Quick and Dirty pichting guide

http://randscullard.com/CircleOfFifths/
^click

So, what is this thing I'm looking at? It's called the Circle of Fifths. If you know about the camelot wheel (from mixed in key), then that is what the camelot wheel is based off of.

A brief description of some terms...

The musical alphabet:

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#
then we return back to A.

Now, the # represents a "sharp" note. These notes have "flat" (b) counterparts, so in case you ever see them, don't get confused. They are different notes with the same name (for reasons which we wont discuss to save you time).

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#
A Bb B C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab

Then we return back to A again.

The flats above are written directly below their counterpart... so A# and Bb are the same note.

So what separates the first A note from the ending A note? An octave. Those of you who produce music should know what this is..... It is simply a term used to denote going a full 12 semitones higher or lower in key. So low octaves occupy the bass of most songs, while higher octaves occupy the same (or similar) notes in much higher octaves (synths, leads etc).

Semitone- A gap of 1 between notes. Ex: A to A#

Keys- There are 12 possible key signatures (one for each note) and all of these have a mode. The most popular ones are Major and Minor... and as such they are all I'll be covering.

A perfect fifth- This is considered to be one of the most harmonious sounds in music. It represents a gap of 7 semitones in length from one note to the next... so, for instance, going from F to C is 7 semitones and hence a perfect fifth.

A perfect fourth- This is another harmonious gap designated by a gap of 5 semitones between notes. So going from C to F is a perfect fourth.

This is what the circle is based on and it is also how you determine which notes fall into a key signature.... Lucky for you, you can just use the interactive circle and have it tell you!

So, the "tonic" note on the far left of the screen is just simply the note of the key signature. It starts you out automatically on C Major.

C major has all whole notes, no sharps or flats.

If you change C major to C minor, you find that only 3 of the notes change...Now if you select A as a tonic note and keep the mode as minor... you notice that the difference is gone! This is why on the camelot wheel, you are generally allowed to mix between modes (major and minor).

However, for production purposes, you may find that this small tweak causes major problems.

Now, in the normal C Major signature, all notes are whole. In the A minor key now, you can see that all the notes are the same as the notes in C Major... however.... the roman numerals below the notes have changed dramatically. These are what form the basis for chord progressions in a song.

This slight change can cause serious problems with chord sequencing and progression. A singer will follow the progression of the original song's synth line in most cases.

Now if you are particularly observant.. you will notice the outer rim of the circle of fifths changes colors when you change between major and minor. The pink section represents all "major" or focused on chords, while the light blue represents "minor" beat-driving chords and the small, greenish section represents the diminished chord. When you change from major to minor, your tonic note stays the same... but these very important chord changes take place.

Now, let's talk about relative key signatures for a minute... A pair of "relative" signatures consist of all the same note patterns but typically have a different chord progression. In terms of the camelot wheel... 7A and 7B are the corresponding relative keys for major and minor.

When you change from a relative major to a relative minor (like C Maj to A minor) the only change you notice is within the chord sequencing (roman numerals designated to each).

So, how can you use this information to help you when you are working on a song? Well for starters it can be used to help make note/chord selection choices for you. In general terms.. the "major" chords give a sense of relief or closure and are usually used in the start and end of bars.. while the "minor" and "dim" chords give a sense of unease/longing. These are typically used in-between the majors to drive the rhythm forward to the closure point (these points are very general).

The best way to train yourself to hear notes is to grab a keyboard and a DAW. Use something like MIK or Rapid Evolution to give you a starting idea of what key the song is in... once you find that, go to the interactive circle and find the notes that are allowed to be played.

Beyond that, if you are mixing a "popular song" you might want to google the chord progression via guitar tabs to get a general idea. It is important to note that when you google chord progressions, you are very likely to find them transposed to a guitar. This isn't really an issue unless the tab tells you to use something called a capo. A capo is just a clamp that goes on the guitar to push up the key of a song, making the chords easier to play.

So, for instance, if the chord they tell you to play is the D chord, but they use a capo on the 2nd fret, that means you have to adjust the chord up 2 semitones.... so in reality they are actually playing an E chord (but the formation for the chord on a guitar will be identical to a typical D chord). All you have to do is bump up each chord 1 semitone per fret of the capo (called transposing).

Anyway, once you get a good idea of where things are going.. you can start to chop up the vocal sample and manually match (guess at if figuring out a new progression) each note as it is sung. This takes time and a good ear but is the best way to work on it. If you are lucky enough to be working with the label's or the artists themselves you might be able to have access to the key and chord information through them.. but a lot of times (especially when sampling) you have to figure it out on your own.

Hope this helps... feel free to PM me with questions. As any type of aspiring music producer, you should nail this down ASAP. I've been playing harmonica, bass guitar and electric/acoustic for 10+ years and have studied musical theory pretty in-depth, so chances are I'll be able to help you when I get some free time.