Instruments

Use of Tremolo - Musical Creativity 42

Alan — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:27:29 +0100

I've talked about tremolo as a musical feature before, this time I want to go into more detail.

First things first, let's sort out the guitarists: I don't mean using the tremolo arm/whammy bar or whatever you want to call it ("handle" as my girlfriend called it - and no she won't be picking up my guitars for a while). The whammy bar creates a vibrato feature, not a tremolo. Vibrato alters pitch.

Amplitude

Tremolo is the act of altering the volume of a note or set of notes. For an electric instrument, the simplest to hear is by regularly turning the volume knob up and down. The notes fade in, fade out, fade in, fade out and so on.

It's a great tool for livening up a piece of music. The previous article on the subject covered some more ways of using it.

Recordings

Tremolo features on a lot of famous recordings. Three extreme examples are:

How Soon Is Now - The Smiths

Crush with Eyeliner - REM

What's the Frequency Kenneth - REM

But it's used more subtlely on many, many more recordings. Think of any country song and listen to the guitar. Many of the 1950s and 1960s guitar recordings had tremolo on them. Think Duane Eddy (although he mixed it with vibrato by using the whammy bar a lot). Lots of Elvis recordings featuring Scotty Moore had tremolo. This situation was accentuated and facilitated by the inclusion of tremolo circuits in the guitar amps, e.g. Vox

Types of effect

The common tremolo effect alters the amplitude or volume of the incoming signal apply a regularly repeating pattern before output. The most common pattern is the sine wave, although some FX units also allow square and sawtooth. The output signal increases, decreases, increases, decreases, etc.

The waveform applied changes how fast the signal reaches the extremes and how long it stays there before beginning the journey to the other extreme.

Depth

If the signal is applied completely at 100% depth, then the output will have no signal at the points when the applied FX is at its lowest point, conversely it will have the maximum volume when the FX is at its highest point.

Lowering the depth introduces a less radical effect, to the point that if the depth were at 0%, then there would theoretically be no difference between the input and output. As with most effects, the most appropriate depth is usually somewhere between the two extremes.

Symmetry

The waveform applied so far has been the same on both sides, i.e. going up and coming down. Altering the phase allows more time for the signal to climb and a quicker fall or vice versa. This is great for imparting a slower or a rushed feeling to the track.

Phase

For a stereo tremolo, the default set-up is to have the signal applied equally, but alternately to each channel. Changing the phase control alters the timing displacement of the second channel compared to the first, which can be used to create panning echoes or dotted note rhythms.

No Depth?

I'd usually use a tremolo inline with the signal, either at the recording stage (e.g. between guitar and amp) or at the mixing stage (as an insert). If there's no depth control, then patch the tremolo into a send and emulate the depth by the relative values of the signal and send faders.

For guitarists, if there's no depth control, then you maybe able to use it in the amp's FX loop if you've got a variable dry/wet mix. This may not work well, since the FX would be placed after the pre-amp. Depends what equipment you're using.

Playing with fingers

A classical guitar tremolo technique involves repeatedly plucking the same string with the first, second and third fingers. This is often a bass and/or melody note plucked with the thumb followed by the three fingers or sometimes a fourth is employed but the fingering changes.

The most famous example is probably Recuerdos De La Alhambra by Francisco Tárrega, although I think Agustin Barrios Mangore's Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios (Alms for the Peace of God) shows the technique more.

Various forms of flamenco use a similar technique, sometimes using the thumb plus four finger notes (not necessarily four fingers, often three fingers with one repeated) to get a 5-tuplet pattern.

Pick

For electric guitar, rapidly repeated picking of the same note gives a tremolo effect that can be used in solos. Do it too often and you'll sound you can't move your fret-hand fingers. Best to intersperse it with other techniques. Check out the Ozzy Osbourne recordings with Randy Rhoads, e.g. Tribute, to get an idea of how to fit it into a solo. He doesn't use it that often, but when he does, it works well. Nowadays, watch Matt Bellamy of Muse. There are plenty of others, but they're not coming to mind right now.

In other forms of music, e.g. drag, it can be the main feature. This is more likely to happen on the lower strings of the guitar, with a springy/slap-back reverb. Think Dick Dale. Although perhaps not part of drag, Miserlou (as featured in Pulp Fiction) is a great example of how a simple riff can lead the track. The repeated picking comes from his experience with an oud (or ud).

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Move the focus of the rhythm from on to off the beat - Musical Creativity 39

Alan — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:25:43 +0100

I guess most drummers will know this, but if you program your own drums or use loops, think about using a different groove for your song.

The basic pattern

Standard drum pattern that most of us learn is a 4 beat combination of bass, drum and hihat. Hihat every beat, bass on the first, snare on the 3rd. And repeat ad nauseum.

Then we get to add more bass, use 8th notes and so on.

What's the focus?

I was collaborating on a track a couple of months ago and as we we browsing the library of drum loops, we just couldn't find anything that suited. We ended up creating one ourselves and it was interesting to see the differences in how the two of us approached it.

I approached it very much from the basic, rock drumming angle, laying down the main beats first. My collaborator took a different approach and focussed on the choked hi-hat pattern. I then had to place the other beats around that.

Which was better?

It all fairness, neither. But here's the crunch, they drastically changed the feel of the music. It changed the feel so much that when I recorded a new part (say a guitar melody over the top), I played that differently.

So we recorded both sets.

One became the music for the opening credits, the other became the closing credits. We were also able to switch between the two main rhythms in the middle of track to change the feeling yet again.

Live Drummer

It's a common trick. Drummers will regularly change the rhythm pattern, if not you may as well use a drum machine! Using a live drummer means they can respond to the way the music's going. Moreover, they can change the rhythm, turn that around to drive it in a different direction. The difference for us was that we'd applied it more excessively than usual, but it still worked.

Ahead or behind?

Is this the same as playing ahead or behind the beat? No, it's neither. It's just syncopated, we were still playing at a regular syncopated interval. The choked hi-hats were on the "ands" of "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" for most bars/measures instead of on the beats of "1 2 3 4".

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Arranging Multiple Parts for a Guitar - Musical Creativity 37

Alan — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:49:34 +0100

As well as composing and recording, I play guitar in a band, playing a mixture of covers and our own originals. We don't stick too closely to the originals when we cover them, realising that we only have four members (guitar, bass, drums and vocals) so many songs have to be stripped down to work.

Going from a song that has many parts to a cover version with only four instruments can leave you feeling a bit naked when playing live. It doesn't help that as guitarist, I often have to play several parts at the same time.

It's just arranging

You've got 6 strings. So if you're adding in a piano part and a guitar part, then it's time to pick the most important notes. After all, you can only play a maximum of 6 at a time.

Listen

Listen to the music and pick out what makes the tune. A lot of notes are filler. The music sounds different without it, but that's ok.

Listen to other listeners

Not only listen to the track yourself, but ask the other band members what elements of the song stick out to them. Singers pick out different notes to bass players and so on. So there's me as a guitarist saying that some notes are missing from our arrangement, but no-one else has noticed. And it happens the other way around, where one of the other members will ask where a certain part is.

Who's the arranger?

If you are, then don't be afraid to ask the other musicians to try playing parts that they wouldn't have considered. I'm fortunate to be in a band with an accomplished and adventurous bassist. That's good because it allows us to swap when it comes to supporting the melody or the rhythm. The drummer's also open to new ideas. They, in turn, ask me to play other parts I hadn't considered.

The tone of the guitar

For notes played at the same time (e.g. chords), we've a limited tonal range. Each note in the chord has to be nearly the same tone and volume. There's some flexibility if you pluck with your fingers, but it's still pretty restricted.

If you look across the length of the song, then guitarists have access to a massive range of tone since we can vary it as we go along. The trick there is to tie the tone to a musical part, e.g. the piano lead.

Two at once

The guitarist can support the rhythm by striking staccato chords, but then there's an empty space for pads to ring. My way around this is to play the ringing chord and then play the rhythm on the low 6th string, sometimes with the 5th depending on what the chords are and how much I need to reinforce the rhythm. This works well clean or crunch sounds, not quite as well with hi-gain tone, but it can still work. Just depends on the chords being played and the rhythm that it needs to fit into.

Swapping between instruments on the same tone

To differentiate between two instrument parts, I've used upstrokes on one and downstrokes on another. Swapping between primarily plucked and primarily legato/glissando can help differentiate.

Try alternate strokes.

Similar to the ringing chords plus staccato rhythm above, the root notes can be played on the downstroke, then the ringing chords on the upstroke. Even more useful is the downstroke on the root, then several staccato chords using upstrokes. Not exactly special, but can be very useful for syncopated rhythms.

Let the bass play

If the bassist is playing the root notes, then the guitarist doesn't need to. Frees the guitarist up to play other parts.

Too much to do

Guitarists only use one pick at a time, but can use several fingers. So think about whether some finger picking would help. In addition, I use a combination, playing some notes with pick, then treble notes with fingers, often alternating, but sometimes together. Works well at emulating piano parts.

It's also the only way I've found to keeping the strength of the normal guitar notes while playing a melody on the higher strings. It takes practice but is well worth it since it opens up a whole new area of complexity.

Stretch

Bassists usually only play one note at a time. That's an overstatement, but stretch your bass player. For instance, if they play chords or at least octaves, they can free up the guitarist from chordal duties. Also the bass is a great instrument for filling in string parts. It doesn't sound like a string section, but fits in a live mix well enough, especially when played around the 5-9th frets on the A and D strings.

Composing

Why is this in the composition section? The more techniques a player has, then less restricted the music will be. By thinking how to deconstruct a song to a minimum of instruments, then you get to realise how much of a a song is superfluous. Look on youtube and you can watch any number of acoustic covers of songs, not all good mind you. The better versions have been arranged by musicians who have thought about which notes matter most and have fitted them into the composition.

Any other ideas

I'm interested to hear of other ideas or your experiences with this.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Budget compressor that works way beyond expectations

Alan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:39:30 +0000

Budget or not

I subscribe to the view that you almost always get what you pay for at the lower end of the market. So it's nice to come across something cheap that works well.

The compressor

I bought a compressor the other day, but not for use as a studio compressor. I bought it as an effect for my guitar rig.

I'm using it to push the preamp a little bit for a fat round sound. There are some of the standard compression knobs such as Attack and Release. There's also a Ratio switch for high or low. The Emphasis knob controls how much of the high frequency signal is passed through without compression, allowing for the rattle of strings to come through. This is a great feature if you're thinking of using it on bass.

The pedal is easy to use if you don't think of the knobs on the top row as having much to do with traditional compressors. I'm still trying to figure out the compressor knob. I know what I think it should do, but it doesn't seem to. It seems to be a mixture of ratio (relating to the hi or low levels from the switch) and threshold. One way to find out is to do record an A-B comparison and look at the audio file properties. I'm curious what it actually does do so I'll do this at some point.

The Output

The sound out of the compressor isn't crystal clear. It's not that noisy either, to the point that you can't hear any added noise when the amplifier is on a clean setting. I haven't measured it more accurately than listening by ear.

The resulting sound has a nice warm quality with the guitar's tone being slightly subdued. Feels like a more rounded tone. I guess some of the higher frequencies have been removed. For an all-purpose compressor, that's a problem. For putting in front of a guitar or bass amp, I see that as a positive. I wouldn't use it on every song either, but I can see it getting a lot of use.

With the amplifier on a high gain setting, there is more hiss and hum with the compressor switched on. That's not necessarily being introduced by the compressor other than the fact that the make-up gain is increasing the floor level.

Snake Charmer

It's the Vox Cooltron Snake Charmer Compressor pedal and I bought mine for £39, a big reduction from the RRP of £149. That's a great price for a compressor pedal and fits into the budget pedal price, undercutting a lot of more "pro" models. The Cooltron pedals are marketed as having tube technology. They do indeed have a tube inside. I have no idea if the tube is adding to the tone, to me it was just a gimmick, but I'm glad I tried the pedal despite that.

Bass

After trying this in the shop using a guitar, I couldn't wait to get it back and try on a bass. It has a nice tone on that as well, although there are some issues. Two things to bear in mind:

It's a compressor that isn't configured as a limiter, so a sudden loud signal will still get through to your amp.
I think it's designed for use with guitar frequencies, but rolling the emphasis knob to the extreme will let more of the bass' higher frequencies through.

I've found that I had to keep the attack on the left-side of 12 o'clock otherwise it outputs a click if you hit strings hard. The click isn't anything in the source and is still in the output despite the amplifier's limiter being on full. My guess is that the pedal introduces it into the signal chain. I want to check that before I confirm it. I'll see if I can get the same sound using a different bass amp, a DI and also using a guitar into the same amp. Either way, I'm a bit wary about introducing that click to any sensitive equipment until I can find out where it's coming from. The compressor pedal is still useable and a joy to play with on bass, but keep the attack knob down.

Edit - I've tried the compressor on the same settings with a (passive) electric guitar into a guitar amp. I didn't hear the click.

Vocals

I wouldn't put this in the signal chain for recording clean vocals. It's not designed for that and I really doubt whether it's clean enough although, again, I haven't measured it. From what it's done to the guitar, I can imagine it working well as a nice effect on vocals, perhaps on a send mixed in parallel with the original or on an insert for much rougher sound.

Conclusion

In all fairness, I didn't expect that much from the pedal before I tried it. I was dubious about the valve gimmick. But for using the pedal as something that cleanly adds tone, wow, it's got to be heard. It also has the bonus of having the usual compressor feature of adding sustain to notes. Great. Unlike most effects that I just use in one or two places, I'm looking forward to trying this in a variety of applications. It can never be my go-to compressor, in the end it is just a guitar effect pedal, but it definitely has a place for changing the sound of a signal in a positive way.

At this price, it's a steal. Almost a no-brainer.

If it were more expensive, I may still buy it but only if I wanted the exact sounds it produces and I couldn't get them from a more versatile compressor.

Focus on the Rhythm - Musical Creativity 29

Alan — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:19:03 +0000

Which is louder, the hard-struck ringing chord or the palm-mute?

I answer both to that question. Let's look in some more detail.

The open, ringing sound starts with a short attack, with the low frequencies marginally occurring before the treble (due to the stroke across the strings). After the initial attack, there follows a very quick decay, a short period of sustain and a longer release. The length of the sustain depends on a number of variables, including the guitar materials, the diameter, materials and freshness guitar strings, amplifier gain, microphone technique and above all, the player. A lot of the time, there may be no sustain at all, just a prolonged release.

The palm-muted chugg is a very short attack mainy in the mid and low frequencies. The treble is more often missing because of the palm-mute which absorbs the ringing of the strings, plus it's mainly effective only on the lower strings. The attack is followed by a quick release. There's a quick decay, hardly any sustain if any at all and no release. It's almost an on-off sound and appears as a spike in the recording.

The comparison

Assuming that the guitarist uses the same sounds, the single ringing chord is louder than the single palm-mute. Both in the peak reached at the attack and the sustain and release.

Let's take a typical situation where the ringing chord plays on 1 and rings through to 8, to start again on the next bar's 1 and so on.

Ringing: 1....... 1....... 1....... 1.......

The chugg would start on 1, repeat on 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and continue on each 8th note.

Mute: 12345678 12345678 12345678 12345678

The palm-muted chugg works out apparently louder than the ringing chord because the following attacks of 2-8 are louder than the sustain and decay of the ringing chord. In addition, the palm-mute focusses on the lower frequencies reinforcing the 8th rhythm. Assuming that other instruments (e.g. bass and drums) are also playing to the same rhythm, then the guitar starts to take on more percussive effect.

The diagram below is a simplified view of what I was describing above.

How can we use it?

I've always found it odd that a chords played with a palm mute sound louder than chords played ringing. They're a lower volume in isolation, but add volume by repetition.

Change an instrument from following the sequence of chords as they progress across bars/meters to following the rhythm. This works well if palm mute is a regular beat such as eighths. But also works well when there are staccato, off-beat rhythms.

It's a technique I use on a couple of the tracks in my band's live set to liven up an ending. Used correctly and it's a good way to introduce energy to a song. I also use it occasionally at the end of rock track if I want it to end with more energy than it started.

This was brought to back mind when I heard Blind by Breed 77 again and I was dissecting the ending of the track. As well as having multi-tracked and syncopated vocals, the guitars change focus from long-sustained chords to percussive strokes.

Not just guitars

It doesn't have to be guitars, other instruments can do the same, synth patches can be used in the same way, so can changing the arrangement of orchestral instruments as you resort to double-basses and cellos of a string section to provide the staccato notes. In these cases, the amplitude envelope will not be the same as for a guitar, so the sustain may well as be infinite (e.g. in the case of continually-bowed strings or synth pads).

Compression

When I've patched a compressor into the guitar track, I watch out for the continued signal reduction if the compressor's hold value merges into the next note, e.g. above 200ms and it's likely to be continually reducing the signal.

If I've patched a compressor/limiter into the stereo output bus, then again I'm watching out for the continued signal reduction. Yet I'm also listening for pumping if I've got more drastic compressor settings since the guitar may start trigger that effect.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Emulating Drums - Musical Creativity 24

Alan — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:27:34 +0000

Following on from the previous article on emulating bass, this article is about emulating drums and mainly about emulating drummers.

I'm of two minds when I emulate drums. I'm either:

aiming for a realistic drum sound or
aiming for a drum sound that doesn't need to sound like a real drum

The first aim involves working with compromises. Ideally, I'd be better off recording a good drummer playing an acoustic kit in a nice-sounding room with great mics, preamps, etc. That's not always possible. And the aim maybe to have something ready very quickly, so I turn to emulating a drummer.

The second aim is more useful for generating percussive elements that fit tonally into the music but with a different impact to that which I could achieve with a normal drum-kit. I'll discuss those in a separate article.
In this article, I'll stick with (1) achieving a realistic drum sound.

Loops

My short piece of advice is to use drum loops. Use some decent quality loops with sufficient rhythm variation and inherent tonal consistency and many would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a drummer and a loop. If they can tell the difference, it's either a bad set of loops or user error, e.g. you've used the same loop too often in the song. After, how could they tell the difference since it would have been a real drummer who recorded the loop in the first place.

Midi

The long answer is for when you don't have any suitable loops, including if you don't have any loops. Then you'll probably be resorting to midi to trigger drum sounds in a sampler. There are some tricks to make it sound more realistic.

Play like a drummer

Drummers have a maximum of four limbs. That's an immediate restriction of 4 items being hit at any one time. Can be more than 4 note polyphony though due to layering and the release of certain instruments (e.g. cymbals). Actually the right hand can hit the rim and the head of the snare together, but that's a bit of an exception.
That's the first restriction. If you want it to sound like a drummer, then limit it to four hits at a time.

Layout

Also look at the layout of a traditional drumkit. For a right-handed drummer, the right-hand usually crosses the body and plays the hi-hat, while the left-hand plays the snare. Either hand is used for the toms and cymbals. And either hand can add to the other hand to double up on the snare or hi-hat. Different styles call for different arrangements. That's the traditional pop/rock layout and handling.

Watch the combinations

The short closed hi-hat sound is formed by the right-hand hitting the hihat while the left-foot holds the hi-hat closed. If the right-hand is hitting the snare, toms or cymbals, you can't get a closed hihat sound. If would be the gated half-open sound caused by the left foot lifting the top hi-hat and then pulling it down. It's a weaker sound than closed hi-hat. A rock drummer may have a much more ringing open hit-hat sound, especially for keeping up with doubletime kick and snare patterns.

Would a drummer alternate?

If the pattern relies on 16th beats on the hi-hat, then the drummer would most likely alternate hits between the right and the left hand. I know of four ways to implement this:

Look at each hihat hit and manually change alternate hits to use a different hi-hat sound
For using a sampler such as Kontakt 2 or Kontakt 3, you can write a script to alternate between the left and right sounds of the hi-hat with each hit. You could get even more serious and tie it into the snare hits (assuming that a snare hit would be left-hand and hi-hat would be left-hand). The more you think about it, the more you can write.
Use logical processing on the midi file so that it separates out alternate notes. Rather than processing every alternate note, it may be easier to divide your bar into two sets, those corresponding to the beat and those on the off-beat. Then alter the two sets separately.
Use a drum-specific software plug-in that will calculate which sound should be played. This is what the brain unit of most electronic drums should be doing, interpreting the received notes so that they sound more realistic.

It also applies for other drums as well, not just the hi-hat.

The Machine Gun

The bane of a lot of 1980s pop was the electronic snare that sounded the same no matter how hard you hit it. Hit it in a quick repetition and it sounded like a machine gun. There was just no flexibility. Drum synthesizers and samplers have come on a long way since then, but unfortunately some interfaces do not make it obvious to avoid. It's not specific to snares either; hi-hats, toms, anything hit rapidly and repeatedly risks introducing this effect.

Similar to the methods for alternating the hands, I can think of 4 ways of implementing this:

Look at each hihat hit and manually vary the velocity of nearby hits. If there are left and right sounds for the drum, then alternate them as a drummer would. Also vary the timing slightly, too regular and it may sound artificial.
For using a sampler such as Kontakt 2 or Kontakt 3, you can write a script to alternate between the left and right sounds of the hi-hat with each hit. You could get even more serious and tie it into the snare hits (assuming that a snare hit would be left-hand and hi-hat would be left-hand). The more you think about it, the more you can write.
Use logical processing on the midi file so that it separates out alternate notes. Not sure how effective this is for avoiding the machine gun effect. Largely depends on your the processing options offered by your DAW. Again, similar to the approach for alternates above, it may be worth dividing your bar into two sets, those corresponding to the beat and those on the off-beat. Then process the two sets separately.
Use drum-specific software plug-in that calculates the appropriate velocity or sample layer. This is what the brain unit of most electronic drums should be doing, interpreting the received notes so that they sound more realistic.

Ghost Notes

What makes a real drummer more interesting than a basic drum pattern is the presence of ghost notes. This is where the drummer would lightly hit a drum, e.g. the snare, but not as a focus of the rhythm. Often these pre-empt the main snare hit, almost leading into it. The ghost note would be short and lower in volume than the main hits. The ghost notes don't just have to pre-empt the main hits, a drummer will include them in to vary up the patterns and to add spice to the rhythm. If they're occurring in the same place in every beat, then they're probably not ghost notes but an integral part of the pattern. I've always seen ghost notes as being variable throughout a song. Due to the varying lower volume, if you're not listening carefully, some ghost notes would end up being imperceptible.

Try listening to a jazz drummer, especially if they're playing a simple blues rhythm. You'll notice the ghost notes more when the rhythm is simpler.

Accuracy

This is one I have issues with. How accurate does a human drummer need to be? If you look at recordings of a good real drummer, there's a lot of variation in how accurately they hit compared to the beat. But it will still sound in time. The issue I have is that it's against my understanding that being inaccurate is the right thing to do, just feels wrong to admit that, but it seems that being slightly inaccurate is the way to play. Goes to show that none of us are perfect. I tend to keep the main beat very close if not exact and vary other hits. And I always think about using groove features or humaniser functions.

In the Mix

The drums coming out of most samplers are still a raw instrument sound. There may be some reverb and compression but do they suit the music you're writing? If not, remove them and add the processing you want to add. More so, you may want to change the sound of a single drum, e.g. wanting to compress the kick drum more and add more of the click from the beater with eq. If so, then it's best to separate out the drums into separate outputs. You can then modify the sound of the individual drums to suit your tastes.

While you're at it, decide how you want the drums to sound in stereo. Are they all central? Or should it be set out from the drummer's or the audience's perspective. Then group them back together for drums for ease and so you have the option of processing the drums as a whole.

Other techniques

Harmony Central has some great suggestions for more advanced techniques. The concept of mute groups looks especially useful.

Reference CD

What should drums sound like? If you're aiming for realistic drums, then you'd do well to start with some reference files

There is some interesting information about the Led Zep sound over at Guitar Player

Learn to drum (even if only in theory)

Have a look round for lessons on the rudiments of drumming. Being armed with this information will help you create more realistic drum loops. I learnt by sitting in front of a kit twice a week and getting a few pieces of advice every month. No proper lessons. Even so this basic introduction helped me understand no end what it means to create a drum track. Understanding what constitutes a basic beat is the starting point. Try starting with these:

Shavano has an old but still useful article for anyone wanting to program drum midi patterns

Drum Plug-ins

I mentioned drum plug-ins above. I don't use the more advanced plug-ins so I can't really comment beyond that I've heard some very positive reviews including from some good drummers. From the demo samples I've heard, they introduce a level of realism that is difficult to achieve on your own with midi programming. There's a range of drum plugins offering different functionality.

The simplest are just sample triggers where you select the samples to be played and place them on a midi track. This is the basic type that you'll find with a lot of DAWs. If you're lucky, you can select from different drum sets, create your own, change the relative volume and/or pitch levels or even modify the envelope of the individual drums.

More advanced plug-ins allow you to select more authentic-sounding drumsets, designed to sound like specific Pearl or Ludwig sets and so on. They'll also give you the option of room sounds, microphone types and microphone placement. Extra features include the ability to blend the mic mixes. As they get more advanced, the plug-ins interpret the midi input into something more like what a drummer would play. This is the type that interest me more than others.

Some include drum patterns in a variety of styles, giving you the ability to compose the song's rhythm very quickly. They may even include intro and fill patterns. Remember the basic sampled drumkit on the old casio homekeyboards of the 80s? Well, this feature's a more advanced and flexible version of that. It's ok for using when keeping a beat, especially as a more interesting clicktrack, but I wouldn't use them in the end product.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

What do you need to start playing the bass? - Musical Creativity 22

Alan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:54:18 +0000

Let's start with a list and I'll break it apart. It will be useful as a checklist if you're thinking of starting out or if you're thinking of buying a gift for a bass player. With the technical advances over the last couple of decades, the price has dropped so that beginners can achieve a nice sound at starter prices.

Starter kit:

Bass guitar
Amplifier
Lead
Strap
Strings
Case
Stand
Optional: Strap Locks
Pick or plectrum

Bass Guitar:

This is the easy no-brainer requirement; to learn bass, you'll need a bass. It gets more difficult straight after that. What type of bass do you want? 4, 5 or 6 string? Active, passive? P or J-Bass? Short-scale or long-scale?

Have a think of bassists who you like. What do they play? Most live hard rock is done on a P-bass so it cuts through the mix. It's not necessarily always the case, there are enough exceptions to that rule. For recording, a jazz bass or a hybrid with a one jazz and one set of p-bass pickups maybe more appropriate. Do some research into the different types and how they sound. Any shop salesperson should at least demo the differences to you especially if it's obvious you can't play for yourself.

If you've no real idea after that, then the safest option would be a 4 string Jazz bass. Wherever you decide to progress to after that, at least you'll have a basic bass.

Play (or at least hold) the bass as you'd like to be able to play it, e.g. sitting or standing. Does it feel comfortable in that position or does it keep slipping? When sitting, would you use a strap? It does help keep it place more.

Amplifier:

If you're just into recording and you've got a good DI route through your DAW/multitrack/mixing desk, then you don't actually need an amplifier. You could just plug into the interface/board/outboard DI and go from there.

Assuming you want to hear yourself sound a bit more like a bass at the time of recording, or if you're like a lot of people, just want to learn a bass without recording it, then you'll need an amplifier. There is a lot of information around about the differences between amplifier types. We'll keep it brief here. Suffice to say that there's usually an amplifier section comprising a preamp and a power amp, usually with some eq and then there's a speaker section comprising the speaker and cabinet. When the two are together in the same housing, it's a combo. If you're starting out, it'll probably be a combo unless you've got the money for a separate head and cab.

For a transistor amp, 30W is about the minimum. 10W and 15W exist, but there's more potential of you getting fed up with the sound and the instrument. If you can stretch to more, then better. 300W seems to be about standard for playing with a drummer. Some, more efficient amps will work even at 150W or 200W but you'd need to check. Bear in mind that, assuming energy efficiency, 100W is only twice as loud as 10W. If you're thinking about valve amps for bass, then you're not in the beginner league anymore. Although I was looking at the new breed of 7W all-valve guitar amps and wondering if I could plug a bass in and use a 15inch speaker cab. 7W valve can be very loud.

Some features may see on your amp:

eq or at least bass, middle, treble so you can shape the tone of the bass. Generally though, how does it sound with all the eq flat?
input gain - basses have a lot of dynamic range, so if you're plucking hard, then the ability to turn the input gain down would be useful
output volume - the main volume for the amplifier
headphone socket - usually disengage the speaker (not always, so check), useful for quiet rehearsals, also for a cheap quality direct out
direct out - for passing the signal from the preamp out for recording or for input to a slave amplifier.
tuner - some amplifiers have tuner built in. More common on guitar amplifiers than bass
tuner out - to connect a tuner to
effects in/out or send/return - to connect effect processors/pedals in the loop between preamp and power amp stages
speaker out - to power an external speaker from the amplifier. Not sure why a beginner amplifier would benefit from this. I can't imagine a 30W bass amp being able to drive a 15 inch speaker that well
handles - often an afterthought when buying, but how are you going to carry the amp? Can you lift it safely? Can you get it up and down stairs or ilft it in and out of your car safely?
DSP Effects - effects built-in to the amp that colour the tone of your bass guitar sound. Often not worth the hassle of having them. The quality of the effects used to be awful. But I've been surprised by the quality of amps and basses recently, so maybe these are now adequate.
Limiter/Compressor - used to be only available for the more expensive amps, but I've noticed that even some of the budget Laneys have limiters built-in. These are very useful, depending on your playing style.

Also have a think about where you're going to put the amp. Will it fit? I've measured them up before to check sizes.

The combo pictured on this page is an Ashdown Perfect 10. It's a 30W transistor bass amp and has a nice set of features, great for a beginner and sounds nice too.

Lead:

You'll need a lead to connect the bass guitar to the amplifier. It's a mono signal usually with a jack at both ends, although I have seen XLRs used as well, but not on beginner-level kit.

Get a decent lead, you don't need a branded, moulded, super-duper lead with extra-special directional, silver cable. Get a decent, nice thick lead that doesn't look like it will snag. If it's got some heavy-duty screwed-on plugs on the ends, it's usually a good sign. I've had my main guitar lead for 15 years. Still going, although I think I may need to replace the plugs now. I'll get some proper (non-fake) Neutriks. No point using anything else.

Strap:

I think this one's down to personal preference. I look for a bit of padding at the shoulder and end holes that don't look they'll stage to warp with the stress of a moving bass guitar.

Strings:

Actually, I don't have much to say about these. There's a lot of debate about which is the best type, let alone best brand. Check the bass forums around and see for yourself. I find that bass strings will last a lot longer than guitar strings, not only before they break (rare), but also before they begin to sound too muddy. Strings are nearly always a lot cheaper online than in shops. However, if you can get some thrown in to sweeten the deal, then do so. Check the condition of the strings on the bass before you buy, it maybe that you'll have a fair few months left in them.

Case:

Any guitar deserves a hard-case. I'm adamant about that. But I also see the advantages of a good quality gig-bag. I'd never use the nylon bags that usually come in starter kits. Sometime hard-cases for bass won't fit width-wise in most cars. That caught me by surprise when I tried to take my bass guitar to a rehearsal. So I used the relatively sturdy gig bag instead. The gig bag is also more useful for carrying, coming complete with shoulder straps, a variety of handles and accessory pockets. I like Warwick's Rockbags.

Stand:

Ok, you're busy playing bass and the doorbell rings. What do you do? Go downstairs with the bass on, clunking the neck into the staircase and doorframe, knocking everything in sight and a few things you didn't see? Or place it against a bookcase and answer the door, only to hear it slip and crash to the floor. If you're engrossed, chances are you'd leave the door anyway and carry on playing. But that's another story. For the sake of £10-20 get a stand or at least a wall hanger (although I don't know what they do the neck). Check that the stand fits the bass before you leave the shop. Sounds odd. I've seen my bass fall through the amps at the bottom of a stand before (luckily onto carpet) and I've seen stands that grip at the next but don't extend far enough for a long-scale bass.

Strap Locks:

I believe that every guitar and strap should come already equipped with these. Even better if we could have one standard so that if you forgot your strap, you could use another lying around. Unfortunately, there are several standards including some augmented plastic washers that I wouldn't even call straplocks.

The proper metal straplocks provide a sturdy, almost failsafe (like most in things in life, it's not completely failsafe) way of connecting the strap to the guitar. I've caught too many guitars as the strap has pinged off and the guitar's started to fall to the ground. I've seen a few that weren't caught and ended up being dented. Not good. They cost about £10-£15 for four pieces. Two to attach to either end of the strap and two to attach to the guitar. You have to unscrew the existing strap lugs and screw the new ones in. If you're lucky, they'll fit nicely. If you're not, then you'll need to fill the gap. Even on a Les Paul, I had to resort to this. My method was to take sawdust and PVA woodglue and put a tiny amount in the hole with a toothpick. Then screw the new lug in. It's worked for the last few years without any problem.

Sounds a lot of bother, but for a maximum of 30 minutes and a small outlay, I'm not watching the strap and worrying if it's going to hold. For every guitar I buy, I use the Schaller straplocks. The only decision I have to make is which colour.

Picks:

This divides bass players. Do they play finger-style, thumb-style or with a pick. I use all three. Even if you play finger-style, you may come across the need for a pick at one point or another. There are some rhythms I think can only be played with a pick. I'd dread to try them finger-style. I could hit the same pattern and rhythm, but the accents would be different. For bass you need a thicker pick than on electric or acoustic guitar. I like the Stubby from Jim Dunlop. I like the dent which is great for getting a good grip with. As for electric guitars, the pick material and attack makes a difference to the sound.

In total:

The above should be the minimum you'd be looking to come away with from a shop if you're into the usual learning and rehearsing onto aiming to play with others. If you're tight on budget, decide which activity you want to forego. For example, if you need time to learn before you play with others, then you may not need a bag/case for a while.

Future kit:

Better amp and speakers
Compressor
Preamp
More and better basses
other fx processors/pedals
new pickups

I'll leave this section for another day and another article.

Motivation:

Whatever kit you buy, it's down to you to learn how to play the bass. Regular lessons and a practice regime work well. If you're still not improving as you'd like to (and you think you're realistic), have a look at the social blogs on the right-hand side for quick hints.

Other References:

You should have a look at How to buy a bass. This goes into more detail about the bass itself. There's a lot of useful information, fortunately I don't see anything contradicting what I've written here either, so that's good. I've got one main addition to this, check that all the strings play open without clanking against the frets. A couple of the basses I played the other day couldn't do this. I was appalled.

A nice simple guide explaining the major differences can be found at Thomann

Want to understand whether you'll benefit from compression or not, then look at the Bass Players Guide to Compressors

Want to check reviews, then the first place is Harmony Central. Actually, I usually recommend this as the first place to look for anything related to musical instruments.

There are a lot of bass-related sites out there, there are a few here:

http://www.activebass.com/

http://www.bassplayer.com/

http://www.studybass.com/

In my experience, the best nuggets of information are on the sites and interviews of professional bass players.

Then there's the usual magazines you can find in most stores

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Learn a new instrument - Musical Creativity 21

Alan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:35:38 +0000

I hadn't planned to write this article now, but after helping a friend go shopping at the weekend, I felt I had to write it soon. In short, learn to play a new instrument. I've still got some more emulation ideas to write about, but they will wait for a later article.

Why?

In as much the same as learning to emulate an instrument can aid inspiration, so can learning to play an instrument in its own right. In my opinion, it can provide more inspiration. I've mentioned before I'm a guitarist, but even learning the bass helps me focus on what will work when mixing the instruments together. Understanding the bass lines and how they fit to the drumbeat, e.g. ahead, in the pocket or behind, helps me figure out the style of guitar I'd want to add over the top. Learning keyboards and piano gives yet a different view again.

There are other points to learning another instrument.

Benefits:

Can provide relief or a change of scene
Sense of achievement
New skill
New people to meet
New opportunities for collaboration
Different mindset
Additional influences
Additional creative outlet
In the longer term, won't have to hire session musicians for that part that needs recording
Able to communicate better when directing other players of that instrument
Better understand the limitations of the instrument
Quicker to try out ideas, rather than borrowing kit and/or player
There are secondary benefits, e.g. shared experience of learning an instrument with another family member

Concerns:

The hardware costs
Takes time to learn
Take time and money to learn properly (paying for tuition)
More clutter in the studio or at home where you'd be learning
Perhaps more distraction from your writing workflow
It will hurt a bit at first as your body adjusts to playing the instrument. Depending on the instrument, could be your finger tips, your arms, your cheeks, thigh muscles. Don't let the pain continue though, see below about being taught.
Depending on your mindset, it may provide yet another strand of Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
There are secondary concerns, e.g. impact on family life if you're spending a lot of time practising, annoying the family/neighbours with the harsh sound that new learners create.

When should I start?

Now's a good as time as any. And I mean that. I bought my first electric guitar and amp almost 20 years ago. It cost about £250. That money 20 years ago was worth a lot more than now.

All I received for that outlay was a:

new Yamaha RGX211
2nd hand Laney Linebacker 30W amp
cheap cable
red fabric strap

Think I even paid extra for a rectangular wooden case.

The guitar was cheap, essentially a super-strat copy. Nice for the price, but I quickly grew out of it. Listening to it now, the sound is very thin and raspy. But this was in the days before Yamaha released their first Pacifica range. That range revolutionised the budget end of the guitar market, providing a level of quality and playability that was unheard of unless you were extremely lucky with your Squire. If only I could have waited 5 years.

The amp, well, it amplifies the sound. It's scratchy. Sounds like a horrible transistor amp. The distortion distorts the guitar sound in the way that only cheap 80s amp did. Oh well, better than nothing, but only just. Built to last and it was just about portable on a bus when necessary. Good to sit on, if a bit uncomfortable after a while.

I stopped using both after a few years. Actually I reckon I'd outgrown them after 6 months or so, but I didn't have the finances to change until a few years.

How does today's starting kit compare?

I mentioned I was taking a friend shopping. He wanted to start playing bass and budgeted for around £250-300. Same as I did 20 years ago, except that the £250 I spent them would be worth £500 or so now (don't know exactly, it feels like double though). And what's he get for the money?

Wow! I wish this kit had been available when I'd started learning. Actually I didn't see anything of this quality even 2 years ago when I was looking at basses.

We came across:

new Spector Performer 4 electric bass guitar
new Ashdown Perfect Ten 30W bass combo

Price for both was about £260 before negotiating or adding about other items such as cables, straps, stand, tuner, strings etc.

And the quality? Wow. Again

The bass is the budget end of the range, but it felt better than most basses twice its price. Smooth playing action and a very nice feel to the back of the neck. The passive pickups fooled me at first, I thought they were low-powered active pickups. Instead, there just a better quality than I'd expected to see at this price range. The result was a nice range of tones from the pickups and eq. Nicely built. Looks nice as well.

The amp was on about 6 out of 10 for the volume, so I wouldn't expect it to be able to get much louder. It still shook your trousers though! More important was the sound quality. It sounded nice, like a studio amp. There was no built-in compressor, the only gimmick was a deep switch, which proved not to be a gimmick since it did add a nice warmth. The amp would struggle alongside a drummer, actually to be honest, I think the amp would be useless and inaudible against a rock drummer. That's why they have louder amps. But to play at home and jam with a guitarist or singer, it's great. It even looks nice and is one of the most acceptable to be left in the lounge.

And those prices are new, if you're just starting out, then second-hand may be more appropriate. If I look at other instruments, I largely see the same effect. The cost to buy a good starting kit has really lowered. Want to buy one that will last a while longer as you grow with it, then you may only have to spend £50-100 more depending on the instrument and the retailers around you/internet availability. That's an incredible difference compared to 20 years ago.

How to start?

There's one thing I'd recommend; there's always someone you can learn from in person. Being self-taught is great, but you'll also teach yourself bad habits. Actually, you probably won't notice them or even learn them, they'll just be the way that you learn the instrument and some will hurt, maybe even permanently. Having a professional teacher set you on your way will at least increase your chances of getting it right and decrease the chances of doing yourself any damage.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Choose a different instrument - Musical Creativity 17

Alan — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:23:18 +0000

I use the technique of changing instruments when I'm revisiting a track that has lain idle for a while. Depending on the deadlines involved, my usual way of composing is write and stop writing when I've hit a dead-end. When I revisit the track, could be the next day or a few months away, I'll try to add more to it. I find the quickest way to add a different flavour is to change the main instrument at the point of where I'm stuck. For instance, let's say that I've got a guitar-based melody for 2 minutes and I'm stuck as to what to do after that, then often I'll change to a keyboard or bass even if only to record 5 seconds or so.

It's about the inspiration

The point about this isn't necessarily about the sound of other instrument, but the inspiration that I derive from it. I play guitar differently to how I play bass and different again to how I play keyboards/piano.

The Clincher

And here's the weird part for me: after writing the new part on whatever instrument I've chosen, I often re-record it on the original instrument. To my ears, that usually works out better. Especially as it's more likely to blend in better with the first 2 minutes. That's how I see swapping as an aid to creativity; it helps me bypass some of my habits

But why bother?

A lot of it is to do with breaking habits. I mentioned that I play guitar differently to how I pay bass. Actually, I play acoustic guitar in a different fashion to how I play electric guitar (and that can be divided as well; pick/no pick, clean/distorted, amplified/DI and so on). Add to this the fact the instruments play notes with different tones and frequencies and I begin to pick out different melodies than I would on the original instrument. More than that, my timing is different because of how I've learnt to play the instruments. I'm better at some than others and so I think differently when I play them. In some cases, it forces me to think about what I want to play and how to achieve it. In recording the part again, I often find the habits that were present in my original playing.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Learning about sound in films

Alan — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:52:23 +0100

I'm generally against just posting a link to a site without some useful commentary (i.e. add more than just "check this out"), but in this case the site http://www.filmsound.org is so good that it warrants a link on its own. More so, it warrants a permanent banner on the site. No matter how experienced you are (or how good you think you are), you will find something new to you on the site. Before asking questions on any site about how a sound effect was made or how the overall sound was designed for a blockbuster movie, read the articles on http://www.filmsound.org