{"id":2650,"date":"2021-09-06T18:39:31","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T18:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2021-09-15T14:38:31","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T14:38:31","slug":"synthwave-melody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/synthwave-melody\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Create A Synthwave Melody | Step-By-Step"},"content":{"rendered":"
    \n
  1. Create your chords (link)<\/li>\n
  2. Create ghost notes<\/li>\n
  3. Pick a melody pattern (ABAC, ABAB, AAAC)<\/li>\n
  4. Insert your notes: Just play one note to create a rhythm, then move notes around<\/li>\n
  5. Add Spice<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How do you go about creating a melody for your synthwave track? <\/p>\n

    In this article, I’ll break down how you can quickly whip up a catchy melody, step-by-step.<\/p>\n

    This will be especially beneficial if you’re someone like me who can’t play an instrument, and knows very little about music theory. <\/p>\n

    By the way, if you want a complete step-by-step guide to creating synthwave music in general, then checkout my complete guide here.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    1. Create Your Chords First<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

    I highly recommend you create your chords first before trying to write the melody. <\/p>\n

    You certain do this the other other way around, but in my experience, it’s much more challenging to start with the melody. <\/p>\n

    However, top songwriters like Max Martin recommend starting with the melody first, so you might want to consider writing melodies before any instrumentation eventually…<\/p>\n

    But if you’re looking for simple system to quickly crank out killer melodies, start by crafting your chords first.<\/p>\n

    By having your chords down, you now have a framework from which to build upon. <\/p>\n

    With the boundary of song key in place, it’s now easier for the creativity to flow and for ideas to start coming to you. <\/p>\n

    If you want some help creating those epic, dreamy, synthwave chords, then be sure to check out my other article here. <\/a><\/p>\n

    2. Create Ghost Notes<\/h2>\n

    If you don’t have all of the scales memorized, then creating ghost notes can be incredibly helpful. <\/p>\n

    If you don’t know, ghost notes are notes that will highlight in your piano roll all the notes that are available to you in a given scale\/key. <\/p>\n

    This way, all you have to do is draw in your notes on any of the highlighted ghost notes and everything should at least sound decent together. <\/p>\n

    How to create Ghost Notes In Logic Pro X<\/h3>\n

    To create ghost notes, you’ll want to an instrument track, and then just delete the instrument so that the track doesn’t play anything. <\/p>\n

    Then, you’ll want to draw in all of the notes for your particular scale across all of the octaves, and then loop that section out. <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

    From there, you can then create a second track (the one that you’ll be writing on) and add an empty MIDI region.<\/p>\n

    Then, with your new track selected, you’ll want to select both MIDI sections so both are highlighted. <\/p>\n

    Then, when you go to write in your notes in the empty MIDI region, you’ll all the notes in your scale dimly lit and extending on through your piano roll. <\/p>\n

    Boom! Ghost notes!Now you can easily drop in notes and hear what works, and what doesn’t, which having to try and remember what were all the notes in your scale.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

    3. Pick A Melody Pattern<\/h2>\n

    Now that you’re set up to write your melody, you can really feasibly write whatever you want and call that a melody, and that would work. <\/p>\n

    That’s the beauty of music. There isn’t really a wrong way to do it. <\/p>\n

    That said, if you want to create a catchy melody that people will start randomly humming or singing at the most inopportune time, thus, giving them a craving to come back and listen to your song again…<\/p>\n

    Then you may one to employ one of the three most catchy melody patterns that we hear frequently in music today.<\/p>\n

    I’ll denote the following melody patterns by using the letters “A”, “B”, and “C”, with each letter representing a short series of notes.<\/p>\n

    In other words, each letter represents a musical motif. <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/span> <\/p>\n

    What Is A Motif?<\/p>\n

    The smallest repeating structure of notes possessing a recognizable identity. A short musical phrase.<\/p>\n

    Melody Pattern #1: ABAB<\/h3>\n

    This is a common melody structure, and for good reason. It’s very catchy. <\/p>\n

    You simply have two musical motifs that alternate back and forth. <\/p>\n

    (By the way, shout out to Arcade High<\/a> for pointing out these melody patterns).<\/p>\n

    Examples<\/h4>\n
      \n
    • A Real Hero – by College (FT. Electric Youth)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Waiting On The Summer – by VHS Collection<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Sunset – by The Midnight<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Reflection – by Andromeda Coast<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Melody Pattern #2: AAAB<\/h3>\n

      Here you have a melody pattern that is pretty repetitive, but then you have the B section which does a nice job resolving the melody. <\/p>\n

      This is a great structure because you get the catchiness that comes from the repetition, but the B section keeps it from going stale. <\/p>\n

        \n
      • Sad Machine – by Porter Robinson<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Calling – by Kalax<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Miami Nights – by Arcade High<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Astrolopithecus – by Andromeda Coast<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Melody Pattern #3: ABAC<\/h3>\n

        Here you have part A, which repeats most frequently throughout the lead, alternating with a B part, and then a C melody to resolve the structure. <\/p>\n

        This is a very common pattern that you can hear in a lot of music.<\/p>\n

        Examples<\/h4>\n
          \n
        • Mary Had A Little Lamb<\/span><\/li>\n
        • Summer of Heat – by Mitch Murder (FT. KRISTINE)<\/span><\/li>\n
        • Because The Night – by Patti Smith<\/span><\/li>\n
        • Surfing On The Sun – by Andromeda Coast<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          You of course don’t have to follow these patterns, but if you’re stuck, these will work.<\/p>\n