|
desc
You are asked to:
- Compose an instrumental song for an ensemble
- Use MIDI to enter your piece into a DAW
- Employ MIDI Instruments corresponding to the instruments of the band
- Use CONTROL tracks, keyswitching, and automation as needed
- Render MIDI to audio
- Mix and master audio
- Submit your mixed audio track to soundcloud and post to the class data base
- Create 3-staff sheet music for your piece and post to the class data base
- Review the work of 3 colleagues in D2L discussion
s1
•Compose an instrumental song.
Your song can be any style, but it should be in a recognizable song form, such as AABA, AAB, etc.
It should be about 3 minutes in length.
It should have a clear melody with an appropriate chord progression. It might also include a counter-melody, an ostinato, a call and response, whatever works for your piece.
Your song can be in any musical style.
Your ensemble should fit the musical style of your song, and must include some form of the following--
- Drum set (or other percussion)
- Bass
- Piano and/or keyboard
- Guitar
- One or more melodic sections
Melodic section would mean a group of melodic instruments, such as strings, woodwinds, brass, and so forth.
Your song should have some sort of intro, and should have a clear ending (not a fade-out).
You are not required to employ tracks recorded live, but it is recommended that you do.
s2
•In your DAW, enter MIDI data for your song into General MIDI tracks.
If you were scoring in pencil, choose the best method for entering MIDI data at this point. Real time entry has the advantage of some randomizing of durations and velocities.
If you were composing in MIDI, it is recommended to work initially with a General MIDI sound set as discussed in class.
If you were composing in notation software, and export your work as either a Standard MIDI file (.mid) or a Music XML fiile (.smf), when you import into your DAW it may import automatically into General MIDI tracks (Studio One does this).
•Do some light editing and MIDI mixing of your MIDI tracks.
At this point, you are basically preparing a demo of your song. It doesn't need to be perfect, just representative of the song's style and general sound.
Editing at this point might also make working with instruments later easier. But don't get too finicky, the instruments you choose later may need special editing you can't anticipate now.
•Render the General MIDI version of your song to audio, submit to Soundcloud, and post a link on the Student Work data base.
Notice the due date on the course website.
s3
•In your DAW, set up a palette of library instruments that correspond to your ensemble's instrumentation.
It's recommended to use the Composer Cloud library for this, but you are welcome to use any instrument set at your disposal.
•Replace your General MIDI tracks with library instruments.
It would make sense to employ instruments you may have used in previous projects if they work for this one.
s4
•For the tracks where you plan to change articulations and/or automation, create tracks named CONTROL, assigned to the same MIDI channel as the MIDI note track you intend to change.
At this point it's important to make decisions on how you plan to mix--1) entirely in MIDI, mixing down to a single stereo track, 2) entirely in audio, after rendering individual MIDI tracks or track groups to audio, or 3) some combination of the two.
Option 3 would imply some sort of broad "pre-mix" like mixing down the rhythm section to a stereo track. This is not so common in record production, but it is very common in film music where there's the requirement to create a small group of "stems."
•Apply control changes to your CONTROL tracks as indicated.
--NOTE: UNDER CONSTRUCTION BELOW HERE--
s5
In the previous two projects for this class we explored the two different methods of creating an audio mix out of MIDI data:
--One way is to employ MIDI automation to created a finished MIDI mix, then render that mix into audio. This is the method we used for the string quartet project.
--One way is to render each individual MIDI track (or small groups of tracks) to audio, then mix as if it were a regular recording project. This is the method we used for the horn band project.
Whichever method you choose, make sure to preserve your MIDI data for use in step 6.
•Using the method of your choice, render your MIDI data to audio, and create a finished mix of your song.
Obviously, this involves several steps. You may be using one or more plug-ins on either your MIDI or audio tracks, and you may be using over all ambience like reverb.
In any case, the result should be a finished, un-mastered audio file.
•Using the method of your choice, master your finished mix.
As in previous projects, this can be a final step in your mix process, or a separate step done in your DAW, or evern in different software.
In any case, the result should be a finished, mastered, full-format (AIFF or WAVE) audio file. It should be digitally loud without clipping or being over-compressed.
During this step, also make a data-compressed (e.g. MP3) version of your song.
s6
Now you have a sequence with MIDI in it and you want to make sheet music from it.
You can approach this in two ways: 1) do nearly all the work in the DAW, or 2) do some prep work in the DAW, with most of the work in the notation software.
With option 1, you would create 3 MIDI tracks labeled Melody, Piano Right, Piano Left in your DAW, and then port MIDI from your song production into those tracks crafting an arrangement. You'd export this to the notation software and then add text, articulation and so forth.
With option 2, you'd do some preparation on your existing MIDI tracks in your DAW, the export MIDI into your notator and craft your arrangement there.
In either case, you will want to edit the MIDI notes from your original sequence to work better with notation software. For example, we'd want MIDI notes that had had durations of full-note value. We will discuss this in class.
•Using your sequenced MIDI as a starting point, craft a 3-staff piece of sheet music that shows the essence of your piece.
Here are some parameters--
- Whatever occurs in your actual production, the melody track should be in the treble clef and stay in a reasonable range.
- The melody track should have some basic articulation and slurring to show expression and phrasing
- You do not need to assign an instrument to the melody track
- The other two tracks should have a grand staff brace around them, like a piano part
- In theory, the top part should be in the treble clef and the bottom part in the bass clef
- This 2-staff part should be playable by a pianist (keep chords dyads and chords within an octave)
- All parts should show dynamics and any other necessary expressions
- Make good use of page space--don't have a single page with a lot of white space, for example
- The sheet music should look professional with title, page numbers, copyright notice, etc
The sheet music can be fairly simple, and doesn't need to include everything. You can add additional layers to show counter-melodies, cue notes, percussion notes, and so forth if you like, but not required.
The model for this part of the project is a song in a typical printed songbook. The two differences are that you would not need lyrics, and you don't need to include the melody in the right hand of the piano as songbooks often do.
•When your sheet music is complete, create a PDF of your chart and check it carefully.
It's always a good idea to make PDF's notation files; easy to share, easy to print. But you can't fix mistakes in the PDF.
s7
•Submit an audio file of your finished song to soundcloud, and post the link on the Student Work data base.
•Put the PDF of your sheet musicIn your Google Drive Assignments folder, then share the link for it in the Student Work data base.
s8
•Choose the projects for three colleagues. Listen to their audio file while examining their sheet music. Using D2L discussion tool, write a short, helpful review on the project. See discussion tool for more parameters.
|