Beating the Audio Track Joining Quirk, by DianaDee Osborne

Sometimes I find myself talking to my GarageBand program: 

        "You may as well do what I want  because I      

              AM going to win in the end!"                        

The program doesn't talk back... I'm only nicely crazy. I pray.

But I just shared this trick with a professional studio that uses ProLogic -- so one of my "WIN"s of old will help there.

So perhaps you don't know this trick.

Often we edit audio tracks, such as to cut out vocal breaths or copy in a special guitar riff.  We can join the separate regions if the first region bumps up to Count 1.

However, if the audio track starts later, the tracks won't join.

In both GarageBand and ProLogic, you have to bounce out the audio track and then pull it back in as a new track, then delete the old track.  Annoying.   EASY TRICK:

1.  Put the playhead (red bar) at Count 1 of the audio track.

2.  Hit the Record button, and then just wait a few moments, recording silence.  Then stop.

3.   You can now select each region (one at a time) and do the JOIN command.  They are sent out and then brought back onto the same track -- in a different color in GarageBand.

4.  If #2+3 did not work, you can also split out a tiny region of the audio track where there is no sound, and copy it to the front of the track.  Then do Step 3.

Much joy to you creating new music!

©2013 DianaDee Osborne;  all rights reserved

Improve Studio Tracks While Traveling

Do you travel a lot?  Play an instruction CD  for improving an instrument, such as guitar or bass or sax.  EVEN IF YOU DON'T play the "real" instrument but use a controller.   You truly will find that your travel time helps you learn how to improve studio tracks.  Examples:

1.   You'll learn where to add  REALISTIC BREATH  rests for all woodwind and brass instruments.  A common FLUTE TRACK mistake is to forget that the player will pass out if there are no breath spots!

2.  Hearing the actual instrument will help you USE VOLUME controls to sound more realistic. For example, STRINGS TRACKS should waver and fade off at the end of a note....

3.  And you'll learn how to better use STACCATO (short choppy notes) to break that Strings rule (#2) and do the same with other controller instruments to create a light or jazzy mood.

4.  Especially important for instruments you don't actually play -- You'll learn a "FEEL" for the instrument's natural note range.  When I began supplementing live bass tracks with controller bass tracks, at first I sometimes included a note below the lowest B of a 5-string bass!  

5.  Finally for this list of benefits (but by far not all the reasons you'll improve studio tracks listening to CDs while traveling):

        You'll gain a feel for the natural capabilities of the instrument that cannot be duplicated easily on a controller.... Such as gorgeous deep slides for a bass, or fast trills of a flute,  or the resonating vibrato of cello.

So you'll learn when to seek out friends who will record the actual instrument for your music track!

May you have MUCH joy learning more and more for your music recordings!

©2013 DianaDee Osborne;  all rights reserved

TRACK PAN Mistakes To Avoid

Here's something we may not have learned just by listening to music on a stereo system over the years: 

      No matter how it sounds, the recording does not put all music of one instrument to the right side and all of a 2nd instrument on the left for "balance."  

Of course, we can play with the balance to learn this.
And if you're going "duh",  please remember that this is a blog not for professionals... Just easy hints.  
       A history bit of trivia:  I've been told by a studio producer that "back in the days" when stereo recording was first used for rock bands, a famous band panned all guitars to one side and all drums to the other side.  Only later did they remember (from complaints) --- not all people had updated their record players to have stereo capabilities! Imagine the sound difference of no drums or bass on a driving rock song!

Track pan mistakes are common for beginners.
    For example, church volunteers recording a choir practice
often mistakenly put all the choir to one speaker and all the instruments to the other side.    This is *literally* painful, tiring out your ears,   straining to hear the desired side,  unless you're directly in front of both speakers.  Which you are not in a vehicle.  
    And of course, occasionally one speaker does go out...

EASY HINT--

1.  Keep the drums and lead instrument (probably keyboard) centered.
2.  If just a single vocal track, centered it.  If there are 2,  set one to "10:00" and the other to "2:00".  Or whatever pan you prefer.
3.  Pair up similar sounding tracks (in tone), and set one to 10:00 and the other to 2:00.
I like to pair  (flute & oboe)  and (violins & cello).

Much joy to you playing with music! Including, if you move to larger studio programs, having fun "writing" pans back and forth for weird effects!

©2013 DianaDee Osborne;  all rights reserved

FAST Note Selection for Synth Timing Fixes, by DianaDee Osborne

In earlier blogs, I've taught an easy way to quickly fix the lagging feel for synth instruments like violin.   For example,  click on this link to see "Quick Fix for Lagging Horns and Violins".

Sometimes if you click on a single note,
then do a Select All command --
You find all the notes are selected but you cannot move the notes forward that bit  (explained in the other blog).
Here is why:

If the First NOTE in the region is on COUNT 1, 

then there is NOWHERE  FOR IT TO GO.

Because all notes are selected,  NONE of them will shift forward.

      Easy  fix:  

1.  Move your playhead (red line, etc) to the first measure of the region.  Of course, you need the Piano Roll window open to shift MIDI notes.
2.  Select all notes the usual way.
3.  While holding down the keyboard SHIFT key,  move the cursor to and touch the MIDI note for the first note of the first measure.  This DE-selects it.
4.  While all the other notes are still selected (highlighted green),  shift them slightly to the left of the measure lines so that the notes begin playing a moment before the click would hit....

In this way, the full sound of the SYNTH note is playing with the click track on Count 1.
MUCH JOY TO YOU as you keep your MIDI instruments from lagging!
©2013 DianaDee Osborne;  all rights reserved

Carry PEDAL TONES Through Arpeggios

  Do you want a music line that MOVES but has a sort of       COHESION... a  LOGIC  to it?    Pedal Tones provide one enjoyable method to accomplish this -- and they are easy with ANY  MIDI track for an instrument that can play chords, in any studio program.  Obviously this blog is about GarageBand. But the hint works for ProTools, LOGIC, Audacity, and other programs.

Here's an easy DEFINITION of Pedal Tone:    A music note that stays playing the same while other notes continue to move with changes.   The word "Pedal" obviously indicates that this is the LOW note... the word comes from "foot" in Latin.    But if you don't care about pleasing the THEORY  TEACHERs,  it's easy to CREATE YOUR OWN RULES for your own music....
            If you like,  let the highest or the middle note in your chord be the one that stays the same. EXAMPLEs:   Listen to BACH's music sometime.  Or, if you suffered through it as I did, HANON provides great examples of the same -- that one note that is repeatedly played while other notes move on.

METHOD in your studio program -- very easy.

For this example, we'll assume you are using    FLUTE   as the MIDI track, with the HIGHEST  note being your "pedal tone."  In fact,  I like to use   SYNTH PAD - FUTURE FLUTE  in GarageBand.
        Music theorists will cringe.... "pedal tone" is defined as lowest.  But hey, it's our music to create and enjoy our own way. 
1.    Create your FLUTE track as usual with broken chords ("ARPEGGIOs").  But have the SAME NOTE start at COUNT 1  for each measure,  OR  on Count 1 of every other measure.
2.    Quantize the notes (unless jazz or swing, of course) in the SCORE bar;  see previous blogs for hints.  In the following example,   the A note is the Pedal Tone repeated through the music.  These are not typical Root-3-5 chords, but sus and 6 and etc chords (which is NOT important unless you think only R-3-5 chords can be played in arpeggio style, one note at a time!)

3.    Change from the SCORE bar to the Piano Roll (MIDI) bar.  Highlight each note and SHORTEN NOTES that overlap each other EXCEPT  for the high PEDAL TONE  note  you selected.

4.  NOW  highlight each PEDAL TONE note and ensure that it continues through 3 of the 4 counts in a measure  (for 4/4 time;  or 2 counts of 3/4 time).

5.  CHECK THE LOUDNESS ("Velocity" in GarageBand) of each Pedal Tone note and ADJUST as needed so that they are all about the same.  In the example, the 3rd note is lighter green (when all notes are selected), meaning that it needs to be a bit louder to match the other HIGH Pedal Tones.

HERE IS THE PEDAL TONES  FLUTE  for this example:    Click For AUDIO 

THAT'S  ALL  THERE IS  to having fun creating a 
COHESIVE  SOUND    with a pedal tone in your song!

Much joy to you in creating your own music --- and ignoring standard music theory when desired!
©2013 DianaDee Osborne; all rights reserved

Better Note Copying

Here's an easy way to compose music with an important hint: 
      You can't just "copy and paste" music notes and 
sound professional.  You must adjust the volume of EACH note to match the accent  it should have, depending on its place within a measure.  

 Easy composition method:  

1.   First play any MIDI instrument using the controller keyboard.  GarageBand calls MIDI instruments "Software Instrument",  as opposed to "Real Instrument" like guitar you play into the system.
2.  Pull up the Score panel and listen to your recording.  Adjust any existing notes if needed. See earlier blogs about fixing muddy sounds (adjust note length in Piano Roll panel) and trills, for example.
3.  Quantize (make the notes land exactly on their correct beat);  See earlier blogs for easy hints.

4.  Start copying and pasting and adjusting on the music staff to create added music notes you like. 
THIS IS  FUN  TO KNOW!!! --
Knowing the scale, or the notes in a specific chord, can provide a guideline, but I've found that "breaking the rules" creates some fascinating music lines!  The key is the end of the above sentence -- paste notes and move them to the place on the score line where you like the sound!
5.  AS  YOU  COPY-AND-PASTE NOTES   you need to watch and adjust the following things about "velocity" (loudness of the note).  WHY?  Because you are ALSO copying the characteristics (attributes) of that note, including LENGTH (earlier blogs) and LOUDNESS (velocity).

A.  Be sure the note's velocity is approximately the same as notes around it, like 65 if other notes are in the 60s. 
B.  If it is the first count in a measure (first note usually), it needs to be a somewhat louder than the next notes for "accent on count 1."
C.  If this note is the 3rd count in a 4/4 time measure, it needs to be a bit louder than the 4th count (but not as much as count 1 usually, depending on the feel you're going for).
D.  Hint 5C fits for the 4th count in a 6/8 measure.
QUICK ACCENT CHART:  (drum books explain more)
3/4 TIME =   LOUD  SOFT  SOFT
6/8 TIME =   LOUD  SOFT  SOFT  MEDIUM  SOFT  SOFT
4/4 TIME =   LOUD  SOFT  MEDIUM  SOFT

The less common time signatures -- also fun to play with, though!
2/2  TIME =  LOUD  MEDIUM -- sometimes even played so every note is pounding
7/8  TIME =  LOUD  SOFT  SOFT  MEDIUM  SOFT  SOFT  SOFT
            This is a combo of 3/4 and 4/4;  you can shift the other way by making MEDIUM later.
5/4  TIME =  LOUD  SOFT  SOFT  MEDIUM  SOFT

Much joy to you experimenting with composing music right into your computer without playing every note on a controller-keyboard!
©2012 DianaDee Osborne;  all rights reserved

Cheap (and FREE) Studio Programs are GREAT!

I keep hearing sarcastic remarks about how GarageBand and some of the other cheap or even FREE studio programs are weak.
How they can't do much.
How the really expensive programs are so much better.

OK.  Anyone knows there are huge programs that can do more, do better, do faster.

But -- Suppose you don't have the $$$ for them.

Suppose you don't have hours to LEARN them?

Because the more simple studio programs like GarageBand are EASY to learn!
I usually need someone to show me how to use new computer programs --
But I learned GB even without reading any online instructions.

Simple programs are often intuitive -- "point and shoot."
Have you ever tried searching through dozens of menus and dropdown boxes in ProLogic
      before you found out how to turn off SNAP TO GRID?  It's one menu level down in GB.

The greatest advantage of cheap and free studio programs is this:
You can save HUNDREDS of dollars creating your own simple music tracks in your home studio, and save HOURS of time taking your project to a professional studio.

Check out my website

DianaDeeOsborneSongs.com

for an example.  I've created, copyrighted, and 

published over 250 songs on the Web  in just under 3 years.  Over 80 songs per year.  

And I am assuredly not rich.

I just take my piano tracks -- already quantized by me instead of during expensive studio time -- 
and all other music tracks to be mastered at one of my two professional studios.  I lay professional vocal and bass and guitar tracks there,  and Claxton Wilson does live drums (and slap bass) for me in one studio while Johnny Kyle does lead guitar for me in another studio.

But I've saved thousands of dollars and weeks of studio time by using GarageBand.   Anyone can.

Perhaps you too can find the joy of GOING SIMPLE  to have fun creating your own music!
Much joy to you in music!
©2012 DianaDee Osborne;  all rights reserved.
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