Tag: Music

Understanding Tertian Triads and Seventh Chords

Tertian harmony describes music and chords constructed with thirds. Based on the diatonic scale, and the basic concept of intervals, these thirds are either minor (an interval of 3 semitones) or major (an interval of 4 semitones). Tertian harmony forms the 4 triads of music as well as 8* of the most common seventh chords.

*There are 8 tertian seventh chords, but only 7 that contain four distinct notes. We’ll get to this later in our matrices.

A closer look at Tertian Harmony

A common way of describing tertian harmony is with the scale degrees of the Diatonic/Major Scale.

So let’s look at the C Major Scale to get a better idea of what tertian harmony is:

Continue reading “Understanding Tertian Triads and Seventh Chords”

Improve Your Craft By Keeping A Music Journal

Keeping a music journal has been one of the best habits I’ve developed to improve my craft as a musician, composer, and producer. In my journal, I include:

  • my ideas, goals, progress, and current focus.
  • information on music theory and music production.
  • notes from lectures and books I’m reading.
  • thoughts on life and music in general.

Writing a music journal is proving to be an invaluable asset in my creative process. Hell, I probably would never have started blogging about music if I had never started journaling on music!

In the following paragraphs, I will share with you the benefits I have personally received from starting a music journal and how journaling has improved my craft.

Continue reading “Improve Your Craft By Keeping A Music Journal”

5 Ways To Breathe Life Into Sampled Hi-Hats

Sampled Hi Hats can sound dry, programmed, and robotic if not massaged into a track. Percussion is a very important part of rhythm and music and deserves some extra attention when composing. Some genres of music sound better with clearly programmed drums. But if you want to give your sampled hi-hats more life and human feel, then this is the article for you!

Continue reading “5 Ways To Breathe Life Into Sampled Hi-Hats”

Composing with Musical Intervals

Intervals are the basis of harmony and harmony is important to us as musicians, composers, and music producers. This article will discuss what intervals are and tips on how to use them in compositions.

Continue reading “Composing with Musical Intervals”

Diatonic Thinking when Composing and Producing

When learning music theory, the term diatonic will undoubtedly come up. Let’s discuss what it means and how was can think about it when composing and producing our music!

What does diatonic mean exactly? When I was first told about diatonic playing, I thought it meant picking a scale and playing only the notes from that scale. Which it does, but you can only pick one scale when you’re playing diatonically. The diatonic scale.

The diatonic scale is defined as a heptatonic scale (having 7 notes) with 5 whole tone intervals and 2 halftone intervals, in which the halftone intervals are spaced as far apart as possible (three whole tones and two whole tones separated by half tones) . This doesn’t give us much choice in creating diatonic scales… We are left with only one scale with the following intervals:

Continue reading “Diatonic Thinking when Composing and Producing”

The Best DAW for Bedroom Producers

What is the best DAW for creating music? Which DAW will give me the most “professional” sound? And which DAW is the best bang for my buck? (Assuming money will be paid for the computer program).

These are all questions I asked myself when I started making music on my computer. Looking back, I was probably more concerned with the software I was using than with knowledge of music theory or music production. I still think about this topic (albeit with a different viewpoint) and decided I would share my thoughts to hopefully help those starting out on their journey as a music producer.

So, what is the BEST DAW for a bedroom producer?

Continue reading “The Best DAW for Bedroom Producers”

Top 5 Reasons To Never Quit Making Music

I suppose this can be considered a motivational post. Who doesn’t want a little motivation when it comes to their passion? I was originally thinking I’d title this article “The Top X Reasons You Should Never Quit Making Music,” but I don’t even know the reasons why you do make music.

What I do know, however, are the reasons why I make music. And at the end of the day, the only true advice I can give is from my experience.
In sharing my reasons to never quit music, I hope to inspire you to keep improving your craft and producing your own art. The musical creation process is important not only for us as individuals, but for the world in general.

Continue reading “Top 5 Reasons To Never Quit Making Music”