Music Theory for Techno Production: Dissonance and Intervals for catchier Synth Lines

"There is no need for harmony & music theory in Techno production, because Techno is dissonant anyway" is something we often hear. But what is "dissonance" even? Is it really the opposite to harmony? When dealing with tonal elements, like synth lines, there is no escaping the principles of harmony - might as well try to understand them! Lukas helps you, in this video, to approach music theory from a standpoint of techno production. Let's actually dive into dissonance, let's identify where all the sweet dissonant goodness can be found in your most basic intervals! Let's also find out what intervals to avoid, to not sound cheesy!
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00:00 Intro
00:29 Why Music Theory can help you...
01:09: What we'll be doing
01:55 Harmony decoded
03:17 Into the Session
03:31 The Consonant Intervals
05:58 The Imperfectly Consonant Intervals
08:18 The Dissonant Intervals
10:00 Summary
10:27 Where do Intervals happen?
11:58 Outro

[@tobiasboschung3210]

would love to see this info incorporated into some examples. Like having a track with some synth lines and chords as examples

[@dissolve842]

First channel I see focusing on electronic music from the perspective of harmony and atonal music. As difficult as it is to make people understand what tonal and modal harmony is, atonal music can be in another perspective.

[@brydda]

I appreciate Sinee.. very high quality tips and honestly I can't wait to see what you guys are gonna bring next! I must be honest tho your website need English traduction it was so hard to buy from you plus im from canada and I had to search for a fake address in order to purchase! butt. you guys have made the best template I've bought and seen!!! I will def buy from you again! Keep it up !! Prost! :D

[@NTMTR_OFFICIAL]

Another great video! Keep them coming :) !

[@lofimat3856]

Heloo and heartful Greeting from thee Hood of NeuKölee!!

[@charlesbronson2806]

Subscribed 🙌

[@camillehannoun19]

This is actually interesting

[@kevhar35]

Great advice, thank you. Just I don't understand why you call the second note up on the octave the minor second. Isn't the minor 2nd a whole step up? And if it is a whole step it is a major 2nd too. One of the ones to avoid? I was a bit confused on that bit.

[@SINEEGlobal]

Hey, do you have a timestamp for that? I'd be happy to elaborate! 😊 Best regards Lukas

[@kevhar35]

Thank you! It starts about 8.36. The first of the dissonant intervals. 2nd note up in the octave that you call the minor 2nd. That is where I thought a minor second would be the note above that. But I'm no music theory expert. Then I got confused when you went to the example where you said minor seconds were dissonant notes and they were a whole step up. Thanks again. Appreciate it

[@tezeta3725]

If Im being honest I have to disagree with you a little bit. The 4th and 5th are technically the most consonant intervals, but really they're so consonant they end up sounding more nuetral, especially the 5th. There's a reason you're supposed to avoid parallel 5ths when writing counterpoint and thats because it will cause the two voices to blend together and sound more like a single voice. Imo 4ths and 5ths are really useful whether you're trying to write consonant music or dissonant music. They bacically serve as placeholders for the 1 and they can help to add movement to your line by adding small resolutions without fully resolving back to the 1.

[@SINEEGlobal]

That is all fully true, and there's no doubt about the usability of the 4th and 5th! But approaching it from the standpoint of atonal sequences, as found in techno, with no strong tonal centre, the 4th and the 5th are meant as interval relations between two notes, wherever positioned and not as scale degrees! But sure, what you mentioned is true, yet more helpful when writing counterpoint or harmonically complex structures!

[@Nuke_Skywalker]

that's why context is so important.. thank you both for your evaluations

[@tezeta3725]

@@SINEEGlobal Apologies, I guess I didnt explain myself super well. I think even when trying to write dissonant music the 4th and 5th are still important intervals, they can help to reinforce the other intervals and make things feel more grounded, and I think its important to have a little bit of groundedness even in music that's meant to sound atonal otherwise you lose the feeling of intentionality that you meantion at the beggining of the video. That doesnt mean they have to be used in the context of a scale. I think my counterpoint example might've been a little misleading I only brought that up to demonstrate the idea that the 5th is a neutral sounding interval.

[@Nuke_Skywalker]

little correction: the octave is technically "the same frequency but double the speed" but that _is_ actually just double the frequency^^ also, maybe use a keyboard to press the notes, the mouse clicking is very distracting. thanks!

[@erenjaeger5344]

Da höre ich doch einen deutschen Akzent raus ;)