Whether it's good news or bad news, this will be our last session. (Who can know how much sweat and tears were shed by those who struggled through this series?) I sincerely hope that you were able to come up with your own original song that you are happy with. If you're still struggling to think of a melody --- don't despair! Only believe, and you will be saved! Stay calm, and at that magic moment when a melody enters your head, don't let it escape. It may happen while you're riding the bus or even while you're sitting on the toilet! Eternal vigilance is the key!
Finishing touches
What remains to be done to the MIDI data that we produced in our sessions through day 6? There's no end of details, but in my opinion, here are the main points.
1. Polish the melody part
2. Brush up the accompaniment
3. Mixing (mixdown)
4. Tweak the groove
Let's start with "polish the melody part." The current melody part was simply input in realtime using a piano sound, and then quantized. For this reason, it has a mechanical feel, and furthermore, there's nothing interesting about playing a single-note melody on a piano. So first we'll change the sound to something that fits the feel of the song, and then add some performance nuances (like vibrato or pitchbend) that will be suitable for that sound. This will help to make the melody sound more natural.
"Brush up the accompaniment" --- Although HyperGroove gave us a nice interlude, the sound setup left a little to be desired in the way of power. So, I'd like to add a part to give us a little more color.
"Mixing" --- This means to adjust the volume and pan balance of each part, and regulate the effect depth etc. to produce a good-sounding stereo mix. This is the "mixdown" or "track-down" process that is performed when producing a music CD (figure 1). Unless this is done right, even the greatest song isn't going to sound like much.
(figure 1)Finally, "tweaking the groove" may not be necessary in some cases, but usually you will want to do this. In particular if you've made heavy use of step input or if you've quantized the data tightly, multiple notes are going to occur at the identical timing. This can cause MIDI data to be delayed, or the tone generator may be unable to play the notes fast enough --- all of which can adversely affect the groove. To prevent this, it's effective to shift the timing of the data by an appropriate amount.
A way cool melody part
My own sample song intends to be in a "new R&B;" style, so ideally, the melody should be a sound that lets me add that type of nuance. However since one of our aims in this series is to create a cool song while keeping things as simple as possible, I'm not going to insist that we attempt difficult techniques. The difficulty here would occur if we played the melody part using an instrumental sound that required a difficult performance technique --- for example, an electric guitar. Even for a professional, it's difficult to make a step-input part sound like a guitar (i.e., it takes a lot of work). Wind instruments such as a sax are likewise difficult. The safest course is probably to use a synth sound or keyboard instrument sound. So, from the piano sound that we used when inputting the sample song, I'd like to change to some sort of synth sound.
When deciding on a sound, it's fun to directly operate the panel of the MU100 (or other tone generator) to try out different candidates, but here's another point at which we can take advantage of the functionality offered by XGworks. We're going to use the "XG Editor" function.
(figure 2)Figure 2 shows the XG Editor window. Here we can select and edit sounds, make effect settings, and even control the mixing. Right now we don't have time to try out all of this. If we started, you would either be floored by the sheer number of parameters, or you might become so absorbed in editing that you would never want to come back out. In either case, our intentions would have been derailed. Let's just decide on a sound.
Since the melody part occupies track 1, double-click the field labeled "Grand Piano" in the VOICE column of PART 1.
(figure 3)A voice list as shown in figure 3 will appear. I focused on voices with a CATEGORY 2 of "Synth Lead" and CATEGORY 3 of "Voice Lead." For CATEGORY 3, you can click the + symbol so that all voices in that category would be displayed. By clicking voice names while you play, you can audition them in realtime (figure 4).
(figure 4)I ended up using a voice named "Vox Lead." It has somewhat distinctive pitch change, which I felt suited the character of the song. After deciding on the sound, click the OK button that the appropriate Bank Select MSB and LSB messages and a Program Change message will be inserted in the track before the melody begins, causing the tone generator to select the desired voice (figure 5).
(figure 5)Since the melody is now being played by a different sound, you naturally want to give it some performance expression that suits the sound. If this is too much trouble, you can just leave it as is, but I'm just going to add some simple pitch bend and modulation. If you have time, you might even try changing the phrase itself as well.
First the pitch bending. Realtime recording is the best way to do this. If you're using a MIDI keyboard, click the Rec button for track 1 and then press the red play control button. While you listen to the sound, operate the pitch bend wheel etc. to record the data. Use the modulation wheel in the same way to add vibrato. The pitch bend and modulation wheel data that you record in this way will be recorded as separate block within track 1. You can leave it this way, or merge it with the original data if necessary.
Sample file 1 is the result of modifying the melody part. I think this makes quite a difference in the feel.
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Sample file1 samp8_1.zip size 8kbyte |
Brush up the accompaniment
What could we do to add some color to the instrumental interlude? Normally we would want to add some sort of melodic part playing this or that riff. For example, a sax playing an ad-libbed solo, etc. At this I can already hear some readers complaining: "If I could do that sort of thing easily, I would'nt have so much trouble creating a song!"
So let's stick with our "humming-based" composition method, and think of a simple brass section phrase that suits this sort of riffing accompaniment. (Yes, I really do hum.) This won't be too difficult. We'll use realtime recording to record this on track 2, which is vacant. It's an octave unison line, which I created by first playing just individual notes to input the high part, quantized it, and then held down the Ctrl key and dragged it down one octave to create a copy (figure 6).
(figure 6)Sample file 2 contains the result, and I think I've succeeded in adding a bit more power. But from contemporary R&B, our song has shifted more toward an older style of R&B. You'll just have to make allowances for my advanced age (!)
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Sample file2 samp8_2.zip size 8kbyte |
Mixing
This basically completes our musical data. But we still have an important step left --- the mixdown. This is done in nearly all cases when producing a music CD, and is the job of a professional called the mixing engineer. Of course since we're doing desktop music here, we can't pay an expensive pro to come in and do the job. But after all, we're doing it ourselves for the fun of it, right?
The aim of mixing is to combine the sound of the numerous parts into a well-balanced stereo (two channel, left and right) mix that sounds good and is musically compelling. Since we're just trying to make it "sound good," no single way is correct --- as is true for music itself. Ultimately, it's up to your taste.
And so, let's take a look at the details.
- Determine the volume balance between the parts
- Location of each part (the apparent location; i.e., left/right, front/back)
- Effect processing (reverb etc.)
- Fade-out
Mixdown can be broadly divided as above, but of course if you really want to get serious, there's no end to how far you can go. Mixdown can involve a very high level of professional expertise --- after all, lots of people make a living doing this, so it's obviously not a trivial job. But again, we're only concerned here with seasoning our own song as we like it, so let's skip the complexities and just cover the basics.
Actually, if you had used only the Auto Arranger to create your song, there would be very little left to do. The accompaniment that is generated by the Auto Arranger already has a mixing balance that is musically appropriate. All you have to do is to adjust the volume etc. of the melody part that you play, and you've got your song!
But if you're not happy with the balance, or if (like me) you used multiple sources or created your own accompaniment, you will of course need to make adjustments to the mix.
At this point we once again turn to the ever-popular XG Editor.
(figure 7)If Preset 1 (figure 7) is selected, the faders at the left are assigned to the volume of each part. In my case, I wanted to adjust only tracks 1 and 2 which I input myself, so as the song played, I used the mouse to move the faders and adjust the volume appropriately (figure 8).
(figure 8)Similarly when Preset 2 is selected, these faders function as pan controls to adjust the left/right balance. I place the melody in the center, and the brass section randomly (figure 9).
(figure 9)Preset 3 lets me adjust the reverb depth, which I did as I saw fit.
Next, I detected a certain lack in the melody part, so I used the Insertion effect (provided on the MU90 and higher models) to apply a delay. These settings are made in the INSERTION 1 dialog box shown in figure 10.
(figure 10)Using the "Insert XG Parameter" command that appears in the Edit menu of the XG Editor window (figure 11), the data that I adjusted in this way was inserted in the form of system exclusive data into the first measure of track 1. (In the XG Editor, be sure to check "Difference.")
(figure 11)This is why I left measure 1 empty, but if you used the Auto Arranger, just add a measure at the beginning. The same settings are also included in the Auto Arranger parts, and these are redundant and may be deleted; however if this is not clear to you, there's no great harm in leaving the data as is. I myself don't always bother to delete it.
Finally, let's make a fade-out.Open the XG Editor window, and click the DETAIL button in the SYSTEM block
(figure 12)to get the slider window shown in figure 12.Notice the "Master Volume" slider. In the XG Editor window, click the Record button (figure 13) to playback the song,
(figure 13)and as the end approaches, move this slider toward the left to record system exclusive messages that will control the fade-out. Convenient, eh? This system exclusive data can be recorded on any track, but here I've put it in track 1. Sample file 3 is the final result. Listen and enjoy!
Hmm? What about "Tweaking the groove"? You've got a good memory. No, I didn't forget --- it's just that since I didn't hear any real problems in this area, I decided to skip this step. And after all, there's no telling when we would end if we started to deal with this. Remember the ancient Chinese proverb: "The wise man does not approach danger."
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Sample file3 samp8_3.zip size 8kbyte |
We're done! See you again!
This brings us to the end of our one-week series. You've made it! You created an original song. Whether it's going to appear in the top ten next week is not for me to decide, but at least you have seen that if you use XGworks and an XG tone generator, it's surprisingly easy to create a song. I'm sure that many of you have also gained a new appreciation of the depths involved in music ... and also the depths involved in desktop music! That's why it's so much fun. Admit it, you're hooked --- both on music and on desktop music. And that's why I'm sure we will meet again someday!