Music-Creation and Blogging
Published September 04, 2002
I just mentioned Elliptical, our (Mike Crooker, me) electronic music project. The parallels between music-creation software and blogging are unmistakable: both enable "ordinary people" to enter into areas of creativity and, equally important, distribution, that were only previously available to select professionals: those who were allowed to pass through the portals of either the press or the record labels by the guardians at the gates.
By enabling a large number of people to engage in these activities, both technologies are democratizing their respective fields and battering the barriers between "creator" and "consumer" in both directions.
You know how blogs work, but Acid Pro (and similar looping software), combined with Cool Edit (or other editing software) allow one to "sample" - to digitally copy - any snippet of any piece of recorded audio for use however one sees fit, then manipulate these snippets in any number of ways, including changing the pitch, the speed, the "color," etc. And the real breakthrough is that the software syncronizes all of these samples automatically for you. Acid Pro affords unlimited tracks (I've used as many as 50) so that these samples can be mixed and matched in virtually any combination.
A digital music-maker is only limited by access to recorded audio - and with the advent of MP3's and other various audio file applications available on the Internet, you have almost unlimited access to raw material - and by your imagination. I still find the sound quality of compressed formats like MP3 to be substandard, so I use my own recorded media only. I have a huge advantage over most home recorders in that I have almost 20,000 records and CD's, so that my personal limitation is really just that of imagination.
Another important factor with software-based recording is computer noise. Glenn Reynolds mentioned the point here:
- When recording music into the old computer, I threw a comforter over it, which worked pretty well when coupled with pointing the microphone so as to pick up as little as possible. One thing that Eric [Raymond] touches on that is absolutely right is that volume is only part of the issue: the pitch of the noise is also important. Best: "white noise" from rushing air. Worse: multiple discordant pitches from different cooling fans, drives, etc. The intrusiveness (in recording) and fatigue level (in just working) from different kinds of noise varies much more than the volume.
I don't think designers of computers — or other noisy products — give this much thought, but they should. Noise is a qualitative matter as much as a quantitative one.
- I have studio-engineer ears and sensitive musician fingers. I took before-and-after measurements with those, too, listening to the sound tambre and feeling for case resonance.
- Music-Creation and Blogging
- Published: September 04, 2002
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- Writer: Eric Olsen
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Thanks Ed - you're right that most people don't know that you can make computer-based music in any style: our's range from crunchy stomp rock, to industrial, to ambient, to lounge, and everything in between.
I'll be checking out CoolEdit. I just discovered that I could record my wretched guitar using a $5 mike, my laptop (already long paid for) and a DL of AcidPro from their Web site. Total outlay: $5. Yes, it sounds crappy, but it was an incredible thrill to record my guitar, then my vocals, redo both until I was satisfied, then play it all back.
It really is a thrill Bill - sounds like you're ready to take it to the next level. Best of luck.
i have been recording now for probably 2 years and i have now expanded to not only an electribe es-1 but a future retro fr-777 ....i record using cool edit pro and just record tracks live ...i will play my equipment and record it than i will put it into multi track and lock it in time than record a track of me playing something similar but differant over that..in cool edit pro i can get close enough to the wave to sync it in time with what i previously recorded..im only 18 and feel that the music i make kicks ass i am slowly going to expand my parameters .. i do not really ever plan anything ...but i let things themselves fall.....i find makeing music while falling asleep yields very interesting results...i make ambient and noise ......i make lots of music and have probably 30 cds of crap recorded from when i started....its what i love to do
Is there any freeware that works like Cool Edit 2000? I'm not about to pluck down $70 if I don't have to. And are there tutorials online where a newbie can make sense of how to use software like Cool Edit, Acid, sequencers, synths. My searches have found material suited for people who are experienced and have a clue. Same with the dead wood magazines.
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Eric,
Great post. I use Cakewalk's Sonar program, along with Propellerhead's Reason, and Line6's GuitarPort to make pop and hard rock sounding stuff, using loops and software-based synthesizers to "play" instruments other than my guitars.
I have a feeling that a lot of people are under the impression that the only music that can be made on PC are techno-sounding pieces built around loops and sampling. (Maybe this is a variation on the belief amongst a lot of folks that blogs were just for "day in the life" kinds of stuff until Reynolds, Postrel, etc., showed that they could be used to comment on the news of the day--not to mention report it.)
But a composition built around literally any genre of music can be created via computer--and sound just as good as a professional CD. It just takes research and practice, and the will (or maybe "nerve" is a better word, in some cases) to get started.
Just thought I'd state the obvious,
Ed