A lot of my Synfire music sounds like elevator music

Hi,

Yes i tried also to do more with emotions in Synfire with the Chordprogressions an used a video tutorial for
Ask.Video.Music.Scoring.101.Creating.Moods.and.Styles.TUTORiAL

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah, let's wait on a more serieus reaction then :)

VERY interesting question. I always wondered why this didn't come up earlier.

Elevator music is what you get when you rely on gently flowing melodies and pleasant harmonies, doodling the same textures over and over. Lack of contrast and dynamics is soothing but boring.

Sound also comes into play and is most obvious to a listener, but has a lesser impact on the "genericness" (there are extremely touching and unique songs out there that perfectly work on a guitar and/or piano - but that's mostly for pop music).

Here's a few tips:

1. Don't rely on a single "pattern" (texture). Develop 3 totally different textures independently (each in their own container): One smooth and gentle, one rough and hefty, fast and slow, etc. Think contrast, surprise, shock. Use them as building blocks, as a whole and by mixing phrases taken from different textures.
2. Density: Compreess some phrases to double and triple speed. You are using a computer! Speed is not limited.
3. Tell a story: Think movie scenes. Build suspense, towering tension and sudden collapses.
4. Less is more. Avoid doodling a full-blown texture all the time. Make use of the Pause parameter on individual instruments to introduce change and interaction (call & response).
5. Most importantly however: Listen to many music examples and learn what others are doing to create contrast, suspense, dynamics, uniqueness. You will be able to almost instantly use this in your own work.

Synfire won't do all that magically for you (if it did, all users would get the same style of non-evelator music, which would become the next generation elevator music very soon). It helps you glue your ideas together quickly, so you can experiment with that freely until you like the results.

Ah, and for more harsh harmony, try limiting your progression to a single or two chords at times. Use a complex chord and scale and hammer it with dynamic figures. This builds suspense.

Use an alternative palette built on, for example, the wholetone scale.

Try introducing a key change every two chords or so. The listener will probably fix it ;-)

The popular four-chords-riff is great for the chorus of a pop song, but less for something sinister or myterious.

You can also play your own chords and then drag them in to your composition from the top of the pallette wheel

i also like to use a lot of different libraries thin the same piece

i also frequently play with drawing in dynamics that create tension and resolve.

Synfire can do so many amazng things!

i often will play in my own lines , play a dissonant chord and then drag that in to my progression.

it also helps to sometimes turn off voice leading on some of your melodic ideas.

Listen to greats like John Williams, he is the master at using chromatacism and jazz chords to create fascinating textures and moods.

Assigning the vertical notes to a blues scale will get you out of the elevator sound. For my latest imrpov flights i am assigning every chord in the composition to a Vertical blues scale. I takes me where i need to be. https://www.reverbnation.com/groverbeatsxl/song/26635989-the-real-punk-fusion-pt1