This may be common knowledge to everybody but it is suddenly mind-blowing to me. If you sample something with two distinct frequency ranges (say, stand-up bass with piano) you can create new compatible melodies out of your phrase using one rule of thumb....

Let's say we sample a phrase: it's low bass with high-octave piano over it. Now throw a low pass on it and resample, so now you have just the bass. Now do the same with a high-pass filter on it (just piano). Now chop errthang up, and you can now mess with both instruments separately and create your own phrase. Now....

Music theory says that tuning something up or down by 5 semitones will keep it in harmony while changing the actual notes. try detuning the piano by 5...you can create dramatic changes in the music this way while still keeping the layers in harmony.

I thought of this when i heard a snippet from watch the throne .... the chorus goes "oooh i love you so, but why i love you, i don't know".... then kanye pitches the vocals up by 5 semitones and it fits great, yet sounds 'different'.... the bassline doesn't change but it tricks your brain into thinking it does... or something..........alright that is all.

It doesn't say this exactly. Stuff tends to work up a perfect fifth. but if you got a melody in C major like "e d c b", pitch it up a fifth and you get "b a g f#", which is fine, now we got a C lydian lick, but it's gonna be a little *outre*.


If we are approaching this dogmatically with music theory in mind, then we're gonna encounter a whole bunch of problems working with chords and licks with accidentals, etc. So I say we throw all that out the window and let our ears be the final say! 'Pitch' that b**ch!

for everyone taking notes at home, a 5th is 7 semitones (half steps) up from a given note

so a 5th of vodka is 7 shots at any given bar?
Got it!

haha that's right. never thought it to be seven steps cuz it's called 'fifth'. also works better with single notes than chords..

you can use a few different pitches, doesn't have to be +5 or +7, so if that doesn't work try

+3, +4, +5, +7, -3, -4, -5, -7

occasionally it will be something different to those that fits, but those are the main ones

oh yeah duh read this really fast at work.

but generally the idea of prescriptive theory I find kinda gross, if only because it offers a comfort zone (for me at least).

P.S. if we're being nerdy, transposing something up a 4th (5 semitones) presents the same sorts of issues.