Ricardo Curto

06 LAYER 1: RHYTM PART 5 Ricardo explains what swing is and how to use it. In order to do so, he creates various practical examples where he applies swing both at the eighth and sixteenth note level, and compares the effect obtained when using different intensities of the same or when turning it off and on. Finally, he explains what elements can further accentuate the swing in the groove.

07 LAYER 1: RHYTM PART 6 In order to make his music more human and organic, Ricardo explains how he uses the concept of placement. By moving the notes forward and backward relative to the beat, Ricardo creates a practical example with placement in a back beat groove. In addition, he explains how to use placement to reduce the height of the transients of percussive elements that overlap at the same instant of time.

08 LAYER 2: HARMONY PART 1 To begin the second layer, Ricardo sits at the piano and introduces us to the world of harmony. He begins by explaining the fundamentals of the keyboard, detailing a brief history of harmony and its definition. He then defines the intervals, or distances, between the notes, explains the concepts of dissonance and consonance in them, and explains the triad chords and how the major and minor scales are defined.

09 LAYER 2: HARMONY PART 2 Going back to the DAW, Ricardo explains how to create a theory track and he begins by choosing the key, writing its corresponding major scale, and harmonizing it with triad chords. He teaches us a mnemonic for remembering the order of the major and minor chords on the scale, and explains why he choses not to use the diminished chord. Finally, he rearranges the major scale to make it minor and explains the steps to follow in order to create chord progressions that work.

10 LAYER 2: HARMONY PART 3 Ricardo explains how to play with the chord notes to create variety. He first details how to remove the fifth to create two-note chords, and then continues by explaining how to create inversions, how to guide the voices from one chord to the next, and how to double the voices at different octaves. Finally, he presents us with the idea of ​​thinking of chords as sound areas, generating great freedom in the placement of its notes in different textures.

11 LAYER 2: HARMONY PART 4 Starting from the triad chords, Ricardo explains the use of the seventh to create four-note chords and he harmonizes the scale with them. He then explains how to create a template in order to quickly switch to other keys, he creates a chord progression with quarters, and finally applies various techniques to create variety and interest.

12 LAYER 2: HARMONY PART 5 To add even more richness to the chords, Ricardo explains the use of tensions in chords: ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth. Next, he creates a template with the entire harmonized scale, with triads, seventh chords, and tensions, and gives an example of a chord progression with tensions. Finally, he reapplies creative techniques to generate variety and interest in the progressions with tensions.

13 LAYER 2: HARMONY PART 6 Getting into more advanced concepts, Ricardo explains how to create more interesting chord progressions by combining several keys at the same time. To do so, and always accompanied by various practical examples, he explores two concepts in depth: modal exchange, and its use together with chords with tensions; and parallelism, emphasizing on how to move the voices to avoid the sampler sound.

14 LAYER 3: MELODY PART 1 Ricardo begins the third layer by talking about the relationship between melody and harmony, and talks about the factors that determine that a voice is perceived as a melody. Next, on a chord progression, he explains how to obtain the available notes with which to elaborate the melody and performs a practical example. Finally, he shows us how to use notes outside the group of available notes, including notes outside the key, to give more interest to the melodies.

15 LAYER 3: MELODY PART 2 Having explained which notes sound good in each chord, Ricardo explains how to create motifs, what differentiates these from through-composed melodies, and he teaches how to create new motifs from the previous ones using motivic development techniques. Finally, he explains how to use several melodies at the same time, shows a practical example with six simultaneous melodies, and ends by explaining the function of the lowest melody: the bass.

16 NOW CREATE YOUR OWN SOUND Ricardo encourages new producers and songwriters to create their own sound. In order to achieve that, he believes that it's essential to get inspired by artists that we like the most, analyze them, and select elements from each of the layers: rhythm, harmony and melody, to incorporate into our own music. Ricardo explains how by adding our own essence to the analysis of existing music, we can create a unique sound.