Essential books for modern musicians
Trying to make great music with limited time is hard, so I developed a few products to help amateur musicians make the most of their time. See In Key is the Missing Music Theory Book and Finish 50 Tracks is the notebook for gathering ideas and trigering inspiration.
See In Key - The Missing Music Theory Book
"See In Key" was conceived out of the need for a book that didn't exist. A Scales and Chords book you can just look in, get some notes and chords that might work with your project, try them out, close the book, get on with making music.
Around the time I was considering this concept, I read an article in "Sound On Sound" called, "Musical Tricks To Transform Your Tracks" by Kate Ockenden. The article talks about, to quote, "how a basic understanding of chords, melody and harmony can help your dodgy demo become a polished production". Music Theory was, I felt at the time, being left behind in the pursuit of Modern Music Production. And a topic I had struggled with, on and off, over the years
The bit of the article that really inspired my "See In Key" book was the section that mentioned, Arnold Schoenberg's, "Chart of the Regions". Realising the chart is linked to the "Circle of Fifths", and how it lets you see patterns inherent in western scales, gave me an idea for the one-page-per-key concept, the "Key Pages", as I call them. E.G. a "Key of C" page, a "Key of G" page, a "Key of D" page, etc.In short, pages that can help you navigate through the options and discover the perfect musical companions for your chosen root note.
The 12 "Key Pages" extend and simplify the "Chart of the Regions" concept and are purposely designed to help you find new places to go when your stuck for ideas. You can see Scales, Chords, paths to new scales, Non-Diatonic Scales and a corresponding extended Chord page, together on two facing pages.
"See In Key" is my masterpiece!
Finish 50 Tracks - The mission to improve
There are already enough books and tutorials about mixing and production techniques, and while these are important, it is the music that inspires people. So working on what inspires you is imperative. Otherwise you can lose time tweaking compressors and EQs while forgetting about what really matters.
This book is designed to help you take a step back from your loop or idea and focus more on the content and context of the music rather than the production. The book is made up of 50 track sheets. Each sheet starts with simple questions about the project to help you get to know your work better and eliminate choice paralysis. The concept being that the production will become easier when you have a clear idea of what the music is about and why certain sounds, samples and instuments are there.
"Finish 50 Tracks" will also help you consider arrangement elements, plan song structure and design the final mix. It is an all-in-one-place workbook for your projects, whether you work in the DAW, on a hardware sequencer, or with traditional instruments and a multitracker.
I made this as a doing book rather than another how-to-do book. So it fits perfectly with your studio and other books and resources.
The Destination - Where to from here
I originally created these books for myself, but now, after a long process of trial and error, I make them available to all.
Making music is now going to be my priority but I will keep posting on the blog and keep creating only very useful products for you. So please keep an eye out ;)
WJC - Musician, Author and Enthusiast
