EDM Melodies

[estellio]

I'd be happy to provide an example of what I've been working on lately, if anyone's interested? Just PM me. Would love some further advice. And thanks everyone who has helped with the scale/key thing - I wondered what syntolydian was, soon as I looked it up and only found mixolydian. But it's okay, I know now.

[IncarnateX]

Why do people write about things in such a 'knowledgeable' manner when they clearly don't actually understand them properly at all? It doesn't impress anyone who does actually have the knowledge and seriously doesn't help the OP's asking for advice one little bit!

Arh will you relax, mate, there was a mix up of names, my bad, foggy memory and too much weed, but I was trying to help and no mix up of names will violate my points now that this is corrected. No friggin need to get personal or promote yourself on basis of my errors, it was not a show off, mate, and absolutely nothing to start writing novels about.

Spenthrift kindly pointed out the semantic errors, I found another, and stand corrected.

[IncarnateX]

To the OP:

To recapitulate my points with all semantic corrections:

I have learned it decades ago by first exploring the majors C Ionian , F Lydian and G mixolydian then the minors D Dorian, E Phrygian, A Aeolian and H Locrian . In oldschool goa trance, industrial and some modern genres too, phrygian is a popular scale due to the half note from tonic to next step. Locrian has this half note step upwards too but with diminished fifth. To solve tension between tonic and diminished fifth (tritonus interval) you can add a perfect fifth and make it an 8 note scale. Dorian starting with D has lesser tension than phrygian and locrian, imo, and may sound brighter too you though it is in minor. So it is not that complex, once we (and I in particular) get the names right.

If you want to hear how I make use of simplicity of IDM melodies and phrygian and locrian scales you can visit my sound cloud and check out tunes like Alladdin’s quest (phrygian), Terraformers (locrian with occassionally pefect fifth) and Restart (phrygian). You may not go for such simplicity but it is a point from which it is easy to get more complex because the basics work in themselves.

https://soundcloud.com/incarnatex

[estellio]

To the OP:

To recapitulate my points with all semantic corrections:

I have learned it decades ago by first exploring the majors C Ionian , F Lydian and G mixolydian then the minors D Dorian, E Phrygian, A Aeolian and H Locrian . In oldschool goa trance, industrial and some modern genres too, phrygian is a popular scale due to the half note from tonic to next step. Locrian has this half note step upwards too but with diminished fifth. To solve tension between tonic and diminish fifth (tritonus interval) you can add a perfect fifth and make it an 8 note scale. Dorian starting with D has lesser tension than phrygian and locrian, imo, and may sound brighter too you though it is in minor. So it is not that complex, once we (and I in particular) get the names right.

If you want to hear how I make use of simplicity of IDM melodies and phrygian and locrian scales you can visit my sound cloud and check out tunes like Alladdin’s quest (phrygian), Terraformers (locrian with occassionally pefect fifth) and Restart (phrygian). You may not go for such simplicity but it is a point from which it is easy to get more complex because the basics work in themselves.

https://soundcloud.com/incarnatex

Thanks for clarifying that for me - I've been trying out different scales and keys these past couple of days, and am starting to get a better grasp of them. Going to see how the Dorian scale you mentioned in D minor sounds though, soon as I haven't tried that one yet. Still like something more on the brighter side, but after trying a few things I see what you mean about majors sometimes sounding a bit cheesy. I'll see what happens. Thanks also for sharing your Soundcloud - I'll have a listen to the songs you mention and hopefully it helps.

[IncarnateX]

And thanks to you for telling me that it was helpful after all. I have also corrected my original answer to you for errors for the sake of it. The scales may be a struggle to learn and explore but one day you will just do it and may get lucky enough to be as forgetful as I am about the semantics. It has just become a part of you.

[jancivil]

Another way to consider the relative quality of these modes is take their tonics by a circle of fifths (or fourths):
Let's start with Lydian as the 'brightest' or whatever, sharpest, moving to darkest/flattest:

I'll give them as modes proper first in order to reveal this falling 5th, rising 4th circle.

Lydian:
F G A B C D E. The closest to that is Ionian (the difference is the augmented 4 is now perfect 4):
C D E F G A B. Next, Mixolydian (difference here is the M7 is now m7):
G A B C D E F. Next, Dorian (difference = change of M3 to m3):
D E F G A B C. Next, Aeolian (difference = change of M6 to m3):
A B C D E F G. Next, Phrygian (difference = change of M2 to m2):
E F G A B C D. Next, Locrian (difference = change of P5 to dim 5):
B C D E F G A.

So of course the differences agree with the cycle as well: @ 4th, 7th, 3rd, 6th, 2nd, 5th.

Let's look at them as parallel (off a single tonic):
Lydian: C D E F# G A B
Ionian: C D E F G A B
Mixolydian: C D E F G A Bb
Dorian: C D Eb F G A Bb
Aeolian: C D Eb F G Ab Bb
Phrygian: C Db Eb F G Ab Bb
Locrian: C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb

[estellio]

Another way to consider the relative quality of these modes is take their tonics by a circle of fifths (or fourths):
Let's start with Lydian as the 'brightest' or whatever, sharpest, moving to darkest/flattest:

I'll give them as modes proper first in order to reveal this falling 5th, rising 4th circle.

Lydian:
F G A B C D E. The closest to that is Ionian (the difference is the augmented 4 is now perfect 4):
C D E F G A B. Next, Mixolydian (difference here is the M7 is now m7):
G A B C D E F. Next, Dorian (difference = change of M3 to m3):
D E F G A B C. Next, Aeolian (difference = change of M6 to m3):
A B C D E F G. Next, Phrygian (difference = change of M2 to m2):
E F G A B C D. Next, Locrian (difference = change of P4 to dim 4):
B C D E F G A.

So of course the differences agree with the cycle as well: @ 4th, 7th, 3rd, 6th, 2nd, 5th.

Let's look at them as parallel (off a single tonic):
Lydian: C D E F# G A B
Ionian: C D E F G A B
Mixolydian: C D E F G A Bb
Dorian: C D Eb F G A Bb
Aeolian: C D Eb F G Ab Bb
Phrygian: C Db Eb F G Ab Bb
Locrian: C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb

Thanks for your explanation - I found it very helpful!

[jancivil]

no problem

There is a typo there, it should read: Locrian (difference = change of P5 to dim 5)
where I erroneously typed 4s somehow.