Periphery Megathread: Everything Periphery

[narad]

Why do people constantly think I'm saying they don't use theory at all?

I just said they use theory. Sometimes they don't, but usually they do. Anyways...

Can you give me an example of when they don't use theory? Where do you think theory comes from?

 

[bulb]

If you think there isn't theory behind Periphery songs, learn more theory.

Well I mean none of us (except for Nolly) knows theory. We have our own individual understandings of music and follow our ears to write. Nolly, who actually does know theory, kinda put his knowledge aside and followed his ears too when he was writing. So for better or for worse, we definitely don't write with traditional music theory.

 

[Randy]

Getting out into the weeds but music theory is really just an explanation of why some stuff sounds "right" and some stuff sounds "wrong". I've played with musicians who didn't know the first thing about theory but they'd write a song and a solo, and literally everything fit together diatonically just by ear.

So yeah, I mean, there's a direct claim about "using theory" like that's involved in the writing and clearly it isn't, but does it come as a surprise that much of Periphery's music is theoretically sound? No, unless they become free jazz.

 

[narad]

Well I mean none of us (except for Nolly) knows theory. We have our own individual understandings of music and follow our ears to write. Nolly, who actually does know theory, kinda put his knowledge aside and followed his ears too when he was writing. So for better or for worse, we definitely don't write with traditional music theory.

Yea, I mean that music theory is an attempt to systematically define the principles which separate good music from..a bunch of random klinking noises. From a pedagogical pov, it doesn’t make sense to say, ~”So, I'm not saying I dislike Periphery. I'm just saying I need stuff with theory.” That's my complaint. If you like it, it either abides by an existing theory of music, or it abides by a theory of music we have yet to discover or properly formalize. So people should study what they like, not what pairs well with the circle of fifths.

I mean, sometimes trying to ground creativity in formalisms is even harmful. It's like a Jackson Pollock painting -- an extremely freeform creative process, presumably not consciously grounded in aesthetic theory, but like "using our ears" as you say. But people still in retrospect try to analyze the visual principles of why certain pieces tend to convey particular moods, stress, and aesthetic.

 

[Seybsnilksz]

What the flip is noise metal

 

[penguin_316]

Can anyone recommend some good undiscovered noise metal bands? Love me some noise metal

 

[BIG ND SWEATY]

I'm not a huge noise guy but Blanck Mass is a good one along with The Body and early Full Of Hell gets pretty noisy and harsh.

 

[tpl2000]

Don't you love it when an question turns into people bitterly arguing semantics? I'm not trying to troll, people. I just want recommendations for something to learn.

 

[Soya]

Yes this is clearly our fault, not yours.

 

[tpl2000]

Yes this is clearly our fault, not yours.

Please, forgive me for trying to get back to the topic at hand.

 

[Andrew Lloyd Webber]

Welcome to sevenstring.org.

 

[narad]

Welcome to sevenstring.org.

Is this the "having fun with it" they told me about?

 

[p0ke]

I personally don't think of it as "using theory" when I compose stuff, but mostly everything ends up using pretty standard minor scales and stuff like that. And the same goes for much of Periphery's stuff, they just put "wrong" notes at certain points which creates tension in the sound. Nothing un-theoretical there
What I mostly use theory for, is to describe rhythm. IMO it's a lot easier to for example tell a drummer to play 8th triplets on the kick drums, 4ths on the hi-hat and hit the snare on the third beat, instead of beatboxing it to him or inventing some arbitrary names for things... You also basically have to understand that part of theory to be able to sequence drums.

 

[tpl2000]

I personally don't think of it as "using theory" when I compose stuff, but mostly everything ends up using pretty standard minor scales and stuff like that. And the same goes for much of Periphery's stuff, they just put "wrong" notes at certain points which creates tension in the sound. Nothing un-theoretical there
What I mostly use theory for, is to describe rhythm. IMO it's a lot easier to for example tell a drummer to play 8th triplets on the kick drums, 4ths on the hi-hat and hit the snare on the third beat, instead of beatboxing it to him or inventing some arbitrary names for things... You also basically have to understand that part of theory to be able to sequence drums.

Have you ever looked at old chord notation (see:Coltrane)? Circles, (sometimes with a slash in them,) triangles... Bugged the crap out of me when I was trying to translate them lol.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Anybody else see Misha's Toneforge video? JST makes some great plugins that are usually ready to go from default settings so looking forward to hearing more about this one. Presume its being released with the next album like Jason's was.

 

[bulb]

Is this the "having fun with it" they told me about?

Having fun with it is only fun if you have fun with it.

 

[bulb]

Anybody else see Misha's Toneforge video? JST makes some great plugins that are usually ready to go from default settings so looking forward to hearing more about this one. Presume its being released with the next album like Jason's was.

Nah, next album probably won't be out till 2019, this amp is almost done, just working out the last few bugs before we release!

 

[Albake21]

Nah, next album probably won't be out till 2019, this amp is almost done, just working out the last few bugs before we release!

I don't know much about Toneforge, but is this amp going to be a standalone plugin or just an amp/update within Toneforge?

 

[Lorcan Ward]

All Toneforge amps are standalone but that would be awesome if they did make a plugin you could mix and match from other ones since they come with Limiters and compressors designed for guitars.

Nah, next album probably won't be out till 2019, this amp is almost done, just working out the last few bugs before we release!

Good to know! Will keep an eye out for more clips.

 

[Avedas]

Have you ever looked at old chord notation (see:Coltrane)? Circles, (sometimes with a slash in them,) triangles... Bugged the crap out of me when I was trying to translate them lol.

Old? That stuff is everywhere in jazz charts.