Super noob, would love some sagedom!

[LordBid]

Hey everybody! I am brand new to the forum, I only recently started learning music from my roommate who is a pretty good producer, but I am having some issues grasping how chords work in music like dubstep.
For instance I do not understand how chord progressions work in this genre, but I do understand what chord progression is. Usually I cannot even hear any chords being played in music like dubstep. Basically i'm really confused about chords and their place in electronic music. If anybody has some insight that could help me that would be awesome!

[krusade]

You have alot of freedom when producing dubstep, from a chord perspective I havn't found it to different from anything else. Depending on your style and what your aiming to produce, alot of dubstep is minor heavy, gives it the darker feel however you could easily rip a chord sequence from a trance song for example, it's how you manipulate the sounds surrounding the chords that will give the feel to your tracks.

But basically, If it sounds good, go with it. Try not to get to bogged down at the beginning stage with worrying about if structurally your creating a masterpiece.

[Depone]

yeah its all relative to your style. But imo the more chill tracks have the most beautiful chards, not so much the bangers.

[LordBid]

Hey thank you guys, this actually helped me a lot. I probably should just have at it and not worry about it lol!

[Sinus Sawtooth]

Easy way out

Arpeggiator, 3steps, minor chord, unless you make happy dubstep, use a major chord in that case

[LordBid]

Would you mind explaining "3 steps?" or possible send me to a link, As my music lingo knowledge is extremely limited atm. Thanks.

[lowpass]

Yeah man I'd say chords are cool for things like intros and more vibey songs

but the majority of drops tend to stick on the root and just bash that about.

If you wanna listen to music that contradicts this then check out joker, he makes some heavy songs that are solidly rooted in melody and chord progressions

[LordBid]

Lowpass, thank you so much for that recommendation, I think I understand the answer that I was looking for! Joker's music is really different from the dubstep that I have listened to in the past, and now that I have heard the difference I think I get it. I will for sure be getting my hands on some more Joker tracks!

[narcissus]

Hey everybody! I am brand new to the forum, I only recently started learning music from my roommate who is a pretty good producer, but I am having some issues grasping how chords work in music like dubstep.
For instance I do not understand how chord progressions work in this genre, but I do understand what chord progression is. Usually I cannot even hear any chords being played in music like dubstep. Basically i'm really confused about chords and their place in electronic music. If anybody has some insight that could help me that would be awesome!

for dance music, you can use chords if you like... but if they don't make sense to you, you don't really have to..

my advice for learning producers is to always go with what you feel is the best, and not give in to what other people want to hear. if the two coincide, it's great. but if they don't, then just go with what you dig.

[jsills]

i forget to use chords in just about every track i make. one of the many reasons i plan on taking proper piano lessons. so i actually know what im doing and not just plinking keys.
its funny you dont really have to know theory to make great music, but i does help you get your point across. co-sign the whole do you arguement, if it sounds good go with what works.

[narcissus]

i forget to use chords in just about every track i make. one of the many reasons i plan on taking proper piano lessons. so i actually know what im doing and not just plinking keys.
its funny you dont really have to know theory to make great music, but i does help you get your point across. co-sign the whole do you arguement, if it sounds good go with what works.

agreed -- learn all you can, cuz it'll help

[Ithiriul]

The reason it's hard to hear chords in a lot of electronica is because the notes are often spread among different unconventional instruments. Basically, there is a kind of "subconscious" chord that is there but you can't really pinpoint. For example, for a C major chord, the kick might be tuned to C, the snare to E, and the synth to G.

You can still definitely use just one instrument to play a chord so that it stands out. Or you can use three separate "chord-friendly" (violion,piano,guitar, long pads and synths) etc. It all relates to the type of sound and structure you're going for, but chord progressions played by standard instruments can become stale.

The quote was written about movie scores, but it definitely applies to anything musical really. "A good movie score is one that you don't notice."

A lot of the time good music is as good as it is because of the way it moves subconsciously. If you feel something good and you immediately start tapping your foot to it rather than stopping and pointing out "oh hey that's what they did" or hearing a glaringly obvious chord progression, you effectively eliminate any room for logic brainstorms. Throwing away logic almost never sounds like a good idea, but all too often we (myself included) forget that music is an incredibly powerful emotional force and that we should always try to touch the human heart through sound. This is incredibly important! I hope that makes sense haha

[irregular foundation]

Adding a question of my own , In Fruity Loops I figured out how to use edison to record something , but then when I opened that file in a different player it was way to loud , how do I control the volume when recording so it doesnt clip ?