UNDERSTANDING CHORD CLUSTERS
A harmony is like a map of the track. It provides a route which takes the listener on a journey, one that offers some surprises but also some reassurance, as chords move through a progression which is often comfortable and logical to the ear. However, sometimes we want to use this expectation of comfort and logic, and actually seek anarchy and challenge, taking our listeners out of their comfort zones – particularly when it comes to building cinematic textures, risers and transitioning sounds.
One of the most powerful ways to unsettle your listeners, and to create drama and tension, is to spend some time working with chord clusters. Instead of the regular ‘spread’ of notes which underpin major and minor chords, clusters are chords made up of combinations of notes which don’t make any musical sense, with simultaneous playback of notes right next to each other. Imagine a fistful of notes –C, C sharp, D, E flat and E all playing together at the same time; their close proximity is what provides the name ‘cluster’. In a cluster, there’s no fixed note which your musical ear can pin down as the root of the chord and, as a result, a chord cluster shimmers or groans, or shrieks with uncertainty.
This is perhaps why clusters are so great for moments of increasing tension and are therefore so popular in horror soundtracks, as well as risers in trailers. You know the stabbing sound in Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic Psycho? There a cluster of high string notes, used to brutal effect. As cinematic tension builders, clusters are well worth exploring. Try experimenting with them across the keyboard from high to low, in different combinations and with different effects applied after the original notes to get the best out of chord clusters.