A commonly heard effect in music production is the melody reverse technique. It can often be heard subtly on long piano chords. The trick involves layering a reversed version of a melody over the original melody. This produces an ethereal dreamlike quality to your melody lines. In this post we have included a simple step-by-step guide as well as a video short that demonstrates this technique in FL Studio. (The principle will be the same for any DAW)

Its an easy to achieve effect that can add a fantastic extra dimension to the melodic parts of your beats. Why not give it a go and see what it can add to your creations.

Reversing and Layering a Melody – A Step-by-step Guide

  • Step 1: Flip your MIDI notes horizontally so they play in reverse.
  • Step 2: Consolidate/convert the reversed MIDI notes so they are represented as waveform audio
  • Step 5: Reverse the waveform audio
  • Step 4: Move the waveform audio so that it lines up with the original MIDI melody
  • Step 5: Play both the original and reversed audio together.
  • Step 6: Set a good volume balance where the reversed audio doesn’t overpower the original.
  • Step 7: Automate or edit the reversed audio so that it’s used sparingly in optimum places.
  • Step 8: Add some reverb to the reversed audio for a more subtle dreamlike quality.

Melody Reverse Technique Instructional short by Rekreation Beats

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