Unit 14 Listening Skills Task 1

MIDI Sequencing Skills

Inputting MIDI data :

1. Real-time Performance
I have chosen to do a rendition of DJ Khaled - Do You Mind using Logic Pro. I am aiming to use a variety of different sequencing skills and techniques in order to complete this track and make it sound as close as possible to the original. Real-time performance allows you to do a lot of your MIDI edits in 'real time'. For my track I created most of it in Real-time.






2. Step-recording - this allows you to insert MIDI notes when Logic-Pro is not in real-time performance mode. When playing the main chords for my track I had to use this method since i had to move some of the notes around in order for them to be played at the same time in with the right notes

3. Clicking in - when I created the track for my bass I had to click in my notes which I found easier to do because I was able to move the notes around and experiment with the to see what sounded right and in what key I was able to play it in. I used the matrix editor (piano roll) to input my notes 








4. Editing MIDI events - inserting and deleting notes

Here I have played a note that I didn't need to, therefore by going on the piano roll at the bottom and simply selecting the note I don't want, I can delete the note from my track.




5. Quantization

This allows you to change any notes that you have played off-beat to then become in-sync with the rest of the track so it sounds clean and sharp. I noticed that my drum beat was not matching the rest of my track so I went and highlighted the notes from my piano roll and quantized it to 1/16-note for it to match the tempo of my track.

6. Velocity

This is the strength of a note and how loud a particular note is played. This can be changed in Logic. For my bass I didn’t want all those notes to be played at the same velocity, this is because some notes had a lower pitch compared to other and I wanted to change them so that the lower pitched bass didn’t sound too harsh through the speakers. By changing the velocity it also changes the colour of the notes.

7. Note length – this is showing how long a note has been played for. This can either be a very long note held for a long amount of time or short notes that can be played very quickly.  Here you can see a variety of short, medium and long notes being played. I chose to have a range of different note lengths in order for my track to have a better variety of chords and not sound the same throughout.

8. Placement- as you can see I have different sections highlighted and placed in different places. This is so that I am able to focus on individual parts while creating the song. It also makes in a lot clearer for me to see it to. Although I didn’t use many instruments I had to create multiple tracks e.g. the drums. There were a lot of different beats in the track and I found it easier to work on the kick drum, high-hat and snare separately.

9. Pitch - The scale I played in was Eb major. The chords I used to play was Eb, Dm & F. These were the same chords that were used in the original track. I decided to use the exact same chords because I wanted it to sound as close as possible to the original track. 

STYLISTIC INTERPRETATION

1. Before creating my track I had to find out the tempo of the song. This is so that I could follow the metronome when I was playing and if I had to quantize any of my notes then it will automatically quantize to the tempo of the track. The tempo of my track was 82.

2. Choosing and combining sounds

For my melody I used a grand piano as it matched the same sound as the piano in the song. I then went and added a pop string, which was the closest sound I could find to the original. Another reason why I chose this was because you could hear many strings being played fully, however the sound still came out soft and light as a background track complimenting the main piano chords. I then went and chose a hip hop kit for my drumbeat because it provided more of a sharp sound that I was looking for. The reason why I have three drum tracks is because I chose to work on the high-hat, kick drum and snare individually since there was a lot of different beats to cover. I used this bass as it provided me with a variety of different basses to experiment with and find the notes needed to make it fit with my melody.

3. Track automation – this is to have individual automated control over each track e.g. volume automation to increase it at a certain point. In my track I automated the chorus/ending to fade out gradually. This is because the song is coming to and end therefore the melody will gradually become silent for a softer ending.

5. Filter cut off – a filter cut off is a point at which frequencies are cut off; low pass filter cuts off higher frequencies and lets the lower frequencies pass by whereas high pass filter cuts off lower frequencies and allows the higher frequencies to pass by. Here you can see that I have automated my filter cut off. 

6. MIDI Controllers - MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controllers are any hardware or software that generates midi data into electronic or digital data. For my track I used a MIDI keyboard. The keyboard is connected to my mac using a USB cable. Not only was I able to use the MIDI keyboard to play chords but I used the keys to implement my drums bass and strings.  



7.  Automation of instrument parameters - I used a volume automation to fade out each of my tracks at the end. This is not in the original track but i decided to add my individual originality. i used filter cut off on the strings, this affect is not on the original track. i decuded to do this because it adds tension to the track and build the sound up 

ARRANGMENT

1.     Markers / awareness of sections

As you can see I have added markers at the top of my project. This was so that I could easily see which part of the song I was working on.    

2.     Building parts – as you can see at the start there is only one track being played and then it starts to build up with more tracks and different instruments throughout the song. This is to create a build up to the chorus bringing in the bass and drums. Building on parts in a song also gives it a better effect in comparison to having it all played at the same time from start to finish and it allows different sections of the songs to be highlighted and have a main instrument for a different section e.g. the introductions main instrument was the piano and the choruses main instrument was the drums.

     












      
      Control of texture

The texture of the intro is homophonic; this is a melody with chord. These chords are very significant because as soon as anyone hears the introduction they are able to identify what the song is. I then have this playing throughout the entire track. I have made my track as close as possible to the original which was homophonic throughout.

Control of structure - I downloaded the original track and used that as a reference point for the structure of the song. I listened to the original song along with my track to spot any differences that needed fixing and to marked out changes in the song e.g. intro, verse, chorus and ending. the reason why i marked out the introduction and ending was because i was trying to get my track as close as possible to the original.

Reverb - short for reverberation reverb describes a continuation of sound after the original sound has been produced and has decayed. in the original there is a slight amount of reverb on the piano, i decided to emulate this by using the space designer plug in. this creates an open room feel in the music.

Panning aka panorama is a way of moving an instruments sound to the right or left of a stereo output. I panned my snare because on the track it has a preset pan to the left. I panned it to the right to balance the sound. the orginal song doesnt have any panning but i decided to add it on the snare roll to advance my sound.

















Mixing - during the mix down of my track I decided to work on my drums first. This is because the drums set the tempo for the track and allowed me to hear any imperfections in timing such as; piano not being quantized properly.


https://soundcloud.com/user-726168521/do-you-mind-bounce/s-8f2t0