Easy Fixes to SHUFFLE timing

Here's an easy way to fix the little "hiccups" in timing for the shuffle song you've played.
Obviously you can't "quantize" songs written as shuffles (see previous blogs). ... If you do, then all your great swing time will become a straight 1-2-3-4.

Shuffle timing is 1__e and _ah 2__e and _ah
(see... it's even hard to just type). Here are some easy SHUFFLE TIMING tricks I've learned and used in songs on my websites DianaDeeOsborneSongs.com (index site to the main site:) and DiDoReflections.com.

Menus below are for GarageBand, but the process works in any studio program:

You want your bass line to be steady. Most of that can be quantized easily... Techniques are in an earlier blog but the basic process is this:
1. Go to your piano (or rhythm instrument) track's Notation panel that shows the SCORE (traditional notes).
2. Highlight ONLY the quarter notes in the bass clef, working no more than 2 measures at a time. Select Align to >> 1/4 note.
3. Listen to those measures focusing on only those low notes to be sure you didn't lose an important swing time you really wanted to keep.
4. Now listen to the higher notes. When you hear a slight "off-ness", put the playhead (red marker line) there.
5. Go to the Piano Roll view and look at the high MIDI notes. You most likely want to quantize the notes at count 1 and 3 to be 1/4 notes. Try to see if that aligns them with the bass notes without losing the swing.
6. Go to Control and turn OFF "Snap to Grid." Here's the harder but almost final step:

7. Listen to the swing notes in between (counts 2 and 4). Where needed, do this:

A. Put the playhead exactly where the notes begin (front of the MIDI bar for the note).
B. Highlight these higher notes and Align to 1/8 notes. This gives the set an exact "hit" together.
C.If needed,  put the column of aligned notes back where the playhead is.
D. Finally, gradually slide the column of swing notes to the exact place where you want them. Often this is just before count 1 or 3 begins (the measure bar).

8.The Best SWING feel comes from a strong Count 1 and an almost-as-strong Count 3. So if you're aiming for the best, this tedious task will get you closer:  For each of the BASS's set of 4 MIDI quarter-notes in a measure for 4/4 swing,  ensure that the Velocity for each is set with numbers like this example:
70  60  65  60
ALWAYS A FINAL STEP: Go to Control and turn back ON "Snap to Grid." You'll save a lot of later time if you try moving or pasting notes before remembering this step!
Much joy to you as you swing your music!
©2012 DianaDee Osborne

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

Extending Live Guitar Decay Time (easy)

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.

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 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 in making your guitar sing... or scream:)
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

An updated version published 27 February 2018/

ENHANCE TIMING HINT 2, DianaDee GarageBand

"ENHANCE TIMING" is the wording GarageBand uses; other programs call it "QUANTIZING" ---- ensuring that the spacing of a note fits with the timing rather than sliding a bit sooner or later.

Why do you want to enhance timing? So you can add drumkit tracks and they'll fit right in.
Why do you sometimes NOT? Sometimes you have a song with "loose" timing, especially jazz and blues.
But if you do: Hint 1 gave a super-quick "draft" enhancing. Hint 2 is also an easy trick I learned but haven't seen elsewhere, if you want to go a step further without literally touching every note. HINT 3 will provide another easy hint for Detailed Enhancing of every note.

Hint 2:
Even in jazz & blues, if you have a note on count 1, you'll most likely want it to start on "001". Example while in a GarageBand track: Select Control > Show Measures in LCD; then hit the keyboard's home key. Your marker will move to 1.1.001. For any measure with straight timing, you'll want count 1 to be at .001.

But if you followed my HINT 1 in the previous blog, 
doing a quick enhance-timing to 1/8th notes, 
count 1 of a measure might actually be 1.1.086 even though you look at the score and your note is sitting right beside the measure bar looking like count 1. That means your drum hits a fraction before your note. Most people won't notice. But if you care:

Unlike for Hint 1, it is not any easier to first join regions.
And sometimes you may NOT want to join regions.... a future hint!

1. Select your MIDI track (notice it is always green in GarageBand; audio tracks are blue).
2. Select Score (not Piano Roll; it's harder to see measure marking and whether your note is 1/4 or 1/8).
3. Individually -- even for 1/8th and 1/16th notes -- select the first note in each measure ("note" including chord set of notes; choose together)

and hit "Enhance Timing" > "Align to" > "1/4 Note". 

This will NOT change the length of your note; it will still be a 1/8th note, or 1/16th, or whatever. But it does ensure that the note hits exactly with the drum kit.
OPTIONAL: For even more precise sound in 4/4 time, do the same for Count 3. But it doesn't usually matter for counts 2 and 4 -- our ears don't hear each slight off-ness of those counts. But we instinctively listen for the first note to be exactly on count 1....

Quantize: to restrict something to discrete values --not a continuous set of values. That is, to put the note exactly in its place instead of one of the set of {almost-good-enough} places.

Much Joy in Music to you! ©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne


Updated Version Reprinted 5 January 2018