Ed Sheeran Goes Djent (Pop to Metal Genre Swap)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2019
- What does Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber’s song “I Don’t Care” have in common with the metal subgenre Djent? The answer is shocking and eye-opening, so click play to find out! Subtitles/CC available.
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INTRO
So, what can a Djent fan find to appreciate in Ed Sheeran’s music? Well, in the song “I Don’t Care” that he did with Justin Bieber, the whole track is built on a super syncopated rhythm, which doesn’t even play beat 1 (and by the way, syncopation is when you accent an off-beat). And not only do Ed’s bass and drums lock in to play this rhythm together, but the bass line starts by playing the root note for two bars. Now, here’s the shocker: super syncopated grooves chugged out on the root note are literally what Djent was named after.
THEORY
So the main feature in Ed’s song also happens to be the main feature in a metal subgenre that’s the antithesis of Ed’s music. How crazy is that?! But, because the instrumentation is different, people sadly don’t hear this connection. And that was one of the genre truths we revealed in last week’s lesson: genre is sonic packaging. Change the instruments, and you change the genre. So if you take the syncopated rhythm from Ed’s song and play it on an 8-string guitar with distortion (or a 9-string, if you’re feeling very Djenty!), then you’re no longer playing pop, you’re now playing metal. And this is only one of countless examples of how you can use the music theory from a song in one genre to write a song in literally the opposite genre, but only when you peel back that sonic packaging first, so you can see the actual notes inside. And that process is exactly what we’ll be exploring in this new genre series.
PRACTICAL
Alright, now you’re gonna learn how to use the music theory from Ed’s song to make your own Djent version, but remember, you can use the theory hack in this lesson to make music in any genre you want. And that is true for every video and podcast we have ever made, and there’s about 160 of them already, so tuck in! Right, for the example in this lesson, we’ll be using our version that we made earlier. So, start by setting up four bars of 4/4, with your grid set to 1/16 notes, and your tempo set to 102 BPM. And that’s actually the original tempo of Ed’s song, so we didn’t even need to change the BPM to turn it into Djent. Also, Ed uses F♯ as his root, but we’re taking that way down to a low A.
STEP 1. CHUG & RUN
Ed’s syncopated rhythm is centred around beats 1a, 2+, 3a, and 4+. So we used the exact same rhythm to start with, and we also chugged it out on the root note (just like Ed), to prove exactly how Djenty his song is in its original form. So, over your first bar and a half, come up with a simple but super syncopated rhythm, something like that. Then, as if that wasn’t Djenty enough, Ed uses another classic Djent trick: he throws in a 1/16 note run after the one-note chugs, to add interest. So over beats 3 and 4 in your second bar, add a 1/16 note run. Ed simply uses an octave of the root note for his run, but we’ve taken this opportunity to do something less predictable, and we encourage you to do the same.
STEP 2. VARIATION
Now, you could just repeat these two bars and call it a day, but that would be too repetitive for our tastes, so we changed things up in our third and fourth bars to inject more variation and keep things fresh. They’re still based on the first couple bars, but we just added some extra chugs on the root note, and then we also added a 1/16 note triplet into our run at the end. And that’s it, we’ve now got Edjent!
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Hack Music Theory is a pioneering method for making great music that stands out, so you can move and grow your audience! Taught by award-winning music lecturer Ray Harmony and his protégé wife Kate Harmony, from their home studio in Vancouver, Canada. Ray has been teaching music theory for 24 years, and along the way he's made music with Serj Tankian (System Of A Down), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad), Ihsahn (Emperor), Kool Keith (Ultramagnetic MCs), Madchild (Swollen Members) and many more! Hack Music Theory teaches relevant and instantly-usable music theory for producers, DAW users, and all other music makers (songwriters, singers, guitarists, bassists, drummers, etc.) in all genres, from EDM to R&B, pop to hip-hop, reggae to rock, electronic to metal (and yes, we djefinitely djent!).
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Revolution Harmony is Ray Harmony & Kate Harmony
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I would love to have some Damon Albarn / Gorillaz / Blur hack theory. This man is just an outstanding and extraordinary producer with so deep love for experimental stuff and new sounds.
Love your videos, fun, entertaining, and informative. Used your notes, sped up to 125 BMP on analog synth and presto, groovy!.
Nathan! It's so good to see you again, it's been a while. Hope all's great your side! Thank you ultra mega much for being a part of this community for so long, we truly appreciate you sticking around! And wow, that's awesome, you've already played around with this example? That makes us so happy! Thank you sincerely once again for being here, Nathan, and we hope to see you back next week for more theory hacks. Until then, have a lovely weekend :)
Finally someone making sense! I hate the genre system in use by platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Whenever I’m about to publish a song all joy disappears when I come to that dreaded “what genre is your song” checkboxes! There are never a suitable alternative! I envy the composers and artists of the pre-digital music publishing era. They made their music and the record company took care of the rest. Now we have to fit our music into pre-made boxes that fit nothing. And there seem to be no way around it!
The end clip was great, lol
Sounds great !
Thanks! Very interesting approach!
Hi, amazing video... and cheers from Cuba. In fact a lot of latin music is full with syncopation and really funky Chugs... especially latin jazz.
I love you guys. Brains and heart and a great energy that just jumps out and feels warm and inclusive....and you have quality information. I keep wanting to come back here to feel your generous and welcoming vibe. Don't go a-changin now y'all hear?
That was great! I have a request! Can you do a video of "How to write like The Contortionist"? I love that band! Thanks for the info!
I was just checking out their new album the other day, super interesting stuff! So yeah, they're on our list for sure! Thanks big time for stopping by, and we hope to see you next Friday for more theory hacks :)
May you do a video on how to write classical music for film scoring and anime please?
Love you guys lol
The rhythm in the first measure is used in lots of Latin grooves. Is it Djent, Pop, or Moombahton?
Hello!
I didn't listen to this new single, but hey, the DJENT version sounds really great to me. You know I think it also can be Latinized, as latin music has a lot of syncopated rhythms. Or maybe some sort of slow and peaceful european jazz song?!
Hi Muhammadreza! Both of those would be awesome :) Nathan (in the comments) already used the hack on an analogue synth with a faster BPM! There are so many options :) By the way, we were thrilled to hear that you're singing, yay!! And how great is it that your Mom loved it too! Like everything, the more you do it the better you get, so we're cheering you on with your newest instrument :D Have a fantastic week!!
What band was that that Ray was playing in at 2:31?!
Also it would be interesting to see an NF song in metal, or Murderer by Impending Doom in a pop or dance genre.
Hey hey, Samurai Owl, hope this finds you well! The band was called Maissiann and you can watch more of that clip here: th-cam.com/video/ZX1-XWHwMxE/w-d-xo.html Take care and have a lovely weekend :)
What artist do you want us to hack? And what genre do you wanna hear them in?
Hi I love Djent. What about making a Djent from Michael Jackson?
@@MultiBelz Haha it's funny you say that, cos we almost did this video about Michael Jackson's song "Beat It" , as it uses the same technique. We'll definitely do Michael though, for sure!! Thanks for the suggestion, and thanks for stopping by! We hope to see you back here next Friday for more theory hacks. Until then, have a djamn good weekend :)
Something like Pink Floyd -> ABBA?
Frank Zappa would be awesome, not super current though
Taylor Swift but folk would be interesting.
Coolest of beans!! I loves me some djent xp. I call my EDM djentro because you guys made me fall in love with syncopation c:
Djentro... Hahaha absolutely LOVE IT!!!!!! Thanks for being here, Spencer, you're awesome! Ray :)
@@HackMusicTheory no worries at all, thanks for all the music theory!
Hi. I thought a hack on the band half·alive converted into more of a dance track? (Obviously not their smash hit, Still Feel, hat is already dance) Thanks!
5:30 Meshuggah face on point 🤘🤘 P.S: Great lesson!!
Thank you.
No no, thank YOU!! We truly appreciate you stopping by every week :)
But does it djent?
Of course it does!
Love Djent
Haha awesome!! Thanks big time for stopping by, TIRIZA, and welcome to the Hack Music Theory community, we truly appreciate you being here, and we hope to see you back next Friday for more theory hacks. Until then, have a djamn good weekend :)
@@HackMusicTheory not only jam and djamn and damn but also djenty week! Cheers!
I like it.
i’ve always said this but i think that pop has so much in common with metalcore/djent. please don’t stone me.
Haha! Edjent. 🎸
How about this in Reggae?
What is the guitar VST used?
What scale are you using for the sixteenth notes run at the end of bar 2 and 4 ?
half-whole octatonic :)
Im curious what vsts you use? Particularly for more for the acoustic sort of instrumentation.
Hey hey Funut, lovely to see you, thanks big time for stopping by again! Hope all's great your side, and the channel is going well :) We use many different VSTs, were there any particular instruments you wanted to know about?
@@HackMusicTheory I cant find any good drum plugins XD
Oh well then we've definitely got the solution for you, and it's super affordable too! GetGood Drums are what we use for all our live sounding kits. They're definitely the best when it comes to acoustic drum sounds :) www.getgooddrums.com
PS: We are not endorsed by them, we paid for their products cos they're awesome!!
@@HackMusicTheory Thank you so much!
Hi Kate & Ray! My modal interchange does not go well, mainly because I got distracted with other tracks :)
Haha well at least you got distracted from making music by making music! Maybe you should try an Edjent track this weekend ;)
@@HackMusicTheory Yes definitely so! All this time I'm basically working on the OST for my home project, each track is for particular location or event, and that will include djenty music too. So each of your hacks is extremely useful to me!
Wow that sounds awesome!!! Please keep us posted :)
Some Ludovico Einaudi hacks would be brilliant, based on songs like I Giorni, Tu Sei and Nuvole Bianche 👍
hahahaha oh yes ! :D
Sorry a typo there, that, not hat!
You can edit comments, you don't need to go back and correct yourself with a separate comment
Bach in funk....
But first, tea, obviously!.....
Thank you for this video. I love how you're showing us the music within the packaging. I'm fascinated by the theory, patterns and ideas used in different genres of music...especially since most of my music theory knowledge is based in classical music and counterpoint (which has a bunch of examining harmony lines as their own melodies, which is an awesome contrast to the vertical..focus? viewpoint? of chords. (I think counterpoint existed before chords, so that's neat if I remembered right..might not have..!) Hope you're having a good week, Ray and Kate, and also all of you in the community here.
Thank you sincerely for always stopping by, orchidcolors, you're awesome!!! Have a lovely weekend, and we look forward to hopefully seeing you back here next Friday :)