Microtonal Music Tutorial (Xenharmonic)

[@camtaylormusic]

Wow Brendan, you drop one of the freshest modern albums AND this awesome tutorial in one day? As soon as I listened to Neutral Paradise I thought about asking you about how you write your stuff, and how you work with tuning in your interface, especially on keys. This is one hell of a way to teach people about xenharmonic music, great that you do it in such an intuitive way, I hope you get a lot more interest from 12-native musicians. We're all behind you.

[@teddydunn3513]

I think we should leave this comment at 22 likes

[@Kaelthy]

Sup i remember hearing your pangea album back 6-7 years ago and was mindblown by it, now randomly stumbling across this video it made me so happy

[@heheynop9996]

what a time to be alive

[@kapi_yakumo]

Indeed it is. The future of music is approaching slowly

[@zAvAvAz]

Love you. Love all of your music.

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

thank you so much!

[@CV-qy5qi]

Thank you so very much for this video! It was great to be invited into your studio for a while!

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

Thank you, Chris! I always appreciate your support!

[@cactusowo1835]

7:19 What I find crazy about JI is that chords don't sounds like chords anymore, it's like a single note from a crunchy-timbre instrument. reminds me of the sound of my fridge and my fan. Also, I love how the mixolydian scale is the easiest one to mimic the harmonic series

[@ejlatsaknetxis]

Wow this is the future of musical innovation, thanks for making quality education on microtonal (and xenharmonic!!) music (and quality music). Will definitely check your new album out asap.

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

thank you very much!

[@JBergmansson]

Really great video! I want to show this to my strictly-12 musician friends, but I fear that it's a little bit too in depth for the average Joe musician who is a beginner regarding Xenharmonicity, especially if it's someone who doesn't like math. But I really feel like this is just the right level for someone who: 1. Knows music and appreciates the beauty of mathematics, OR 2. Is a seeker for sounds that are different from the usual, either more consonant or more alienating than 12EDO, OR 3. Is fluent in conventional music theory and has an open mind (like jazz fusion players) OR 4. Does not necessarily have any idea how to make music but wants to experience psychedelic sounds and natural phenomena, OR 5. Likes to get their curiosity in complex concepts sparked by videos with excellent explanations Or maybe those are just the criteria for getting into Xen music in general, but I digress. You did a good job explaining everything so thorough while keeping the video entertaining. Keep it up! Also, the track is phenomenal, I'm off to listen to the rest of the album!

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

Thank you Jonas! It's really hard to know where to aim when trying to explain xenharmonics to newcomers as many people have found. I totally agree with your assessment. I presume a good grasp on music theory for some of the explanations - the jazz fusion player is actually one example of what I was using as a target audience. Hopefully the less technical parts of the video, like the beginning, at least get more people curious about the subject, and then they can start their own journey down the rabbit hole like so many of us have. At least there's plenty of people and resources around to offer help and perspective! Thanks again!

[@hbono1]

Man, how far we've come, as a whole, from being able to hear actual consonance, as though our ears have become passive trash receptables. This is all about consciousness opening up. Awesome tutorial and Iron Man rendition. I love the new album.

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

thank you! (and glad you liked the Iron Man!

[@AFlyingFish]

Hi Brendan! Congratulations on your album and video, I want to really thank you for your approach to this concepts, man, you've made me get once again excited about making music for the sake of music after many years of musical production and being just... unsurprised? I've been researching about Easley Blackwood and his microtonal Etudes, and although I believe his pieces and efforts are really good, I think they may have gone a lilttle too unnoticed (even in the academic music world, at least here in Mexico), my point is, this stuff you did right here is exactly what I believe the "popular" music world needs, to be fed this "new" musical/intervalic languages and textures with familiar elements they can relate in order to actually make this elements spread and become a part of a new generation of musicians and music. Again thank you, and please keep your music and videos coming, we need them!

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

Hey, thank you so much! It made my day to hear this. I hope more musicians will discover the potential of using new tuning systems too. I had a similar experience - I was sort of feeling unsurprised with most music I was hearing until I was introduced to this whole Xen universe. It’s also actually made 12EDO more interesting for me which I never anticipated. Thanks again!

[@AFlyingFish]

Thanks for the reply! Glad to hear that =) yeah, I also hope more musicians get into this microtonal world, I been sharing it (both your music and other xen music) to the musicians and producers I work with for the past days and got great responses, it seems that if this music's done with the right amount of good taste and courtesy for the "common ears" it can be quite accesible, so I'm pretty excited to embrace it as an extended vocabulary. Btw the stuff you said about rediscovering 12EDO is amazing, I hope I get that feeling too!

[@IAmisMaster]

Right around 34:30 you solidified my conviction that you are a genius of harmony.

[@edwardmacnab354]

Timbre is actually a spectral map of frequencies , with their amplitudes , over time , which makes things more complex . It is this variation in complexity that texturizes an instruments signature sound as perceived by us .

[@NateGH36O]

Wow man, were you ahead of your time or what? This video is insanely educational and enjoyable to watch. This is the future of music, and you've even proven it in your own music as well. Fantastic job.

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

Thanks very much for the kind words and I'm glad you got something out of the video!

[@LifeOfRyanVegh]

Thanks so much for this! I've been wanting to understand more how this all works, with the ratios and tuning, etc., and you've done a fine job opening up my mind to it!

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

thank you and glad to hear that!

[@roderik1990]

@ 7:50 small side note for the partials of string instruments, is that they have a slightly stretched octave. (or equivalently, their higher harmonics get shifted up in tone) This is because guitar/piano strings have a bit of stiffness, which makes the string seem shorter for the higher frequency harmonics. (a string would need to make a sharp angle where it is attached, but because of stiffness it bends instead)

[@BrandonLewisD]

22:36 ... these chords are amazing

[@milu3779]

fascinating approach. Thank you

[@CarlsbadSGP2007]

excellent, thanks for making this!

[@lucasnoordhoek]

You played Black Sabbath in JI, that made my day

[@JackETProductions]

Fantastic video, so good to see these complex ideas broken down in such a simple and intuitive way. I was wondering what the fretting is on that guitar at 6:55? Looks somewhat similar to jon catlers design.

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

Thanks! Yes, that's a Freenote 12- tone ultra plus by Jon Catler.

[@Rydgiir]

Incredible tutorial!

[@kebbles7272]

Incredible video. Thank you so much for sharing this

[@finn8766]

I'm so happy I found this! I've been looking around a lot for a xenharmonic music tutorial for logic pro and this is perfect. Love your music too, keep up the great work :)

[@azrhyga]

Very great tutorial!! Thanks for sharing it!! I appreciate it a lot :D

[@nevets0910]

man that's some cool intermission music at 33:02

[@bbeckham83]

Thank you for this tutorial! I'm microtonal curious, and this was a great introduction. Still not sure what to do with the information, but I feel like I have a much better understanding of some of the primary vocabulary and concepts.

[@philipwacker4629]

Loved that little Black Sabbath part. Thanks for the insight!

[@e_ederer]

Came late to this one, but it's a goodie, right on! Micropangaea is still in heavy rotation in my Prius. Upward, man!

[@epiphoney]

Wow, I love this video. My favorite JI album is Hansford Rowe's Steel Blue on Band Camp (Jon Catler on guitar). I also like Jon Catler's band Willie McBlind and Robert Rich (for example Filaments). An open just 7th chord sounds great on electric guitar. I often search for just intonation music, but this video never came up. I found it through Sevish.

[@daffodilaura]

I personally use 159-tone equal temperament a lot. Yes, there's a learning curve to handling so many notes at once, but it can be done.

[@charlesrosenbauer3135]

Great video! I was really excited to see the new music today, and then I noticed this video! I've been playing around a little with 19TET a bit lately, but I've been finding myself just making things that sound familiar. I'm trying to push myself out of that with some subminor/supermajor chords, but do you have any other ideas? Also, any info on when we can expect anything new from your band?

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

I haven't worked much with 19, but I hear that as a common issue- that it's hard to make music that sounds different enough. I'd recommend 22- it's a good balance of familiar and xen sounding and really pushes you into new territory. I have a harder time with tunings like 13 EDO or 11 EDO. Maybe try 22, 27, 15,16, or 17? Those were the most fruitful starting tunings for me. Let me know how it goes!

[@n7275]

Of the problems of 19-EDO is that 19 is prime, thus you can cycle through all the notes using circle of any interval size whereas in 12-EDO only intervals of 7 or 5 (or 1 obviously) steps can cycle through all the tones, because 12 and 7, and 12 and 5 are co-prime. I haven't dug too deeply into constructing diatonic scales in other EDOs but it wouldn't surprise me there was only one possible mode in prime EDOs in much the same way that the whole-tone and chromatic scale in 12-EDO only have one mode, but the diatonic scale has 7. Just a thought, I not sure if I'm right or wrong. ps I listened to Neutral Paradise on the way home from work today and loved it, great album; looking forward to more!

[@MrFreshEnjoyer19]

At 8:21 he mentions that some instruments have both inharmonic, and harmonic partials. Can anyone give me a few examples of said instruments?

[@ngideo]

Bells and other rigid metalic instruments tend to have inharmonic partials. Piano strings as well. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inharmonicity

[@zewrich237]

wow , such a good tutorial , and the Berlin xperience timbre part made me a real goosebumps

[@ossifrage6828]

Great video!

[@Cypres]

I have been listening to xen music for a while now, and when you did the comparison of JI and 12TET intervals, esp. the first one, the major 3rd, I found myself flinch at how out of tune the conventional 12TET 3rd sounded to me... and then got calmed down by the JI one, so consonant... weird thing happening to my brain ever since I started this journey...

[@EchoLog]

So fretless and adjustable frets like on sitars are the future. Got it.

[@Ivan_1791]

Nice video dude.

[@FlagrantVagrant]

Where's my "Inside The Deku Tree but it's in Just Intonation" video???!!!!

[@vacaura]

seriously yea

[@harishkumaru589]

I am just keen how you detune each notes based on ratios

[@microtonalmilio5233]

Can you do a tutorial on how to use and integrate CSE Hπ? Downloaded it but need some help. Thank you.

[@midodon23]

What is the most consonant microtone tuning that you know?

[@ToniMazzotti]

Maria Renold 2 Stretch Tuning

[@louchesimon]

Hey thanks for the tuto ! Arround 9m15 you detune the E note. Ok but it's detune for all the piece. How can I detune only one note un a chord for exemple ? Thanks a lot i'm a really noob about Xenharmonic music

[@cactusowo1835]

The title of this video should be changed to JI tutorial, since I consider equals/edo to be another thing aside JI, of course it can approach to it like 31 and 51 equal, but there are still a lot of differences though.

[@psilvamacevoy]

Thank you!!

[@targz4139]

I was wondering where did you get your 22edo guitar? I'm really getting into microtonal music and I'd like to play on something other than a keyboard where the keys don't line up.

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

check out Metatonal Music- They can make a fretboard in pretty much any tuning you would like!

[@АлексейВасильев-з5ы9л]

Hi Brendan! Can you please advice some good software/hardware tuners for tuning microtonal guitar? Most that I've seen are not enougth accurate or stable, especially with guitar signal, because it reach with harmonics and use to change tune a little while the string goes through different phases of sounding (attack/body/release...). I'm looking for a tuner that can clearly identify a foundamental of a string up to .01 Hz. How you tune your 22edo guitars?

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

Hey there, I use the Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-200. You can create 2 custom tunings and store them. I tuned the guitar very closely by ear using some help from software instruments that were tuned to 22 edo and then stored the tuning. It may be good for what you're looking for. I believe the "A" is around 435Hz, but that's only because I wanted to match how all of my software instruments get retuned. I hope that helps!

[@АлексейВасильев-з5ы9л]

Thank you!

[@epiphoney]

Did you make any music with Jon Catler's guitars?

[@christiancoulomb7770]

Somewhere, very crimsonian! 24:00

[@ToniMazzotti]

Do you stretch the octaves to accommodate JI?

[@BrendanByrnesMusic]

I don't stretch the octaves when using synthesizers, but when I've tuned pianos to JI scales I have stretched the octaves. In the software realm I'm not sure if it's necessary, but maybe there is good reason to do it!

[@nevets0910]

Anyone know the music that starts at 18:09?

[@nevets0910]

Never mind I found it... Light Tunnels off Neutral Paradise... fucking gorgeous \m/

[@epiphoney]

@@nevets0910 That's a nice one.

[@Hawker1911]

Are there a free software for use with this?

[@TheApostleofRock]

My biggest question in all of this ansd the searching ive tried to do, is HOW can you map this to a midi controller?? Maybe I missed in the video...because i havent watched it all yet.

[@Bahimo3154]

Thus absolutely brilliant., I'm sure if Jacob collier did this he would explore the internet 🙄.

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

like it!!

[@Bob-ln4ht]

1:41

[@spacevspitch4028]

"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"

[@RememberGodHolyBible]

If you want to play alien out of tune sounds based on wrong ceonceptions of harmony which are not holistic, then take the adivce of this video. But if you want to play really in tune, perfectly in tune, ACTUAL just intonation, play in Pythagorean just intonation and spell notes and chords correctly.

[@teddydunn3513]

Smh I can't believe you aren't tuning down to the 1000s place. -13.686286135…

[@z.s.n.]

Why?

[@GizzyDillespee]

The irrational ratios are especially difficult if you're a stickler for absolute precision. It's always "just one more decimal place" and before you know it, it's bedtime and you're still tuning the first string!

[@AlexTechNicol]

Try on a different timbre…turns into Annihilation sound track.

[@TjByers369]

Never realized how boring 12 tone was until now.

[@ctobi707]

this is basically arabic music

[@teddydunn3513]

Mostafa No, it's not.

[@arastoomii4305]

@@teddydunn3513 it actually is factually based on the same principles

[@idtapthat12321]

@@arastoomii4305 Perhaps. But that doesn't make THIS arabic music. All of western music uses the same principles used all the way back when classical was being formed. Does that make everything in 12 tet Classical music?