Nabeel Ansari

Yes, Zircon does this kind of stuff a lot, probably because of his background as a jazz fusion keyboardist. The takeaway is that once you learn chord functions, keys don't really become a set of restrictions anymore, they instead become qualities, and how well you understand chord functions determines how easily and often you can modulate keys without having it sound like you're just playing different scales sequentially.

That source supports what I say. Look how the C major chord is notated as "V/IV", it is the I chord, but with tonicizing the IV, it is the V. Hence, V/IV. Not V/I, as you implied in your post. Look how the A is V/ii, because A major is the dominant of d minor, which is ii in C major. It's not V/vi, as you implied. Look how the D is notated as V/V, exactly how I said it should be, and not V/ii. (I said D7 is V7/V in C major) etc. etc.

That's some good additional jazz context, thanks Ectogemia. Sorry if I ninja'd a lot of that, though. This is not how to notate secondary dominance in harmonic analysis. You're supposed write the chord function, followed / by the key it functions in. For example, D7 in C major is V7/V, because it is the dominant 7th chord of the dominant (G major)'s key. It's shorthand to tell you what is being tonicized. Or is this another thing that's specific to jazz theory?

That makes sense; didn't know that tidbit. Thanks! A chord built on 2^, 5^, and 1^ simply collapses to a suspended chord, so it is easiest to think of its resolution as such. Since sus2 "chords" (in classical theory, sus chords are not actually chords, but nonharmonic tones accented to later be resolved) are inversion of sus4 chords, you could resolve it two ways. You can collapse the 1^ to be under the 2^, in which case the 2^ resolves upward to 3^. (1^ 2^ 5^, C D G, resolves to C E G) You can also do this with 7ths, just stack more 4ths and play with it. Similarly, you can have the 2^ collapse to above the 1^ (5^ 1^ 2^, G C D), and then the 1^ resolves down to the 7^. ( G B D ). Again, stack more 4ths, get more colorful chords. The more tones in a chord, the funner resolutions get.

Just to clarify, you are talking about a chord progressions, correct? II-V-I "chord" doesn't have any meaning. Also, are you talking about Ionian or Lydian? Because in Ionian (traditional major), the chord is ii, not II (minor, not major). The supertonic chord is major only in Lydian. It doesn't really matter for the rest of this post, but just pointing it out. The reason the ii-V-I progression is popular is because its a simple exercise in basic chord theory, the circular progression. Chords lead in root motion up a 4th/down a 5th. Because ii leads to V, it is said to have predominant function, because it leads to the chord with the dominant function (V). The dominant then leads up a 4th to the tonic chord I. If you start at the tonic, you can build the most tonally satisfying chord progression by using the circle. I - IV - vii^o (^o = diminished) - iii - vi - ii - V - I = Ionian circle of chords For sake of clarity, I'm going to assume we are in C major. We could be in Lydian, Mixolydian, whatever, the concepts still apply. The chord qualities change slightly, and in modes lacking a leading tone, the v chord (now minor) going to i or I can be a colorful result if you do it properly. For instance, my favorite chord ending is that of To Zanarkand's which is a v7 to a I (and that I is actually the V of the original key of the song, because it modulates halfway through). This doesn't change with 7th chords. 7ths in chords resolve down by step. ii7 (D F A C), the 7th of the chord resolves downward by step, which ends up being the leading tone (, which is the major third factor of the V chord (and D is a common tone, so it stays played in both chords). If you use V7, you keep the D and F common tones. The A changes to a G, the C changes to a B. Next, G remains in place while B, the leading tone, resolves to C. F, the 7th of the chord (even if it's not the top note of the chord, it is still the 7th) resolves downward by step to the E, and the 5th (D) can resolve downward to the C or upward to the E (equidistant pulls in either direction with equidistant travel). ii7----V7-----I (or I7) D ---- D ---- E (or C) F ---- F ---- E A ---- G ---- G C ---- B ---- C (or If you want to resolve to an I7, just preserve the B instead of resolving it to C. Because your chord contains the 7th, it is therefore dissonant and will prompt the song to continue (or you can end it there if you want). Study this song, it explains in a nutshell exactly how to use 7th chords effectively. P.S. Another note, like Moseph said, in Lydian, the supertonic chord is II7, not ii7, it forms a dominant (major-minor) 7th chord and leads strongly to the V chord exactly the way V7 leads to the I chord.

I'm not mastering this for an album or release, so loudness isn't and was never really a concern. Thanks for the links, though, I've been meaning to look into Juggernaut production tips. Anything besides loudness?

I wasn't specifically talking mixing/mastering, I was more talking arrangement stuff. The arrangement (on the production side) and ordering of events in the music may be different, you may have to render specific parts of the song that they can be cued earlier, later, etc. Think of a boss song with multiple parts, and a boss song part will cue when you advance a stage in the fight, or do a specific action. The fact that it's a game means that that specific part needs to be rendered separately so that the game's code can advance the music based on player actions. That sort of thing is what I mean.

https://soundcloud.com/neblixmusic/juggernaut-test-01 Hey guys! Testing out ISW Juggernaut. Strings are EWQLSO, the choir is some soundfonts.

Well, it does, post-production is very important. It's just that sometimes these things happen in implementation, and sometimes these things happen early in the normal production. Depends on the project. Point is, he is correct in saying there's a little more involved than just making an album of say 10 tracks, at least if it's not a simple indie game and has interactive audio components in it.

Well, it's more that can be related to movie scoring. In movie scoring, you ideally master your mixdown to accomodate sonic space for dialog. Since games introduced dialog some two decades ago, it's not a bad idea for game music either, depending on the game.

Meteo, he's not asking for your opinion on how to write a game soundtrack. He's asking for implementation logistics. Back on topic, @ecto: you are correct that it isn't mixed the same way. The soundtrack release of a game isn't at all the same as the compilation of assets actually used in the game. The best thing to do is get in contact with the programmer implementing the audio. Ask him what he's dealing with, what he wants. Does he want you to record looped audio, or does he want to loop it himself by overlapping the start and end of the track over itself (in which case, you should render the song with a tail of silence, like for a DJ set). It's gonna depend on what he's using. Depending on how interactive the audio is, he may also want stems, and different versions.

I'll have to digest this over time.

(I'm writing this to explain what I currently understand and am inviting corrections) As far as I understand from studying voice leading, the "soprano" and "bass" voices are the most important melodic focuses. I don't mean in chorales only, I mean in all music inclusively; the "outer voices" (could be vocalist and bass guitar, or synth lead and arp bass, or violin and contrabass) are the most recognized by the ear in a texture. This is a "usual" thing, though. Since the bass is closely tied to both the harmonic movement and the rhythm, it has an important pairing with the melody. If a bassline doesn't contain chord tones (and I mean at all, it can use non harmonic tones but should emphasize chord tones), it's not really doing its job, in my opinion. An accented bass note will be defining the entire song's chord's inversion at that particular beat in time, and if you use a non chord tone it might sound awkward. If you're going for a dissonance/tension, then it's fine, right?

This is so incorrect on so many levels. Yes, jazz takes pride in its distance from functional harmony, but complex chords (diminished, leading tones, 9ths, 11ths, modal modulations, etc.) and dissonances were explored by composers long before jazz was a thing. Jazz has its own section of chord theory, yes, but it doesn't envelope "complex chords" at all. That being said, jazz chords ARE a good starting point for learning and writing more colorful harmonic movement, so yes, I recommend learning/listening to it as well.

I don't see the point. Are you trying to say that we can all be Paul McCartney?

He's also 71, so his understanding of music formulated over 50+ years makes it a moot point.

That's interesting. I looked at the Nektar Panorama P6 and they actually have a great FL integration, it makes a lot of sense and covers FL's important functions really well. I may end up putting it on my list.

Hi guys, I've been looking into MIDI Hardware recently but I've been getting the same reaction I always do when I look at MIDI Hardware: "With the amount of controls in FL Studio (or any DAW really) and plug-ins, where am I going to put just 8 faders and knobs?" If the point of the hardware is that I don't have to interface with the software using a keyboard and mouse, I don't see that as actually possible. I also don't see it as speeding up my workflow, either, because if I have to map a few knobs/faders every time I open a plug-in, it seems distracting and tedious. So I'm putting these question out there: -Why do you see MIDI Controlling as feasible? -If you're an FL User, what do you think is the best way to map your controls so that they make the music making process easier, and not tedious? -What MIDI Controller(s) are you using?

This is misleading, you don't need to be able to play at all to write.

Just had a look at it myself; I'm surprised you want this book, considering it's a straight-up music theory book and you seemed not so fond of my recommendation of learning music theory earlier in the thread.

Try to have a balance of down and up beats. Using compound meters and simple meters in conjunction is just one technique of cool rhythm. For example, when triplets (compound meter, 3 divisions for a beat) are used by an instrument and the main rhythms of the rest are doing a syncopated rhythm in simple meter (two divisions per beat). Most recent VGM example: The violin melody is essentially written in 12/8 (four beats of triplets) while the accompaniment (drum slams, acoustic strumming) is in regular 4/4. You don't need to make these theoretical distinctions when you write in the DAW project, and changing the snap grid or manually recording with good timing will achieve the same effect as if you formally wrote for the software to recognize those time signatures.

If you look at a very large portion of catchy melodies, especially from classical music and video game music alike (they are more similar than you would think), you'll notice that these melodies have "period" structure. What that means is that melodies will have a "question and answer" type structure to them. The formal name for this is antecedent-consequent. Typical examples will be four, eight, or sixteen measure melodies split into two parts (phrases). In a parallel period, the first half of the melody will go a certain way and when it gets to the middle, it will do something called a half cadence. Ignoring chords, this simply means it will end on a note of the dominant chord, either 5th, 7th, 2nd, or sometimes 4th scale degree. (So in C major, end it the middle of the melody on either G, B, or D. Maybe F, but it's harder to get it to sound like a question.) The second phrase of your melody can either make the period a "parallel" period or a "contrasting" period. Parallel period means that your melody will use the same notes as the first phrase for the first half (doesn't have to be strictly half, can be more or less). In other words, it's repeating the musical idea in the first phrase. Then, for the remaining measures of the melody, it will go differently, and the last note will conclude on the 1st scale degree. A major melody. Look at the treble clef, just until the first repeat sign. You don't have to be able to read the notes, but look at the measures 1 and 2, and then 5 and 6. Those are the same melodies. The difference is, measures 3 and 4 are different from measures 7 and 8. Measure 4's melody ends on the 2nd (and 7th) scale degree and measure 8 ends on the 1st (with 3 and 5 under it, less important). You'll find this style of melody pretty much everywhere, especially in video game music. Look at the Legend of Zelda theme, it's a 16 measure parallel period with a 4 measure extension that relates it back to the first phase's ending. You can also think of the 8 bar phrases of this period as periods themselves, but they aren't parallel (the first four measures are not similar to the second four). It still follows the "half cadence in the middle, resolve at the end model" EXCEPT: A lot of times, old VGM songs don't have their consequent phrase end on the first scale degree (tonic of the key), they have it half cadence again. This is because video game music is a constant loop, and the easiest way to write a melody to keep going is to not resolve it to the tonal center. Here are some timestamps: Starts at :09 (Measure 1) Ends on 5th at :21 (In measure Repeats at :24 (Measure 9, onward) Deviates from first phrase repetition (Measure 11 and onward) Ends on 5th at :37 (measure 16) Leads back to the ending first phrase, which ends on the 5th (:39) In diagram, colors meaning repetition: [1 2 3 4, 5 6 7 8] - [9 10, 11 12 13 14 15 16] - [17 18, 19 20] This isn't the most standard example, but it shows you there's nothing "magical" about catchy melodies, they have a decipherable structure to them. Go ahead and research contrasting period. If you understand the parallel period just fine, contrasting will be just as easy to grasp. Now obviously this isn't the only thing a good melody needs, but this kind of structure is common, and there's nothing wrong with adopting it. Everyone else's answers are still more than valid. Syncopation makes a melody interesting, studying melodies you like makes you write melodies like them. This answer serves as more of basic breakdown of a bread and butter melody's structure.

Like I said, if just one person had told me the piano was mechanical I would've fixed it in like 5 minutes. Oh well, now it's posted, too late.

You need to arm the dry guitar track for recording, let's call it Track 1. Your amp simulator will be on the other track, Track 2, and you will enable Track 1 to send to Track 2, and disable Track 1's send to the Master if you don't wish to hear it while you are playing. You will end up hearing the amped guitar from Track 2, and Track 1 will be a(n essentially) muted dry guitar signal. Now, arm Track 1 (the one you can't hear) for recording. The dry guitar signal will be recorded. Here is a recording. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15510436/File%20Sharing/Dry_Guitar_in_FL.swf EDIT: Oops, didn't see you got it. xD

The Judge's Panel standards of production are actually not very high at all. Some wishy washy stuff passes through, and honestly, if they tried to make their production standards match professional standards, it would be impossible for game music lovers who didn't study music tech or have a job in it to get a mix on the site. That's not to say OCReMixers don't have pro-level production (like I said, "except for our vgm composers and engineers"), but if you look at a lot of recent mixers, especially the newcomers, rising out of the mega man/sonic/whatever competitions and WiP forums (case in point: ME), they're learning everything in the context of feedback on a game remix (not in a professional industry context, where quality is a lot more cutthroat). It is true that a lot of OCReMixers can mix at a professional level, but a real mixing/mastering engineer, with big name projects under his belt, can mix like it's magic. @Meteo: Coursera is free. Avoid the verified certificate business, just look at the course titles and sign up for them for free.