What key do I compose in? Which Clef do I use?

[Drange]

I am a rapper that is working on composing a song. My vocal range is baritone. (Roughly F2~A3).

And I have two questions.
1. Do I have an ideal key to compose in? I was thinking F Major. And would I use the keys in my voice range to compose the music? Or a the same notes octaves higher? (For instance, if I use F Major, would I use F2-F3, or F4-F5?

2. I see that sheet music for vocals use the treble clef, however, the baritone voice range is in the bass clef. Do I use bass clef or the treble clef?

 

[dvsjay]

O_O'

Ummm

 

[Drange]

Nvm, I found my answer to this.

 

[bandcoach]

So share it.....

Ideal keys for you would be D G F Bb major and B E D G Minor

Written can be either in the bass clef or the treble clef - the convention in publishing circles is to put it into the treble clef an octave above where it sounds simply to make it easier for folks to read it against the accompaniment (which may or may not be what is actually played, but that is another story entirely and not enough room here to go in to the whys and hows).....

 

[Drange]

Alright, I can play in any key as long as I'm capable of singing the notes within that key.

I can use a treble or bass clef. I am choosing to use a bass clef so that the music notes match the sound. If I were to choose a treble clef I would be reading notes that are an octave higher than what I'm singing.

Bandcoach, you are correct.

 

[TheMarksman]

You could try keeping the instrumentals above below your range to compliment your voice

so get the instruments a octave higher and a octave above that dependiing on the amount of instruments but yea thts great your a rapper that cares about key and this is why ppl like khalifas voice he raps on key pretty well

 

[Drange]

So what you're saying is that I can the instruments I use do not have to be in my vocal range, but can be an octave higher? (Example, I rap in G2, but can play in G3?) Would that make it sound better?

 

[bandcoach]

What is being suggested is a little garbled and is really about arranging.

When arranging, you tend to avoid cluttering the area where the vocal is, simply so that it has space. So, yes, have your instrumental parts not playing where you are singing will help with giving the vocal line clarity.

So will other techniques in mixing.....

 

[Drange]

Let's say I composed a song in the F Major scale with the piano. The only instrument I composed with was the piano, however, most songs have more than just a piano and a voice. I will play the chords with the piano / guitar, but how would I go about adding in additional instruments like the drums? How would I go about the pitches of those instruments?

Any insight is highly appreciated and if the answer is to educate myself in an area I that would allow me to find solutions to these questions Iwould appreciate some direction. Thank you in advance.

 

[bandcoach]

first up don't change the colour of the text unless it is going to be visible against the grey/white background theme that about half the forum uses - white on very light grey is not easily read.

Let's say I composed a song in the F Major scale with the piano. The only instrument I composed with was the piano, however, most songs have more than just a piano and a voice. I will play the chords with the piano / guitar, but how would I go about adding in additional instruments like the drums? How would I go about the pitches of those instruments?

Any insight is highly appreciated and if the answer is to educate myself in an area I that would allow me to find solutions to these questions I would appreciate some direction. Thank you in advance.

Depends entirely on what you want to do - if you want to use 808's then you will need to pitch them to match your bass notes or at least the root of each chord the same goes for adding a bass line in general.

As for drums, it is going to come down to how you want to structure the parts; at a minimum you will need: hats, snare and kicks/808's. there are lots of posts on how to structure your drum tracks, use the search for drum part programming and maybe my username if you want to access some posts that include notation/grids and links to other websites that cover some other details on writing drum parts......

 

[Drange]

So is it completely up to me what instruments I want to use? Is there any general guidelines on hip-hop? The last component I need to make songs is adding instruments, will a producer be able to do this step once I have vocals down with a piano accompany?