TEMPO -- Odd or Even Number?

The previous music hint recommended using an ODD tempo number, such as

113 bpm (beats per minute)

during the draft stage of your music creation, and an EVEN tempo (114 bpm) after you have decided the music's most effective speed / tempo.

Have you ever wondered why most music has an even-numbered tempo? The answer goes back to the "old" days, long before drum machines and fantastic music creation tools like keyboards and controllers and music software programs like GarageBand or ProTools or ProLogic or....

Musicians used to need an actual mechanical METRONOME to ensure their time was steady on the beat. And the "hand" of the metronome had notches to mark the tempo, with tiny spaces between numbers at the tip where the pendulum movement would be moving SLOW, and increasingly larger spaces marked on the pendulum as the weight piece was moved downward on its arm.

For easier reading with a wider spread of tempo ranges, metronomes used even numbers. THUS, much music today is written the same, with an even TEMPO number, even though our music tools now can easily handle 100+ "notches" upward as we increase tempo bit by bit. Today's music tools have another advantage over the old fashioned tick-tick-tick-ticK-tiCK-tICK-TICKING Driving-Us-Crazy ticking metronomes....

No longer do we have to resist the urge to throw the thing across the room after repeated failures preparing for our music teacher's slowly ticking lesson time....

Much Joy (and PEACE!) in music memories and growing for you!

©2012 DianaDee Osborne, all rights reserved

Music Sheets: Knowing Your Tempo

After you have created your music project, whether in GarageBand or another program, you might choose a music format that was NOT built from that project's software. For example, the

Osborne TExt Notation (OTEN) system

described at www.DianaDeeOsborneSongs.com Resources tab for Music Method

tells you how to easily put your music into a written form for yourself and other musicians without the "foreign language" of symbols like ♬ or ♮ or ♭ or ♪ .

How do you ensure your music sheet has the correct music tempo for that project?

Try this trick that works well: In your program -- such as GarageBand -- use an odd-number tempo while you are still in draft stage, and are not yet quite settled on how fast you want your music to go. On your music sheet, include information such as TEMPO: 113 bpm (odd number).

After you decide what tempo you want -- because a difference even of only 8 beats per minute can turn a dragging piece into a more popping one --

1. Ensure that the GarageBand/program tempo is an EVEN number, and

2. Mark the music sheet to match, such as TEMPO: 114 bpm

3. Make the font for the music sheet's number BOLD.

Afterwards, you will always know when looking at your music sheet that you have verified the tempo and do not need to return to the program to ensure your sheet is correct.

Much joy in Music Writing to you! Creating something that has never before existed in the universe.... something uniquely out of YOUR mind only, that no one else would have thought of in the exact creative form you did..... music is such a joy! And remember --

YOUR music is NEVER wrong!

If you have clashing notes (as I OFTEN do in my 200+ songs, see DianaDeeOsborneSongs.com), they are still right if YOU say so! That's your creative mind at work!

©2012 DianaDee Osborne, all rights reserved

DisguIsing the Off-Key Vocal Note

So the vocal line is great except for one tiny little EAR-catching off-key note! What do you do in GarageBand without a fancy ($$) program that does pitch correct?
DISGUISE the note.
You probably have several instruments playing simulataneously with the vocal track.
1. Pick the single-note instrument, such as flute or sax. Piano with all its notes is ok but not as effective in catching the listener's attention.
2. Go to that instrument's notes that surround the slightly-off vocal note.
3. Ensure that the instrument's track at that point does NOT include the correct vocal note! If it does, that will only serve as a measure to the listener that yes- the vocal note IS wrong.
4. Create harmony notes at this area with the instrument track. Notes can go above and/or below the vocal note. "Busy" (like 1/8th notes) can be a friend, but it's probably not needed.
5. Adjust the volume of the instrument's notes so that they stand "above" the vocal in the surrounding area somewhat -- not enough to be really noticeable, but enough to detract attention from the vocal.
6. If still needed, open the volume track, open the audio region to be 'wide', and reduce the volume of the offensive note:)
And of course, if all else fails.... call the vocalist in to re-sing the piece, or learn to just enjoy the fact that music is to be fun, not always perfect!
Much joy to you in the pleasures of sometimes-imperfect music...:)
©2018, 2012 DianaDee Osborne, all rights reserved

Updated version published 8 May 2018

Get Out the Buzz! Easy MIDI Hint

This is one of my final Quality Check steps to get a better sound from MIDI instruments.
1. Go into the SCORE section of the music.
2. Select a short section. Working about 4 measures at a time, click ABOVE the first music note, then hold the mouse button as you drag the cursor down to the lowest note and then to the right-most bottom of the 4th or so measure.
3. Look at then length of the notes -- especially the last note in a measure.
THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT FOR SAX, HORN, and other "harsh" loud instruments.
4. If you see a note that has extended past the measure line, click on it and shorten its length.
5. A previous blog Hint provided more details about "quantizing" (the timing) and ensuring all notes are short enough to not "bleed" or extend into the next note -- the next note will not be heard if the earlier note lasts too long.
This simple step gets rid of a lot of buzz -- especially for loud songs like rock and funk.
Finally:
6. If a review shows a specific measure where buzzing still happens, check each individual track that is playing at that point. Most likely, you hit the controller keyboard a little harder for a note and need to lower its Velocity (also in the music notation section; if in the MIDI view, loud notes will be in a brighter green in GarageBand).

Much joy in music to you!
©2018, 2012 DianaDee Osborne

An updated version published 1 May 2018

SCORE Sheet Length Control - by DianaDee Osborne

Have you ever highlighted a GarageBand music track in its "Score" mode, clicked on
File > Print > Preview
and watched a DOZEN pages of music sheets pop up on your screen?
Before you waste all that paper (and confuse anyone who might try to read your score), there are
TWO SIMPLE METHODS for shortening the length of your score:

(1 - The QUICK easy one). While the Score for the music track you want to print is in the window, you can adjust the width of the music measures you see with the slider at the bottom left right below "Auto Align to".
HINT: The SCORE will include the Track's Name under the Project Title; you can change it to be longer, more descriptive, if desired.
a. Slide it to the left to make your measures more narrow.
b. Return to File > Print > Preview.
c. If there are only a few lines of music notes on one page, repeat steps 1a and 1b to tighten them.
d. Return to File > Print > Preview AND set the print range to pages 1 through the last page that has music notes on it.
e. Then when you print, whether to a printer or to a PDF file, you'll get a MUCH shorter SCORE!

(2 - Still easy but more time consuming). Let's assume you want to print the PIANO score.
a. Highlight your piano track (not the notes in the Score view) -- both the MIDI track and the NAME of the track (for example "Grand Piano on Stage" - my favorite).
b. Go to Track > Duplicate Track. A new UN-populated (in GB, not other programs) track appears. RE-NAME this track, such as SCORE PIANO. [All files in your computer's file list are grouped under "Score" if you put the instrument name last.] **THIS IS THE NAME THAT APPEARS on GarageBand SCORE printouts. You ARE allowed odd characters like & or +).
c. Hit the HOME key to move the red line (playhead) to Measure 1.1.001.
d. Return to the piano track and copy its MIDI notes onto the new track (Ensure still at 1.1.001).
e. Play your music, and then STOP and SPLIT the track at the end of the first Verse+Chorus (etc.) -- in front of music that repeats.
f. If you have a special ending such as a Tag, do a SPLIT in front of that also.
g. Delete the MIDI region (if any) in between the main region and the Tag region.
h. Ensure SNAP TO GRID is on (Control Menu). Then slide the Tag region to begin after the main region, with at least 3 empty measures so musicians can see the break.
i. IMPORTANT --- now MUTE the new track! Otherwise you'll get an 'interesting' result when you play your project!

THAT'S IT! An easy way to shorten your score!
Future hint under DianaDee Osborne GarageBand Hints will be for
CREATING A SINGLE SCORE FROM MULTIPLE TRACKS for the same instrument.

Much joy in music to you as we enter another year of opportunities and doors!
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

An updated version published 27 April 2018.

Music Box in GarageBand

How do you create a music box sound without recording someone's probably-copyrighted music off a purchased music box? In GarageBand, it is easy.
1. Create a music track that uses the CLEAN GUITAR or STEEL STRING ACOUSTIC, or some similar guitar.
2. Play the melody you want for the music box.
Now, how do you get the cool harmony?
You might notice that music boxes often have a low note that continues frequently through the song. This is called a "pedal tone."
3. Select a lower note that often fits with the melody note.
EASY music creation that combines steps 2 and 3:
Select chord progressions that have a common note, and keep that note on the bottom. Example
Dm > G/D > Bm7/D (has a slight clash-y sound like music boxes) > Am7/G > resolve to Dm.
The D note stays on the bottom.
For a music box example fitting into a classical OR rock OR hip hop sound, check out my song PSALM 134 ASCENDING at my main website, DiDoReflections.com
© 2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne. All rights reserved
Updated version published  24 April 2018
Much joy to you in creating innovative music!

EXAMPLE:
http://www.didoreflections.com/song/psalm-134-ascending

Why Doesn't Midi Instrument Hit on the Beat?

Let's say you've quantized your MIDI instrument such as violin synth or bass synth.
That is, you've selected notes, gone into the GarageBand SCORE region, and selected
Auto Align to
for all the quarter and eight notes.... but the instrument sometimes still is not "hitting" on Count 1 of the measure. Why not? How do you fix this?
There's a huge chance that your MIDI notes are too long.
1. Go into the Piano Roll view of the notation section.
2. Look at MIDI notes near the end of each measure. Are some of them so long that they cross into the next measure?
3. If so, it's an easy fix: Just shorten the long notes so they don't cross the measure bar.
NOTE: This doesn't matter so much for other counts. The ear doesn't really notice those so much.
REASON for the problem: The last MIDI note of a measure will usually continue to be heard if it extends into the next measure... and the note which you had quantized for count 1 of the next measure often can't be heard in time.
Much peace to you in the regular beats....
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

Updated version published 20 April 2018