Hi, guys.

I can only write melodies. Bought BIAB to try to make backing tracks for my melodies. But the results mostly sound awful, dissonant. Maybe, I am not doing the right way. This is what I do. I open a midi file (one note melody) in BIAB, have BIAB reharmonize it, then choose style and click play. Please help me out on this. Thanks a lot.

not sure what might be wrong but do you set the right key? not sure BIAB can work out the key - if it can ignore this message but if the melodies are in a particular key and BIAB chooses the wrong one it might sound 'off'.
and make sure BIAB is set to simple arrangements and no 'embellished 'chords

Melodist, welcome to the forum.

Can you tell us the exact steps you are following?

Unfortunately, BIAB does not do a very good job of creating a good chord progression based on single note melody lines. I wish PGMusic would spend a little more time on this feature on analyzing the melody, and then creating a viable progression. More work in this area is required.

Yes, it is in the right key. Thanks for your reply.

Thank you all for your response. I appreciate it. I am new here. I don’t even know how to reply the right way.

Response to Bob Calver
Yes. It is in the right key.

Response to Matt Finley
This is what I do.
I write a melody in my notation program, save it as a midi file, open the BIAB program, go to file, open midi, choose the midi file that contains the melody and click open, now in that dialogue window, I only make a selection in the presets to choose pop/ballad, then click interpret chords, then, click ok to close the dialogue window, now I go to style picker to pick a style. That’s what I do. The result sounds much different from what I hear from those BIAB demos that sound at least harmonic.

Response to Jford
If BIAB does a good job with chords already added to melodies, then could you please tell me how to write the right chords to two following measures? There are tons of tutorials on Youtube teaching chords for beginners. But they always choose the easy melodies, for example, they tell us to use c chord for c e g with c on top. But melodies don’t contain just chord notes. So the none chord notes will clash with the chord notes if we write an arpeggio bases on the chords. I often hear people talk about chord progression, and even universal chord progression. How does that work? The chord progression works with any note in the key? Ok, forget what I just said, let’s just focus on the following example.
In the key of C, time is 4/4
Measure one: c d d sharp f
Measure two: g g sharp g


Here is a link to one of my melodies. They are not bad. Don’t want to see them go waste. The arrangement was done by a pro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvsHcVT7mD0

First off, that's a really pretty piece and your arranger did an excellent job.

Writing chords for a melody (harmonizing/arranging) is a very deep subject. But I want to point out a few things that your arranger did that may help you.

First, he placed chords (even when arpeggios) usually at the first beat of a measure for four beats/the full measure. Sometimes he changed chords on the third beat. Occasionally (rarely) he changed chords of the fourth beat (and maybe even on the second, rarely---I wasn't paying that close attention). That's a good practice. Break the melody down into 4 beat chunks, choose a chord and leave it, only changing when the melody demands (or the muse strikes).

Before that, even, know what the tonal center (home note) of either the entire piece or a major section of it is. That's the note from which all melodic movement travels and the note that, when it hits, feels like "home, satisfying, resolved". Whatever that note is, that's your base Key. Odds are pretty good its the first real note of your melody, but not necessarily. Odds are even better it's the last note.

You gave your Key as C. Let's assume that IS the tonal center (home). Looking just at your first measure, however, there is a D# (most likely actually an Eb) which is not in the key of C major. I can think of three reasons why it might be there (and none why it doesn't belong).

1. It's a "passing" chromatic tone that really has no function except to get from one note to another or add flavor. And that's fine.

2. It's an important note that requires some special harmonization. Obviously, no triad is going to contain four notes. Chords outside the "key" are fine, if that's what sounds right for the piece.

or

3. Your melody is not "really" in the key of C major, using the notes of a C major scale. Maybe it's in C minor. Maybe it's in C harmonic minor. Maybe C Dorian. Maybe even in C major or minor blues.

Here's what your arranger did, though he did it more easily and naturally than I could. He determined the "home note"/tonal center of at least major portions of your melody. He analyzed the notes of at least major portions of your piece (8 bars, usually) and determined what scale your melody (mostly) belonged to. Then, using that scale, he chose chords to harmonize with your melody.

Lastly, he used his ear and experience to make those harmonies move and function to support not just the notes, but the feeling and movement of the melody. His choices were pretty much limitless...more so even than your melodic choices were before you sat down to compose.

If you are new to working with chord harmonies, here's the course of study I wish I had started with.

1. Study scales in the keys (major and minor) you seem to usually work in. It's easy to transpose if you need to. Cmaj and Amin are the best ones to start with.

2. Learn how to build diatonic triads (your most basic chords) off of the notes in the scale. For C major, that's Cmaj, Dm, Em, Fmaj, Gmaj, Amin and B diminished.
For Cmin, that's Cm, D Diminished, Eb, Fmin, Gmin, Ab, Bb. Verify that before printing or committing to memory. .

4. Expose yourself to common alternative scales and how building the diatonic triads works in them.

5. Expose yourself to chord extensions, inversions, and especially "slash" chords that make new roots.

6. Expose yourself to chord substitutions, Secondary dominants, modal interchange, and other ways to move out of the diatonic triads in a key.

7. Expose yourself to "functional harmony".

1-7. You don't have to become an expert in any of these. Just knowing they exist is a good place to begin.

8. Learn that chord theory is not RULES WHICH MUST BE OBEYED, but concepts that explain workable music.

9. While learning #8, keep in mind that YOUR EAR is BOSS, KING, EMPEROR, DICTATOR, PRESIDENT FOR LIFE. If it sounds good, it IS good. A little theory goes a long way to help get things rolling.


Here's where I got most of my "facts": It was put together by a forum member here to whom I owe many beers...but I can't remember which one.

https://scottdavies.net/chords_and_scales/music.html

You have to first be able to "hear" where/when a chord change "should" come. There are literally hundreds of possible chords that will harmonize your melody without clashing. The majority of them may be very jazzy. Who's to say what the right ones are? But then again, there's nothing inherently "wrong" with dissonance. It all depends on what you want.

If you gave an indication of where you "hear" a chord change/changes, it would become "possible" to write a progression, but impossible to write the one you hear in your head.

There is no C major chord (even with extensions) that contains ALL four notes. That flatted 3rd leans inexorably to a minor chord. A tonal center C chord that will abide all those notes *C D Eb F* is a Cm11. Staying in the Cmajor key, you might also try an F7/6. That's an extension chord off the 4, I think. It might be odd, but not unheard of, to start a progression on the IV chord. Both of those assume that C is your tonal center AND that all four notes are "important".

But who knows if that will work in the larger picture? Do you only "hear" one chord under that measure? Only the shadow knows.

In BIAB try it out with the key set to Cm. See what happens. There is also a function under "soloist" on the top menu that will allow you to chose a scale in a couple of different varieties to play over your chord sheet. It may give you some idea switching between C and Cm just what notes are "important"--especially between the D and Eb--hearing them in the context of the two scales. I'm not suggesting you change the melody (there's a way to harmonize everything), but it may give your ear a hint as to the function of each note. Are you "landing" there, or just passing through.

In BIAB you can change chords every beat in a 4/4 measure, or on any beat in a 4/4 measure.

If you do this, Band-in-a-Box is simply trying to figure out what chords are already present in your MIDI file. This is not intended for a single note melody, but for a MIDI file that already has chords in it.

Instead you should use the Chord Reharmonist. Edit menu --> Chords --> Chord Reharmonist dialog. Do this after you import the MIDI file. I prefer to import a single note melody by using Melody menu --> Edit Melody --> Import Melody from MIDI file.

Thank you all for your invaluable help. Will try them out.

Have you tried loading in a chord progression from BIAB's demo songs (these come with each of the styles) and then writing a melody to fit the chord progression?

After you don't this a few times, you've certainly start getting a handle on developing chord progressions for your melodies.

Also, it's not breaking any copyright laws to use the chord progressions of famous songs. For example, if I want to get a 50s sound for a song, I would find a song that I like from the 50s and then use that chord progression as the starting place for developing my own progression.

Just a thought,
Noel

will certainly look into that. Thanks a lot for your input.