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Saturday 22 November 2014
Thursday 3 March 2011
A Failed Nothing.
Manuscript by Kieran O'Leary
This started out as the basic riff that comes in halfway through. Three Chords. I began to put layers over it, and came up with what I thought was a chorus. This new bit ended up being the intro and first verse. I worry sometimes about layering too many things over a riff, as it becomes harder and harder to apply vocal melodies to the finished project when it sounds like an instrumental.
I am not very happy with this, but I'm done with working on it in it's present form. I think I might keep some of the parts, remove the layers and try to add a vocal. I am not sure if I will bother, as no matter, this will end up being a nothing song. Listening back to it, I realise that some of the sections outstay their welcome, and should be cut short. As I said, I am done working with it, and this, in it's current form, is what it is.
This started out as the basic riff that comes in halfway through. Three Chords. I began to put layers over it, and came up with what I thought was a chorus. This new bit ended up being the intro and first verse. I worry sometimes about layering too many things over a riff, as it becomes harder and harder to apply vocal melodies to the finished project when it sounds like an instrumental.
I am not very happy with this, but I'm done with working on it in it's present form. I think I might keep some of the parts, remove the layers and try to add a vocal. I am not sure if I will bother, as no matter, this will end up being a nothing song. Listening back to it, I realise that some of the sections outstay their welcome, and should be cut short. As I said, I am done working with it, and this, in it's current form, is what it is.
Wednesday 2 March 2011
More happy accidents with Ableton.
See by Kieran O'Leary
I used Ableton Live (Music Recording Software) about once ever six months since 2005. As I did not start actively writing music until late Summer 2010, these flirtations were mostly just geeky experiments with latency correction and the state of "Digital 4-tracks" (as I referred to Digital Audio Workstations back then). Due to dodgy self-built computers with poor sound cards and corrupt RAM, Ableton Live was never really an option. Once I got myself kitted out with servicable equiptment, things began to get interesting.
When I began writing, I used the "Arrangement view" in Ableton. This is one of two primary ways of using the Ableton Live software. As you can see from the following screenshot, it is fairly self explanatory. You have each track layed out on top of the other, and you can mix away to your hearts desire. Adding a new track is as simple as pressing CTRL+T and hitting the record button. Ableton plays back the track so that all is in sync. This setup will feel a little familiar even if you have only used an analog Tascam 4-Track back in the day.
However, in any Ableton tutorial video that I had seen, this "view" in Ableton was rarely used. Instead, the "Session View" was used. Initially, I thought that this was due to most Ableton users being either live DJs or else electronic musicians, but I've come to realise that it can also be used for regular old multi-trackers as well.
Now this is where things will become a little alien to the Tascam 4-Tracker. Never fear! In fairness, the above example is a poor one, as I have alot of useless junk in there which should be taken out. However, the most important details are there. In this particular view, I recorded all the individual parts of the song into samples. See those little different coloured rectangles in the above pic? Well each one of those is a sample that is just waiting to be triggered and looped!
Some, like the lead guitar riffs, are only one bar long, while the backing vocals and rhythm guitar are multi bar.
In this setup, I can launch a loop of any of the individual samples that I like. If I hit on a combination that I'm happy with, I can arrange them all in a line, and one button press will play them all at once. I can still improvise, and launch or remove any other section that I have recorded.
The main happy accident that this method has provided, was the second part of this song, where the drums and backing vocals kick in. It was just random rearranging of the clips that led me to this selection, and it is my favourite part of the song. It really is quite a big change in the song.
It will also be easier in the future to turn my sketches into finished ideas. Using the arrangement view, usually, I'd record a riff for about a minute, then hopefully come up with layers. If I came up with another riff/chorus/arrangement, then I'd have to come up with a brand new rhythm track, and start from scratch. With this method, I simply record the riff once, and I can loop it for days if I'd like! If I come up with a new section, it's just a matter of recording it, and pressing a button in Ableton, and it switches seamlessly!
Give it a try. There are a few minor details that I have left out, like cropping the samples and turning them into loops, but that is a simple process once you get used to it.
I used Ableton Live (Music Recording Software) about once ever six months since 2005. As I did not start actively writing music until late Summer 2010, these flirtations were mostly just geeky experiments with latency correction and the state of "Digital 4-tracks" (as I referred to Digital Audio Workstations back then). Due to dodgy self-built computers with poor sound cards and corrupt RAM, Ableton Live was never really an option. Once I got myself kitted out with servicable equiptment, things began to get interesting.
When I began writing, I used the "Arrangement view" in Ableton. This is one of two primary ways of using the Ableton Live software. As you can see from the following screenshot, it is fairly self explanatory. You have each track layed out on top of the other, and you can mix away to your hearts desire. Adding a new track is as simple as pressing CTRL+T and hitting the record button. Ableton plays back the track so that all is in sync. This setup will feel a little familiar even if you have only used an analog Tascam 4-Track back in the day.
However, in any Ableton tutorial video that I had seen, this "view" in Ableton was rarely used. Instead, the "Session View" was used. Initially, I thought that this was due to most Ableton users being either live DJs or else electronic musicians, but I've come to realise that it can also be used for regular old multi-trackers as well.
Now this is where things will become a little alien to the Tascam 4-Tracker. Never fear! In fairness, the above example is a poor one, as I have alot of useless junk in there which should be taken out. However, the most important details are there. In this particular view, I recorded all the individual parts of the song into samples. See those little different coloured rectangles in the above pic? Well each one of those is a sample that is just waiting to be triggered and looped!
Some, like the lead guitar riffs, are only one bar long, while the backing vocals and rhythm guitar are multi bar.
In this setup, I can launch a loop of any of the individual samples that I like. If I hit on a combination that I'm happy with, I can arrange them all in a line, and one button press will play them all at once. I can still improvise, and launch or remove any other section that I have recorded.
The main happy accident that this method has provided, was the second part of this song, where the drums and backing vocals kick in. It was just random rearranging of the clips that led me to this selection, and it is my favourite part of the song. It really is quite a big change in the song.
It will also be easier in the future to turn my sketches into finished ideas. Using the arrangement view, usually, I'd record a riff for about a minute, then hopefully come up with layers. If I came up with another riff/chorus/arrangement, then I'd have to come up with a brand new rhythm track, and start from scratch. With this method, I simply record the riff once, and I can loop it for days if I'd like! If I come up with a new section, it's just a matter of recording it, and pressing a button in Ableton, and it switches seamlessly!
Give it a try. There are a few minor details that I have left out, like cropping the samples and turning them into loops, but that is a simple process once you get used to it.
Monday 21 February 2011
Facilitator.
"Sometimes, even making shitty music is a lot of fun"
This track really goes to show how creating songs with Digital Workstations like Ableton can lead to some interesting outcomes. Initially, Emmet was messing around on my Midi keyboard while I loaded different midi effects through ableton. After coming up with a processed beat, several layers of random sounds were layered over the track.
Against all of our best intentions, the finished product ended up being a little pleasant to our ears, and we were sure that the sounds would fool at least a few people into thinking that all of this was intentional, and had some sort of meaning.
After labelling my role in the process as "Faciliator", we somehow decided that we should have a layer of processed" FACILITATOR IN THE HOUSE" vocals over it. I was able to copy and paste the original vocal and loop it across the song.
The finished product necessitated a music video, using whatever props were lying around (including the cheap PC mic that I had used to originally sketch ideas in ableton). At this point, there was no doubting that we had created a farcical parody of something, but we have yet to figure out exactly what this was inspired by. It all arose out of random accidents, facilitated by easily acquirable Digital Audio Workstations.
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