This is the first video tutorial that I have made in order to create an exposition of my music writing process. I hope that this video will be largely instructional as well as documentary.
Throughout the video, I do my best to teach and highlight every step that I take when I am creating a new song. I talk a bit about music theory, quite a bit about my own personal theories (some maybe not so musical), some tried and tested techniques and I also show some personal not-so-tried-and-tested techniques which I have developed over the years.
In the video, I demonstrate basic usuage of two audio programs, Sony Sound Forge and Cakewalk Sonar 5 Producer Edition, and two DXi/VST software synthesizers used within Cakewalk Sonar â the rgc:audio z3ta+ Waveshaping Synthesizer and the Garritan Personal Orchestra.
Virtual instruments are a vital part that should be in every studio of a modern electronic musician.
I begin the tutorial video by showing how I use Sony Sound Forge to browse through various drum loops that I have saved over the years in order to pick a couple that I think sound nice. The tone of these audio samples will wind-up setting the overall mood for the song.
After picking out the drum loops that I wish to use, I then demonstrate the method that I employ to extract the individual drum samples from the drum loops and I show a couple shortcuts and ways of editing the audio samples.
Once I have extracted and edited the drum samples I then import them into Cakewalk Sonar 5. Once there, I reveal my method for bringing these samples into Cakewalk and setting them up to be moved around to create an original drum beat. I then show how I go about choosing the correct tempo (speed) for the track.
Once we have a prototype of our foundational drum beat, I instruct the viewer on how I setup and use the rgc:audio z3ta+ Waveshaping Synthesizer software synth to create a baseline bass line to serve as the core musical progression for the music piece. I choose an appropriate sounding instrument bank, set it up for recording and show how to use looped recording to repeat the drum loop while I play potential bass riffs with my midi keyboard.
I do run into some problems along the way which you yourself may or may not encounter â in the video I very briefly show a couple methods I use for getting around these problems.
After recording many potential riffs for the bass line, I instruct on how to pick and choose the best takes from the large array of tracks created from the recording. I demonstrate how to take these recorded riffs and arrange them to create a full 4 measure motif. I then disclose the techniques that I employ to adjust the recordings to be more precise in time with the rhythm and tempo of the musical piece.
Once we have our 4 measure motif I lead the viewer through my various manipulations of the individual drum samples in order to create a varied and more interesting drum line for the motif. In doing this, I hope to illuminate the ways that some of our modern, more enjoyed, popular rhythms, with which most of us are familiar, are developed.
During the manipulation of the drum samples, I discuss my particular mindset which I use to determine how the overall feel of the musical motif will develop.
Once we have completed this part of the 4 measure motif I then proceed to load up the Garritan Personal Orchestra software synthesizer to use for my melodies. This is a synthesizer that I love. I am a big fan of orchestral sounds, and the Garritan Personal Orchestra is simply the best virtual orchestra you can buy. I use the Garritan Personal Orchestra to create the melody for this piece of music.
During the implementation of the Garritan Personal Orchestra virtual instrument I show a bit of the console of Cakewalk â the virtual mixing board of Cakewalk. I show the use of a couple of the virtual effects offered through Cakewalk, in particular the Sonitus:fx suite â which I find to be a wonderful group of highly-efficient, high sound quality virtual effects. I use these virtual effects in order to boost the audio levels and to bring out details in the tone of the virtual instruments.
I then show some basic use of the musical staff: how by using the staff it can actually be very easy for the viewer to write melodies to go with the motifs they have developed.
At the end I discuss, very briefly, how to use the Sonitus:fx Multiband to pre-master the master output of the musical track.
In closing I discuss how long it takes to create this music motif, and what potential work will need to be done going forward - hopefully to be shown in the next tutorial/example videos to be released soon!
Thank you for visiting :)
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