Selecting the root for your scale

[DJR]

When composing a song, what would lead you to choose, say, A major as opposed to D Major?

In other words, would it depend on the characteristics of the song I'm thinking of that dictate the root of the scale?

 

[bandcoach]

Nope, pure and simple what is your melodic range and who is singing/spitting over it.

If your singer can't get down to a low D but can get down to the A above it that is when you might end up in A vs D. At the same time if they can't hit that low A (below the D), but can get the E just above the D you would still end up in A or maybe G or C.

Singers dominate/dictate where songs are written so much more than any other thing, except perhaps for Bagpipes which need to be in Bb or Eb for best usage.

 

[DJR]

That makes sense.

But what if you were producing say a deep house track with no vocals, would that give freedom to use any scale? or would is there anything else you might factor in?

I was thinking, (which is sometimes dangerous) if you were synthesising a certain type of sound it might sound a lot better played in a certain scale, like a bass for example. If played to low, the sound may lose some punch so that might be a reason to select higher scale, right?

 

[bandcoach]

Instrumental music can still be governed by other considerations, especially when writing for real instruments or digital analogs of real instruments.

If writing for purely synthetic sounds, the only limitation becomes one of finding where the sounds have the most impact/punch.

So, yes, you might search for a key where the sound starts to pump......

 

[imtfly]

well said

 

[Interested Persona]

I guess it is also helpful with early EQ and mixing when you select your root. Like if you'r instrument decides to go into 'muddiness area' play some tones higher.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm into C minor because it's easy with laptop keyboard lol you can play almost all scale chords if you invert some