Using theory to make music (without anyone noticing) 

The harmony concepts that have helped me the most over the years (for free): bit.ly/FreeHarmonyGuide

Something I appreciate that @AdamNeely points out. Repetition legitimizes. Repetition legitimizes. Repetition legitimizes. Using a non-functional harmony in a vacuum it may sound terrible. Repeat the harmony, and it starts becoming a coherent foundation.

Sounds very NIN when all the layers are combined. Really nice !

My guitar thinks I have nonfunctional fingers.

Man. Melody boards of Canada like

Always get something from your material, glad you share your knowledge

Ahh - just as I was thinking about it you almost brought it the pseudo “Timesteps” bouncing balls but ended up Morse code. I like it. Not being too tonally centered keeps things in motion whereas keeping in 4/4 gives the ear an anchor point for expected change. Just my observation. I’m a relatively self taught musician who put his career on the back burner to raise a family & work for a pension on the railroad. From ages 11-31 I was a working keyboardist who started at 9 studying & playing organ. I was fortunate enough to be mentored and work side by side with musicians that had degrees(Chicago) from DePaul, Vandercook, Roosevelt (classical organ), & piano @ U of Arkansas Fayetteville. My greatest influence probably was stumbling upon L Bernstein Norton Lectures “The Unanswered Question.” I’m retired now but maintain a semblance of about 3 studios in my house which I constantly tinker on with a range of instruments from Hammond B3 & CP70B piano to K25000RS, K2600XS, K2700, ROLI Rise, Polybrute, Behringer system55, oh it goes on. Thanks for an always interesting segment.

Please make a video about fighting sequencers, thanks

Twenty years ago i used that exact method a lot to explore fresh new chords progressions... i kind of forgotten about that path... it leads to some great polyphonic and melodic results!! thanks the algorythm for having you appear on my YT !!!! Great video and great approach !!! cheers... !!!

Everyone’s been telling me that tone is in the fingers but now I find out that it’s actually been in the rows this whole time?!? In all seriousness, this was an easily digestible, entertaining, and immediately actionable video. Always appreciate the straightforward way that you deliver your insights. And your results here are magical ❤❤❤

Awesome as always!!! 👏 😎 👌

Do you have any chickens?

Curious: Why are you trying to learn Cubase again rather than sticking with Live? I have both, but I haven’t worked in Cubase in quite some time.

That's really nice. I have always written off tone rows as a bunch of annoying dissonance, but I'm apparently going to have to rethink that.

I think the idea of serialism or tone rows is greatly misunderstood. Serialism was used in the Ars Nova period (1300s) in isorhythmic motets. The important thing about 12 tone technique or rows is not the strict adherence to rigid order, but the operations that are applicable to any group of pitch classes. The Mod 12 diagram allows you to see the geometric shapes of chords, melodic ideas, cells, symmetry, non symmetry, negative space, etc. Teaching serialism from the perspective of rows misses the most important aspect of post tonal theory, although its become very cliche.

Loved this. Have you done something similar-ish with Arvo Part Tintinnabuli?

Going to play around with the keys and see what happens. Sincerely The Resident Non music theorist hard headed scrubby pants

Thatsoundsocool!!! It’s cinematic and very catchy and thrilling. I suspect the cool rhythms have a lot to do with it. One of my main problems with 20th century classical music is how aimless and therefore pointless it often sounds and although lacklustre performances have something to do with it, I’ve also found that there’s a lack of rhythm or groove to anchor the harmonic chaos to. Oh, btw: if anyone here like me isn’t good enough at their instrument to improvise serial music, I have a hack that works pretty well for me. I play randomly but I make sure to randomly play all the notes in a cluster of four keys before I jump to a note outside of that cluster. I rarely manage to play all 12 keys before repeating myself that way, but it still sounds like serial music and it frees up my mind enough that I’m able to put some emotion and drive into it

Regarding the tone row: I have utilised a classic tone row in my own work and in creative ways. For instance, I've used it to set the pitch of a sample so that a sequence of them "spells out" the tone row (see "Resurrected Reincarnation"). Another instance was similar to the previous one except it aids in the key modulation of a fixed yet evolving sequence (see Грандиозный Финал or "The Grand Finale"). Another instance was similar to *that* previous one except it determined what key a unique "techno beat" would be in (see "Night" from City of Vices). I've used it also for sound design and to create steady-state chords in some places. In the end, it's all about utilizing patterns. Regarding simultaneous sequence(r)s: I did something similar in the track "Afternoon" (also from City of Vices) where I had a middle section play two different sequences. The first one was something I devised on my own. The second one was created using the aforementioned Devicemeister Stepic, which utilized the random function on various parameters. Thinking about this again, it's a way to compose fugues that don't necessarily have to rely on a common or underlying harmonic sequence a la the kind Bach composed.

Lovin the busy harmonics^^ I guess I found a new way to come up with slightly alien melodies! Your examples sound a lot like the soundtrack from the Stray videogame, where you play as a cat in a post-apocalyptic city.

Reminds me of so many great things! Like the Facebook film soundtrack or the music for the dystopian cat-game Stray. 🤩

I can’t stand when people say “music theory isn’t real” like okay that’s like saying math isn’t real, or science isn’t real because they’re just “observations”. Sure you can make whatever sound you want and call it music, yet our brains typically like some harmonies more than others.. that’s literally the basis of music theory. Capturing what relationships between pitches.. do what. The functions of certain pitches. Yet I’ve been called pretentious for merely stating that music theory is real..

I had this back in school as a music major as a junior 45 years ago, you however, did a marvelous lesson in serialism. Though having instruments rather than a guy at a piano with a pencil and music paper is much better. 😂👏👏👏🖖

Please do make a whole video on using multiple sequencers. I would be using multiple hardware sequencers (Hapax, OXI One, Cirklon, Engine, Pyramid) but if you make the video general enough the information should apply. Thanks!

Dating myself here, but I'm pretty sure the first cell of 4 tones of from the theme for the Jetsons (I think it's even their doorbell melody).

I find it odd that people who know a lot less than you about harmony would yell at you on the internet about it, but I suppose that's never stopped anyone before. I'm here for the education myself, so thank you. That are some of us still out here subsisting on more than midi chord packs and TOP TEN REASONS WHY YOUR MIX SUCKS BRO.

Inspiring stuff. Love it. BoC vibes aplenty.

Watching this evolve has been highly enjoyable and inspiring. Thank you

I'm loving the way this is developing. I particularly like the way the Steppic sequence crosses in and out of the focus, like morse code transmission half perceived. To me it seems to make the ensemble swirl as if submerged. Do you know "One of our submarines (is missing." by Thoms Dolby? It comes from a pop aesthetic ( he is a highly trained musician of course) but most of Dolby's music is conceived in a cinematic way, written for the heyday of MTV.

I’ve often thought about playing with the serialism idea, but with a diatonic scale. Or, even just taking non-serialist melodies and applying the retrograde, inversion, and retrograde-inversion transformations to them in the development section. I think we can steal a lot from the 12-tone method without abandoning diatonic harmony and get really good results. (Edit: grammar)

Excellent video - and really appreciate the demonstration. I think, as with all things, you can mix and match if you want/need to, too. IE, tone-row-ish with flashes of functional. Experiment at one's own leisure!

Interesting. There are occasional random clicks in the audio which need fixing as they're a bit distracting.

3:33 "Moving to these unexpected places that don't seem predictable, but do seem inevitable" bars man, damn! 🔥

I love when I come across an approachable video that teaches me about something I never knew even existed. Aaand the music is cool too! Amazing work.

This was great. Love how you share the premise and your process. Cool result too. The trick is it’s not just a technique. You’re also making choices about when to deviate or expand from the technique. There’s genius in that.

you are getting some really interesting results here, nathan. I likey lots!! I'd most definitely like to see you do a vid on working with the competing sequences technique. what's the name of the sequencer you're using here...? stepeq? stepek? I think I found it. stepic. right?

Пацан могет

Awesome as always! I'm a guitar player but I love to experiment with synths as well. :)

cool cool serial work. I feel like I'm watching an indie film or Sci fi off boradway musical. Thanks for showing that theory is practical

I kept hearing the theme from The Simpsons in a great deconstructed way.

serialism was the death of classical but led to minimalism and industrial, so i have to be thankful for it i guess, good breakdown as always

Looks like you've been hitting those biceps 💪

Not only very informative but the music is also great

Great video and thanks for the Free Harmony Guide book.

Next step: Microtonality

Boards of Canada vibes, love it!!!

Super!

Strangely calming

Very evocative vibe happening with your serial-driving piece! Out of curiosity, how did you come to the tone row you built everything on? Was it something randomized, something you very specifically composed? If it was composed, what informed those choices? Also, those sequencer mixing techniques are great - I absolutely loved what you got from it! Really excited to see where this piece goes, it's really something special.

Was that Tone Row chosen randomly?

I wanna write ambient spacy drony stuff. Where do i start with music theory?

Cool.

You really inspired me a lot with your latest videos. I've been dabbling with quartal non-functional harmony, and the latest piece I've been working on is coming together quite nicely. Thanks for your great suggestions. As always, this is one of the best channels on RU-vid when it comes to music production with synths. Keep it up. :)

1:50 yeah we do that stuff here :) Love the feel of your progression and can't wait to try this out myself. Thanks!