PODCAST · music
Ray Harmony
by Hack Music Theory
The unorthodoX ideas of multi award-winning music lecturer Ray Harmony. Older episodes were co-hosted by his wife and protégé Kate Harmony. As a songwriter and producer, Ray has made music with Grammy winners and multiplatinum artists, including Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) and Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine). Join over 255,000 YouTube subscribers learning the fast, easy, and fun way to make music without using AI, cos it ain't no fun getting a robot to write “your” songs! Download Ray's free book at HackMusicTheory.com
Episodes
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Overwhelmed With Content? Use This Method.
Overwhelmed With Content? Use This Method. One simple question can get your time (and your life) back! I deleted all my social media accounts 11 years ago, yet every day I’m overwhelmed with things to listen to. And that’s just on Spotify. There are countless fascinating podcast interviews, and...
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AI Hitmaker to AI Hitman.
AI Hitmaker to AI Hitman. Wow, that escalated fast! It was only two years ago that I was sitting here at my desk watching a video on how generative-AI was now able to make music. I remember thinking: Man, that song sounds awful, and super fake too! Fast forward a couple years to now, and hardly...
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This Song Makes You Feel Good.
Counterclockwise Music. This Song Makes You Feel Good. When I listen to “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys, I’m instantly transported back to my childhood in the ‘80s. In fact, if I close my eyes while listening to it, I’m right there in my childhood house lying on my back with my headphones on, singing...
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Odd Time Signatures That Aren’t Odd.
Odd Time Signatures That Aren’t Odd. Rare Rhythms That Move People. American band Death Cab for Cutie recently released their new album “I Built You a Tower”, and the song “Stone Over Water” is a brilliant example of how to make music that’s rhythmically interesting without sacrificing its…
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Wanting Fans Is Not Wanting Validation.
Wanting Fans Is Not Wanting Validation. Music is social. No fans = No relationships. My previous essay, titled “Making Music Is Bad for Mental Health”, was a kind of eulogy to the pre-smartphone fan. You know, that person who used to listen with all their attention. Nowadays, people don’t really…
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Making Music Is Bad for Your Mental Health.
Making Music Is Bad for Your Mental Health. Songs need listeners, but most people are too busy scrolling nowadays. You’ve just finished a new song. You love it! You’re beyond thrilled. You can’t wait for people to hear it, so you excitedly upload it and click publish. And you wait. And you wait...
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Life in a ‘90s Grunge Band.
Life in a ‘90s Grunge Band. Comparing the music world of 1996 to 2026. It’s 9pm. Friday night. December 20th, 1996. Cape Town, South Africa. I walk out on stage. The air is thick with smoke from the fog machine and cigarettes, and probably something else too. A bright spotlight is in my face. The...
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Creating Calm Through Song Structure.
Creating Calm Through Song Structure. How to make a sonic sanctuary, like Tamikrest. My favourite Saharan rock band Tamikrest just released their new album “Assikel”, and I’ve had it on repeat this week. Why? Well firstly, this is a mesmerizing collection of songs that make me feel good. I can...
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A Couplet a Day, Keeps Insanity Away.
A Couplet a Day, Keeps Insanity Away. Daily creative habits for better mental health. We’ve just moved. Again. For more than a decade now, Kate and I have been averaging about one move per year. Last year we moved twice, but our record is an impressive three moves in one year! The reasons for...
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Forget Meditation, Listen to Music.
Forget Meditation, Listen to Music. Meditating isn’t effective enough anymore. As people become more addicted to their phones, society’s obsession with mindfulness meditation grows. I think that’s because the collective unconscious knows that we desperately need to take back control of our minds,...
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Writers & Readers Against AI.
Writers & Readers Against AI. If you’re pro-human, join Paul Kingsnorth’s campaign. The brilliant English writer Paul Kingsnorth recently launched a campaign for everyone who loves humans and human creativity. So if you also miss the good ol’ days when you could read, listen or watch something…
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AI Human vs Human AI.
AI Human vs Human AI. A brief history of transhuman music. Most AI-generated songs now sound more human than most human-made songs. How did music go so horribly wrong? It all happened so fast, too! If you’re a Gen Xer like me, you’ve witnessed this whole process unfold from start to finish in…
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Musical Heroes in the AI Age.
Musical Heroes in the AI Age. Nø Førmat! You need to know about this record label. Nø Førmat! is an independent record label based in Paris. They’ve been around for over 20 years, and they’re one of my favourite labels. I love so many of their releases, but my current favourite is the album...
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We Are the Orchid Children.
We Are the Orchid Children. A call to highly sensitive musicians. “Dandelion” children are those resilient and healthy kids who can survive and thrive under most circumstances. “Orchid” children, on the other hand, are those sensitive and fragile kids who need the right kind of support in order…
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The Music Theory of Fun.
The Music Theory of Fun. These two things make songs feel good… In my previous essay Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun? I told the story of how music was intentionally transformed from a fun and communal activity into fear propaganda that’s consumed alone. All within a few decades. I concluded with an...
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Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun?
Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun? Music used to be our greatest joy, then this happened… 1964. Fun, Fun, Fun. That was a song on the album “Shut Down, Volume 2” by my childhood heroes, The Beach Boys. Go have a quick listen, the song is only two minutes long. But they’re two minutes of pure joy!…
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Musical Memoirs & Sonic Scrapbooks.
Musical Memoirs & Sonic Scrapbooks. How to find purpose, passion, and meaning in your life. Okay so what’s a musical memoir? Well, the Oxford Dictionary defines a memoir as “an account written by somebody about their life and experiences”. So a musical memoir is a musical account written by...
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An Effortless New Year’s Resolution.
An Effortless New Year’s Resolution. One simple question that will change your future. New year’s resolutions don’t work. All the studies on them reveal this same finding. Yet every January 1st, millions of people make them. Again. Knowing that they’ve never worked before. In fact, the only thing...
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The Best Music Is Behind Us. But That’s a Good Thing!
The Best Music Is Behind Us. But that’s a good thing! Here’s why… This essay began as a “Best Album of 2025” post, where I was going to share my favourite album of the year and what I loved about it. As you would have noticed from the title, though, it grew into something entirely different. Why?...
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The Geography of Musical Scales.
The Geography of Musical Scales. Finding peace in pentatonic places. It’s thought that pentatonic scales are the most ancient of all the musical scales. Regardless of whether that’s true or not, it’s worth paying attention to these five-note scales because of their unique consonance. You see…
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Music is Mind Control.
Music is Mind Control. Lyrics are little Derren Brown’s in your brain. Do we have free will? That ancient question actually misses the point, because the concept of free will implies that we’re free to act on our desires. Okay. That’s fine. But where do our desires come from? That’s the real...
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This Is The Only Pure Music.
This Is The Only Pure Music. A celebration of non-classical absolute music. Music has united people for millennia, but nowadays it’s been weaponized to divide us. I’ve personally experienced its uniting effects, though, so I know what’s possible. You see, I was born and raised in apartheid South...
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Don’t Lie! You Listen to AI Songs.
Don’t Lie! You Listen to AI Songs. There’s no way to avoid them, unless you do this… I’ve been speaking out against AI-generated music for a while now, but people keep telling me (proudly) that they don’t listen to songs made by AI. They also keep telling me (proudly) that AI songs are crap.…
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Music Is Dead. Good Riddance!
Music Is Dead. Good Riddance! AI killed the recording star. Now what? Have you heard AI-generated music? It’s better than most of the music that humans are making nowadays. Even worse than that, though, is the fact that music generated by machines ironically sounds more human than most music made...
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You vs Phone. Who Will Win?
You vs Phone. Who Will Win? A musical method to take your attention back! How many seconds can you sit still and focus on your breathing, without your mind wandering? If you’re like most people nowadays, your answer to that question is somewhere under 10 seconds. Seriously. And that’s the “new...
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The Uglification of Music.
The Uglification of Music. Can a return to beauty save music? Okay I know you’ve just started reading this, but please stop (temporarily), then go and listen to the second movement of J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major. Its nickname is “Air on a G String”, so just search for that. Even...
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Don’t Trust Me, I’m an Expert.
Don’t Trust Me, I’m an Expert. Confessions of an INFJ. I’m a multi award-winning music lecturer with over 30 years of teaching experience, 10 of those years being at one of the UK’s largest colleges. I studied classical guitar, piano, and music theory (all to the highest grade) at the...
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You Can’t Make Music without Using Theory.
You Can’t Make Music without Using Theory. “I don’t use music theory, because rules limit my creativity.” If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say that in my 30 years of teaching music theory, I wouldn’t be living in a rented one-bedroom apartment, that’s for sure! The Oxford…
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Hearing Music from the Future.
Hearing Music from the Future. Materialist science tells us that we hear with our ears, and see with our eyes. But if that’s true, then how do we explain extra-ocular vision? If you haven’t come across this jaw-dropping phenomenon where blind (or blind-folded) people can see, look it up, and be...
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You're Listening to Music Wrong.
You’re Listening to Music Wrong. You’re Listening to Music Wrong. I am, too. We all are. It’s tragic, but we can fix it. Over the last 20 years, music has been devalued and demoted. It used to be the hero. Now it’s the sidekick. The soundtrack for working or socialising or whatever. However, if...
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The 4 Types of Artist. Which Are You?
The 4 Types of Artist. Which Are You? Every song is born from an idea. So where do ideas come from? In other words: What or who is the cause of your imagination? Your answer to this question is tied to your worldview, and that determines what type of artist you are. The first type of artist...
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AI Is Not a Tool. Stop Calling It That.
AI Is Not a Tool. Stop Calling It That. I’ve tattooed myself. Three times! You know what? It hurts a whole lot more when you do it to yourself. You know what else? It looks terrible, too. Why? Because a tattoo machine is a tool that an artist uses to create images in the skin. I had the tool, and…
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AI Is Killing Music! This Is How We Save It.
AI Is Killing Music! This Is How We Save It. Hardly anything is real anymore! And that includes most people. They walk around staring at their phones with earbuds in, ignoring the reality all around them and instead choosing to live in their screen’s virtual reality. Regardless of what their…
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AI Saves Us Time. That’s Bad!
AI Saves Us Time. That’s Bad! Time is our only non-renewable resource. People talk about “spending” time and “spending” money, but these two types of spending are opposite. We can always make more money, but we can never make more time. Therefore, the greatest, most valuable gift we can give...
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AI Can’t Make Music
AI Can't Make Music. AI can’t make music. Let me explain… The reason almost everyone thinks AI can make music, is because the definition of music has changed. As a side note, it’s interesting how more and more definitions seem to be changing nowadays, isn’t it? But that’s a story for another day…...
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Making Music is Hard. Why Bother?
Making Music is Hard. Why Bother? I never thought this day would come. But here it is. After 30 years of teaching music to thousands of students, I’m facing a previously unimagined challenge: convincing people who want to make music that they should learn how to do it. Never in human history has...
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How to Write a Catchy Melody • Music Theory from Glass Animals "Creatures in Heaven"
How to Write a Catchy Melody. Free PDF Tutorial includes multitrack MIDI file If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser: https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2877864/catchy-melody Intro. British band Glass Animals are absolutely massive! At the time of writing this, they’re…
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How to Write Sweeping Arpeggios • Music Theory from Daft Punk "Motherboard"
How to Write Sweeping Arpeggios. Free PDF Tutorial includes multitrack MIDI file If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser: https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2639559/sweeping-arpeggios Intro. Do your arpeggios all sound rather similar? It’s a common problem for producers....
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How to Write Heavy BASS Lines • Music Theory from Front Line Assembly "Purge"
How to Write Heavy BASS Lines Step 1. Syncopated Octaves Set up one bar of 4|4 with your grid on 1/16 notes, and your tempo at 110 BPM. You’re gonna start by using only one note, and the octave of that note. We’re using A in our example. So, draw in every 1/16 note on the low A. Now, play around...
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How to Write Advanced DRUMS • Music Theory from Royal Blood "Mountains at Midnight"
How to Write Advanced DRUMS Step 1. Pattern Set up two bars of 4|4 with your grid set to 1/16 notes, and your tempo at 136 BPM. Now, instead of starting to make your drum beat with the usual kick on beat 1 and snare on the backbeats (like everyone else does!), you’re gonna start by writing your...
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How to Write Locrian BASS Lines • Music Theory from Rezz "Suffer in Silence"
How to Write Locrian BASS Lines Step 1. Basic Set up four bars with an 1/8 note grid, and your tempo at 97 BPM. You’re gonna start by writing a basic bass line that plays every 1/8 note. This creates momentum. We’re in B Locrian here, which is just all the white notes from B to B. The Locrian…
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How to Write Beautiful CHORDS • Music Theory from Sleep Token "Take Me Back to Eden"
How to Write a Beautiful CHORD Progression Step 1. Beauty Set your grid to 1/16 notes and your tempo to 113 BPM. We’re in the key of A minor here, which is just all the white notes from A to A. Right, so the first step to writing a beautiful chord progression is finding a beautiful chord. There…
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How to Write a BASS Line with Harmony • Music Theory from GoGo Penguin "Everything Is Going to Be OK"
How to Write a BASS Line with Harmony Step 1. Low Harmony is when two or more notes are played together. And sadly, it’s rare to hear harmony in a bass line. The word “line” is actually used to convey the fact that it’s a melody, not a harmony. That’s how rare harmony is on the bass! You see…
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How to Write a Standout MELODY • Music Theory from PJ Harvey "A Child's Question, August"
How to Write a Standout MELODY Step 1. First Impressions There are many ways to write a standout melody, but it’s difficult to improve on the method PJ Harvey uses in her new single “A Child’s Question, August”. That’s because nothing grabs our attention like a bold first impression. And by first...
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How to Write a Locrian RIFF • Music Theory from Metallica "72 Seasons"
How to Write a Locrian RIFF FREE: Download This Tutorial as PDF Includes multitrack MIDI example Step 1. Octaves Set your grid to 1/16 notes and your tempo to 97 BPM. You’re gonna start by writing a creative pattern using only octaves. If you’re writing this on guitar, use your low open E string...
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How to Write a Catchy MELODY • Music Theory from Beastie Boys "Sure Shot"
How to Write a Catchy MELODY FREE: Download This Tutorial as PDF Includes multitrack MIDI example Step 1. Scale There are two types of catchy melodies: annoyingly repetitive ones you can’t stop singing but actually hate, and awesome ones that are memorable cos they’re unique. So, to write a…
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How to Write Energetic BASS Lines • Music Theory from The Chemical Brothers "No Reason"
How to Write Energetic BASS Lines Step 1. Rhythmic Energy There’s a super energetic bass line in the new single “No Reason” by The Chemical Brothers. To write a bass line like this, you need a lot of movement. Not just rhythmic movement, but melodic movement too. So, start by writing an energetic...
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How to Write a Lydian MELODY • Music Theory from Depeche Mode "Ghosts Again"
How to Write a Lydian MELODY FREE: Download This Tutorial as PDF Includes multitrack MIDI example Simple music can be great music. Depeche Mode’s lead single “Ghosts Again” from their new album “Memento Mori” is proof. It has a well-written and creative vocal melody in the verses, but it’s really...
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How to Write Polymeter DRUMS • Music Theory from Periphery "Atropos"
How to Write Polymeter DRUMS Step 1. Kick in 7 The new Periphery single “Atropos” (from the album Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre) opens with a classic djent polymeter, which we love! Staying true to Meshuggah’s original polymeter recipe, the kick is in odd time while the snare and cymbals are…
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How to Write a Layered RIFF • Music Theory from Polyphia "Ego Death"
How to Write a Layered Guitar RIFF Step 1. Bass The first thing you notice in the opening riff of “Ego Death” by Polyphia is that there are two layers. There’s a bass line and a lead melody all in one riff, played by one guitar. By adding bass notes below the melody they’re implying chords and...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The unorthodoX ideas of multi award-winning music lecturer Ray Harmony. Older episodes were co-hosted by his wife and protégé Kate Harmony. As a songwriter and producer, Ray has made music with Grammy winners and multiplatinum artists, including Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) and Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine). Join over 255,000 YouTube subscribers learning the fast, easy, and fun way to make music without using AI, cos it ain't no fun getting a robot to write “your” songs! Download Ray's free book at HackMusicTheory.com
HOSTED BY
Hack Music Theory
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How many episodes does Ray Harmony have?
Ray Harmony currently has 250 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Ray Harmony about?
The unorthodoX ideas of multi award-winning music lecturer Ray Harmony. Older episodes were co-hosted by his wife and protégé Kate Harmony. As a songwriter and producer, Ray has made music with Grammy winners and multiplatinum artists, including Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) and Tom Morello (Rage...
How often does Ray Harmony release new episodes?
Ray Harmony publishes regularly with 250 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to Ray Harmony on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Ray Harmony?
Ray Harmony is created and hosted by Hack Music Theory.
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