Unit 49: Brief 4- Composing using music technology

Composition

composition skills-

form-

form is the layout of different sections of a song, often it uses a chord progression an example of this could be A,F,C,G.

to start off our compositions we were given the form A,A1,B,A1. A represents a simple set of 4 chords, A1 represents the same as A but with a slight difference, this may be 1 octave higher/lower, or it may be 1 chord different, this add a little bit of flair to the piece. B represents a complete change to the whole chord sequence. The track would then go back to the A1 section. and this creates a basic verse for your project.

structure-
a structure is the order the song is presented in.
the most common structure for a pop song is ABABCB where A represents a verse, B represents a chorus and C is a bridge that adds a bit of flair to the overall track. the different sections are made up of completely different forms but flow together smoothly to create an overall song.
The chorus is the part that represents that song as its often exactly the same each time which makes it memorable. it is also the part that connects the verses together. like a break from the main story a song will tell. and the verse it the part that always changes and tell the main story of the song.

genre-
genre means the style of music, an example of this would be county or rock. they have their own typical structure and forms. they show their own techniques which makes them different from the other genres and make them sound unique.

statement-
a statement is something that makes a song stand out from the rest of the songs in that ganre of music, this can be due to a new instrument that it has introduced, or it can be because of a message that it is displaying.

repetition-
in a song repetition is normally displayed through the chorus, however in rap music for artist such as Kanye west they will base a section on one specific word and will refer back to it after every couple of sentences.

difference-
one of the things that make genres so different from each other is the instruments they choose, in a rock song there will be electric guitars and a drum set, where as in a classical piece will have pianos and violins .

individually-
this just means something that makes it stand out.

originality-
this is something that makes it like nothing else that's out there

composers  rights-
the composer is the person who creates the song, they own all the rights to a song so if another composer wants to use it they would have to ask permission from the original composer, this may mean that they get royalties to the song and get a certain percentage of the profit the song will pick up.

Sound design-
sampling-
a sample is a short clip of audio, if it is under 5 seconds it does not break copyright regulations, however anything over would require permission from the original owner of the song or bit of audio. samples can help to make a song unique and give it individuality.
you can download samples from websites and then use the snipping tool that can be found on Cubase to make it a size that suits your preferences.
you can even use Cubase to edit a sample, for example Cubase can be used to stretch the sample, this would make it sound different from the original sample.

Availability-
software inputs-
I decided to use a piano and a solo violin as this is what went best with the genre I had chosen .
these two instruments are ,very common in the classical genre.

analogue and digital input-
I decided that having a microphone track would not suit the genre I was going for as classical is most commonly known for being all instrumental. if I did decide to have a microphone track it would have to be in an opera style and I do not know any artist that I could use to accomplish this.
I also decided a DI would not be nessisery for this project.

playback equipment-
format and compatibility- a MIDI file is the part that tells the system what to do, it will say what instrument you want played and for how long. for example: in my product the system would have told the computer to play a violin at C3 for 2 seconds. This can be beneficial for the system user as it takes up less space than it would if you chose to use an audio file.
an audio file stores a digital copy of a recording.

copyright issues-
within the music industry it is very easy to be tripped up by copyright regulations, it doesn't matter how long a track has been existing, if an artist thinks that you have used part of their song without permission than they can take you to court for breaking copyright laws.
this can be easily solved by contacting an artist as soon as you have interest in their track. it is also important to only use as much as they give you permission to use, if you do get permission from the artist they may ask for royalties for the song, this means that they would take part of the profit made from your track (if it makes any money).
an example of an artist being sued for using too much of a sample would be the verve for 'bitter sweet symphony', they had permission by the rolling stones to use a sample of 'the last time' the original agreement for the song was a 50/50 cut of the profits, however due to them using too much of the song, the rolling stones demanded 100% of the profits.

Mixing and mastering-
PQ codes-
PQ codes are what separate the track that are on a CD and this makes it easier for a person to find a specific song on a CD rather than having to fast-forward throughout one massive track and guess how far in it starts.

MP3-
MP3 is short for MPEG audio layer 3, and it is used to compress a track so that it can keep close to CD quality. an MP3 takes up less storage space making it easier to download and stream.

WAV-
this is an uncompressed file that would take up a lot of storage space. however because its not compressed non of the file is lost, which would be a benefit of using WAV.

AAC-
this is short for Advance audio copy. it compresses a file but not as much as MP3 would, and would have a better quality of sound.

Internet distribution-
throughout the years music has went from being sold on a record, to being sold on a cassette player, an then eventually to a CD but with modern technology the need for CDs have decreased and people have taken to listening to music on the internet. so sellers decided to take advantage of this and make it available to buy music straight onto your phones. this is demonstrated though things like iTunes, the perks of doing this is that it prevents the hassle of having to import music onto a computer and then go through the process of getting it onto a mobile device. 

compressor-
a compressor is used to make the load sounds in a track quieter.

Unit 49: brief 2 - Sequencing a pop song

Process of sequencing project

How to set up a project:

To set up a project you must have a DAW, this stands for a Digital Audio Workstation. A DAW is device or computer software that is used for recording, editing and producing an audio file; the file can be anything from a song to a basic piece of human speech or sound effect.

The DAW that I use is called Cubase, the system allows us to produce a project where we digitally insert and instrument, within the software we can be precise with the notes we want to use, DAW systems allow you to produce a file that can be manipulated so that an instrumental piece is done without a note out of place, it offers procession that you cannot get from a studio recording.

My class uses a MAC computer to operate Cubase, the mac has a 4GB memory, this allows use to make big files and complex software without having to worry about not having enough memory to save it internally, if the MAC did not have much memory the class would have to use memory sticks to save our work, through this we would be put at risk of losing the USB therefore losing the work we have produced.

Setting up a track with Hal Lion SE:

Before you set up a project you need to know about MIDI, which stands for Musical Instruments Digital Interface, it allows a variety of digital instruments to work together

To set up a new project you have to:

Firstly open up the program

(Cubase Logo)

you will be shown a menu , along the to there is an option labelled “more” on the menu you click on “empty”

(Cubase empty document option) 

From this you will have a completely blank work space, to insert an instrument you need to find the option “project” along the tool bar , the project option will open a list of options, in this list you need to choose the option “add track”  on the next menu you must choose “instalment”.

(cubase header)

(cubase prodject)

(cubase add track)

A box will pop up on your screen. This will give you the options has to which type of virtual instrument you want to use, for example if you wanted to use a virtual drum, or if you wanted to use a synth, the first instrument I chose to work on was strings therefore I needed to use a synth track.

(add instrument track)

(DI options)

The synth menu give you the options of synth you would like to use, my project required me to use the HALion Sonic SE. this option allows any Cubase user access to a wide range of sounds, it focuses on aspect of producing music that some people would see as essential such as having a good clear sound, it also makes the virtual analogy synthesizer have a powerful effect.

(Synths options)

Once you add the track it will be put on your workspace, at the point you can focus the side bar that would have now appeared along side your track, this bar will allow you to choose which specific instrument you are choosing to use. In order to pick your specific instrument you need to click on the blank space that can be located within the side bar below your option for MIDI input.

A new pox will appear will different types of basic synth, ay the top there is a search bar where you can search for a specific instalment, my project required me to search for strings, once you have searched a verity of your instruments will appear.

(cubase screen)

(instrument options)

(instrument type/strings)

(instrument string options)

What is MIDI
Midi gives instructions to the computer telling it what sounds to play,. at what pitch and for how long

software synthesisers
software synthesisers allows you to change the sound of an instruments due to it using serval samples from the existing instruments, this allows you to edit the instrument to suit how you personally want it to sound for your project.

using a groove agent for drums
instruments are recorded and use as part of the software, it can be used as a sample for people to use as part of their projects. groove agents are mostly used for drum tracks. to use a groove agent you take all the steps you would take to insert any other instrument but instead of selecting "Hal Lion SE" you would select "grove agent" instead, then go over to the toolbar and select "media" and then "mediaBay". this will bring up the options for what samples you can use, you ,can listen to each one until you find the one that you want, once you have found the perfect one you take all the steps as before to get the groove agent up, now with both the groove agent and the samples windows open, just drag and drop the sample into the groove agent.