As a creepy heavy metal composer I can tell you that musical gold pours out of your mouth, man. You put into words many things we do subconsciously in an attempt to achieve eery sounds. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work, this channel has a bright future ahead of it.
Thanks so much, I'm really glad you're digging it! Plenty more to come -I've been recording more so I'm having less time to make videos, but I'll get one out at least once a week!
@@Michael-cm5kb Most songs on Hellbilly Deluxe and even White Zombie are C or C-sharp. Superbeast being C#. If you tune your guitar drop-C and play around from there, only the solos in rob zombie songs are ever difficult.
1:39 when a really loud car drives past your house at night and you cant sleep 2:02 when a racecar starts accelerating in a race 2:20 when you're in a choir class and you really wanna use the bathroom so you have to pitch up your voice 3:50 another one when you really wanna pee 4:55 when you've stayed in a ghost house for too long and you really wanna leave 5:03 when you don't know what's happening and you wanna turn around to look at the back 5:08 something else appeared but you still don't know what it is
While writing a video game score for an indie game I’m working on, I used a lot of these. I really like the bends. Especially on violin. In one song that’s ambient for hell has a part where everything sustains, but the violin bends up during the melody, and it sounds awesome. I also had a part in the same song where the chords go down all minors chromatically.
It’s the forgotten chord! So effective!! They always seem to use the other five (M7, m7, Dom7, Dim7, HalfDim7) seventh chord variations... the dissonant harmony you speak of is my absolute favorite though!! 😈
this was a fire recommendation. I've been trying to get sort of Dune-like brassy sting last couple days... this let me get right where I needed the sound to be. Very nice.
I composer a horror game soundtrack for some friends. I think what helped me develop an understanding for spooky music was sitting at a synth for hours at a time and just "finding" notes.
sir, I discovered your channel only a few days ago and i've been watching your content ever since. i've been messing around with synthesizers, samplers and electric bass since the late 80s, - just a personal interest sparked off by clubbing and certain substances, - and just felt obliged to say, Thank You, one can only learn so much from books and your videos contain really refreshing, and exciting ideas... the affable presentation is also greatly appreciated. ~easily the best music theory channel on youtube, imo~
2:21 there's a way to have the volume of one track fade in and the other track fade out to create a loop that seems like it ascends or descends infinitely.
Thank you for these videos! It's hard to find videos where people explain HOW to use theory to achieve the sounds you want. But that is exactly what your whole channel is about. Love it. Keep it up!
binging your channel right now, it's amazing how you translate theory into actual music and feeling, making it so much more relatable. i was looking for something like this for years. keep it up and you should set up a patreon or something similar.
Hi, your video lessons are funny, witty and entertaining. You come directly to the point without leaving out to inform the watcher about why and how these techniques are functioning. That´s great for me as a hobbyist sound designer / field recordist, piano player and synth patcher :) I subscribed your channel. Thank you.
Wow man! You have one of the best channels on TH-cam. Thanks for explaining so much with fun examples. Your videos are fun. Thanks for what you are doing 🙏🏽
I love your videos. There is not many videos on TH-cam explaining chords and their emotions and connecting them with theory as intuitively and passionately as yourself. I usually never care about subscribing, but you sir I’m following straight away. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The always go dark and creepy when I compose in Hungarian minor, also called Double Harmonic minor or Gypsy minor, has a lot of these tricks inbuilt - it is ironically a perfectly balanced scale, but feels kind of off to our western ears. To me it feels like it is at the cusp of being harmonic - if tracks get too busy with this scale they start to fall apart, so you need to be careful.
Just discovered your channel a few days ago, been making beats for years but have been avoiding the music stuff. Been learning a lot from you, thanks - I appreciate it. Your breakdown of Big Bang Theory is perfect.
At 2:20 - I was also thinking of how strings will simultaneously glissando in opposite directions, and how this seems to go so well with the visual effect of the track-and-zoom, probably going back to Hitchcock.
Tis the season to be SPOOKY Ah, yes. The absolute best way to start a video: Start off with Christmas carols then transition to Halloween horror. You're a legend man, A LEGEND!!
Joseph Schillinger was one of the first to cover harmonization of different scales and in different ways. The idea of building the same type of chord on each scale degree shows up in Schillinger's System of Musical Composition, as diatonic-symmetric (Chapter 4 of Book 5).
Locrian mode is a creepy mode, as well as (interestingly) the Arabian major (double harmonic major) scale due to it's augmented triads and the additional lowered second degree upon the resolve. Playing the scale without the triads makes for a creepy scale. Phrygian mode is also good for it, though I tend to think it has more of a sad sound as opposed to a creepy sound. In addition to the rising tones, there's also a technique called the Shepherd tone, which is where there are three notes playing an ascending scale, the one on top gradually fades out, while the lower note gradually increases in volume, but the middle stays the same volume, and then repeating that process, creating this sensation of the scale rising without getting anywhere, like a barber's pole of sound. Doing it in reverse is also creepy, too!
What a mindblowing and masterfully prepared summary! Super useful. Thanks very much! Your voice and talk is very nice to listen to. Very solid. I like this style of videos very much. Subbed af! Looking forward to watch and learn more. The "Not resolve" technique blew my mind, I see this is also effective in other aspects of the art form, writing, character design...
We can add use of monotonic synth layer, use of detuned instruments/note changing effects as vibrato, use of unoptimal mastering/mixing technics. Could be good tu use special effects, as vinyl cracks, wind ... too ! Edit ; and don't forget about spacialization when mixing !
As usual an excellent video. For me the scariest thing I have ever heard is the violin section in the 1979 film "Salem's Lot" when the vampires appear at the window. I'm no musical expert but I think the composer uses some chromatic scales there - really really creepy !
Ah I was hoping you'd mention the Augmented major chord (especially considering you use it at 0:03). I'm not sure if thats the correct name for it but I've always found it to sound even more unsettling than diminished chords.
Try playing the 4th string D mino chord, then with your ring finger move it up a string. Then pedal between the ring and second finger. Its a variant of the dim chord but you're kind using the suspended chord concept. You dont get a creepy vibe, but a demonic evil one.
i know this is late, but if you see this, use the following: minor scales (e minor for example) minor chords. top note should NOT be in the lowest note's key. for example, a chord with the lowest note being C and the top note being literally anything with an accidental, or the lowest note being d and the top note being g sharp slow tempo to faster tempo throughout the song, or just use faster notes, like going from a quarter note pattern to an eighth note pattern for darker music, use minor chords and a lot of lower register instruments for halloween and holiday-ish music, use quick, jumpy beats but in a minor chord to make it spooky use a low note that goes up and down in minor seconds that plays throughout the song that harmonizes well on the starting beat/count of each measure
This is the second video I'm watching on ths channel. Thought it was a pretty coolchannel. Then I saw you use Reason... Subscribed!! (Oh yeah spook is an important element in my music so obviously I love this vid)
I work the other way, play love song music to the capture of someone being hacked up or play cartoon wacky clown sounds and slow it down when it gets to the scary bit, resolve it and speed it up; like you say the feeling of unease. Good examples - Stuck in the Middle (Steeler's Wheel) on the soundtrack for Reservoir Dogs when a guy is about to get tortured.
Testament guitarist’s (Eric Peterson & Alex Skolnick) do an amazing job of creating that eerie sound..songs like “Musical death a’dirge”-live at the Fillmore or the intro to “eerie inhabitants”
That EF is what always scares musicians when they check their account to see if they can afford a new pedal, Exhausted Funds...EF, EF, EFEFEFEFEFEFE Listen to the pitch bends in the old Unsolved Mysteries theme (before they modified it), really spooky
My most violent track is made using only 3notes, a minor second and a tritone XD then later I introduced the minor third ; I used pitch automation also :p awesome tricks thank you :)
I love to mix minor, minor major 7th, augmented and dimnished when doing a "macabre" jam.....but I think it sounds more "sinister and villany" than spooky....but great vid! Kudos
I wrote a song using a crapton of tritones, constantly switching measures. Its supposed to disorient the listener. As someone in a Discord chat said when listening to it: "Why do I hear boss music?"
Many people just mistake more advanced and complex music for being "spooky". The tritone is only a simple example. There lays some divine beauty in it when composing considerately (Johann Sebastian Bach, for instance, uses it everywhere).
Don't underestimate the human voice. It's the most emotional instrument, and can thus be the most creepy and spine tingling tool if used correctly. Native Instrument's Mysteria is a great example of that!
I'm writing a concept album about gothic tales. I want to give it a bitter sweet,spooky but with a happy edge. I tried using mixolydian but it sounded more like green day than a metal-fied Beethoven with a slight emotional lift.
My favorite chord that i find kinda creepy, i dont know the name, but i play it in the low range under the melody usually. The notes are usually a C, Eb, Ab. And sometimes i will switch the Ab to G for an added level of haunting creepyness. And maybe switch the Ab to a Bb for a brighter more epic tone (i main these 3 chords, lol). I play a standard piano in my highschool band
![Writing Progressions with Borrowed Chords: Songwriting Lesson [MUSIC THEORY - MODAL INTERCHANGE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7IdttvJSedg/mqdefault.jpg)
As a creepy heavy metal composer I can tell you that musical gold pours out of your mouth, man. You put into words many things we do subconsciously in an attempt to achieve eery sounds. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work, this channel has a bright future ahead of it.
Thanks so much, I'm really glad you're digging it! Plenty more to come -I've been recording more so I'm having less time to make videos, but I'll get one out at least once a week!
ricardo fusco. Do you know what scales the guy in white zombie uses? their music is the best.
Hey man follow your dreams!!! I hope you get fucking HUGE, just rock on my brotha!!!!!
@@Michael-cm5kb Most songs on Hellbilly Deluxe and even White Zombie are C or C-sharp. Superbeast being C#. If you tune your guitar drop-C and play around from there, only the solos in rob zombie songs are ever difficult.
I need to hear some of your music, I bet it sounds sick
TRITONES!!!!!!!!!!
Mr. Metalhorse Whole tone Scale also
m6
It seems the closer two keys are on a keyboard, the less they sound like they actually fit together.
Devils work
Burn in the stake
1:39 when a really loud car drives past your house at night and you cant sleep
2:02 when a racecar starts accelerating in a race
2:20 when you're in a choir class and you really wanna use the bathroom so you have to pitch up your voice
3:50 another one when you really wanna pee
4:55 when you've stayed in a ghost house for too long and you really wanna leave
5:03 when you don't know what's happening and you wanna turn around to look at the back
5:08 something else appeared but you still don't know what it is
Other creepy instruments are the organ and the double bass. Possibly the bass clarinet
Contrabass clarinet can be terrifying 😳
Octobass
While writing a video game score for an indie game I’m working on, I used a lot of these. I really like the bends. Especially on violin. In one song that’s ambient for hell has a part where everything sustains, but the violin bends up during the melody, and it sounds awesome. I also had a part in the same song where the chords go down all minors chromatically.
did you finish it?
I don't know if it's used in horror movies but MinMaj7 is a spooky unease chord.
Fantastic!
It’s the forgotten chord! So effective!! They always seem to use the other five
(M7, m7, Dom7, Dim7, HalfDim7) seventh chord variations... the dissonant harmony you speak of is my absolute favorite though!! 😈
this was a fire recommendation. I've been trying to get sort of Dune-like brassy sting last couple days... this let me get right where I needed the sound to be. Very nice.
I’ve got another creepy instrument: violin bow on the edge of a suspended cymbal.
Have you heard of the Waterphone?
we out here playing the fork on the chalkboard
His voice is so calming.
I also find it a pleasure to listen to for some reason.
this channel is pure goold.
I composer a horror game soundtrack for some friends. I think what helped me develop an understanding for spooky music was sitting at a synth for hours at a time and just "finding" notes.
Whole tone scale is another good one
sir, I discovered your channel only a few days ago and i've been watching your content ever since. i've been messing around with synthesizers, samplers and electric bass since the late 80s, - just a personal interest sparked off by clubbing and certain substances, - and just felt obliged to say, Thank You, one can only learn so much from books and your videos contain really refreshing, and exciting ideas... the affable presentation is also greatly appreciated.
~easily the best music theory channel on youtube, imo~
2:21 there's a way to have the volume of one track fade in and the other track fade out to create a loop that seems like it ascends or descends infinitely.
Thank you for these videos! It's hard to find videos where people explain HOW to use theory to achieve the sounds you want. But that is exactly what your whole channel is about. Love it. Keep it up!
I have just discovered your channel. I am 3 videos in and I am immediately hooked. Very interesting compositional ideas!
4:10 I thought "Back in blood" was about to play
I actually wanted to write a Halloween song and this is so interesting! Great job
alternatively, this video could be called death metal music theory
I can agree as a death metal fan Dax but you could use spooky aspects
There is a Band called "Dance Club Massacre" which utilizes the method of unrelated minor Chords quite often to get a Halloween-ish sound
No it couldn't because deathmetal is fucking stupid music and you can like scary music and still hate metal
@@michaeldejong2700 The fact that you don't like it doesn't make it stupid music lmao. Go and play deathmetal drums, I challenge you
Your videos keep getting better
binging your channel right now, it's amazing how you translate theory into actual music and feeling, making it so much more relatable. i was looking for something like this for years. keep it up and you should set up a patreon or something similar.
Hi,
your video lessons are funny, witty and entertaining. You come directly to the point without leaving out to inform the watcher about why and how these techniques are functioning. That´s great for me as a hobbyist sound designer / field recordist, piano player and synth patcher :)
I subscribed your channel. Thank you.
Studying for a music comp project for school and this was perfect! This will definitely help me make the spooky song they want me to
Wow man! You have one of the best channels on TH-cam. Thanks for explaining so much with fun examples. Your videos are fun. Thanks for what you are doing 🙏🏽
This is great; packed with information and not a wasted word. Excellent teacher.
I love your videos. There is not many videos on TH-cam explaining chords and their emotions and connecting them with theory as intuitively and passionately as yourself. I usually never care about subscribing, but you sir I’m following straight away. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The waterphone is a great example of a creepy instrument. Or the sound of dropping a rock or wrench down a very long metal shaft
or the mauhler hammer
I have a long metal shaft
The always go dark and creepy when I compose in Hungarian minor, also called Double Harmonic minor or Gypsy minor, has a lot of these tricks inbuilt - it is ironically a perfectly balanced scale, but feels kind of off to our western ears. To me it feels like it is at the cusp of being harmonic - if tracks get too busy with this scale they start to fall apart, so you need to be careful.
Just discovered your channel a few days ago, been making beats for years but have been avoiding the music stuff. Been learning a lot from you, thanks - I appreciate it. Your breakdown of Big Bang Theory is perfect.
This guy is on some next level teacher skills, very talented musician and very entertaining
At 2:20 - I was also thinking of how strings will simultaneously glissando in opposite directions, and how this seems to go so well with the visual effect of the track-and-zoom, probably going back to Hitchcock.
Best channel so far with music theory,everything explained well and easy to understand,mant thanks , keep working!!!
Low pitch notes (sounds), minor 2nd's, tritones (b4), chromatic ascends/descends, note clusters, chords like mM7's, Maj7+5,
sus chords, min6's, diminished chords, augmented chords, polychords one semitone apart (examples: C/Db, Ebm/D)
This has become my favorite guitar instruction channel
Tis the season to be SPOOKY
Ah, yes. The absolute best way to start a video: Start off with Christmas carols then transition to Halloween horror.
You're a legend man, A LEGEND!!
Pitch bends are terrifying
This is why I became a music composer for movies, and television. I love composing different sounds, and cinematic music.
This is a very comprehensive and concise video on the subject! Amazing to see how much ground you covered in such a short duration
Excellent stuff. Thank you for your work. Keep it up!
4:13 piano man and the analogy of love making
"Watching the Big Bang Theory with no laugh track reveals the fact that it's completely soulless and has no humor at all."
So the U.M.C. idea is basically the God chord idea, but minor instead of major. Interesting.
Precisely!
Joseph Schillinger was one of the first to cover harmonization of different scales and in different ways. The idea of building the same type of chord on each scale degree shows up in Schillinger's System of Musical Composition, as diatonic-symmetric (Chapter 4 of Book 5).
Those rising (and then falling) diminished chords are so effective in Moonlight Sonata.
3:00 sounds just like something from final fantasy 7! I don't know if that was intentional or not but it brought it up in my mind
You really take the mystery out of things.....
Thanks, you rock!
Great video!!! Very entertaining!
Thanks for sharing this with us! AMAZING VIDEO. Exactly what I was looking for!
Locrian mode is a creepy mode, as well as (interestingly) the Arabian major (double harmonic major) scale due to it's augmented triads and the additional lowered second degree upon the resolve. Playing the scale without the triads makes for a creepy scale. Phrygian mode is also good for it, though I tend to think it has more of a sad sound as opposed to a creepy sound. In addition to the rising tones, there's also a technique called the Shepherd tone, which is where there are three notes playing an ascending scale, the one on top gradually fades out, while the lower note gradually increases in volume, but the middle stays the same volume, and then repeating that process, creating this sensation of the scale rising without getting anywhere, like a barber's pole of sound. Doing it in reverse is also creepy, too!
What a mindblowing and masterfully prepared summary! Super useful. Thanks very much! Your voice and talk is very nice to listen to. Very solid. I like this style of videos very much. Subbed af! Looking forward to watch and learn more. The "Not resolve" technique blew my mind, I see this is also effective in other aspects of the art form, writing, character design...
Just a small correction on 3:16. The chords actually do have a relation to each other, by following a descending chromatic sequence (harmony theory).
dude your channel is amazing. Thanks for the content.
That pitch bending reminds me of the joker's theme from The Dark Knight.
From D to C, it's an Easter egg
Subscribed. That was incredibly helpful. Thank you!
0:05 your ambient music reminds me of the old computer game The 7th Guest. Great video, really fun to watch!
We can add use of monotonic synth layer, use of detuned instruments/note changing effects as vibrato, use of unoptimal mastering/mixing technics.
Could be good tu use special effects, as vinyl cracks, wind ... too !
Edit ; and don't forget about spacialization when mixing !
As usual an excellent video. For me the scariest thing I have ever heard is the violin section in the 1979 film "Salem's Lot" when the vampires appear at the window. I'm no musical expert but I think the composer uses some chromatic scales there - really really creepy !
That pitch bend is something I recon was used for the Goa'uld theme in Stargate SG-1, you know that "muee-uh, mueee-uh" type sound.
2:20 dude this gonna help me so much with my Deathstep
Ah I was hoping you'd mention the Augmented major chord (especially considering you use it at 0:03). I'm not sure if thats the correct name for it but I've always found it to sound even more unsettling than diminished chords.
2:02 makes me think of the Joker's theme in The Dark Knight.
The scary thing about this is that I was listening to a spooky Christmas song directly before this video
Hans Zimmer does this thing with Shepard tones that makes the music sound as if is ascending infinitely. He's fantastic at spooky and mood
This is an awesome video, very educational and fun to watch! Thanks!
Try playing the 4th string D mino chord, then with your ring finger move it up a string. Then pedal between the ring and second finger. Its a variant of the dim chord but you're kind using the suspended chord concept. You dont get a creepy vibe, but a demonic evil one.
My personal favorite thing to do to make spooky music is to use the Hungarian Minor scale.
This channel has been a godsend to me. Thank you so much. :)
I gave a thumbs up for the Big Bang Theory line alone.
Great channel. Thank you.
Pure gold.
Haha, I really like the sly digs that Jake throws at things from time to time (this time the Big Bang theory)
GREAT TUTORIAL!!!!
do you have another lesson about the theory of spooky music?? i really want to learn about it. thanks
i know this is late, but if you see this, use the following:
minor scales (e minor for example)
minor chords. top note should NOT be in the lowest note's key. for example, a chord with the lowest note being C and the top note being literally anything with an accidental, or the lowest note being d and the top note being g sharp
slow tempo to faster tempo throughout the song, or just use faster notes, like going from a quarter note pattern to an eighth note pattern
for darker music, use minor chords and a lot of lower register instruments
for halloween and holiday-ish music, use quick, jumpy beats but in a minor chord to make it spooky
use a low note that goes up and down in minor seconds that plays throughout the song that harmonizes well on the starting beat/count of each measure
This is the second video I'm watching on ths channel. Thought it was a pretty coolchannel. Then I saw you use Reason... Subscribed!!
(Oh yeah spook is an important element in my music so obviously I love this vid)
Watched this video, then an add for a scary movie popped up and musically did exactly what Jake talked about...
1:18 small note, you say E to F but you played B to C
I guess this didn't give you a sense of resolving, leaving you unsettled.
Same!
I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO NOTICED IT
Its the same
Your an amazing teacher man
I work the other way, play love song music to the capture of someone being hacked up or play cartoon wacky clown sounds and slow it down when it gets to the scary bit, resolve it and speed it up; like you say the feeling of unease. Good examples - Stuck in the Middle (Steeler's Wheel) on the soundtrack for Reservoir Dogs when a guy is about to get tortured.
1:40 I just got a chill and expected the BANG sound that usually comes after with the big title letters "LOST"
That was awesome I really like the part with the guitar and music sounded really nice and really creepy
Even I'm not watching horror movies right now, I got scared of all the instruments that you've demonstrate :D
Testament guitarist’s (Eric Peterson & Alex Skolnick) do an amazing job of creating that eerie sound..songs like “Musical death a’dirge”-live at the Fillmore or the intro to “eerie inhabitants”
That EF is what always scares musicians when they check their account to see if they can afford a new pedal, Exhausted Funds...EF, EF, EFEFEFEFEFEFE
Listen to the pitch bends in the old Unsolved Mysteries theme (before they modified it), really spooky
My most violent track is made using only 3notes, a minor second and a tritone XD then later I introduced the minor third ; I used pitch automation also :p awesome tricks thank you :)
now this is useful information.... instant sub
I'm sorry but at 2:38 ...is that planescape torment's music?
Love that zinger about big bang theory
I love to mix minor, minor major 7th, augmented and dimnished when doing a "macabre" jam.....but I think it sounds more "sinister and villany" than spooky....but great vid! Kudos
Uneasy? That's the best part of the breakdown.
Perfect for a Halloween Role-Playing Games
I wrote a song using a crapton of tritones, constantly switching measures. Its supposed to disorient the listener. As someone in a Discord chat said when listening to it: "Why do I hear boss music?"
Chromatic Mediants is an interesting concept to use.
Thanks a lot for sharing these two magic words, chromatic mediants was exactly what I was missing in my life !
Many people just mistake more advanced and complex music for being "spooky". The tritone is only a simple example. There lays some divine beauty in it when composing considerately (Johann Sebastian Bach, for instance, uses it everywhere).
Thank you very much for this information!
Wow i avoided music theory for about a year now but ngl its kinda fun i like this
The Waterphone
Oh, another good music theory channel...Great!
Don't underestimate the human voice. It's the most emotional instrument, and can thus be the most creepy and spine tingling tool if used correctly. Native Instrument's Mysteria is a great example of that!
You represent all my music theory knowledge
I'm writing a concept album about gothic tales. I want to give it a bitter sweet,spooky but with a happy edge. I tried using mixolydian but it sounded more like green day than a metal-fied Beethoven with a slight emotional lift.
Choirs always creep me out, especially children's choirs in horror movie and game scores. Very effective.
My favorite chord that i find kinda creepy, i dont know the name, but i play it in the low range under the melody usually. The notes are usually a C, Eb, Ab. And sometimes i will switch the Ab to G for an added level of haunting creepyness. And maybe switch the Ab to a Bb for a brighter more epic tone (i main these 3 chords, lol). I play a standard piano in my highschool band