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6. Consolidating the melody and creating variations

1 Aside from our main melody line, there are also spaces in the track for smattering a few notes in the intro and breakdown sections. These are currently still just playing C notes. The intention for these is to provide a few hints of what the melody will be in the intro section, and some reminders and echoes of it during the breakdown.

2 We cut out one of the four-bar melody duplicates from the High Synth line and bring it over to replace the original C notes here. Once we’ve got it lined up, we delete the last three notes from the first phrase of the melody, leaving just the first four notes, then a gap after them.

3 During the intro, the chords move at a different rate, slowed down to half speed. We move the second phrase up to join the second chord, and again remove the second half of the phrase, turning it into a little hint for the melody to come. Keeping it quick, simple and snatchy is the aim here in the intro section.

4 We continue in the same vein for all four phrases of the melody, lining up their first halves with the chords, as above. The whole effect is a gradual exposition unravelling what’s to come, but it still fulfils its musical function in the track as an interesting element in its own right, keeping the intro animated with a sense of ‘building up’.

5 In the breakdown section, we do basically the same thing, but this time we distribute the same phrases between the high and low synths, bouncing the phrases between higher and lower octaves. Doing so keeps this part as a lowkey, stripped-back breakdown, but also offers something new in comparison to the first time we heard it in the intro.

6 We’ve got a melody worked out for our two synth parts – one plays it lower while the other one plays it a little higher. That’s all well and good, but the track is long and the melody starts to grind after a while. It’s time to change it up and create an alternate version to keep the track spinning without becoming samey…

7 We chop out the melody line halfway through verse two, and get to work making a copy to provide variation – an alternate take on the melody so far. We start by adding some extra notes between the first and second phrase for the melody to ‘fall down into’.

8 In the second phrase we create some more doubled notes, where there were previously single notes, or nothing at all. Judging by the feel of this track, turning up the velocity for the second note helps the quick-fire double make itself heard best.

9 Try a bigger embellishment in this second line, creating an arpeggiostyle run of notes at the end of the fourth phrase to cap things off. Duplicate this new melody clip through the end of the second verse and outro, trying different octaves for the high and low synth parts.