It is a lot harder to write a beatiful melody than to make noise | xltronic messageboard
 
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It is a lot harder to write a beatiful melody than to make noise
 

offline CS2x from London (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-16 23:47 [#00353099]
Points: 5079 Status: Lurker



Hi,
I am saying this at the risk of being told I don't
"understand" some experimental electronic music (a la
Autechre) but I'd like to say one thing: As a composer
myself (soon to get a record deal, weehee!) I can telll
you....it is a lot more challenging to write a continuose,
flowing, senseful melody which fits harmonies in a normal
way, than to do bizzare noises/avarnt-gardy
plonks/repeteitve music with subtle changes..ect. Don't get
me wrong, I'm not accusing all of this kind of music to be
like that, but some of it is....
I wonder what would happen if you asked some of these
"musicians" to sit down and improvise on the piano.
To create weird sounds is extreamly easy...simply record
a source sound, bugger at with heavy feed-backing flange,
add some crazy delay for the hell of it...ect....I can make
those kinds of tracks in a quarter of the time it takes to
produce and memorable "piece of music"

No one probably agrees with me, especially since I haven't
presented my argument particularly well...I suppose it all
depends what you enjoy, and I repect that...but please, do
not think making albums like Ep7 is hard...I can hear
everything they did....it's justy some clever use of
effects, and lots of mangled drum sounds heavily cut up,
reversed, repeated, ect.


 

offline kluizenaar from Netherlands Antilles on 2002-08-16 23:49 [#00353104]
Points: 506 Status: Regular



sorry ,

you make no sense


 

offline forck_02lynix from brooklyn on 2002-08-16 23:50 [#00353105]
Points: 4000 Status: Regular



i understand completely...i get so frustrated trying to
write a good song, on what ever instrument im playing at the
time, and i have to just put it down for a while. when that
happens i go to floops and fuck around for a while.


 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-08-16 23:51 [#00353106]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker



i couldn't agree more, i think that's what makes aphex twin
so good: perfect balance of both melody and noise.

however i think autechre are a bit of a bad example for your
criticism. what they do is pretty brilliantly put together
and i'd love to sit down with you and listen to you analyze
every nuance of the albums. it'd be hard. i think a more apt
example would be some of the lesser knowns (for a reason,
IMO) including some of the artists on this board (no
offense, and bear in mind i only said "some", not most or
all).


 

offline forck_02lynix from brooklyn on 2002-08-16 23:52 [#00353109]
Points: 4000 Status: Regular



yep me - my electronic stuff is mostly noises thrown
together...although sometime i try :P


 

offline CS2x from London (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-16 23:53 [#00353110]
Points: 5079 Status: Lurker



How do I make no sense? What I am saying is true, at least
for me...arranging notes in a musical way using synthesizers
is a lot more challenging than doing a bizzare sounding
assortment of noises/drums ect.



 

offline forck_02lynix from brooklyn on 2002-08-16 23:54 [#00353113]
Points: 4000 Status: Regular



but then again a beautiful piece will sometimes just fall
together...beautifully...


 

offline phiz from Liverpool (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-16 23:56 [#00353114]
Points: 2622 Status: Lurker



i get very parranoid thinking my melodys are just exact
copies of melodies made before, i think its quite easy to
make melodies but i discard a hell of alot of them because
they sound very recognisable, but i hear and feel new tunes
all the time i cant get tehm down quick enough or they are
gone, and when i do get them down, they sound so
recognisable and like i've heard it a thousand times before
i get paranoid.
i have trouble realising my compositions are sometimes very
unique but also very simple making me think someone else has
done it before. stops me creating, when i know simplicity is
the best way allways.


 

offline B3n from Manchester (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-16 23:56 [#00353115]
Points: 4700 Status: Lurker | Followup to CS2x: #00353110



but are you trying to make art or music?


 

offline kluizenaar from Netherlands Antilles on 2002-08-16 23:57 [#00353116]
Points: 506 Status: Regular



CS2x ,

maybe you're worrying about the wrong things in music.

think about it.


 

offline CS2x from London (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-16 23:58 [#00353121]
Points: 5079 Status: Lurker



Sorry, I didn't mean all of Autechre's work, but I used Ep7
as an example...in their other albums, I can see what they
are doing and I can see the way the layers form, but there
isn't much hidden depth to most of Ep7...although, there are
one or two nice tracks.

I agree about Aphex Twin-he gets the balance perfect, which
is why I enjoy him....as I come from a classical backround,
I may have different tastes to some of you, but I can see
that some of Aphex Twin's stuff is great, especially the way
melodies are expanded in Drukqs while the drumbeat is also
expanded.


 

offline rarndaraki from from from from (United States) on 2002-08-16 23:59 [#00353125]
Points: 1833 Status: Regular



i actually completely disagree. If you have been playing an
instrument long enough or have a good enough ear, melodies
are VERY easy. I think those guys are just sick of pretty
melodies to be honest with you, cause back in the day they
did that shit alot. Rob and Sean are musicians and if you
sit them down to a piano and tell them to play something
melodic and beautiful, i bet you they could do it in a
second, they just wouldn't want to.


 

offline rarndaraki from from from from (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:01 [#00353129]
Points: 1833 Status: Regular



also, I don't wanna sound a little harsh. But I think ep7
is gorgeous. its very dissonant and out of tune harmonicaly
and maybe you just don't get it.


 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:02 [#00353133]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker | Followup to rarndaraki: #00353125



writing a melody's not too hard but writing a great or
excellent melody is very difficult for even most musicians


 

offline rarndaraki from from from from (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:04 [#00353138]
Points: 1833 Status: Regular



but do you really wanna right a great and excellent melody
all the time?


 

offline forck_02lynix from brooklyn on 2002-08-17 00:04 [#00353139]
Points: 4000 Status: Regular



i think what CS2x means is that you need to have experience
with music/an instrument in order to write a traditional
piece of music. and its not that electronic music doesnt
take experience, its just that some programs nowadays make
it very easy to throw something together. i love autechre
and i think their music is very complex and feeling. but it
takes a musician to make music, anyone can make noise.


 

offline kluizenaar from Netherlands Antilles on 2002-08-17 00:05 [#00353142]
Points: 506 Status: Regular



artists have to search further ,for the music to stay fresh
and exciting.
Thats why I respect the musicians in this electronica scene
or whatever genre (IDM, breakcore , Glitch , Bleep Hop) you
want to brand it under.

Still ,I was a bit disapointed with Druqks.
But thats personal.

It seams like there need to be a new mozart or beethoven to
step up ,and take us in a new direction never before
explored.


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:06 [#00353148]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



"I wonder what would happen if you asked some of these
"musicians" to sit down and improvise on the piano. "

well... autechre has made some beautiful melodies in thier
time.

check out thier early stuff

also... music is changing. While these people might not be
musicians in the classical sense... its not to say that the
word musician isnt taking on a new definition.

look at jazz... is you asked these people to sit down and
write a classical symphony, they couldnt do it. but what
they do is still justifiable.

back in the day, the classical musicians would have said
jazz is noise.

to us its pretty and nice...

now our "noise" is electronic effects and whatnot.

just becuase its not conventional, doesnt mean its not
music.

in 100 years people will look back at autechre as normal and
stuff, and the new music will be noise.

music is now at a point where its not just melodies and
harmonies... we are now intruged by the sound quality
itself

anyways... im a composer too, im studying composition and
synthesis at berklee college of music.

but i can see your point of view.


 

offline forck_02lynix from brooklyn on 2002-08-17 00:10 [#00353153]
Points: 4000 Status: Regular



zeus - do you know a guy from berklee who goes by matt
molite? (aka yngwie malmsteen?)


 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:11 [#00353157]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker



i still think classical music is generally but not
exclusively superior to jazz for melodies, but i've heard
exceptions


 

offline rarndaraki from from from from (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:11 [#00353158]
Points: 1833 Status: Regular



forck, i completely agree. I think autechre was a terrible
example because they are very musical, especially when
creating atonal songs. anyone can make noise, and thats
bullshit i think that gets very boring. but the topic is
making melodies vs making not pretty broken up music. and i
think its crap to say that its easy to make atonal music.
yes its easy to make bullshit atonal music, but its fucking
hard to make dissonant, dark, atonal music work. and i
think autechre makes it work.


 

offline forck_02lynix from brooklyn on 2002-08-17 00:12 [#00353161]
Points: 4000 Status: Regular



yes they do!


 

offline CS2x from London (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:15 [#00353170]
Points: 5079 Status: Lurker



Thanks for the interesting responses...

And forck_02lynix understood what I am saying...I am not
slagging off Autechre, some of their work is very clever,
but sometimes I get the feeling with some electronic bands
they are making noise because they can not write a standard
piece of music....

And I agree, it is easy to write a melody when you know your
instruments (in fact, I keep comming up with too many
meldies and have to be very selective often!) but it's even
easier for me to make noise (especially with all those
lovely plug-ins I have, hehe)


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:15 [#00353171]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker | Followup to forck_02lynix: #00353153



hmmm

what semester/year is he?


 

offline phiz from Liverpool (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:16 [#00353174]
Points: 2622 Status: Lurker



yes i agree, its very easy to make melody, thats why i
struggle to realise my tunes are unique, its just a
different way of using them melodies.

rarndaraki, i DO want a great and excellent melody ALL the
time, i think it's what i love about music, once you get
past basic melody you're tampering with just noise.
I make music but dont class myself as a musician, people
like CS2x who've had a classical training would probably
bauk at the tunes i make, i do beleive strongly in
simplicity, probably cos i think very simplistic, i'm told
i'm a latteral thinker, whatever the fuck that is.
my only obstacle with electronica is writing my drum tracks,
i HAVE to write them real time or i'm fucked, cant program
drums to save my life



 

offline forck_02lynix from brooklyn on 2002-08-17 00:16 [#00353176]
Points: 4000 Status: Regular



he'd be going into his 3rd semester/2nd year ... i dont know
how big of a school you got there, i just thought i'd throw
it out. i went to h.s. w/ him and hes a metal head!


 

offline phiz from Liverpool (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:17 [#00353177]
Points: 2622 Status: Lurker



but saying that, theres some brilliant noise out there.



 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:18 [#00353178]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker | Followup to CS2x: #00353170



yeah

it seems easy to make good noise...

but try releaseing it on a cd, and getting the acceptance of
others.

its a hard thin line... but i think people can tell the
difference between good and bad experimental.

i dont know how... but they can

ive heard plenty of songs where i was like "uhg.. this
sucks" then listened to others, and it was so emotinal and
great

its like... lets say a jazz song. there are lots of em out
there.

and while one song could be technically right, and produced
well etc... it could just not be interesting

catch my drift?


 

offline CS2x from London (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:19 [#00353181]
Points: 5079 Status: Lurker



"and i
think its crap to say that its easy to make atonal music.
yes its easy to make bullshit atonal music, but its fucking

hard to make dissonant, dark, atonal music work."

Ahhh, but how ould you define "good" atonal work from "bad"
in this genre? In avant-garde (classical) there are lots of
patterns in the music, and lot's of it is baes on formulaes
and maths..I very interesting listen. I don't hear any of
this in Lp7. (btw- I enjoy Tri Repetie, Amber...haven't
heard the others)


 

offline NPN from Nowhere (Turkmenistan) on 2002-08-17 00:20 [#00353183]
Points: 83 Status: Regular



Music should be about emotion, not the newest 'sound'.


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:20 [#00353186]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker | Followup to forck_02lynix: #00353176



hmmm...
same year as me...

im not sure... it is possbile... its a small school about
4000 people...


 

offline kluizenaar from Netherlands Antilles on 2002-08-17 00:21 [#00353187]
Points: 506 Status: Regular



phiz,

maybe you're interested in engaging in a project. I'd like
to hear some of your tunes (if possible) and I'd like to
remix a (to be chosen) track.

I also could submit a finished drumtrack,. you supply me
your added work and I could master it.

?

what do you think?


 

offline rarndaraki from from from from (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:24 [#00353193]
Points: 1833 Status: Regular



phiz, i just get sick of melodies. i get sick of really
emotional melodies sometimes. its really nice to sit down
and listen to something that doesn't make you think this is
the best song i have ever heard. sometimes melodies, even
really really creative melodies get old and boring after you
have heard them enough. thats why i like jazz, especially
free jazz. and of course free jazz gets old after awhile
too, so i guess what im really saying is i like all types
of music and sometimes i just don't wanna hear an amazing
melody.


 

offline forck_02lynix from brooklyn on 2002-08-17 00:24 [#00353194]
Points: 4000 Status: Regular



just asking, zeus. sorry i got off subject everyone!

thats the other thing...i hate it when someone asks me "what
kind of music do you listen to?" because i cant answer
them...i listen to whatever makes me happy, sad, angry,
hyper...whatever pulls emotions that connect with the music.
if i like the sounds that are arranged to create patterns
designed to evoke emotion, then i'll listen.


 

offline forck_02lynix from brooklyn on 2002-08-17 00:25 [#00353196]
Points: 4000 Status: Regular



oh and just cant get over avril 9th.......that has to be one
of my fav aphex tracks


 

offline forck_02lynix from brooklyn on 2002-08-17 00:28 [#00353205]
Points: 4000 Status: Regular



ok goodbye everyone, thanks for the wonderful chat


 

offline phiz from Liverpool (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:29 [#00353206]
Points: 2622 Status: Lurker



kluizenaar, i could send you individual tracks, melodies,
basslines, samples set out how i'd like them in the tune,
maybe 3.30 minutes long and you could add the drum track?

the only recording i've got of tunes is an old cd i recorded
straight from acid to cd, its got 1 or 2 tunes i could redo,
i lost all record takes of it when the laptop got wiped out,
nothing else remains apart from the cd, which is wearing
out.
i'm up for it though, i could send you clean wav files of
each track, you'd obviously have to listen first though, and
then decide, i'm well up for a bit of drum input though,
nice one.

mail me, i'll change my profile to a contactable email
address, i'm not sure if theres one there.


 

offline CS2x from London (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:29 [#00353208]
Points: 5079 Status: Lurker



I do enjoy simple melodies too...they are often the hardest
to write....and over-colplicated melody for the sake of it
is pointless....however, often in techno, melodies aren't
developed enough...they simply repeat and repeat, with new
layers added over and over...while that is enjoyable, I
oftern yearn for the melodies themselves to develope instead
of simply being added to, if you get me...



 

offline rarndaraki from from from from (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:30 [#00353209]
Points: 1833 Status: Regular



Cs2x, i don't wanna start flamming here. But i do hear it,
and once again, i just think you don't get it. im not
gonna explain why i think autechre works for me, it just
does. actually, i don't even think i could explain it.
sometimes music just gets to you in away you can't put to
words, its like a connection. i can't explain why i think
autechre's ep7 works, it just does when i hear it. same
with confield and gantz graf. you can't go around saying
its bullshit man. the ugliest noise to your classicaly
trained ears might make someone who doesn't know anything
about music shit their pants, and thats what is lovely about
whats going on in the electronic scene right now.


 

offline Mickey Mouse from The Moon on 2002-08-17 00:30 [#00353210]
Points: 4130 Status: Addict



The day making hard as hell noise tracks like Venetain
Snares's Making Orange Things becomes "Easy" and everybody
starts doing it, is the day I die.... fact of the matter
is... nobody can make crazy noise like that album yet....
and I would like to see someone try.....

"I can make
those kinds of tracks in a quarter of the time it takes to
produce and memorable "piece of music"

==============================
"I can hear
everything they did....it's justy some clever use of
effects, and lots of mangled drum sounds heavily cut up,
reversed, repeated, ect"

I think that is the most bullshit I have ever seen on this
board.....

Thing about ART is.... you cant put everything in a nice
little box.. and be content with that. Discarding certain
experimental music and implying that it is not "memorable"
is horrible.... Most of the experimental/noise tracks I
hear... I remember and enjoy them much more then most other
things. ART is soo great because it goes agianst the grain
of things. You can experiment with different things and
express how you feel through music. I make tunes.... but
started out playing piano at a young age... and the sax....
and have found that making "pretty" melody music gets really
boring after a while.

I guess what I am trying to say here is this..... lets see
YOU make some good experimental music. I am tired of
aspiring "IDM" musicians bashing decent artists. It sickens
me. I think what it is... is just blatant jelousy. Its ok to
say you dont like experimental/noise music. But to say that
one form of music is BETTER than another..... That is just
such bullshit. ART is not a compeditive thing..... it should
never be like that... and implying that this is better then
that... is having this compeditive attitude towards art....
is just shit.


 

offline phiz from Liverpool (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:31 [#00353211]
Points: 2622 Status: Lurker



thats the thing, if you really mean and feel the tune you're
creating it'll come out in the tune, the 'EMOTION' will
shine through, you can bang a stick against a wall and sing,
if your heart is in it, it'll be great.


 

offline rarndaraki from from from from (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:34 [#00353218]
Points: 1833 Status: Regular



excellent point phiz and mickey mouse.


 

offline flea from depths of your mind (New Zealand) on 2002-08-17 00:35 [#00353223]
Points: 9083 Status: Regular



melodies are overrated...string together any set of keys in
a scale and it's a melody...

noise you have to source, sample, tweak, cut, compress,
modulate


 

offline phiz from Liverpool (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:36 [#00353227]
Points: 2622 Status: Lurker



i know what you're saying mickey mouse, thats the other end
of the scale, creating melody from the noise, alot of
artists create the melody before the noise, whereas
venetiansnares has created a melody from the noise, well, i
dont know, maybe he's extended the melody into a listenable
noise, which then sits on a little fence of melody/noise
which makes him maybe unique.


 

offline CS2x from London (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:38 [#00353229]
Points: 5079 Status: Lurker



I am not trying to start a flame war. And if you enjoy
Autechre, fine.

I was just giving my ideas about how it is for me and my
music...oh well....

And my comments in my original thread were not aimed at
Autechre.

Mickey Mouse.....no, not jelousy. And, I never said it was
better at all, I said it was easier to make FOR ME.


 

offline phiz from Liverpool (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:40 [#00353236]
Points: 2622 Status: Lurker



"its just that some programs nowadays make it very easy to
throw something together. "

Arpeggiators are a great example of creating good melodies
very easily, they really are a peice of piss, so easy tomake
a nice melody, but then its manipulating the arpeggiator to
create something different thats the trick, same with
anything, learn it alll then forget everything.


 

offline CS2x from London (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:41 [#00353237]
Points: 5079 Status: Lurker



"melodies are overrated...string together any set of keys in

a scale and it's a melody... "

That is not true, and an isult to lots and lots of music and
musicians. Anyone can string random notes together, but to
make them make sense with a harmony is the challenging bit



 

offline rarndaraki from from from from (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:41 [#00353238]
Points: 1833 Status: Regular



well homebro, i gotta go. this was a nice conversation
that got my blood moving and it shall be remembered.


 

offline phiz from Liverpool (United Kingdom) on 2002-08-17 00:43 [#00353241]
Points: 2622 Status: Lurker



i think autechre do succeed in making good melodic tunes
from very rigid and set formulas, thats why alot of
intellingent and very well educated people seem to like
them, because of the use of whats considered 'intelligence'
against basic melody can work as a whole.


 

offline rarndaraki from from from from (United States) on 2002-08-17 00:44 [#00353242]
Points: 1833 Status: Regular



oh one more comment. yeai i agree melodies can't just be
strung together. i don't wanna leave with everything
thinking im a big melody basher that only listens to the
sound of cats being run over by cars while doing it in the
butt. fuck, and you guys probably took my seriously until
now.


 


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