How I can reinforce melodies?

[pamuma]

hi, happy new year! i have a question: How I can reinforce melodies?

[planetearth]

Happy New Year!

What do you mean by "reinforce" the melodies?

Are you talking about adding additional instruments to play the melodic line and make it sound "bigger"? Or by using parts of the melodic line in other parts of the song?

Steve

[pamuma]

Happy New Year!

What do you mean by "reinforce" the melodies?

Are you talking about adding additional instruments to play the melodic line and make it sound "bigger"? Or by using parts of the melodic line in other parts of the song?

Steve

yes, but in the same instrument, to sound bigger, I read somewhere duplicating it one octave below but this does not give me enough strength.

[planetearth]

Happy New Year!

What do you mean by "reinforce" the melodies?

Are you talking about adding additional instruments to play the melodic line and make it sound "bigger"? Or by using parts of the melodic line in other parts of the song?

Steve

yes, but in the same instrument, to sound bigger, I read somewhere duplicating it one octave below but this does not give me enough strength.

Well, it all depends upon the melody and the register. If the melody is already relatively low, adding an octave below it will only make things "muddy". An octave higher--but a bit quieter and maybe played by a complementary instrument--might work.

It also depends upon the instrument that's playing the melody. For example, if it's a piano or guitar, adding an octave won't even necessarily sound realistic, since a real player wouldn't necessarily do this.

Either try a complementary instrument (one that sounds nice and goes well with the main melody instrument) playing in unison with the melody, or try one an octave higher and a bit quieter.

Sometimes, adjusting the instrument itself can help. A faster attack and longer sustain can help the instrument build up to full volume faster and stay there longer.

Another idea is to simply lower the other instruments in the mix when the melody plays, either through level changes or EQ. Carve out a spot in the frequency spectrum for your melody (and the instrument on which you're playing it), and it won't have to fight with other instruments and frequencies. This will help it sound louder.

Steve

[JJBiener]

Here are a few ideas. First you can shift the melody forward or backward in time slightly so it doesn't coincide with background instruments.

You can duplicate the melody using a sine wave at the same pitch and mix it in at a lower level. You can also shift the sine wave forward or backward in time as above.

You duplicate the melody as is and pan one left, one right and put a slight delay between them.

You can duplicate the melody either with the same instrument or with a sine wave and pitch it up an octave and a 5th. Mix it in at a lower volume until it blends in with the original sound and it is no longer distinct. This is emphasizing the harmonic.

Add a delay line with a very short delay and a small amount of feedback. Pan the original sound slightly left and the delay slightly right.

Put your background through a bit of reverb to push it into the background while keeping your lead line dry or nearly dry.

Insert a compressor on your melody line.

There probably a thousand things your could do to get the result you want. These are just a few suggestions. Experiment. Get creative.

[Meffy]

I've had luck shadowing the melody with a short-duration voice pitched up, so the melody voice's attack gets reinforced but the sustain and decay don't get obscured. I've also had this turn out badly. A lot depends on what's being duplicated.

[zethus909]

have the bass guitar play the melody instead of the bassline

[jancivil]

to sound bigger, I read somewhere duplicating it one octave below but this does not give me enough strength.

This illustrates the difficulty of providing answers to such a query. To, for instance double the tune on a piano by octaves objectively embiggens the sound. Unison of woodwinds, flute/oboe/small clarinet with the violins, more sound than just the violins. Couple these ww pushed to the octave above = more strident, more attention-grabbing. Double the vlns thusly.

So I don't know why your assessment of that 8va bassa doubling is 'not enough strength'. We have no musical context to work with. So now you have more things suggested to you that do similar to 'duplicate it an octave below'. Which bits do exactly what that works is another question. I will say that 'carve out space' by subtraction and by defining the space taken up by instruments is a solid idea. I do have a sense of crowdedness a bit with 'not enough strength'.

I recommend a process of discovery in music that relies on melody as primary. Check out an opera, the whole idea is outstanding melody. Make your own notes out of exploration of things that obviously work, are known to work. In preference to expecting reading text on the internet will do so much. The 'producer' notion (vis the computer) amounts to a kind of tunnelvision, get out and hear the world.

[IncarnateX]

Piece O' Cake
Just do everything this guy did



The experts around are likely more than willing to specify the details theoretically, so I will leave it at that.

Best of luck

[MadBrain]

One of my favorite techniques is to use harmonization - take every note of the melody and turn it into a chord with that note on top.

[IncarnateX]

IMO harmonization is double edged. It can enhance melodies but also change their character completely relative to the harmonies chosen and the weight of the individual voices. Another effective trick is to distance the melody from the rest of the arrangement, e.g. placing it one or two octaves above all other instruments. The effect is described beautifully in Shaffer’s Amadeus, when Saleri comments Mozart’s Serenade No. 10 in B-flat:

On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse. Bassoons and basset horns, like a rusty squeezebox. And then suddenly, high above it, an oboe. A single note, hanging there, unwavering. Until a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God.

[jancivil]

[JSantos]

Strengthening your melodies or "reinforcing" it, as you've coined, may be as simple as using a counterpoint melody. If you mean to isolate the melody or reinforcing, meaning making it more noticeable, a counterpoint allows this.

Not sure how you'd like it to happen though...

[lectrixboogaloo]

I usually like to tape some good, stiff cardboard around the edges.

[Otherworldly]

How I can reinforce melodies?

I agree with what's already been said by others.

Imho, to explain this I'll use lead vocals melodies as an example:
Great melodies performed well 'should stand on their own'. Basically I think of reinforcement as accompaniment (other layers, instruments, whatever) that compliments the vocal melodies. There are unlimited ways to do that. For example, I may start the song with just vocals, then build it up by adding accompaniment, then bring it back down to mostly vocals. That's why imho, good melodies (vocals) should basically stand on their own. If I added too much reinforcement from the start and throughout then there's not much to build up on it especially if you want to achieve more dynamics of those melodies (vocals) this of course is regarding the arrangement. Music is like a soundscape that tells a story from start to end, there are unlimited ways to approach it.

Wish you the very best.