Like it or not, repetition is a vital ingredient in music, especially pop. I’m not necessarily talking about the kind of relentless hammering of a chorus hook that makes your parents mutter darkly – annoying parents has been, after all, one of the main remits of pop all along. No, the kind of repetition here is more to do with individual notes, or pairs – specifically using repeated phrases or motifs to build melodic hooks.
The main idea behind repeating elements in your music, be it individual notes, small groups of notes or even complete hooks, is to fix the tune firmly in your listener’s ear, so that they both expect it when it happens again, and remember it once it’s over. It’s all part of the ‘singalongability’ factor that’s an essential component of any successful hit.
All that said, mere repetition alone runs the risk of proving our parents right and becoming a bit boring. We can combat this by adding slight variations to the repeats, combining the best of both worlds and hopefully ending up with a hooky, memorable tune.
So if you ever find yourself stuck for a melody to fit over some chords, the technique shown in our walkthrough here could be a great way to produce the sort of earworm melody that should stick in your audience’s mind both during and after the song.
1 Here we have a track made up of a four-bar progression with a rhythm track and chords already established, so we’re going to try to come up with a suitable melody to go on top. The chords are Gm > Gm > Bb > F, and those repeated Gm chords sound very much like ‘home’, suggesting a i > i > III > VII progression in the key of G minor.
Esta historia es de la edición March 2021 de Computer Music.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición March 2021 de Computer Music.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Sonuscore The Score $399 PC MAC
The Score comes up with a film soundtrack based on your stylistic choices, but that’s just the start of it. Andy Jones scores The Score
Baby Audio Humanoid $129 PC MAC
Humanoid brings the ‘extreme’ and ‘radical’ to the world of vocals, but is also one of the easiest plugins to use and abuse, says Andy Jones
The Synth Factory Horizen $129 PC MAC
A synth/sampler that packs in a lot of power at an almost silly price - despite its low profile, Andy Jones gazes at Horizen...
Flow Mastering Suite $15/month PC MAC
Mastering your music just got as easy or as complex as you want. But, Andy Jones asks, is it worth yet another monthly subscription?
Universal Audio LA-6176 $299 PC MAC
UA has bundled three of its classic emulations into one channel strip. Is this analogue dream your ideal plugin team? Andy Jones finds out
Rack'em up...
IK Multimedia has announced a comprehensive update to its mixing and mastering software, T-RackS, that brings some smart mastering additions
FX Collection 5 €499
Arturia's huge bundle of effects gets its regular update and it's still easily as essential as the company's V Collection
Make a pulsing bass with GForce Axxess
Get mechanical, with a garage-inspired bass patch, which gets right to the pulsing heart of the Axxess synthesiser
The software that shaped us
Computer Music has had a 25-year history, and over the life of this magazine, the technology behind music production has changed beyond recognition. Here are the products that set the stage for the modern world…
PERFECT VIRTUAL GUITAR!
Need a great guitar sound, but lacking any guitar-playing contacts, or the skills to play it yourself? Have no fear, your computer is here! With a few pointers, buying advice and hands-on tips, you and your PC or Mac can emulate the greatest guitarists in the world…