound. Or conspicuous silence, even. That's one way of going about it.
Another way of going about it might be determining, before anything else, some manner of hook. Just a little slice of something that's catchy even without context. It's possible to start from that. Decide, in a relative void, where you want it to be in the track, and that could be an effective anchor point. Sia, a very very successful melody writer, seems to do that. She picks some kind of artifact, give it a cadence, some notes, and sculpts and spams around it. This is done over the context of a very basic chord progression. It's probably not the way most computer-based music producers do things, but clearly it's a viable, prolific, and hyper-successful method to conceive a song.
My favorite Giorgio Moroder tune is . In that, you can hear each of these factors: The verse & chorus hook lies in the repeated pattern the vocalist uses. The chord progression of the chorus is something like I - IV - VII, while the verse cruises in the minor 1 chord(but in a totally different key!). The call and response is there between the synth lines & vocal lines.
And I can't remember what else I was gonna say so I'll stop talking. I dunno. Let me know if this helps, or if the problems totally different than what I'm imagining.
I don't know where you're at in theory knowledge, or just practical composing experience... But I get the sense this bit might be relevant: A melody doesn't usually go anywhere interesting in pop music without an overall chord progression of some sort to carry it. In the link above, my progression was just going back and forth between the 1 and 3 chords, simple as any progression gets. Not very exciting, but it did make a back and forth flow. Composing over your loop, however, could prove difficult to make catchy on it's own since there's no inherent progression, just the 1 chord. There's no way to plan how a melody starts, makes drama, and resolves - it'll be prone to either meandering or lying flat. Maybe. More experienced composers will surely laugh at this assertion, hehe. But at least a pattern of chord change ensure's it can't sit still.
Maybe try i-v-VII-IV. Pretty synth pop compatible, I suppose.
Focusing on melody.... Call and response. Over and over, in everything, try out focusing on call and response. Look over there. Now look over there. Back and forth. One part sets up another, maybe from the same instrument, maybe not. But somehow differentiated from the last riff it did. Maybe one part isn't even a melodic riff but just some kind of salient sound. Or conspicuous silence, even. That's one way of going about it.
Another way of going about it might be determining, before anything else, some manner of hook. Just a little slice of something that's catchy even without context. It's possible to start from that. Decide, in a relative void, where you want it to be in the track, and that could be an effective anchor point. Sia, a very very successful melody writer, seems to do that. She picks some kind of artifact, give it a cadence, some notes, and sculpts and spams around it. This is done over the context of a very basic chord progression. It's probably not the way most computer-based music producers do things, but clearly it's a viable, prolific, and hyper-successful method to conceive a song.
My favorite Giorgio Moroder tune is . In that, you can hear each of these factors: The verse & chorus hook lies in the repeated pattern the vocalist uses. The chord progression of the chorus is something like I - IV - VII, while the verse cruises in the minor 1 chord(but in a totally different key!). The call and response is there between the synth lines & vocal lines.
And I can't remember what else I was gonna say so I'll stop talking. I dunno. Let me know if this helps, or if the problems totally different than what I'm imagining.