When it comes to harmonizing your music, exploring captivating techniques can elevate your compositions to new heights. One such technique is the use of cluster voicings. These voicings can be employed effectively throughout an entire passage, especially in action-driven scores where they have a significant impact. Cluster voicings offer a rich and dense harmonic texture, … Read more
What is a quartal harmony? Quartal harmony involves building chords by stacking 4th intervals. This approach differs from the “tertian” harmony (building chords in 3rds) that is typical of traditional Western music. Quartal harmony tends to sound modern, often sidestepping the emotional connotations carried by major and minor chords. In addition, the notes of a quartal … Read more
Minor Major 7th Chord Ah, the Minor Major 7th chord. Although it has an unusual name, the Minor Major 7th chord is simply a minor chord with the 7th note raised a half-step. To clarify, the 7th is raised from how it appears in the natural minor scale to how it would appear in the … Read more
In this episode, we share tips for creating realistic legato strings using sampled instruments. Presented by our guest lecturer Robert Davis. CREATING REALISTIC LEGATO STRINGS Here we are mainly focusing on four different techniques. Each technique may not make a big difference to the overall sound, but when combined, you will be surprised at how … Read more
Major chord progressions – dreamy, upward music [EX.2-2-C] This post was brought to you in collaboration with our partner site Behind the Score. Discover the Harmony Secrets of Modern Film and Video Games. View the music scores (PDF) and audio files used in this article. In this follow-up to Dreamy, Upward music: Major Chords a … Read more
Explore the Best Free Synth VST Plugins for 2023: Our Top Picks and Recommendations
As the name might imply, hybrid chords contain two elements: a chord root, and additional tones/tensions (except the 3rd) that spell out another chord.
Major Chord Progressions – Dreamy, Upward Music This is an excerpt lesson taken from Behind the Score. Full video lessons, PDF scores, and MP3 audio files on this topic can be found here: Creating Mood Instantly with Two-Chord Structures Click here to access the music scores (PDF) and audio files used in this article. In this … Read more
Create Suspense Using Two Chords Continuing from part 1, we’ll take a look at how we can build a bigger ensemble piece using the previous two-chord structure of Em-Fm. Minor Chords Min. 2nd Apart Ⅱ (EX. 2-1-B) This is an excerpt lesson taken from Behind the Score. Full video lessons, PDF scores, and MP3 audio files … Read more
Create Suspense Using Two Chords This is an excerpt lesson taken from Behind the Score. Full video lessons, PDF scores, and MP3 audio files on this topic can be found here: Creating Mood Instantly with Two-Chord Structures Click here to access the music scores (PDF) and audio files used in this article. Our first structure consists … Read more
