I believe that this is one of the most complicated things we struggle while producing jungle. I have many projects that I couldn't finish just because of my lack of music theory knowledge. There are tons of videos of how to make jungle, but this is the first one exclusively about music theory for this genre. Nice work, hope to see more of this!!
Thanks dude! I agree for sure, just a little knowledge can help you a lot when trying to finish tunes & not get stuck going down the wrong avenues. Sometimes when you freestyle everything like the pads/samples/bass you'll be doing quite complex things musically without realising it. Just having that framework of music theory to tell you whats going on can be really beneficial. I'll defs do more of this in the future 😊✌️
Haha Cheers dude! I went down the road of learning as much music theory as I could a while ago. Realised that I only really needed the essentials in this video to help me make sense of sampling & scales etc. Glad this helped :) 😊
Haha yea the theory stuff takes a minute to get your head around. This is all the most essential stuff you need to make sample based music. Just understanding the framework of theory without memorizing all the keys & scales etc. :) ✌️
Thanks mate, that was the whole idea :) Just give people the essentials of what they need to know when applied to sample based music & jungle without all the excess ✌️
Your videos are always cool. Something I've found very useful is to sample both a minor and a major chord and then to learn the corresponding chord voicings for the major and minor scales. Nothing wrong with keeping a cheat sheet handy. You will always know if the next chord should be minor or major and can pitch either your minor or major sample to match the note/chord. In this way you will never be lost and out of key in building your chord progressions. That might sound complicated and confusing to people new to understanding harmony but it's very straight forward and like painting by numbers. The way we speak about the chords in a progression is by numbers and these numbers just match the corresponding note of the scale. so when we say 1 (or I) we mean the first note/chord of the major scale. 2 (or ii) is the second note/chord of the major scale etc. it goes = I (major) ii (minor) iii (minor) IV (major) V (major) vi (minor) vii (minor)* you can just match your minor or major chord sample to the step of the scale you land on. * this is a actually a diminished minor chord but don't worry about that much, a regular minor chord can work, but if you really want to learn it means the 5th interval of the chord is one semitone flat. You would say that "one/ minor third / flat five" (I could further confuse you to say that some people don't play the root note or first note of the diminished vii chord but whatever, not important ) All that being said some of the coolest harmonies come from chords that don't follow this rule- your ears are the guide.
I've done something similar to this before. Works great in Renoise as you can just swap the instrument number to change the chord from major or minor :) ✌️
Really great vid. Love what you're doing. Fun and informative. I also love the random tracks you throw in. A question..... What are the best/favourite pad synths to use for the old jungle sound? Thanks
I really love Wavestation by Korg and make patches in there. Has a great sound to it. My favourite is probably the Digitone by Elektron. Its my go to synth for almost everything. I often layer it in the DAW, run it through my Akai or EMU etc. The key to a great pad sound to me is often in the layers. If you listen to the example at 8:35 you can clearly hear the noise has been layered with the pad and it being pitched up alongside it. This adds a lot of realism & depth when you layer sounds like this.
The point i'm making is if you base your track on pitching samples around or resampled chords, you will often drift into different scales. Lots of old school tunes use this technique so i'm explaining what's happening from a music theory perspective.
Cheers mate :) The into section when i'm talking is a pad from one of my sample packs. Then it drops into a clip from this vid - th-cam.com/video/9N3nkBHr_gM/w-d-xo.html
@@groovining the bit in the vid about parallel chords makes so much sense now :) i always wondered why my rave generator midi parts wandered in and out of key with the rest of my track - so, thanks for explaining (y)(y)(y)
Yea you can analyse them but its nice to know whats actually happening behind the scenes a little. Saves you time attempting things that are never going to work. Ears are still the most important :)
Amazingly helpful video! What is an alternative to Mixed In Key Studio Edition? sadly cannot afford to spend money on it atm, but other options such as KeyFinder do not seem to give the same feedback of which notes specifically are within the sample. Thx for any help! I have voxengo SPAN which ik if you put the little cursor on the peaks it says the key of that part but is this effective?
Good tips, however can I just say that there are no magic tutorials or lessons, tips and tricks that will help you make the perfect track. You can watch as many as you like. It’s about doing it for love, fun and creativity. If you’re doing it because you want success, money or to be like Photek or whoever it won’t happen. There’s no magic formula and if you do follow formulas you’re going to sound like loads of others. Be yourself and try not to photocopy what’s gone before. Use your faults, defects and personality. That’s what’ll make you different from everyone else. 👍🏼
It's an interesting one this because yes creativity is a super important factor in making music but having knowledge & a solid technical understanding are arguable just as important. You wouldn't ask a beginner on guitar to write and record a fully arranged track. You would teach & make them practise all the skills you need to write music in that way. I definitly agree that there isn't a magic formula that will suddenly make you a release a smash hit but there is a lot you can learn to help you get through the process of finishing tracks & making better music. 😊✌️
Yea I use my ears a lot also & see a lot of value in that. I think having this understanding helps a lot though even if you still use your ears mostly. ✌️
I believe that this is one of the most complicated things we struggle while producing jungle. I have many projects that I couldn't finish just because of my lack of music theory knowledge. There are tons of videos of how to make jungle, but this is the first one exclusively about music theory for this genre. Nice work, hope to see more of this!!
i agree!
Thanks dude! I agree for sure, just a little knowledge can help you a lot when trying to finish tunes & not get stuck going down the wrong avenues. Sometimes when you freestyle everything like the pads/samples/bass you'll be doing quite complex things musically without realising it. Just having that framework of music theory to tell you whats going on can be really beneficial. I'll defs do more of this in the future 😊✌️
I feel that 100%, finally biting the bullet and trying to learn some music theory. There’s really no way around it lol
Great tutorial, mans got an impeccable taste in jungle too
Cheers brother, glad you enjoyed the vid! I'm mad into that 90's style. From the atmospheric stuff all the way to Lemon D, Photek, Source Direct. 😊🚀
I love this genre
Same! 😊🚀
You are a god-sent. Thank you for this entire channel!
Appreciate that dude! Thanks for the comment - glad you're enjoying the channel so much ✌️😊
This is unbelievably useful. Every video breaks the record set by the previous. When will this madman be content?
Haha cheers dude! We don't need much music theory to make jungle but this little bit really helps :) 🌴🚀😊
Excellent work, I wish that I had watched this video decades ago!
Haha Cheers dude! I went down the road of learning as much music theory as I could a while ago. Realised that I only really needed the essentials in this video to help me make sense of sampling & scales etc. Glad this helped :) 😊
Great vid! This is exactly what I need to know... Just need to watch this 100 more times till I understand it!! 😅😅
Haha yea the theory stuff takes a minute to get your head around. This is all the most essential stuff you need to make sample based music. Just understanding the framework of theory without memorizing all the keys & scales etc. :) ✌️
super useful. music theory can be intimidating, so getting this quickly to the real world use cases helps so much
Thanks mate, that was the whole idea :) Just give people the essentials of what they need to know when applied to sample based music & jungle without all the excess ✌️
Your videos are always cool. Something I've found very useful is to sample both a minor and a major chord and then to learn the corresponding chord voicings for the major and minor scales. Nothing wrong with keeping a cheat sheet handy. You will always know if the next chord should be minor or major and can pitch either your minor or major sample to match the note/chord. In this way you will never be lost and out of key in building your chord progressions.
That might sound complicated and confusing to people new to understanding harmony but it's very straight forward and like painting by numbers. The way we speak about the chords in a progression is by numbers and these numbers just match the corresponding note of the scale. so when we say 1 (or I) we mean the first note/chord of the major scale. 2 (or ii) is the second note/chord of the major scale etc.
it goes =
I (major)
ii (minor)
iii (minor)
IV (major)
V (major)
vi (minor)
vii (minor)*
you can just match your minor or major chord sample to the step of the scale you land on.
* this is a actually a diminished minor chord but don't worry about that much, a regular minor chord can work, but if you really want to learn it means the 5th interval of the chord is one semitone flat. You would say that "one/ minor third / flat five"
(I could further confuse you to say that some people don't play the root note or first note of the diminished vii chord but whatever, not important )
All that being said some of the coolest harmonies come from chords that don't follow this rule- your ears are the guide.
I've done something similar to this before. Works great in Renoise as you can just swap the instrument number to change the chord from major or minor :) ✌️
@@groovining Nice !
I love working with trackers.
Great video! Thank you 🙌
No problem - glad you enjoyed :) 😊
Very useful, thanks for sharing
Cheers, Happy to help mate ;) ✌️
Appreciate you as always ❤
Appreciate you brother ❤️😊
Merci beaucoup!
pas de problème de gouverneur :)
good stuff!
Cheers mate :) ✌️
Very Well Explained 💯✨
Thanks mate - glad you liked :) ✌️
awesome video mate! thank you very much!
All good mate - glad it was useful :) ✌️
Wicked channel mate!
Cheers bruv! ✌️🚀
Thanks Sensei !
No problem mate! :) ✌️
Thanks, I will have to watch it again, but it is very well explained!
Cheers mate! It will be up here till the end of time so there's no rush to wach again :) 😊🚀
big up groovin
Big ups Slipper! 😊✌️
Really great vid. Love what you're doing. Fun and informative. I also love the random tracks you throw in.
A question.....
What are the best/favourite pad synths to use for the old jungle sound?
Thanks
I really love Wavestation by Korg and make patches in there. Has a great sound to it. My favourite is probably the Digitone by Elektron. Its my go to synth for almost everything. I often layer it in the DAW, run it through my Akai or EMU etc.
The key to a great pad sound to me is often in the layers. If you listen to the example at 8:35 you can clearly hear the noise has been layered with the pad and it being pitched up alongside it. This adds a lot of realism & depth when you layer sounds like this.
10:00 - Or, you know, just play in a scale? Personally, if I've stuck to a scale I've never had any issues musically or engineering wise.
The point i'm making is if you base your track on pitching samples around or resampled chords, you will often drift into different scales. Lots of old school tunes use this technique so i'm explaining what's happening from a music theory perspective.
dope!
Cheers Cereal :) 😊✌️
love it, both the genre and how it paved the way for dnb and heaps of other genres! whats the tune in the intro with the dope dragon vibe?
Cheers mate :) The into section when i'm talking is a pad from one of my sample packs. Then it drops into a clip from this vid - th-cam.com/video/9N3nkBHr_gM/w-d-xo.html
@@groovining what a tracklist! th-cam.com/video/95e1VOiOhUs/w-d-xo.html was the specific one, such a simple but effective drop!!!
@@groovining the bit in the vid about parallel chords makes so much sense now :) i always wondered why my rave generator midi parts wandered in and out of key with the rest of my track - so, thanks for explaining (y)(y)(y)
Yea exactly this! happy to clear it up for you mate :)
nice
Cheers Mike :)
Or to cut this REALLY short we can just analyse all samples in mixed in key :)
Yea you can analyse them but its nice to know whats actually happening behind the scenes a little. Saves you time attempting things that are never going to work. Ears are still the most important :)
Amazingly helpful video!
What is an alternative to Mixed In Key Studio Edition? sadly cannot afford to spend money on it atm, but other options such as KeyFinder do not seem to give the same feedback of which notes specifically are within the sample. Thx for any help!
I have voxengo SPAN which ik if you put the little cursor on the peaks it says the key of that part but is this effective?
Yes mixed in key is essentially doing the same thing as reading the peaks in SPAN. Hornet Songkey is another great key detector!
what's the intro tune brother?
I'm sure I took it from this one - th-cam.com/video/9N3nkBHr_gM/w-d-xo.html
0:19 song??
th-cam.com/video/9N3nkBHr_gM/w-d-xo.html
theory? Fancy way of saying amen, sine wave and ragga sample
My heads fried - what’s that tune playing for about 4 seconds at 5:44 in the background please?
It’s one of mine :) - unreleased atm
@@groovining Funny how that small 3 second snippet caught my attention over everything else id heard before, good stuff!
@@groovining Same feelings as @jamesdorsett6733, massive tune there !
what's with all the AI art?
@@tz64nk41 what do you mean?
Tracks ID's?
Which ones? apart from the two examples most of the background music is my stuff :)
@@groovining mostly the first one at about 0:15
th-cam.com/video/95e1VOiOhUs/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/9N3nkBHr_gM/w-d-xo.html
Good tips, however can I just say that there are no magic tutorials or lessons, tips and tricks that will help you make the perfect track.
You can watch as many as you like.
It’s about doing it for love, fun and creativity.
If you’re doing it because you want success, money or to be like Photek or whoever it won’t happen.
There’s no magic formula and if you do follow formulas you’re going to sound like loads of others.
Be yourself and try not to photocopy what’s gone before.
Use your faults, defects and personality.
That’s what’ll make you different from everyone else. 👍🏼
It's an interesting one this because yes creativity is a super important factor in making music but having knowledge & a solid technical understanding are arguable just as important.
You wouldn't ask a beginner on guitar to write and record a fully arranged track. You would teach & make them practise all the skills you need to write music in that way.
I definitly agree that there isn't a magic formula that will suddenly make you a release a smash hit but there is a lot you can learn to help you get through the process of finishing tracks & making better music. 😊✌️
@@groovining
totally agree, keep it up, stay safe.
All the best 👍🏼😊
you too mate :) ✌️😊
This is a great video but somehow all of this takes the fun out of producing for me. Id rather just use my ears.
Yea I use my ears a lot also & see a lot of value in that. I think having this understanding helps a lot though even if you still use your ears mostly. ✌️