Chords & Harmony

[simonb]

harmony is basically a relative of timbre. chords have always been a basic aspect of sound design for me.

Exactly, that's what I'm now realising more and more, it's a part of the sound design progress and it's all sound at the end of the day...

[steevio]

another thing worth thinking about is using diads or highlighting different diads amongst quadriads etc.

for minimal techno, (in the true sense of the term) chords are not really that minimal, diads sound more techno to me.
i quite often use quadriads but only emphasise different diads within the quadriad in sequences, and use the remaining two tones as colour rather than obvious chord notes.
you can get alot of variation and musical interest from just one chord if you keep varying the levels of the oscillators, and altering their pulsewidths rhythmically. for me techno doesnt need chord progressions.

just another angle

[AK]

for me techno doesnt need chord progressions.

I wouldn't say I use progressions, I use chords but they are not functioning like they would in say a song with chord progressions. I could never stop using them though, it would be like asking you to stop using synths, for me they are one of the things I really love about music.

[kivetros]

I wouldn't say I use progressions, I use chords but they are not functioning like they would in say a song with chord progressions. I could never stop using them though, it would be like asking you to stop using synths, for me they are one of the things I really love about music.

How do you use chords without using chord progressions? Just like, stabs and pads on the same chord (or inversions of the same chord)?

I am curious about this, because I approach techno in a very different fashion than I do everything else that I've produced over the years; instead of trying to head into the studio with some sort of idea or bit of inspiration, I like to fool around and see what I can come up with through experimentation - and I find it difficult to come up with chord progressions through that method. However, when I grab a chord, it usually results in me trying to come up with a progression, and since my theory isn't crazy solid it always ends up being something predictable and cliched. Therefore, it would be nice to know how to use chords without needing to use a progression, as well.

[steevio]

for me techno doesnt need chord progressions.

I wouldn't say I use progressions, I use chords but they are not functioning like they would in say a song with chord progressions. I could never stop using them though, it would be like asking you to stop using synths, for me they are one of the things I really love about music.

i'm not against chord progressions in music, but not all music has chord progressions, far from it, and for me techno is one form of music which functions very welll without them, due to its hypnotic nature.

[kivetros]

another thing worth thinking about is using diads or highlighting different diads amongst quadriads etc.

for minimal techno, (in the true sense of the term) chords are not really that minimal, diads sound more techno to me.
i quite often use quadriads but only emphasise different diads within the quadriad in sequences, and use the remaining two tones as colour rather than obvious chord notes.
you can get alot of variation and musical interest from just one chord if you keep varying the levels of the oscillators, and altering their pulsewidths rhythmically. for me techno doesnt need chord progressions.

just another angle

Somehow I didn't see this post earlier, and it answered my question perfectly. I'll have to experiment with some of that stuff.

I've done a little googling... is a quadriad just a four-note chord? Like C-E-G-D? So if C-E-G-D was a quadriad, you could just make diads of those notes?

And what do you mean by using tones as color, rather than as obvious chord notes?

[steevio]

And what do you mean by using tones as color, rather than as obvious chord notes?

for instance say you used a quadriad (or tetrad) of C D D#F, you could use only the dyad C and D and use the D# and F at very low volume to add colour (like extensions), then maybe you could invert the chord and emphaise the D# and F and play the C and D as colour, there are lots of combinations of inversions and dyads from just that one tetrachord.

i tend to leave out any major or minor thirds and 5ths or play them lightly as colours, which kind of takes away the obviousness of them, or only express them in the bass and kick. the notes of chords dont have to be played at the same velocity. theres so many ways to play groups of notes together without resorting to the classic chord progressions.
i usually do this by modulating the various oscillators volumes with envelopes.

anything goes really

[AK]

I wouldn't say I use progressions, I use chords but they are not functioning like they would in say a song with chord progressions. I could never stop using them though, it would be like asking you to stop using synths, for me they are one of the things I really love about music.

How do you use chords without using chord progressions? Just like, stabs and pads on the same chord (or inversions of the same chord)?

You could use inversions of the same chord to create variation, absolutely. I've done that many times. What I meant was likening it to a typical song-like structure. I definitely do not want to get that feel for the majority of the time. There are lots of music which feature chords that are not lending themselves to a typical chord progression. They function more as 'colour' to give a certain feel at specific points in the music.

A good example is actually in this thread, so I will use that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHh_imdLKCk Ok, it's not Techno but that doesn't matter. The first chord comes in at 40 sec, another one at 1min, another 1 at 1min 25 and chords come in here and there throughout the track but never hint towards a 'chord progression' in the sense that you would normally associate a chord progression to be. They just colour the music, adding tonal interest and a great deal of feel.

More nearer a House/Techno feel which features chords that I would think is also close to what I mean is this tune by Dan Berkson & james What: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FnFx1_x ... re=related The track features a lead type melody based around G minor and features just a few chords here and there, skip to about 2:30 and they start appearing. The first you here sounds like a Gdim chord, later on there's others, an obvious 1 that I hear is a Gm9 ( played like G/A/Bb in a cluster ) at around 4mins, there are others scattered around but they are closely knitted into the music so you just hear everything as a whole rather than them functioning as a harmonic building block.

There's lots of music where the use of chords aren't trying to form a harmonic base and are added as tonal interest. That's about the best I can describe it to be honest.