Jake Lizzio
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Using Advanced Modal Mixture to Make Prog Metal
🕑 Added 2025-02-19 00:06:57 +0000 UTCHere's a video breakdown of what I made for the week 6 challenge: https://youtu.be/asuN5jQuNVA . Next week I'll be reviewing all of your songs as well, but please have them submitted by tonight!
Overview: The piece revolves around the notes of the D minor (F major) key. The tonal center begins on Dm (the vi triad) and eventually migrates to the iii triad (Am). Both of these tonal centers are treated as the expanded minor key, and each will see movable 2nds, 6ths, etc..
INTRO (D minor key):
I treat this Dm tonal center as mostly phrygian, with little reference to the natural minor scale. The intro chord progression begins with a tonal center of a D5 powerchord, then we see the following chords:
Eb (bII): I play D Phrygian
D (I): This is a surprise picardy third, and I play D Phrygian Dominant
Eb (bII): Returning to regular phrygian by lowering the third
C5 - Bb5: These are the bVII and bVII powerchords of either D phrygian or D minor. I treat them as if they're from D phrygian and descend through that scale quickly at the end to resolve to the next section.
DRONE SECTION (A minor key):
A truncated polymeter is played (watch the video!) on just an A note, which serves as a pedal tone. Above that the following chords are played:
Am - F - B - Bb
Am - F (i - bVI): I'm treating these as they were from the Am scale, and using that scale on top. However, they're both native to phrygian, so that's a choice too.
B (II): This is that sweet sounding chord that is easily acommodated with A Dorian #4, so I do that!
Bb (bII): I use A phrygian on top to easily match this chord.
The last progression before the big melody is similar: Am - Bb - B - C. This is a chromatic climbing acension, and I use the same scales as before, aeolian -> phrygian -> dorian #4 -> aeolian
BIG LEADS (no obvious tonal center)
We play chords from D minor (which is F major), but borrow from F minor. I'm going to write these numerals in the key of F major:
Bb (IV) - C(V) - Am(iii) - Ab(bVI) - Db (bIII) - Dbº(viiº/vi)
I use the D minor / F major scale atop the chords Bb, C, Am. Once the borrowed chords come in (Ab and Db) I COULD switch to the F minor scale... and in fact thats what I thought I did. In reality, and upon further listening, it seems as if I actually went into my favorite trick of just "play lydian atop non-diatonic major triads". That means you're actually hearing Ab lydian and Db lydian atop those chords. Note: This VIOLATES the modal mixture concepts as we've learned them! There's no easy way to track back where these scales are "coming from," but I did write the chords themselves with the Fm scale in mind...
The last Db diminished chord acts as the vii of D, so it should technically be named C#dim, but here it doesn't make a lot of sense to change the enharmonic when we're staying on the same root note.
OTHER THINGS
I forgot to mention in the video - i recorded this on my 6 string and used a Gojira Neural DSP amp sim preset that tuned me down a whole perfect fifth. I was surprised how good it sounded!
The drums make a big difference in making this sound good. I used GetGood drums, one of the preset metal kits.
Lastly, theres a few layers of synth in here. If you have any questions on this track please let me know and I'll explain more!
