Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Extending Live Guitar Decay Time - by DianaDee Osborne

EXTENDING LIVE GUITAR DECAY TIME
DATE of posting:       27 February 201morning     SUBSCRIBE  
https://dianadeegarageband.blogspot.com - 

RECORDING HINTS -- written about using  GarageBand -- BUT
these Hints help increase your skills in ProTools, Logic, etc. 

Easy TRICK  TO GIVE MORE DRAMA to last guitar note:

When you tune your guitar, your hit of the string ("attack") sets the tuner's needle "right on" when the string is in tune. But you notice that needle hold for a few seconds and then slowly drift downward as the sound dies out, called "decay".

It's easy to control decay length with guitar pedals or even amp settings. But we often record live guitar straight into the computer as a "clean" guitar, to give us full control for later changes.

Hint for Live playing works, too --
Here's an easy way to lengthen your final live guitar note 
(or notes) even in a clean recording: 
  
1. Leave yourself "headroom" on your guitar to move the instrument volume knob upward.
2. After you hit the final note, as the note's sound begins to decay, gradually turn your volume knob up until the note is as long as you want.
3. Then just lower the volume control knob at whatever speed gives you the sound you want.

That's all there is to it...
an easy way to let your guitar "cry" or "scream" or whatever much longer 
than the note(s) would last with a single hit and nothing else. 

Much joy to you in making your guitar sing... or scream :) !
Lots of Examples to hear free at http://www.DianaDeeOsbornesongs.com/

©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne;  all publication rights reserved
(An earlier version published 20 August 2011)

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

HOW TO CHANGE KEY AFTER RECORDING - by DianaDee Osborne

HOW TO CHANGE KEY AFTER RECORDING    SUBSCRIBE  
DATE of posting:       20 February 201morning  

https://dianadeegarageband.blogspot.com - 

RECORDING HINTS -- written about using  GarageBand -- BUT
these Hints help increase your skills in ProTools, Logic, etc. 

You CANNOT CHANGE Music Score KEY 
after recording music without a TriCK (MIDI ONLY info)
Have you ever selected NEW to create a studio project in Garageband,
focused on typing the correct song filename,
played a fantastic track....  
and THEN realized that you FORGOT to change the DEFAULT KEY?
If you try to CORRECT the key now so the SCORE will be correct, 
your already recorded music will change in sound.....
Result: Your music score may have so many sharps or flats in it 
that only a college music major would want to try it. 
This hint shows --    You DON'T have to re-do music!.... 

....even though the GarageBand program makes you think  you do. 
After you've created a beautiful music track, if you look at the score (fancy GB wording: in the Notation View), you CANNOT simply change the GB key. 
Changing the tempo or bottom half of signature (1/4 or 1/8 ntoes, e.g.)  is FINE --  all notes stay the same, 
but if you change the key, GarageBand transposes all your music to that key.

For projects with only MIDI tracks (hence ability to create score):
EASY FIX so that the score's signature shows the key you want 
but your recorded music won't change:

1. SAVE your project. Just in case you want to revert to the existing file :)
2. TIGHTEN your view  (the slider under the top window) so you can see 
all or most of your track. (It also helps to do a Track > Hide Track Info for long tracks. 
If in the Loop Browser, first Track > Show Track Info.... 
another of those weird hints not in all instruction guides.)

EASY - But be sure you're at TOP of project: 

3. Hit HOME  (to be in Measure 1, Count 1). Click on first track name to be sure you're at top.

4. In MENU, choose Select all tracks (dark green... the track, NOT the notes in the track).
     Then   CUT.   Hey, now you understand that suggestion to first Save!

4. Select Control > Show Tempo (if you're not already there).

5. Change the Key to whatever you like.

6. GO BACK to be sure Track 1, Measure 1 is where you are. Just select   Edit > Paste.


YOUR KEY CHANGE FIX IS NOW DONE -  THE SCORE MATCHES KEY YOU WANT.
Your original tracks... all of them.... are now pasted in exactly as they were.... 
NO transposition done after you changed the key. 
Now when you check the score, it most likely looks a lot easier to play!

Much joy to you creating new music!
Lots of Examples to hear free at http://www.DianaDeeOsbornesongs.com/
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne;  all publication rights reserved

An earlier version published 19 August 2011.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Violin Synth that Sounds More Real

VIOLIN SYNTH THAT SOUNDS REAL
DATE of posting:       13 February 201morning       SUBSCRIBE  
https://dianadeegarageband.blogspot.com - 

RECORDING HINTS -- written about using  GarageBand -- BUT
these Hints help increase your skills in ProTools, Logic, etc. 


How do you tell whether the music is using real violin or "fake" violin created on a synthesizer? This hint-- for any program -- will make it harder for listeners to know if you didn't use a skilled violinist for your music.

Recording programs... even basic ones like GarageBand, do a great job of giving you realistic violin sound. After studying violinists and comparing their sounds to synth violin, I found this main difference: The ending note of a violinist wavers as it fades. The ending note of a synthesizer has a nice but steady fadeout.

HOW TO CREATE REALISTIC VIOLINS -- 

Easy solution for long ending violin notes: Use your Track Volume control and a lot of volume automation points. But really, only 7 points give a nice fade.

1. Highlight the violin track and open the piano roll. If needed, extend your final note.

2. In your track area, extend the zoom slider to make the note you'll be changing very long. (I slide to about 2/3 the zoom line in GarageBand.)

3. Click on the track name area's triangle to open the Track Volume line.

4. In GarageBand this is important (not so much perhaps in other programs): Adjust the overall volume of the track WITH the other music of the entire project to be what you want. Once you add points on the Track Volume line in GB, it's hard to change the overall volume.

5. Right after the long final violin note begins, add 7 evenly spaced automation points -- just click along the volume line. You can use more, you can use less....

Varying VOLUME is a KEY to realistic violins:
6. The first point stays at the overall volume, unchanged. Raise the 2nd point above the line, the 3rd point below, the 4th point above, and etc. How much? It's up to you.
     
In the example "Desperate Prayer" (www.DiDoReflections.com -- free downloadable example), I used these 7 points: 0.4 db (my main volume level), 2.7, minus 2.2, 2.7, minus 3.4, 1.2, ending at 0.4 so that the volume is set for the next region.

You won't hear much of a difference except when really listening... as musicians often do when they 'play the game' of trying to figure out if your music has live musicians or just a keyboard's great synth instrument. Just this touch adds a bit of professionalism.... and perhaps your great music will attract a violinist to ask you, "Hey, can I record live violin for you?"
Great joy in music to you! ©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

LATER BLOG WILL TEACH: 
Look at MIDI notes to ensure they DO NOT OVERLAP MUCH across each other...
If so, you wlil have a muddy sound.


Much joy to you creating new music!
Lots of Examples to hear free at http://www.DianaDeeOsbornesongs.com/
©2018, 2015 DianaDee Osborne;  all publication rights reserved
(An earlier version published 13 August 2011)

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

How to SPLIT for Perfect Region - by DianaDee Osborne

HOW TO SPLIT for  PERFECT (REGION) COPYING
DATE of posting:       6 February 201morning            SUBSCRIBE  
https://dianadeegarageband.blogspot.com - 

RECORDING HINTS -- written about using  GarageBand -- BUT
these Hints help increase your skills in ProTools, Logic, etc. 


THIS WILL SAVE MUCH TIME! --
This hint works for any studio recording, not just Garageband-- an easy way to "know where you are" when you copy a region to another place on that track where the music of other tracks is the same. Such as, when you decide after finishing a song to add one region of your violin track to go with another verse.

An earlier BLOG shows how keeping regions on a track separate comes in handy
when you later decide to add a verse (e.g.).
This goes one step further: When your regions do not all nicely begin on the same measure, so you can't just "copy down" all the regions in a section, copy them, and paste them elsewhere.
I discovered this EASY hint while adding two more interlude sections to "Desperate Prayer" (www.DiDoReflections.com -- free download to check for the example) ... that was not going to be an easy addition because the violin track had multiple regions which bridged from one region to the next of every other track (such as beginning several measures ahead of piano and flute).

This hint works ok for WAV tracks (audio of any type) but it's easier in MIDI; and it assumes you've followed an earlier blog hint -- aligned (quantizied) notes before and after an area to split.

As always, save your project before doing any major changes so you can easily do a File > Revert to Saved if needed.

1. Put your red place marker right at the beginning of the main region; for me, it was where the piano interlude had just ended and a verse was starting. Check your Score to be sure you're not one count off.

2. Select (turns dark green in GarageBand) the region you want to copy that bridges on both sides of that marker (which, yes, has a professional name I'll skip). For me: violin.

3. Select Edit > Split (remembering that the track name must be selected/ green in GB).

4. Select the two pieces now of that region, and do an Edit > Copy. Notice that the split is right at the red marker, at the beginning of your main region (my Piano verse #2 region).

You're almost there... finishing an easy perfect Copy: 

5. Now put the red marker at the corresponding place of the main track's other main region (my Piano verse #4 region)

6. Ensure the correct track name is highlighted (mine: violin). Selected Edit> Paste.

7. Test first, through the end. Then select the separate 2 pieces of your newly pasted region and do Edit > Join. Do the same for the 2 pieces of the region which you had copied.

The new regions now will fit perfectly with the rest of the music including on your main track. An easier copy than trying to match up measures for a track that goes across multiple regions of other tracks.

Much joy to you creating new music!
Lots of Examples to hear free at http://www.DianaDeeOsbornesongs.com/
©2018, 2015 DianaDee Osborne;  all publication rights reserved
(An earlier version published 13 August 2011)

Friday, February 2, 2018

ENDING SPACE to KEEP MOOD

ENDING SPACE TO KEEP MOOD     SUBSCRIBE  
DATE of posting:       2 February 2018  

https://dianadeegarageband.blogspot.com - 

RECORDING HINTS -- written about using  GarageBand -- BUT
these Hints help increase your skills in ProTools, Logic, etc. 

Is your goal to distribute your Indie music on the Web? Then this hint can be useful.

CONTROLING HOW LONG MOOD LASTS
AT THE END OF YOUR SONG

What do I mean? Here's an example: I downloaded from my website
(1)   a beautiful, quiet meditative orchestra song and
(2)   one of my fast-moving ragtime songs.
 Two MP3 tracks copied onto a CD. (They're free to download by anyone, Right-click, then save to your device :)

(1)   I listened to DESPERATE PRAYER... a relaxing, peaceful song withRenaissance style flute and violin music.
(2)  But within a moment from the last note, 
my player suddenly blasted out that loud ragtime.
Well, it did awaken me quite efficiently. Thus I learned this hint:

When you go to burn a CD, 
the PROGRAM offers you a couple of choices of how many seconds between the CD tracks. 
You don't get that choice burning song files in MP3 format, at least in some programs.
And much music online ready to be downloaded so people can learn how great your music is,
is in MP3 format.

The result: Your listeners just might lose the mood of your first song when the second song immediately plays and blasts away that mood.

Easy fix (in any recording program) IF YOU PLAN AHEAD:  

At the end of your longest recording track (e.g., the piano track), 
add two blank measures. 
If your program assumes the song ends with the last note, 
it's easy to fool it (you win !) by adding a fast high-pitch note 
at the end of that 2nd extra measure 
and lower the volume as far as it will go...
    NO ONE WILL HEAR THAT FINAL NOTE
       but it acts like a place holder
forcing the MP3 track to be that much longer:
Silence before another MP3 song can be played.

How much time? 
I just listen to the song's end and count beats in my head 
until I'm ready for the mood to end. 
A good test is to copy any loud-song mp3 onto an extra track, 
slide it to the end of your song, 
and see how much space you'd want between your song and the temporary test track. 
 
Just a hint for keeping your mood.... your song, your control!

Much joy to you creating new music and being 
able to control SOMETHING in Life!
Lots of Examples to hear free at http://www.DianaDeeOsbornesongs.com/
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne;  all publication rights reserved
(An earlier version published in this blog on 8.12.2011)