Audiotuts+

3D Mixing Part 7: Mastering, The Final Chapter (Part 2)

Will Walker — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:53:37 +0000

This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series 3D Mixing

In the final installment of the series, we are going to look at the final effects on the signal chain (Master EQ, Master Reverb, Master Limiter), and discuss the various final print options.

Master EQ

For EQ on the master bus, ‘gentle’ is the word of the day. By the time you are ready to even begin thinking about mastering, your frequency control should be almost, if not completely solid (one of the reasons I went back and did a bit of remixing in the previous chapter). The master bus EQ is meant to be a gentle and wide band EQ which balances overall frequency bands as opposed to individual sounds and instruments. It is a bit of a mental shift from mixing, but a necessary one all the same and a good one to practice.

In chronological order of how I came upon these settings (obviously do what works best for you), I first used a low shelving band to boost the bass a bit, then went and boosted the highs with a shelving band as well. I then boosted the main area of the melody (400-ish). I then realized the highs were too high (embracing trial and error, if you hadn’t noticed, is essential) and switched the high shelving boost to a high shelving cut and moved it to effect just the very top of the spectrum. I then added a steep low cut to knock out the flabby sub-bass the low shelving boost had accentuated.

Download audio file (EQ Before.mp3)

The loop before EQ-ing.

Download audio file (EQ After.mp3)

You can definitely hear how these minor changes have livened up the sound.

Reverb

One of my favorite tricks in mixing as well as mastering is slapping a reverb on a bus to give subtle and wide depth information to either the group or, in this case, the entire track. This helps to place all sounds in a similar virtual space and widens the overall stereo field to produce a more robust and full sound. The thing to remember about reverb, again, is subtlety. Unless you are going for a special effect, reverb should be used sparingly so as to not overshadow the original sound.

Here I have simply put on Logic’s Space Designer IR reverb with 100% dry and about 5% wet and set to a 1/4 note decay (500 ms in this case-good idea is to set your reverb to musical settings and so it decays before the next hit).

The amplitude envelope of the reverb.

I then went into the EQ section and rolled off both the top and bottom end. I have rolled off the bottom end substantially to keep the bass clear and not introduce too much level. I rolled off the top end moderately to increase the sense of depth (remember from the Reverb Tutorial that far away sounds lose high frequency content the further from the listener), and I also notched out some mid lows to keep things a bit more clear in that area.

The EQ section of the reverb.

Download audio file (Reverb Before.mp3)

The loop prior to bus reverb.

Download audio file (Reverb After.mp3)

The track after bus reverb; thicker and deeper.

LOUD!

The final effect to put on the channel is the limiter. The limiter captures all transient information and allows you to compress the signal for absolute loudness. The limiter can also be used on various mix elements (the kick is often treated with limiting to help it punch through the mix), but it is always (in this day and age, anyway) placed on the master bus to maximize loudness and keep peaks at a consistent level. This is the stage where we can begin to think about peak vs. RMS levels within the overall track.

Logic’s Adaptive Limiter has three main sections to be aware of. The input meter on the right tells us the amplitude of the incoming signal in real time. The middle section allows us to scale the input signal (used to greatly increase or decrease the input), increase gain and set the output ceiling. Finally, the output meter to the right shows us the output amplitude in real time.

Here we can see our input is peaking with 1.5 dB of headroom, therefore I do not need to use the scaling knob at all. I then set the output ceiling to -0.1 dB as that is the absolute loudest I want the track to reach (0 dB is theoretically the loudest I want it to go, but some room for error is usually a good idea). I then increase the gain by over the 1.5 input ceiling to get the limiter working and increase it slowly. Once things begin to sound obnoxious, I decrease slowly and only slightly to find a happy medium between loudness and musicality. Here I have settled on a moderate 4.6 dB.

The AdLimiter with the extended parameters showing. I increased the lookahead slightly from the default setting to get a more accurate response.

Download audio file (ADB.mp3)

Before.

Download audio file (ADA.mp3)

After.

Multimeter Part 2

Finally, we want to put on another multimeter in order to look at our output to make sure we are not somehow missing something crucial. We can see from the second multimeter that we have a wide frequency range, have a good ovular stereo/phase image and have a difference of about 12 dB between the peak and RMS levels (anywhere from 6-15 dBs of difference is usually pretty good).

The frequency response curve and peak/RMS detector (on the right).

The goniometer showing stereo/phase information.

Final Print

So, if you can remember way back, you’ll no doubt recall that we are working with a 48K sample rate @ 24 bits. As such, we have to convert our final print to 44.1K and 16 bits which is CD standard and in doing so we are going to have to apply dither.

Dither is a complex algorithm which is applied to the audio file during bounce/print to minimize the quantization artifacts that sample and bit rate conversions impart. Without going too in depth (I may do so in a future article) what that means is that dither will add subtle amounts of noise to the file to hide the imperfections that the conversion process creates.

A good basic analogy to make sense of this process is to think about it in terms of the resolution of a photograph. If you convert a 300 dpi image to a 100 dpi image, it is going to look grainy due to the decreased resolution. If we were to subtly blur (add noise to) the 100 dpi image to hide the sharp corners of the grain this would decrease our ability to see the grain pattern and give a better final result than otherwise.

Logic comes with four different dither options, POWr #1, POWr #2, POWr #3 and UV22HR. They each come with a rather vague description in the manual and are summed up by this statement:

‘The dithering mode that sounds best to you is primarily dependent on the audio material, and your personal taste. Audition the audio material with each of the dithering modes to determine the right setting. In some cases, you may find that the best results are achieved by using no dithering at all.’

So, all said and done, we are going to have to try all of them.

You can see the different dither options Logic offers on the right.

Download audio file (none.mp3)

No Dither

Download audio file (1.mp3)

Option 1

Download audio file (2.mp3)

Option 2

Download audio file (3.mp3)

Oprion 3

Download audio file (UV.mp3)

The UV option

They all sound about the same (and are made even more uniform during the necessary conversion to MP3 for internet publication) so picking a ‘best’ one in this instance is a fairly arbitrary decision. For some reason I am somewhat drawn to the UV dither option. From where I’m sitting it just sounds a bit more defined than the others, but obviously it is really up to personal taste and has even more to do with your personal listening environment.

Download audio file (Start.mp3)

Where we started

Download audio file (UV.mp3)

The final product

So there you have it, our final product. Although this final step is fairly subjective, there are a few rather sceintific guidelines to follow throughout your project in terms of bit depth and sample rate to ensure a better final product:

Record in the highest bit depth and sample rate as possible.
Mix in the same bit depth and sample rate as you recorded in.
Convert your project to standard only once, and at only the final step. If you are sending to a mastering studio, let them do it.
If you are doing it yourself, audition each option available, if you are sending it out, make sure they give you different dither options to choose from.

That is about it for now, I may go back and get into more of the nuts and bolts of some of the topics I touched on earlier…Until then, thanks for sticking with me through this series and happy mixing!

The Essentials to Pro Tools 10 Part 1: Interface and Setup – Tuts+ Premium

Jonah Guelzo — Mon, 14 May 2012 05:14:28 +0000

In this week’s Audio Premium content, Jonah Guelzo begins a new series teaching you the essentials of Pro Tools 10. In this first installment you meet the interface and learn how to do an initial setup.

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Workshop #233: Mr Feathers by kmoto

Adrian Try — Sun, 13 May 2012 06:55:42 +0000

This track has been submitted for your friendly, constructive criticism. What useful feedback can you give the artist? The floor is yours to talk about the track and how they can fix problems in and improve upon the mix and the song.

Download audio file (MrFeathers.mp3)

Description of the track:

Indie/folk/alternative country. Raw, atmospheric acoustic guitar and vocals.

Have a listen to the track and offer your constructive criticism for this Workshop in the comments section. Feel free to offer any type of advice – arrangement, mix, lyrics, performance. And remember to play nice – be constructive!

Need constructive criticism on your own tracks? Submit them for a workshop using this form. Most but not all submissions are published. There may be a wait of up to two months.

Quick Song Editing in Logic Pro

David Bergman — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:54:19 +0000

In this screencast David Bergman shows you how to do some quick song editing in Logic Pro, including fades.

Introduction to Modal Interchange

Pär Svensson — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:23:23 +0000

Are you getting tired of using the same old chord progressions in your compositions? An excellent way to spice up your creations would be to familiarize yourself with the concept of modal interchange, also known as modal mixture.

To put it simple, modal interchange is the practice of temporarily borrowing chords from a parallel tonality/modality without abandoning the established key. This technique has been around for centuries and is well established in most genres, including rock, pop, jazz and classical music.

Chances are pretty good that you’ve already been using some form of modal interchange, without even realizing it. The Natural Minor key for example, inherently relies on modal interchange to create a strong dominant cadence.

A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing

Before we dive into the topic of modal interchange, I would like to bring up a few points about the age old fear among some musicians that too much theory will somehow make them less creative. Having written this article, I disagree with such an attitude.

In the best of worlds all music would simply write itself. The composer would be able to hear a complete composition with melody, harmonies and chord progression in his head and his only job would be to write it down on paper or record it. Although this might be true for some lucky individuals, such as Mozart, most of us rarely get to experience this.

More often than not, we tend to get stuck or run into problems when composing. This is when having a solid foundation in music theory really comes in handy. It will take much of the guesswork out of the equation and allow you to keep on composing, even when you don’t have that cosmic connection and things are just “pouring out of you”. More theoretical knowledge will equal more possible solutions and ways to be creative. Being able to keep on writing no matter what is an invaluable skill for the professional composer.

Parallel and Relative Tonality

First things first. As stated before, modal interchange means borrowing chords from a parallel tonality, so let’s start by sorting out what constitutes a parallel tonality.

I especially want to make this clear, because the terms relative and parallel tonality have contrasting meanings in different parts of the world. When referring to parallel, I mean tonalities/modalities of any given quality that share the same root. Relative tonalities would share the same set of notes, but with each tonality gravitating towards a different root.

An example of parallel tonalities would be C Major and C Natural Minor. Relative tonalities would be something like C Major and A Natural Minor, that share the exact set of notes. Assuming that all music either is in a major or minor tonality/modality will give us four possible scenarios for modal interchange:

Major to Minor
Major to Major
Minor to Major
Minor to Minor

Major to Minor

The most common way to embellish a major key is to borrow chords from some kind of parallel minor. Listen to the two similar chord progressions in G Major written out below.

Download audio file (ex1.mp3)
The first progression uses only diatonic chords, meaning that all chords are derived from one scale. In this case it happens to be the G Major(Ionian) scale. There is nothing wrong with these chords. A good melody, chord inversions and orchestration could make it part of a great tune. At a harmonic level however, it is fairly boring and will tend to sound a little too predictable.

Download audio file (ex2.mp3)
The second example is identical to the first, with the exception of a C-7(IV-7) replacing Cmaj7(IVmaj7) in bar three. This chord does not change the overall key of the chord progression, but it does bring a change of character and added interest to the third bar. I believe that this type of change, as subtle as it may seem, will get noticed at some level even by the most casual non-musician listener.

Chord Scale Choices

So where in the world did that IV-7 chord in bar three come from? Given that we don’t have a melody to take into consideration, we only need to worry about the chord tones of C-7 that are foreign to the key we are in.

Bb and Eb of C-7 are not part of G Major and this reveals that the modal interchange chord must have been borrowed from some kind of parallel G scale with a b3 and a b6 scale degree. Below is a diagram of the parallel functions of all 7 modes of the major scale.

This is an excellent place to start looking for a source to our IV-7 chord. From this list we can find three different theoretical sources that contain a IV-7 chord. Parallel Phrygian, Aeolian and Lokrian all end up with a IV-7 chord when harmonized in thirds.

So how do you chose your source scale and why does it matter? Ultimately this is a personal creative choice, but common practice is to chose the parallel scale that has the greatest number of common tones with the established key. Let’s write out the three choices and examine how many notes they have in common with G Major (Ionian).

Natural Minor (Aeolian) has four notes in common, Phrygian has three, and Lokrian only has two. Our first choice would therefore be Natural Minor, but all three are theoretically possible and would affect the chord scale and available tensions for the IV-7 chord. If we stick to G Natural Minor as our source this will equal a C Dorian chord scale with tensions 9, 11 and 13 available over the IV-7.

Some General Guidelines When Exploring Modal Interchange On Your Own

This wraps up part one of my series on modal interchange. Until next time, try experimenting with the chords from the diagram of the 7 harmonized modes. This is an extensive list that will give you plenty of options for creating new and interesting colors when composing.

Keep in mind that modal interchange chords can be used in different ways. They can replace their diatonic counterpart, harmonize non-diatonic melodies, act as pivot chords for modulation, or serve as a link between two diatonic chords.

Finally, here are several general guidelines to keep in mind when using modal interchange:

Make sure that there is no conflict between the melody and the chords.
Make sure that the original key is clearly established.
Modal interchange chords should be preceded- and followed by diatonic chords.
Do not overuse. This could lead to an unwanted modulation or create an ambiguous key center.
If using two or more modal interchange chords in row, be careful not to create a cadence to the I chord of the relative Ionian.

Which Tuts+ Site Should We Launch Next?

David Appleyard — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:35 +0000

We’re planning our next few Tuts+ sites, and would love your opinion and advice on which topics you think we should cover next! We’d be really grateful if you could take a minute to answer our quick poll and share your thoughts…

Have Your Say

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The important thing to note is that these are just ideas. Some of these are close to making our final cut, and others aren’t… We’d love to hear what you think, to help guide our decision.

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How to Create a Freeform Dubstep Template – Tuts+ Premium

Mike Elliott — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:30:08 +0000

In this week’s Audio Premium content, Mike Elliott teaches you how to create a freeform Dubstep template in FL Studio.

To learn more about what you get as part of Tuts+ Premium, read this. To take a peek inside this tutorial, hit the jump!

Download audio file (ex_10.mp3)

While known for its iconic “wub wub” or “wow wow” bass sounds, Dubstep has developed beyond these two vocalizations. You now hear “eee”, “eugh”, “yah” and a host of other speech like formants that really start to sound like speech; just through a devilishly deep bass sound.

However the amount of trickery that is sometimes required to get beyond “wub” and “wow” can be daunting and simply not worth it. But what if I told you there was a way you could musically freeform these vocalizations yourself and edit them later? Better still you could perform your music live and improvise these vocalizations in real time? Interested? I thought so!

In this tutorial we will create a template that could be used in any project or easily created in an existing one. We will examine the template from a larger perspective and how it operates logically, and we will also get right down to the nitty gritty parameters of sound design. So if you are looking to make your producing life easier while arguably becoming more musical in the process, take the jump!

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Get the Best from EZdrummer Using MultiChannel Functions

Emanuele Frusi — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:15:57 +0000

ToonTrack EZdrummer is a great resource to obtain incredible drum sounds from a virtual instrument. But if we want to get more from this plug, we have to use the “multichannel function“, obtaining the possibility to mix and process each piece of our drum kit, like real “played“ drums. So let’s see how to do it.

Step 1 – Create Multioutputs EZdrummer Instance

First of all create a new EZdrummer instance, selecting “ Multioutputs“.

Now we’ll be able to divide our drum kit pieces in different channels.

Step 2 – Choose Outputs for Each Piece of Drumkit

By opening the internal mixer of the EZdrummer plugin, click on the “Track Tab“, and choose
“Multichannel“ mode.

Step 3 – Check Drums Channel

How we can see, in multichannel mode each piece (except toms) has its channel, grouped in Channel 5. Remember that each EZdrummer kit has a particular channel, depending on the drum kit configuration.

Step 4 – Expand EZdrummer Instance Channel on Logic 9 Mixer

This is the most important operation to do if we want to mix EZdrummer like a real drum kit. By clicking on the “+“ symbol at the bottom of the Instrument Channel, we have the possibility to expand the EZdrummer instance on different channels.

Step 5 – Creation of Auxiliary Channels that Contain EZdrummer Outputs

After you click the “+“ button, we see that Logic creates auxiliary channels, depending by the number of outputs of EZdrummer. Now we start to see our Multichannel Drum.

Step 6 – Rename Aux and Check Outputs

At this moment we’re able to rename each aux, dividing each piece of our drum kit like real drums. Check each sound and order your kit.

This is the default order of EZdrummer Studio Kit: Kick / Snare Top / Snare Bottom / HH / Toms / OverHeads / Room.

Obviously each kit has different outputs.

Step 7 – Check our Toms

As we can see, each piece (except toms) has its own channel, grouped together on Channel 5 of the EZdrummer mixer. In this case on Aux 4 of Logic 9. Check the auxiliary by playing each tom, and rename it.

Logic also creates by default Aux 7 (as we can see) but in this case we can delete it. It is used on other drum kit of EZdrummer for the “CompRoom” channel, that is not present on Studio Default Drumkit. So, pass over it.

Step 8 – Create our Channels on the Arrange Windows of Logic 9

Our drum is ready, but now we want to see it also on our arrange window, to make operations like using a real drum. So close the Mixer Window and create a new audio ( remember – AUDIO ) track. Don’t worry about which type of track because we use it only to reassign our Auxiliary Channel.

Step 9 – Reassign Audio Track to EZdrummer Instance Channels

Now we have to reassign our new audio track, Right click on it and choose
“ Reassign Track “ – “ Mixer “ – “ Aux “ and choose our Kit Channels.

Step 10 – Repeat for Each Channel of our EZdrummer Kit

Very simple, repeat this operation for each channel of our drumkit and we’re ready to mix our virtual “real “ drum kit, just like an audio file.

Step 11 – Start to Set Our Drum with EQ and Compression – First Channel – Kick

And here we are! Now start to add to our drum as we want. Remember the instrument track now contains only Kick Channel, so add EQ and compression as you like. Listen and check it, and pass over.

Step 12 – Snare and All the Rest

Go now on Snare Top channel, and process it as you like. Add EQ and compression. Finally you can mix you drum like a real pro, so enjoy yourself by processing each channel.

Step 13 – Levels on Mixer

Remember that now you’re using a real drum kit, so after you complete your operations on the Channel Strip, check and mix by using faders on the Mixer Window. This will help give you the feeling of a played drum.

Step 14 – Group your drum on a Stereo Bus to Control It On Each Moment By One Fader

Busses are very important on mixing a track, this because you can control your complete kit with one fader, without altering your channels balance. A useful trick is to put a limiter on your drum kit bus to pump it, but also to control it on the entire mix. So click on each channel’s output and assign it on a stereo bus.

Step 15 – Check and Rename Bus

Now each channel of your drum kit is assigned to one stereo bus. Play the drum part and check it. Rename your bus as “Drum“.

Step 16 – Display Drum Bus on Arrange Window

As for the drum’s channels, we want to display our bus on the Arrange Window, to control and change it in real time. So create another audio track

Step 17 – Assign Track to Bus

As in Step 9, assign it to Bus Drum Aux.

Step 18 – Clean Your Arrangement

It’s very important to clean and order your Arrange Window. So help yourself with colours and other “hidden“ function of Logic Pro.

Step 19 – Check your Space

Click on H button of each track but Drum Bus. Now Logic Pro Arrange is clean, on your Bus Drum Aux you can control each channel of your drum kit. Just reclick the H button (displayed in orange ) to view each track again.

Step 20 – Make Your Choice and Enjoy your Drum Kit

Now you have all elements to mix, process, destroy (if you want) your drum kit. Make you choice of EQ, compression, and everything you can imagine. Give attention to velocity, length and quantisation of your MIDI track.

Workshop #232: Green’s the Color of Winter by Aron Blue

Adrian Try — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:46:40 +0000

Download audio file (GreenstheColorofWinter.mp3)

Description of the track:

This song is called “Green’s the Color of Winter.” It’s about the place where I was born.

Artist’s website: aronblue.bandcamp.com

Need constructive criticism on your own tracks? Submit them for a workshop using this form. Most but not all submissions are published. There may be a wait of up to two months.

The Basic Functions of Harmony

Ryan Leach — Mon, 07 May 2012 08:00:50 +0000

“All you need is three chords and the truth.”

At it’s core, all music can be considered an interplay of tension and release. The degree of tension can come from dissonance vs. consonance, orchestration, dynamics, or a hundred other musical elements. The key to using tension and release is balance. With too much tension and no release the tension can become unbearable and the music unlistenable. On the reverse side, if the music is too neutral with little to no amount of tension it can be dull and lifeless.

August of 2009

One reason great chord progressions sound good is because they are well balanced in their use of tension and release. In this tutorial we’ll examine the very basic steps of harmonic progressions to understand how this balance works.

This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of music theory. You should know what notes make up what chords and understand what something like “the four chord in the key of A” means. If music theory is completely foreign to you, you may want to check out some introductory lessons before proceeding.

We’ll begin by discussing the basic functions of the three primary chords in a major key, followed by some musical examples of how these chords are used.

Understanding how certain progressions work will help you in creating your own music, but like all music theory the concepts in this tutorial are not meant to restrict you. The rules are made to be broken, but you have to be conscious that you’re breaking them before you can know if you’re doing it effectively. As Twyla Tharp writes in The Creative Habit, “Before you can think outside of the box, you have to start with a box.”

The Basic Elements

The functions of harmonic progression can be broken down into three basic elements: Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant (I, IV, and V respectively).

These three chords are the quintessential backbone of almost every song you’ve ever heard. If you play guitar, the chances are pretty good that the first three chords you learned were G, C and D and as soon as you had those three chords under your belt your song repertoire skyrocketed. Let’s take a look at what these three chords are.

Tonic

The Tonic is our home chord. It’s the I, the chord that feels solid to start on and provides a firm resolution to end on. In the key of C the Tonic is C, and it doesn’t much more complicated than that.

Subdominant

If the Tonic is home, the Subdominant (or IV chord) is like going out for a trip. You’re leaving home to discover something new, moving yourself forward in new directions. Although you could turn right back around and go home again, once you’ve set out on a journey you’re more apt to keep exploring. In the key of C the Subdominant is F.

Dominant

The Dominant (V chord) is when we’re ready to go home. Of the three, it’s the chord with the greatest amount of tension and need for release. In the key of C the Dominant is G.

A Little Theory

We can understand why the Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant chords have different degrees of tension by comparing the notes that make up each chord to the root of the key. The chords with greater dissonance against the root have greater tension.

The following chart shows this comparison:

	I	IV	V
	G Perfect 5, consonant	C Unison, consonant	D Major 2nd, dissonant
	E Major 3rd, consonant	A Major 6th, consonant	B Major 7th, dissonant
	C Unison, consonant	F Perfect 4th, dissonant*	G Perfect 5th, consonant
Consonant vs Dissonant:	3:0	2:1	1:2

*According to Persichetti, a perfect 4th is considered dissonant when in a consonant context.

The Tonic has three consonant intervals when compared to the root of the key. The Subdominant has two consonant intervals and one neutral/dissonant interval*. The Dominant has one consonant interval and two dissonant intervals.

With the most dissonant intervals, it makes sense that the Dominant would be the chord of greatest tension while the Tonic would be the chord of greatest relaxation. The Subdominant acts as a sort of middle ground, not very tense but not quite as settled as home.

Example Progressions

All this theoretical talk doesn’t do us much good if we can’t hear it being used in practice. These are all progressions you’ve heard thousands of times, but how often have you taken a moment to actually pay attention to why they’re working?

We’ll start with the most basic progression with these three chords, I IV V I. Notice the increase in tension and then the release from the G to the C in bar 4. This progression is so obvious because it has a perfect structure of build and then climax at about 3/4 of the way through.

Download audio file (1_1451.mp3)

The next progression gives us a different effect. I V IV I becomes tense more quickly and then eases out.

Download audio file (2_1541.mp3)

The IV to I cadence is not as firm or satisfying as the V to I, but it has it’s own effect. Also notice that the V chord moving to IV does not give us the same kind of build in tension as IV to V. We’re going from a chord with 2 dissonances with the Key center to a chord with only 1 dissonance. The effect is more like backing off than building up.

The 12-Bar Blues

The basic 12-bar blues is a perfect use of this concept. Here’s a typical simple blues progression:

Download audio file (3_Blues.mp3)

The first four bars establish our home base. They make it clear that we’re in the key of C and C is our center. In Bar 5 we move to the IV chord and things start getting more interesting. The shift is only a little tense before settling back home at Bar 7. Then in Bar 9 we move to the V, our moment of greatest tension. Bars 9 and 10 are the climax of the piece, which relax back on our home chord of C at Bar 11.

This basic structure has been used so many times because of it’s perfect balance of storytelling. In only 12 bars we’re able to establish what we’re talking about (Bars 1-4), move the story forward (Bars 5-8), build up suspense and climax (Bars 9-10), and then round the story out and conclude back at rest (Bars 11-12).

The Jazz Blues is a common reharmonization of the basic form. Notice that although the progression may sound much fancier and more complex, the core structure of tension and release is exactly the same.

Download audio file (4_JazzBlues.mp3)

You can see now how the Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant serve as the basic structure of tension and release. All other harmony is just degrees of tension and color.

For Songwriters

Being aware of how your harmonic progressions manipulate tension and release can be a valuable tool for helping you tell your story. As an example let’s look at the first verse of Hey Jude. As if you’re not already familiar with it, here’s the basic eight-bar progression:

Download audio file (5_HeyJude.mp3)

Here are the lyrics that land on each new chord:

C Jude
G Bad
G Sad
C Better
F Remember
C Heart
G Start
C Better

The lyrics on C, our Tonic, are “Jude”, “Better”, “Heart”, “Better”. Jude is who this whole song is about, and “Better” and “Heart” are both very positive words. They are all reinforced by the tonic.

“Remember” is telling Jude to pay attention to something important, and the IV chord works to pull us away from the I chord and grab our attention without being tense.

“Bad”, “Sad”, and “Start” are the words used on the V chord. “Bad” and “Sad” are obvious negatives, reinforced by the dominant tension. “Start” is a little more interesting. As he sings “Then you can start…” we are on the V chord, suspense has been built and we are at a high point in harmonic tension. Then when he tells us what “you can start” to do, (”make it better”) we relax and land on I. The V to I progression follows the tension and release of the lyric.

For Composers

The possibilities of how to use this manipulation of tension and release should be obvious to composers, especially those who write for film or other dramatic situations. The harmonic progression can be a solid spine for a cue, leading the listener in exactly the right places to feel greater tension and suspense or to relax and feel at ease.

Although you are generally going to want to make things a little more interesting than I IV V, the basic uses of these three chords should form the backbone that you then use other harmonies to add color and flavor to.

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Example Progressions

The 12-Bar Blues

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