Inspiration:
Like any artist will tell you, a great work comes from great inspiration. It is difficult, if not impossible, to write music in any genre if you do not have passion for the genre.
Lets assume you do have a great passion for horror music. Now all you have to do is choose a theme that most inspires you. Is it the unsettling idea of a psychopath Maybe a the "edge of your seat" feeling you get from thinking about an unsolved murder. Maybe it is something like ghosts or vampire or just halloween in general. Whatever your inspiration is, keep it in mind throughout the entire song.
How is this done? Well your inspiration will play the biggest part in how your instrument will sound.
- If you are using ghosts or spirits as inspiration, for example, your song may have extra reverb and long flowing strings or choir sections.
- If a psychopathic killer is your inspiration (lets use Ted Bundy as an example) your music may incorporate more diminished and augmented chords. Incase you did not know, diminished and augmented chords, in western music at least, sound "wrong" to our ears. In the wrong context (like a child hitting random keys on a piano) they sound like painful musical gibberish. In the right context (when blended effectively with minor and major chords) they give a song a creepy and slightly "off" feeling while still maintaining a certain acceptable tonal structure. Check some out and see for yourself!
Diminished and Augmented Triads
Alfred 00-285 Piano Chord Dict (Google Affiliate Ad)
Alfred 00-5743 Scales- Chords- (Google Affiliate Ad) Diminished and Augmented chords (noted in sheet music as "o" for diminished and "+" for augmented) are perfect for making an instrumental that is creepy and off-putting.
P S. If you are interested in some good serial killer inspiration check out this link:
Top 10 Serial Killers Of All Time
Step Two:
The Song Pattern:
When writing the song try and start simple with a basic song pattern
A, B, A, B
A- first section or progression of the song
B- second progression of the song
A more advanced musical pattern would be something like
A, B, A, B, C, A
or
A, B, C, A, B, C, D, A
and so on.
Alfred 00-10147 Patterns for F (Google Affiliate Ad)
USE MINOR KEYS MOSTLY.
But throw in some major keys every once in awhile for a little extra "hope" in the song.
incase you did not know...
Minor keys sound sad and or creepy
major keys sound happy and or relaxing
Step Three:
The Melody line:
The Melody Book: 300 Selections from the World of Music for Piano, Gui (Google Affiliate Ad)
(In many cases a new or augmented melody line needs to be added to each part of the songs pattern ex. A has a melody line B (or the chorus) has a melody line)
A strong melody line will make or break your song.
there is a certain balance that must be achieved between making something familiar and different all at the same time. If your melody seems to "go nowhere" or have no resolution people will not enjoy the tune. likewise, if the melody is too simple and familiar it will sound more like a childrens nursery rhyme than a professionally composed piece of music. avoid large leaps (above or below an octave)
The simplest way to make a melody is an A,B pattern within the melody
here are a few examples of melodies I have made using this pattern:
Welcome to Hell: A,B melody line
8 Minute Horror A,B Melody Line
Satan Horror A,B Melody Line
Step Four:
First, a little info on music frequency incase you did not know:
Acoustics and the Performance of Music: Manual for Acousticians, Audio (Google Affiliate Ad)
I like to seperate my songs into 5 different parts (these correspond to the musical frequency "HZ" spectrum) it may sound confusing but in reality you already know what I am talking about because all the must you have ever listened to does the same thing.
in a typical rock band there is a:
Bass- playing the lowest or deepest of the frequencies
Drums-playing around the low mids for the kick and the highest frequency for the hi-hats and symbols.
rhythm guitar- playing directly in the middle
Lead Guitar- playing in the upper mids
Vocals- depends; sometime they are high (woman) sometime low (man) sometime you have a great singer like Paul McCartney who does it all!
so there you have my general interpretation of the five parts of the musical spectrum. once again these parts are:
P1: Lowest 1HZ to 70 HZ
P2 Low Mid 71HZ to 110HZ
P3 Mid 111Hz to roughly 600 HZ
P4 High Mid 601 HZ to roughly 8,000 HZ
P5 Highest 8,001 HZ to 20,000 HZ
(this is my own interpretation of the ranges that has served me well in musical creation and engineering the exact numbers may be off but it is mostly a rough estimate. also note that the human ear cannot hear frequencies below 20HZ but can physically feel these frequencies)
Here is a link if you would like to learn more!
The Human Ear And Sound Frequency
So... on to Step Four...for real this time :)
Make a chord progression and add the remaining instruments:
(P2) for a typical horror song I will have a string section. This section usually only plays the chord structure of the song (which will need to be in the same key as your melody) and exists only to complement and provide "body" to the song.
The string section can be any kind of "voice" or "sound Font" you think will fit the song. I have used choirs with great success, horns, various pre made pads and many more "voices."
I usually keep the string section playing in the lower mids (P2).
(P1)Playing in the lowest range (P1) I will usually use the same instrument that I used for the string section but only play a single note (from my experience if you try and make a triad in (P1) it will sound way too muddy and just plain bad. the P1 range has very little harmonics.) or possibly a bass guitar with some distortion on it.
(P3) I will usually use the same instrument I used for the melody line but add an effect of some sort (possibly some reverb or a delay) and change the octave to the (P3) range. Then I will make a rhythm line.
*Simple Tip!* try using your triad chord progression with an arpeggiator as your rhythm section. It is easy and sounds pretty good! Here is a link for more info on Arpeggio .
(P4) this is usually where my melody line will be playing.
(P5) In most music genres this is where the high hats, snares, rides and shakers all flourish. try using a basic high hat pattern just to keep a simple flow and beat to the song, or avoid it altogether for a more "unscripted" feel.
Step 5:
Adding the last minute touches and details:
If a melody line can make or break a song, the details can make a song stand out or just be another mediocre song in the crowd.
in this stage experiment with effects (reverb, phasers, wah-wah, compression, time stretching, time manipulation, filters, chorus, etc..) start having fun and let your creative juices flow! Most music recording software and digital audio workstations come pre loaded with plenty of effects and gimmicks to keep you busy for hours. EXPERIMENT EXPERIMENT EXPERIMENT. Some of my favorite parts in some of my instrumentals were originally screw ups that i ended up loving. They add flavor to the song!
Finally, as a bonus, I have provided a song I made that illustrates steps three through five. (not the greatest song but good enough for example purposes)
Step 3 melody:
Melody Line in Simple A,B Style
Step 4 Adding the strings:
Adding Strings Playing Chord Progression
Step 4 continued:
Adding A Choir Intro and Low Kicks With Low Choir Rhythm
Step 5 Effects:
Adding effects, A Choir Slidding Progression, Compression On The Kick Drum And A Little Girl Laughing For Flavor
I hope this tutorial helped you! please comment with any questions or suggestions and if you found this helpful pass it on!
Love, 4est.
