Hi Phil,
I see when you make a track you always strive to keep it in the same key (for e.g. D), and root of all your chords to be in the same key as well. How do you choose the key initially? Is there any formula to tell you which key would be best? Is it possible to choose some of the sharps (black keys) for a root key?
Thanks
E-flat is warm and mellow. F# is bright and buzzy. And so on. Each pitch has a “color” so to speak… So for example, say you slowly play each of the aforementioned notes back and forth on an acoustic sample of a piano or guitar. You’ll notice that the two notes are very much different in the timbre or “color” of it’s own pitch.
Same thing happens with chords. Just for kicks, play a D-flat major chord (Db-F-Ab) and get the sound in your ear. Immediately following D-flat major, play an E-major chord (E-G#-B). Do you hear how D-flat major is VERY warm compared to the bright and almost nasal E-major? That’s key color.
Composers way back wrote in specific keys to explore the emotional characteristics of the equal temperament tuning system. Since people back then were much more aware of musical concepts like harmony and key changes, people reacted in a much more fervent manner when a composer made a distinct shift in key, or chose a specific key for his/her work. For example, D-major was Beethoven’s key of “celebration.” E-flat was his “Heroic” key. G-minor was his “depressed” key, and C-minor was his “this is serious business and I’m very pi$$ed off” key.
Exploring color shifts leads to very interesting harmonic patterns outside the typical “pop style” chords everyone knows and loves. Combine that with knowledge regarding how to make distinct voice-leading shifts and you’ll create your own unique dialect in the harmonic language.
Hope this helps.
J
[quote]paranoiabla (27/08/2011)[hr]Hi Phil,
I see when you make a track you always strive to keep it in the same key (for e.g. D), and root of all your chords to be in the same key as well. How do you choose the key initially? Is there any formula to tell you which key would be best? Is it possible to choose some of the sharps (black keys) for a root key?
Thanks[/quote]
[quote]JamieinNC (27/08/2011)[hr]E-flat is warm and mellow. F# is bright and buzzy. And so on. Each pitch has a “color” so to speak… So for example, say you slowly play each of the aforementioned notes back and forth on an acoustic sample of a piano or guitar. You’ll notice that the two notes are very much different in the timbre or “color” of it’s own pitch.
Same thing happens with chords. Just for kicks, play a D-flat major chord (Db-F-Ab) and get the sound in your ear. Immediately following D-flat major, play an E-major chord (E-G#-B). Do you hear how D-flat major is VERY warm compared to the bright and almost nasal E-major? That’s key color.
Composers way back wrote in specific keys to explore the emotional characteristics of the equal temperament tuning system. Since people back then were much more aware of musical concepts like harmony and key changes, people reacted in a much more fervent manner when a composer made a distinct shift in key, or chose a specific key for his/her work. For example, D-major was Beethoven’s key of “celebration.” E-flat was his “Heroic” key. G-minor was his “depressed” key, and C-minor was his “this is serious business and I’m very pi$$ed off” key.
Exploring color shifts leads to very interesting harmonic patterns outside the typical “pop style” chords everyone knows and loves. Combine that with knowledge regarding how to make distinct voice-leading shifts and you’ll create your own unique dialect in the harmonic language.
Hope this helps.
J
[quote]
that makes sense. really good post
[quote]alinenunez (27/08/2011)[hr][quote]JamieinNC (27/08/2011)[hr]E-flat is warm and mellow. F# is bright and buzzy. And so on. Each pitch has a “color” so to speak… So for example, say you slowly play each of the aforementioned notes back and forth on an acoustic sample of a piano or guitar. You’ll notice that the two notes are very much different in the timbre or “color” of it’s own pitch.
Same thing happens with chords. Just for kicks, play a D-flat major chord (Db-F-Ab) and get the sound in your ear. Immediately following D-flat major, play an E-major chord (E-G#-B). Do you hear how D-flat major is VERY warm compared to the bright and almost nasal E-major? That’s key color.
Composers way back wrote in specific keys to explore the emotional characteristics of the equal temperament tuning system. Since people back then were much more aware of musical concepts like harmony and key changes, people reacted in a much more fervent manner when a composer made a distinct shift in key, or chose a specific key for his/her work. For example, D-major was Beethoven’s key of “celebration.” E-flat was his “Heroic” key. G-minor was his “depressed” key, and C-minor was his “this is serious business and I’m very pi$$ed off” key.
Exploring color shifts leads to very interesting harmonic patterns outside the typical “pop style” chords everyone knows and loves. Combine that with knowledge regarding how to make distinct voice-leading shifts and you’ll create your own unique dialect in the harmonic language.
Hope this helps.
J
[quote]
that makes sense. really good post[/quote]
Yes, good post. I am now trying to devote time each evening to Music Theory along with the time I spend on my DAW. I have melodies in my head that I want to try out in a track, but creating them can be difficult. I really need to spend more time learning the notes, chords, etc. and what sounds good together.
Ive only just recently also realized how important a key is in giving them track some emotion/style of some kind…
Personally I am loving D# and E, D# to me sounds sad whereas E sounds kinda tragic (may sound the same, but consider E a kinda angrier D#)…
I used to do everything on either G# or C just cause I thought it was easier to process things on G# and easier to get melodies from C (mostly cause it feels like the first note so it was my noobs way of ignoring where the scales should be) but the other keys are starting to sound pretty cool!
Definately worth trying to fiddle with as many keys as you can when it comes to melody writing…
Hey Jamie could you mabey write a few short words on the different keys to describe them. I find this very interesting and I never really thought of the colours of different keys. Also how much does it change if its major or minor apart from one being happy and one being sad etc…
I’m really not being snotty when I say this so don’t take this the wrong way, but the idea of major and minor being described as “happy” and “sad” is really an easy method of explanation that is intended for young kids. It really should be thought of along the lines of what mistro said above: Deciding for yourself by listening to the chords or individual notes what they sound like in relation to one another using more specific adjectives to describe your emotional response.
Now, try not to compare colors of major and minor chords of the same tonic. What I mean is, don’t play C major and then compare its color to that of c-minor. The technique works better when you change the tonic, thus using tonal relativity to compare colors. For example, comparing D-flat major to E-major. Or g-minor to A-major. And so forth. I must say that it is very important to listen to chords using real acoustic instruments like a piano or guitar. Natural sound produces the effect much better, but a really good sample of a piano or acoustic guitar should work fine as well…
Now, I shouldn’t describe all the keys from my personal point of view because every person is going to be affected by the chords and relationships differently, and I wouldn’t want to “influence” your ear by having you read my list. But since you asked, this is how each of the chords sounds to MY ear from an emotional standpoint, or the “affect” it has on my particular psyche:
C major: Sunny.
C-minor: Dark.
D-flat major: A flannel blanket.
C#-minor: Icicles.
D major: Military march.
D minor: mysterious, ominous.
Eb-major: Heroic.
Eb-minor: A cello.
E major: Flood lights.
E-minor: Caramel.
F major: Springtime.
F-minor: Depressed, paranoid.
F#-major: Dry wood.
F#-minor: Fearful.
G major: Confident, bright.
G-minor: Sanguine.
A-flat-major: Clean ocean breeze.
A-flat minor: Haunted house.
B-flat major: Clean sheets.
B-flat minor: Optimistic, hopeful.
B-major: Aggressive, violent.
B-minor: Orange.
J
Some of those descriptions make me worry about you…
I tend to start almost everything in Cm. I am more used to the scales and chord progressions in this key so i find it easier to get Riffs and chords going.
Then when i come to bass i tend to transpose to get the bass hitting the sweet spot.
G# is my favourite.
Thanx for that Jamie. I am a big fan of E minor. I suppose it is caramel, to my ears its very smooth sounding.
[quote]jjdejong0 (01/09/2011)[hr]Thanx for that Jamie. I am a big fan of Gigasaws. I suppose it is caramel, to my ears they are very smooth sounding.[/quote]
:w00t:
[quote]dom_moulton (01/09/2011)[hr][quote]jjdejong0 (01/09/2011)[hr]Thanx for that Jamie. I am a big fan of Gigasaws. I suppose it is caramel, to my ears they are very smooth sounding.[/quote]
:w00t:
[/quote]
Lol leave jan alone hahah