music theory of carnival/circus and horrorcore

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Casket13Productions

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right now im into making beats for this guy and he wants horrorcore/funeral beats for his upcoming cd

also im into making beats that have a carnival/circus atmosphere about them

any suggestions or any theory that would help?

thanks for all the help i get.
 
Circus music is derived from the music styles and theory of eastern europe. Luckily, so is the standard model of todays theory. From what i can hear, circus music seems to make use of semitone steps in key, that is what gives it that creepy, psychotic sounds. Also, listen to the atonal works of anthony werbern, he had a knack for scaring the crap out of ppl :)
 
also if u are stuck for ideas, try watching movies that represent circuses or circus vibes, i do this often when there is a type of vibe im looking for.

i believe Andre3000 from outcast also uses this method for some creative inspration.
 
alright! that helps alot thanks!!! any instruments i should use? like vibraphone, trumpet? watchu thank?
 
I would take a listen to: Entrance of the Gladiators by Julius Fucik (?). Search the 'net, you can probably find a midi. Despite the title, its that "clown" music you always hear in reference to circuses.

Then, I'd watch Killer Clowns From Outer Space. It's a *really* dumb movie, but the theme music might give you ideas. If not, you can tell your friends you watched the second worst movie ever made (R.O.T.O.R. is the worst).

Then, I'd meditate on Siegfried and Roy, and see what comes out of it all.

Good Luck.
 
aight thanks for the help dude!, but id prolly watch that movie any, im into killa klownz!! peace
 
There's a patch (i forgot what it's called) that emulates a creepy piano in a vst instruments called "JX220", that would be great
 
geedubbee said:

Then, I'd watch Killer Clowns From Outer Space. It's a *really* dumb movie, but the theme music might give you ideas. If not, you can tell your friends you watched the second worst movie ever made (R.O.T.O.R. is the worst).

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I think the dumbest movie ever is "Vampire Lesbian Kickboxers (2004)", not sure what kinda mood this would get you in.
 
Originally posted by Paul Rez..listen to the atonal works of anthony werbern, he had a knack for scaring the crap out of ppl :) [/B]
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I think u mean Anton Webern (one of the 2nd Vienesse Composers to start serialism)

His music was not about scaring the crap out of people, I think what ur looking for is frantic and catastrophic :)

He didn't say "right I want to scare the crap out of someone here's what i'll do......"

Another composer, who I believe to be more on topic with 'scary' or music that sounds frantic or catastrophic would by Gyorgi Ligeti!!! :)

Don't take any offence, none was intended, just thought some facts should be corrected so that the post was true to historical fact which is the essense of all music.
 
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For scary, check out the soundtrack to "Altered States". The "Second Hallucination" sequence was available on a movie soundtrack compilation, and is pretty creepy.

What exactly is horrorcore, anyway?
 
horrorcore is like a whole NEW genre of rap/hiphop, its mostly dominated by white boy rap. Its horror music. They rap alot about dead bodies and murder over grimy beats. ICP, twiztid are the most mainstream. But its really just underground to the fullest, ya dig?
 
a promoter at the quest club in minneapolis convinced a few of us to go to one of those icp shows for free.. ran into blaze ya dead homie and we're like you want a drink dawg?

and in a soft fluffy voice, by no means even remanicient of his effect enhanced rap vocals, his request was michelob golden light
 
lol, you meet blaze dawg? thats tight? u think his vocals are enhanced with fx?
 
I cant believe this is the second time in like a few weeks that I could actually recommend this thing, but anyway on the Krakli website, which is all free, theres a synth that is called Gargoyle and its designed to make noises that might work well with the concepts your messin with. It looks cool too, its got gargoyles on it. It aint the nicest, fully featured thing, but its free and you can definitely get some weird noise form it. I have actually used some loops from it in some hip hop tracks. Check it out. The sites prolly like Krakli.com or some sh1t.

Peace.
 
Casket13Productions said:
lol, you meet blaze dawg? thats tight? u think his vocals are enhanced with fx?
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yeah.. he's pretty laid back i guess. i drank my scotch, he drank is MGL; and some chick flashed him for his empty bottle of faygo.

but yes, he definately uses some sort of pitch effect on his vocals. Hearing him talk in person gives it away. But also there is a track on One Less G called "Here I Am" (i think) where the pitch seems to be lower than the rest.
 
Theory:

Make use of semitones, minor thirds and tritones. Look for evil sounding midis on the net and put them on a piano roll, then study what scales, chords and intervals they use. Here is a scale that sounded evil to me.

Db, D, E, F, G, A, Bb

Also if you are going to use semitones, use them really quick (Like Chopin - Improptu Fantasie quick)

As for the bass rythm, you can play a chord the basic angry 4/4 rock rythm (4/4 with up tempo).

Here are some recommendations to get your influences from:

Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
http://www.bachcentral.com/ORGAN/toccata1.mid

Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier I and II
http://www.bachcentral.com/midiindex.html

(I havent listened to this collection yet, but I would imagine it contains a few evil sounding melodies)

Nobuo Uematsu - jenovah
http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ff/ff7/sounds/midi/chu2.mid

Nobuo Uematsu - One Winged Angel
http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ff/ff7/sounds/midi/final.mid

Mozart - Dies Irae
http://home3.swipnet.se/~w-31761/diesirae.mid

Stravinsky - Rite Of Spring
http://www.classicalmidi.co.uk/music1/1622spring.mid

Chopin - Nocturnes (All of them)
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/2217/midi.htm

Chopin - Impromptu in C Sharp Minor
http://www.geocities.com/mazurka17/midi/fant-imp.mid

Carl Orff - O Fortuna
http://www.botproductions.com/music/carmina/carmina_25.mid

Carl Orff - Ego Sum Abbas
http://www.botproductions.com/music/carmina/carmina_13.mid

Carl Orff - Estuans Interious (Burning Inside)
http://www.botproductions.com/music/carmina/carmina_11.mid

Paganini - 24 Caprices
http://www.classicalarchives.com/main/p.html


(or you could buy the album by Perlman)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t..._1_1/103-4601068-9993431?v=glance&s=classical

I would also imagine that the kind of music you are trying to produce would sound better through the use of polytonality. I know that bach made exessive use of this in his toccata and fugue. If you know it that is great, use it. If you dont then I dunno, cuz I would imagine it is a difficult concept to learn (I havent learned how to compose in polytonality yet).

Here are some good sites that teach theory:

http://www.musictheory.net

http://www.pianonanny.com/

http://www.oconnormusic.org/intro.htm

_______________________________________

As for instruments:

Piano
Harpsichord
Clavier
Music Box
Bells
Dulcimer
Electric Guitar
Violin
Timpani
Choir

One thing you might REALLY find useful is this:

http://www.soundsonline.com/sophtml/details.phtml?sku=QLVOTAGS

Contact me at my e-mail and I can hook you up with a better price:
NevermindDeath@hotmail.com

But before you do that, you must tell me what your email is so I can take it off autoblock.

Doing brass stabs can also give it a scary evil feel to it. To do them, have a brass section in sync with strings. Then play any note and then the other note a semitone up. Both notes must be a quarter of a second or less.

Hope this helps.

NevermindDeath
EnoyLife
 
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wow, you went through alot to give me that info, thanks dude!
 
Casket13Productions said:
wow, you went through alot to give me that info, thanks dude!
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Not really. It is stuff I allready know of. All I had to do was write it and look for the links of the midi files.
 
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