Writing Melodies in the Circle of Fifth and Harmonic Mixing.

[2beats]

Basics of the circle:

The circle of fifths is an intuitive method for determining the relationships among all of the tones and key signatures used in music. It offers composers a way to visualize how the tonic and fifth degrees of a scale are linked and is useful for creating chords, harmonizing melodies and deciding how to move music to different pitch centers. The circle of fifths is also useful for musicians since it provides a way to efficiently anticipate and understand harmonic progressions and scale relationships found throughout music.


This image shows the circle of fifiths with all the colors using what is in Abelton. This way you can color your tracks in such a way that you can easily do harmonic mixing.

So basically the Circle of fifths is an easy way to make chords and notes that sound good together with in any scale. You pick a root, or key. Lets say C major. The major notes are one either side. F and G. The minor notes and chords are then D A and E. The diminished is B.

All of these notes will sound good togeather. You can also use them for chord progression. Go from a C chord to a D minor to an E minor to an D minor then back to C. Other such great ideas can be found in the circle.

Working with the Fifths is also GREAT for mixing live. If you have a song in C Major then mix with in the circle to get a really nice mix. It will add worlds to your DJing.Just as beat matching is important so is Harmonic Mixing.

Here is a great website that will give you an Interactive Circle of Fifths to play with.

http://randscullard.com/CircleOfFifths/

This is just a basic run down of some ideas. There is a lot to know on the circle and it will help your music production and mixing immensely. I have many more articles on this at http://subaqueousmusic.com/production-articles

Thanks,

[beatflux]

He wants you to dish out 5 dollars a month...

[2beats]

Yeah... If you want to. I am also posting tons of articles for free,posting free downloads and jazz. I give you the option of supporting my efforts if you would like to.

Check out http://subaqueousmusic.com/production-articles If you want to read all the free articles I have on some great sound production techniques.

[beatflux]

Yeah... If you want to. I am also posting tons of articles for free,posting free downloads and jazz. I give you the option of supporting my efforts if you would like to.

Check out http://subaqueousmusic.com/production-articles If you want to read all the free articles I have on some great sound production techniques.

I checked out those free articles and its nothing I haven't seen before. There's so many producers such as yourself, trying to help out other producers using the same tips.

Look at Vespers, he has some great videos and a great little pdf to boot, and all he wants is an e-mail address.

Maybe you do have some awesome tutorials for subscribers, but I'm going to assume its the same stuff I've seen before, stuff you can learn for free on the internet.

[2beats]

The member area isn't really for articles as much as to download patches I have created and such. I as in the recording studio for a side project and got to record an MKII Rhodes. I made an Ableton Instrument Pack and put it up for download... Things like that.

But that is not the point... The point is I still want to share knowledge on production and tips I have shared. Hope you like the articles. And if not, suggestions and jazz would be great.

Thanks beatflux for the insight as well. It makes me want to concentrate the member area with my synth, patches, and libraries while the free side of things I will post more in-depth articles and productions notes. Thanks for the idea!

This is a new site idea that I am developing over time. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts,
isaac

[2beats]

Oh and I hope you find that image really useful. I made it with the ableton live clip colors. That way all my clips and parts have the corresponding key and I can easily mix live. Has completely changed my live sound.

Use it and enjoy the harmonics!

[nathannn]

i feel like the market is more over saturated with tutors than with actual musicians lately.
like the other guy said. a lot of you tutors are really just pulling from obvious sources (one of them is THIS FORUM!) and recycling information.
even with vespors, you can find most of his concepts right here!

its just as bad as a comedian doing a show from stolen or slightly altered material.
if you guys want to really teach and that is your passion apply at a university!
there you will actually get paid and not need donations.

[nathannn]

btw this circle of 5ths thing was posted last year.

[nathannn]

i feel like the market is more over saturated with tutors than with actual musicians lately.
like the other guy said. a lot of you tutors are really just pulling from obvious sources (one of them is THIS FORUM!) and recycling information.
even with vespors, you can find most of his concepts right here!

its just as bad as a comedian doing a show from stolen or slightly altered material.
if you guys want to really teach and that is your passion apply at a university!
there you will actually get paid and not need donations.

A little aggressive, no?

I think this guy's just trying to help. Really, if all of this info was quite so obvious then we wouldn't get questions about what fifths are and such.

this site is different thought... you ask a question sometimes you answer a question. no one ask you for money.
i can count on a few times a month some one posting something on here linking them to for fee tutorials.
and if the tutorials are not for fee then there is usually some gimmicky marketing ploy for you to buy their album.
and like i also said, these tutorials are usually slightly altered from another website or a posting on here.
im not really speaking just to this guy.. its to everyone that comes on here with their recycled information and claiming to be a tutor.

[2beats]

Thanks scutheotaku for understanding what I am going for.

For 2 years finding my way in the dark learning ableton 6 years ago there was not as many producers or resources as there are today. I never heard of the circle of fifths. Then I learned about it on some website and it changed my sound. Now I just leveled up my harmonies and melodic interplay with some good theory to back it up. I am utterly obsessed with melody and want to share what I know.

So other then that last 1 sentence plug that people are getting stuck on does anyone else want to talk about the circle of fifths?

The interesting think I have found is that there is always more to learn. I didn't understand how to used the diminished until just a few months ago... Things like that...

So yeah if I were to leave this rant with one point it would be to try it out. Try mixing from track to track in the fifths and see how that feels. Or write a song and then for the break down change the chords from the root to it's fifth, or even better a minor. This will add whole new dimensions to your sound.

[oddstep]

Moving in fifths is cool, gets a bit corny and over satisfying tho'. check out cadences and chord progressions in major and minor scales. The circle of fifths is sort of an abstraction from that body of thinking.

[2beats]

Well yeah.. Cadence is where it really comes into play. I have been digging going from the root at the bridge doing a key change to the third or 6th. Then when you bring it back it creates such a freeing effect.

Now you want to talk about some cool stuff to add to the fifths... How about the blues note? Flatted 3rds and fifths. That will make it a lot more expressive.

Have you ever done musch with 7th or 11th chords? I don't quite get how to use them or add them to a chord progession.

[oddstep]

Still learning about this. I am checking out key changes using common chords as pivot points or better still chords which are wrong in terms of the first but make sense in terms of the second... like throwing a diminished chord into a major progression then playing the minor chord that is the i for that diminished chord. Lux! I also have a weakness for suspended fourth chords alternating with their major equivalent. Like I said, still learning.

[crumhorn]

Here is a nice tip using diminished 7th chords.

If you take any diminished 7th chord (eg. B, D, F, Ab) you are only one note away from 4 different dominant 7th chords. By lowering any note in the chord by a semitone it becomes the root note of a dominant 7. eg lower the F to an E (and rename the Ab to G#) to get E7.

From the new dominant chord you can then resolve to a new tonic with a normal 5 1 cadence.

So in the key of C: the sequence B dim / B dim 7 / E 7 / A will get you to the key of A.

[2beats]

wow that is a supper useful tip. I will try that out today.

Thanks!