I got my first royalties check of 2024 💸
(no I'm not sharing my income, that's spiritually unhygienic, imo haha).
but.
God is good 😎.
and this check didn't count the work I did for CBS last year 👇
most of this is coming from;
- tracks I made completely from scratch
- collabs where I made the melody.
DOPE dark melodies pay off over time,
so I gotta let you know about the melody formula I've been using over the last year or so.
(you can go here to see how I used it in my beat cook up today).
1 - piano melody with half steps.
like we said the other day, the apparent simplicity of this tip is deceptive.
we gotta know how to use the half steps to achieve various emotions,
otherwise we'll be limited in our ability.
so check out the message from the other day if you wanna know how to make more interesting dark melodies.
other than that, pianos 🎹 - use them a lot (or any thing that imitates them, like rhodes or electric synth keys).
they make a nice base for the melody.
2 - dark synth layer.
this is 'optional.'
but is helpful to get that nice, dark 808mafia texture.
and you can literally just copy your piano MIDI (things like octave changes and halftime FX can make it even more interesting).
3 - strings (or monophonic lead synths).
these can be used to build subtle harmonizing motifs that make the development of your melodies more interesting.
4- bells (or some type of bell texture).
I'm partial to bells, so I might be a bit off here.
but I've noticed they add a nice atmosphere to dark beats.
you can either copy the piano MIDI or build a motif similar to the string melody method.
5 - bass.
no melody is complete without a good bass line!
the key with these is to find a really good bass patch/sample you like and just always use it.
for me, the pick bass patch from Re-Pro 1 is my go-to for acoustic melodies.
and the Cinnamon bass from the Centerfold Drum Kit is my go-to for synth melodies 🔥
once the melody is done, just lock in with hard, well mixed drums (well mixed cannot be over stated if you wanna make progress) - the Centerfold bundle can be very helpful there too 😎.
anyways, if you wanna start making melodies that get you
- better beats
- TV syncs
- placements with artists
- money
start locking in with this formula ASAP.
& you can peep a full demonstration here (my cook up for today, a Metro Boomin' Spider-Verse style beat).
Blessing,
Chu
Ps. this isn't even the melody sauce I've been promising, that's still coming - this is just a bonus I came up with this afternoon during a journaling break 🙏
Join My Label, DOPE 🔥
