TW #18 — Advanced Tracking Tips III: voicings (Necros)
How necros turns a flat C–F–Dm–G progression, tracked as three root-position triads per chord, into C9 | Fadd2/C | Dm7 | Gsus4–G.
Key claims#
- Voicing is "taking a very simple harmony and making it into something more complex" and choosing chords for an exact mood. The newbie way — one note per channel,
C-4 E-4 G-4,F-4 A-4 C-5,D-4 F-4 A-4,G-4 B-4 D-5on rows 0/8/16/32 at speed 6 — is "about as interesting as a night spent hanging out in #ansi". - C major: add the 9th (D) —
C D E Gis nicer,C G C D Ebetter still, because the D sits far from the C it would clash with. Rule: avoid stacking notes a step apart (C–D, E–F, G–A) unless you want the effect; an octave between them widens the interval and eases the ear. - F major:
C G A C F'— the added G and the rearranged notes give a chord change with "a MINIMUM of movement"; less voice movement in a main section keeps the piece from sounding jumpy. - D minor:
D A C D F'— a Dm7, only two notes moved from the previous chord; the 7th adds complexity to a bland change. - G major: two chords in the bar —
G C D G'(Gsus4) thenG B D G'— a circular lead-in back to C; the top notes of the four chords rise E … F … F … G, a motif that gives coherence. - Learn enough keyboard to try voicings before entering them: "you can try out chords before you enter them into the tracker, to see if they are cool or not".
Practical takeaways#
Add 2nds/9ths and 7ths, keep common tones, move as few voices as possible, keep adjacent scale steps an octave apart, aim the top voice along a line, use a sus4 before the return to the tonic.
Notable quotes#
- "Voicing is the art of taking a very simple harmony and making it into something more complex."
Relevance#
Voice leading explained in tracker rows — the practical companion to chord-inversions and diatonic-chords; the note-per-channel chord layout is what chord-arpeggio compresses into one channel on a chip.
Pages touched#
chord-inversions, diatonic-chords, chord-progressions, necros.