Melody that fits acapella?

[jontah]

Hi,

I'm remixing and trying to make a good melody that FITS the acapella in any way, harmonically.

I've found the key of the acapella - it's in lets say B major (which it is in this case).

But, what determines that a melody actually fits the acapella? because what I thought was that as long as the melody is in the same key, then you can play ANY acapella. But that doesn't seem to be the case? so what should I look out for when writing a melody to an acapella? I mean, all notes doesn't fit the acapella on certain spots of it. Do you get what I mean?

I don't think I can describe it better than that. But I hope you get my point.

How do I figure out how to make a melody that is harmonically correct with the acapella without it sounding weird, eventhough it's in the same key?

Any suggestions are really really appreciated. And since I don't have a good ear for this kind of stuff, I would be thankful if you gave me a few tricks and tips on how to think and how to figure it out.

Cheers!

[tehlord]

But, what determines that a melody actually fits the acapella?

Your creativity.

Writing music is art, mixing is science. Perhaps you need to play music a little more?

[jontah]

But, what determines that a melody actually fits the acapella?

Your creativity.

Writing music is art, mixing is science. Perhaps you need to play music a little more?

Yes ofcourse, but to be honest, that's not the answer I'm looking for.

I AM "playing music" everyday. Eventhough I do that, I don't seem to improve on that melody-fit-acapella matter.

I'm triyng to do melodic sequences such as melodies that u hear in hardstyle, house, trance etc.

And since those are pretty complex and involving both rhythm and various tones, I wonder if I have to think differently?

So please, suggestions, thinking, tricks and tips would be highly appreciated!

Thanks

[Maadfoo]

I try to find the beats, where the key changes. On these different keys I put a basic synth in the same keyrange. Sometimes it even fits when the key of the played instrument is another. when I underlayed the whole a capella with the synth I start to change the synths parameters to my needs. After that I start from the beginning, to trigger the melody as it fits to my illusion.

But before I try to find the melody I start to make some basic beat-loops that give me a kind of groove for the whole song-structure.

Then I create the other tracks like bassline, soundeffects and percussions.

Did I understand you right actually?

[jontah]

I try to find the beats, where the key changes. On these different keys I put a basic synth in the same keyrange. Sometimes it even fits when the key of the played instrument is another. when I underlayed the whole a capella with the synth I start to change the synths parameters to my needs. After that I start from the beginning, to trigger the melody as it fits to my illusion.

But before I try to find the melody I start to make some basic beat-loops that give me a kind of groove for the whole song-structure.

Then I create the other tracks like bassline, soundeffects and percussions.

Did I understand you right actually?

What do you mean with finding the beats?

Yeah - about the key changes - how do I know where they change key or chord? I mean, I can listen to it, but I don't know for sure what chord and where it's going. I think this is where my problem is.

Also - whenever I know what chord progression it is. How do I know what melody that fits in? Do you kind of keep close to that rootnote of each chord change in the acapella? for example: if the chord progression is C AM F G , then I keep the melody related to C on those beats - so I could esentially play a C, it's third fifth etc in the melody on that particular beat?

[Maadfoo]

With beat I meant the first "tact" or the first beat of a rhythm. I think one can recognize it, and you too.

Your second problem: I have no idea about notes or scores in general. Haha

I only rely to my ears and feeling ( I think that is what tehlord meant)

3.: see second problem.

Sorry for not being able to help.

For me making music is like an awesome game to express my mood or emotion. this is how i learned it. when others played games on their computers, I played, well, music.

[stanlea]

I'm remixing and trying to make a good melody that FITS the acapella in any way, harmonically.

Usually, in a song, the acapella IS the melody. If you are trying to build a backing track, then one simple way is to set the percussion part (if you want any), then the bass part, according Madfoo's post. The bass part should rely on chord changes, so you have to harmonize the melody before going further. Harmonizing is not only finding the tone and the notes, it's finfing the chords that fit best with the accapella. Once, you get the chords changes, you make the bass part and the other parts (synths and so on). Harmonizing is not so easy : of course, there are rules, but they are plenty, and not easy to master. You ear should be your best friend for that.

Second hypothesis : you're trying to write a counterpoint to the main melody. This is a very hard work, so I suggest to go with trials, errors, trials, erros, and so on.

[stringtapper]

So how did you end up harmonizing this acapella in B major?

And yeah, the acapella is the melody. Do you mean you want to write an instrumental countermelody to sit behind it or between verses?

[BERFAB]

I'd be curious to hear a segment of what you're working on just to get an idea of what you're trying to do.

As said above, the acapella (vocal) is usually the melody. Typically (or maybe not, I'm not a re-mixer) you would want to find a backing chord structure that fits the acapella you're building the tune around.

Also, odd that a pop song (I'm assuming?) is in B minor. Is it possible you mean D?

The way I would sort all this out is to start with a very simple bass line that fits the acapella, and go from there.

[jontah]

Thank you so much for the replies!

This actually encourages me to try even harder.

But yeah in short:

What I want to do is a totally NEW melody that is playing while the acapella is going (in other words I want to make a new melody that fits well to that acapella instead of keeping the "voice melody") if you get what I mean?

I can absolutely post it here, it's a remix competition though, and I'm trying to make a hardstyle track out of it.

I did play around abit and came up with that these chords fitted good:

Bmajor, Bmajor with A# in the bass, G#m and F#

Here's a sample of what I was trying with a new melody, which sounds awful IMO:

http://www70.zippyshare.com/v/41762693/file.html

Any tips and tricks for writing a NEW melody over the "old voice melody", I guess its call countermelody? or am I wrong?


btw the sample is far from finished, I haven't even worked on leads and such yet, just threw some presets in there

[Sendy]

What you're looking for is called counterpoint (countermelody works too). Before you do that you'll need to find some chord changes that fit the existing melody, and it might be a good idea to already have a bassline filled in. Often the countermelody sounds strongest if it moves towards a chord tone that isn't already expressed in the main melody and bassline, though obviously that's just something to bear in mind and not a hard and fast rule, but it does help to get you thinking about avoiding redundancy, which can weaken a countermelody.

Failing that, do what a lot of people do, use your ears and trial and error. If the acapella doesn't have complex key changes and stays fairly pedestrian that should be fairly easy.

[jontah]

What you're looking for is called counterpoint (countermelody works too). Before you do that you'll need to find some chord changes that fit the existing melody, and it might be a good idea to already have a bassline filled in. Often the countermelody sounds strongest if it moves towards a chord tone that isn't already expressed in the main melody and bassline, though obviously that's just something to bear in mind and not a hard and fast rule, but it does help to get you thinking about avoiding redundancy, which can weaken a countermelody.

Failing that, do what a lot of people do, use your ears and trial and error. If the acapella doesn't have complex key changes and stays fairly pedestrian that should be fairly easy.

Exactly this is what I'm looking for!

OK so how do I know the chord changes to begin with? When you say chord changes, I assume you mean what chord changes the original has? the original acapella itself. So, first step: HOW DO I figure that out? any tips and trick on that?

What do you mean with that the countermelody sounds strongest if it moves towrards a chord tone that isn't already expressed in the main melody and bassline?

Please explain further. I'd like to know more about this. This is where I'm failing miserably and need to fix that.

I'm trying to do something like this:



a countermelody which works to the vocal.

How did they do this ?

[stringtapper]

Dude is this the same acapella that posted about in your other thread? If so did you read the suggested progression I posted? It's the most straightforward progression implied by the vocal line: vi-IV-I-V, or G#m-E-B-F#.

[jontah]

Dude is this the same acapella that posted about in your other thread? If so did you read the suggested progression I posted? It's the most straightforward progression implied by the vocal line: vi-IV-I-V, or G#m-E-B-F#.

Nope this is an other and it's a totally other question too I think.

[jontah]

It's the most straightforward progression implied by the vocal line: vi-IV-I-V, or G#m-E-B-F#.

Is that the progression to this particular vocal?