Music Theory for Electronic Music Producers – PDF Download

Music Theory for Electronic Music Producers is a PDF download that covers the fundamentals of music theory.

Introduction

Music theory is the study of the structure, notation and approach to creating compositions. It’s a critical tool for any musician, but especially important for electronic music producers who often work with pre-recorded or sampled sounds. A working knowledge of theory can help you make better choices when arranging and producing your tracks.

This guide covers the basics of music theory, with a focus on its applications to electronic music production. It includes sections on Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Form and Structure. You can download a printable PDF version of this guide at the link below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwzho7uwaTq9M3Jsbmxnc3MtNDQ/view?usp=sharing

What is Music Theory?

At its core, music theory is the study of how music works. It encompasses the notation, harmony, and structure of music, as well as its history. Music theory is a vital part of any musician’s education, providing a foundation for understanding harmony, composition, and arranging.

For electronic music producers, music theory can be especially helpful in understanding how to create chord progressions, melodies, and basslines that sound good together. It can also aid in the composing process by providing a framework for understanding how different musical elements fit together.

This guide provides a basic overview of music theory concepts that are relevant to electronic music production. We’ll cover topics such as melody, harmony, rhythm, and structure. By the end of this guide, you should have a better understanding of how to incorporate these concepts into your own productions.

The Building Blocks of Music

Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. The term is used in three main ways in music: to refer to the study of the structure and behaviour of music; to refer to the study of music history and culture; and, in a more restricted sense, to refer to the study of the mathematical and scientific aspects of music.

Rhythm

Music is made up of a variety of elements, including rhythm, pitch, harmony, and dynamics. All of these elements work together to create a piece of music that is enjoyable to listen to. Rhythm is the element of music that deals with the timing of the notes and beats. It is what gives music its flow and ultimately determines how fast or slow a piece of music will be. Pitch is the element of music that deals with how high or low a note sounds. Harmony is the element of music that deals with how two or more pitches sound together. Dynamics are the element of music that deal with how loud or soft a note is played.

Melody

In music, a melody is a sequence of notes that the listener perceives as a “tune”. A melody is typically made up of notes that are played one after the other, and which create a “line” that moves up and down in pitch.

Most melodic lines in electronic music are created using synthesizers, although it is also possible to create melodies using samples of recorded audio (like vocals or acoustic instruments). When creating melodies with synthesizers, the composer will often start by choosing a scale (a set of notes that sound good together) and then creating a sequence of notes within that scale.

It is also possible to create melodies without using any specific scale, but this can often result in melodies that sound “random” or “out of key”. If you are new to composing melodies, it is usually best to start by working within a specific scale.

Harmony

In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches (tones, notes), or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the “vertical” aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic line, or the “horizontal” aspect. In popular and jazz harmony, chords are named by their root plus various terms and characters indicating their qualities. In many types of music, notably baroque, romantic, modern, and jazz, chords are often augmented with “tensions”. A tension is an additional member that creates a relatively dissonant interval in relation to the bass. Typically, in the common practice period a dissonant chord (or nonharmonic tone) “resolves” to a harmonic interval. Harmonization usually sounds pleasant to the ear when there is a balance between predictability and contrast. In simple words: When a chord progression sounds good, it is because it uses tension and resolution appropriately.

Harmony can be analyzed by considering it as made up of horizontal melodic motion superimposed upon vertical simultaneous pitches; or by considering it as combinations (or polyphony) of simultaneously sounded tones called chords; or by studying individual Pitch class sets within harmonies as explored in All-Part writing.

Timbre

In music, timbre (/tɪmbr/; also known as tone color or tone quality) is the quality or sound of a musical note,sound, or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments. Timbre encompasses aspects of sound that are highly dependent on a given beep’s advertising and it has much to do withperceived beep quality (differences in brightness, roughness, and location).

Form

There are many ways to think about the form of a piece of music. In its most simplest form, you can think of form as the ‘shape’ of a piece of music. For example, a piece with a very simple ‘AABA’ form would be in the shape of a square. A piece with a more complex ‘rondo’ form might be in the shape of a spiral.

Form can also be thought of as the journey that a piece of music takes you on. For instance, a piece might start off in a very calm and serene place, before gradually building up to a huge climax, and then finally subsiding back down again to where it started.

In electronic music, producers often use specific forms to create certain sonic effects. For example, the ‘drop’ in dance music is typically created by using a simple ‘verse-chorus-verse-chorus-drop-verse-chorus-outro’ form. This allows the producer to create an tension and release which is essential for making people want to dance!

So, form is an important tool that producers can use to create specific sonic effects. But it’s also important to remember that there are no rules when it comes to form. You can experiment and play around with different forms to see what works best for your track.

Conclusion

We hope you found this guide helpful! Music theory can be daunting, but it’s worth taking the time to learn the basics. With a little effort, you’ll be able to write better, more interesting music. And who knows? You might even enjoy it!