How to make sad Trap (Hip-hop) Melody and beats.. !

A

Antistyle

New member
Hello everyone !

I am new to producing trap music and hip-hop, I have been producing Psychedelic Trance for 2years.
So I do know the basics of producing but I do not know much in Trap kind of area..

So I just wanted to know If there are any tips on how to write sad melodies and how to keep the drum pattern,
and layering of different kind of sounds (What kind of sounds do you layer?).

Also I currently have a NI Maschine MK2 and a Akai MPK49 and I use Ableton Live..
So any tips on gear or software will be appreciated !

Thank you ! :)
 
Antistyle said:
Hello everyone !

I am new to producing trap music and hip-hop, I have been producing Psychedelic Trance for 2years.
So I do know the basics of producing but I do not know much in Trap kind of area..

So I just wanted to know If there are any tips on how to write sad melodies and how to keep the drum pattern,
and layering of different kind of sounds (What kind of sounds do you layer?).

Also I currently have a NI Maschine MK2 and a Akai MPK49 and I use Ableton Live..
So any tips on gear or software will be appreciated !

Thank you ! :)
Click to expand...
For the most part the emotion of a melody is determined by the intervals between notes...ideally if you stick w/ a minor scale you'll get a "sad" sound, although it's possible to achieve a happy sound w/ a minor scale as well..Harmony can also give a strong emotional vibe too, so try to accompany the melody w/ a chord progression that involves minor chords and see where it goes from there.
 
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Thank you everyone for the fast replies !!

Really learned a'lot :) Also I normally make my tracks 140 bpm (Trap)
So was just curious if the speed of my drum pattern could change the mood of the song.??
 
as 2infamouz says, it is about the intervals you use - the strange thing is every interval in the natural minor scale is also available in the major scale, so it is possible to write very happy sounding stuff in the minor and very sad stuff in the major simply by using the same intervals

Interval sizeScale tone sequence for this intervalExamples within C major scale
perfect unison1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7C-C, D-D, E-E, F-F, G-G, A-A, B-B
minor 2nd3-4, 7-8E-F, B-C
major 2nd1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 5-6, 6-7C-D, D-E, F-G, G-A, A-B
minor 3rd 2-4, 3-5, 6-8, 7-2'D-F, E-G, A-C', B-D'
major 3rd 1-3, 4-6, 5-7C-E, F-A, G-B
perfect 4th1-4, 2-5, 3-6, 5-1, 6-2C-F, D-G, E-A, G-C', A-D'
augmented 4th4-7F-B'
diminished 5th7-4'B-F'
perfect 5th1-5, 2-6, 3-7, 5-2', 6-3'C-G, D-A, E-B, F-C', G-D', A-E'
minor 6th 3-8, 6-4', 7-5'E-C', A-F', B-G'
major 6th1-6, 2-7, 4-2', 5-3'C-A, D-B, F-D', G-E'
minor 7th2-8, 3-2', 5-4', 6-5', 7-6'D-C, E-D', G-F', A-G', B-A'
major 7th1-7, 4-3'C-B, F-E'
perfect octave1-1', 2-2', 3-3', 4-4', 5-5', 6-6', 7-7'C-C', D-D', E-E', F-F', G-G', A-A', B-B'
' is used to indicate a note an octave above the first note

major implies happy with the 2nds, 3rds and 6ths, and tension with the 7th
minor implies sad with all these intervals
the aug4/dim 5 is also a tension interval but in some styles of writing is considered to be neutral

---------- Post added at 10:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 AM ----------
Antistyle said:
Thank you everyone for the fast replies !!

Really learned a'lot :) Also I normally make my tracks 140 bpm (Trap)
So was just curious if the speed of my drum pattern could change the mood of the song.??
Click to expand...

there is tempo and then there is rhythmic density - this is the crux of half-time/double-time.

rhythmic density is the smallest rhythmic unit that is consistently used in a rhythm - so 16ths at 140bpm is the same as having 32nds at 70 bpm (think about it for a moment and you will understand it), better yet 8ths at 140bpm is the same as 16ths at 70bpm

Pulse at 70 bpm1e+u2e+u3e+u4e+u
Pulse at 140bpm1+2+3+4+1+2+3+4+

However, speed or density can affect the energy within a song but rarely the mood
 
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