In this tutorial, I would show you a simple way to create a simple but catchy melody around a vocal, all you need is to focus and trust your ears.
Have you ever wondered how the Pros come up with catchy tunes? Luck? Maybe!
The thing is, you really can't predict how your melodies are gonna end up, but wait! There is a structure you can utilize that would mostly yield something nice, and catchy.
The not-so-secret method is using a vocal/acapella, and I am not merely talking about shitty vocals, I am referring to good melodious vocals, by using a good vocal or an acapella, you can make sense of good melodies right off the bat, so here is what you need to do:
- Start with a cool chord progression, this would serve as the foundation layer. Note down the key of the progression.
- Find a good acapella, if you don't know where to find one, I'll highly recommend Loopcloud, it automatically syncs with your DAW, you don't have to worry about downloading multiple vocals, just load an instance of loopcloud, and search away!
- Play the chord progression together with the acapella, you'll want to make sure they are in key, Loopcloud can help you sort vocals by key
- Listen to the progression, and try to play some combinations of melodies in your mind, trust me, it works, you just need to focus.
- Play some notes, and you might get off with something good.
The below video is an illustration of what I am talking about:
Note: This is part of the series "Creating a Progressive House Track From Scratch Using (Fl Studio & Loopcloud)"