Midi Instrumentation - As Real As It Gets

I tend to struggle with midi instruments vs. live. The pros and cons of both tend to make the situation somewhat frustrating.

Live Instruments:

• While you can easily have the sound you want with a live instrument, you can't control how the instrumentalist will interpret your work, even if you do spell everything out for them prior to the recording session. 
• There's payment involved with live musicians... But don't get me wrong, I'm all for supporting my fellow musicians, I just have spent a lot on these midi patches and would like them to be what they promise.

Midi Instruments:

• Complete control, but they don't always sound real - Even with the best midi patches. 
• Expensive for good ones.
• Can be difficult to control.

So, where does that leave us? 

While we could just live with the presets of the midi controls and not worry about the best sounds for our midi devices, if we want the best sounds they can produce, we'll need to read the instructions and play with it.

Like getting directions from a Albanian cabbie, 

this is can be confusing depending on the company you get your patches from.

Now, I'm not an expert yet, but I do want to show you what I've learned and hopefully help you to gain some perspective on your midi instruments.

I'm going to attempt to explain the UVI Instruments to you and how to use them. If you have the UVI suite, download this image, it will help you make sense of it.

Take special note of #9. They don't tell you this, but this area controls much of the other areas on the same board. For example, "Pitch" controls how much of #8 gets thrown into your mix. "Filter" takes care of #6 LFO and the 4 different filters that can be assigned. 

Currently, I'm working on a Alto Sax part that is kinda kicking my butt. I need it to sound as authentic as possible. Here's a recording of an alto sax to use as a reference. 

Amazing Sax Solo

It also has some slides, but I'm having a hard time making it sound real. Getting closer all the time though. 

To help navigate the UVI suite, here's a video I made to help you make sense of the interface.

Midi Instruments Episode 1 - UVI Suite 

As you can see, it's not as cut and dry as the handout they give you in the guide.

In the next episode:
"How to Tweak Midi Instruments"

Looking at the individual parts -> working with volume, velocity, breath control, etc...

STAY TUNED!!!

Anyway, here's a cut of the song that I recorded. Love to hear your feedback! Is it catchy? Do you love it? Why? Dislike it? Why? Let me know! 

"Hot Fish" - Amy Kurylo

As always, I hope you're creating, making, be amazing in your own way! Be inspired! Be creative! 

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!

TTFN,

Amy

Script Re-Re-ReWrites

Have you ever tried to start an engine that doesn't want to go?
Or worse, you have engine power, but are stuck?

GAAAAAAAH!!!!

It's like you're revving an engine and getting nowhere!

LOL! 

Well, I know this feeling so well, because I'm in the middle of REWRITES!!! 

AGAIN? You say... Yep. Again. Until it's done

So, to help you and me remember how to break free, I thought I'd write down some things we can do to get out of this horrible, treacherous, predicament.

How to Break Free and Move Forward

1.  Get someone else to look at your work.
    Good, bad, or indifferent, having that extra mind/eyes looking at your work will help you revisualize what's working and what isn't -- even if they don't point it out to you.
2.  Get Away From PEOPLE and distractions.
   Hey, I love my family. You love yours. But the creative process is not conducive to CONSTANT INTERRUPTIONS.
3. Enter the Dragon 
   Put on your Grr face. Buckle down and just do it. Slog through no matter what the aftermath. BUT, keep a copy of the original just in case your rewrites turn out disastrous. Even if they do though, it's worth it to go ahead and push through this blockade... Could be the key to your masterpiece.
4. Consider a Break
   To know more, Follow this link: When to Step Away From Your Work.  As this is the absolute opposite of where you want to go, sometimes it is necessary to stop for a bit and smell the roses so you can be more productive later.
5. Do the Dishes
   This may be considered a break, but I find that I am most productive when I do this one menial task. It allows my mind to wander and gets in touch with the more creative side of me. And if it is a break, it's a very short one.
6. Listen/Read/Look at someone else's work
   Ideas can spark from looking at another creative master. It may be something that kicks you in the right place. So try it!
7. Finally, Watch THIS:

As Always.... KEEP MOVING!

Amy

The Greatest Liar In Your Toolbox

There is a deceiver in our midst. 

A shadowy figure that lurks at the ready to throw off your guard. It's nefarious. It's fiendish. It is cruel... It will have you crying... Yes, crying! Even you, the guy with the heavy metal background and thousands of tattoos! I see you back there! You will ball like a little baby after it is through with you. A Big, Harry, Tattoed, Heavy Metal Man-baby!!!

Where is it? In your stereos. Your car, your home, your boom box... And it's name is Bass Boost. 

You may say, "Ppphhttt! HA-HA! Is that what you're talking about?!? That's stupid! I know about Bass Boost. You just shut it off."

 BUT, did you know that sometimes it goes by other names? Or sometimes, there is no name, it just is automatically embedded in some systems and you have to physically counter act it in order to hear a true mix? 

For example, on my expensive home stereo, it's called "Night". So the last mix you heard of mine, Can't Say No, you might have thought it was thin, or tinny. That's because the studio monitors were telling me good things, but when I'd listen on my stereo, the Night feature was on - so it boosted the bass. This caused me to do at least 30+ mixes trying to get rid of the boomy bass. *Sigh* So aggravating. 

Another time the gremlin struck was with my last album.  My car stereo doesn't have a bass boost, but is so bass heavy!  After mixing, I went out to the car excited to listen to all the music I had worked so hard on, only to be put to tears because of how boomy the bass was. I was devastated and basically destroyed my work trying to get it to sound correct in my car stereo. It wasn't until later that I realized what happened. 

This is a huge issue for anyone trying to mix/master their own work.
  Most of us like to listen to our pieces on several different devices/systems to hear what it will be like for our patrons. So please, be aware of this sinister prankster. 

***  Make sure to use a reference track not only in your mixing, but on the other places you listen to your finalized mix.    ***

It will make a world of difference.  I have learned my lesson. 

Don't let this, or anything else stop you from making music. You can do it. 

Dream Big. Move Mountains.

Amy

New Gear... The Roller Coaster

Getting new gear is like a roller coaster ride. It's like Oooo... and Ah... Sometimes scary. Sometimes harry. And sometimes a great thrill.

Recently I updated my mic to a Shure sm7b. A really great studio mic. The salesman told me about 3 times how Michael Jackson used it to record thriller. Oooo.... Ah.... I also had to get a Cloud Lifter in order for my little set up to be able to handle the new mic.

Yup. It's pretty sweet. I've already used it a little bit to play around.

That spurred me onto to updating my Pro Tools. This is the scary, because last time I did this, I lost a lot of plugins due to the transition of file extension from vst to aax and I had JUST purchased a full orchestral sound bank that could no longer be used. Grrr... So I haven't gotten a new one for quite some time.

This time though, so far, so good.

Next, I got the Orchestral Suite by UVI for my newest version of Pro Tools (12).

This has some amazing sounds to it. As far as midi instruments go, it's really some sweet sampled sounds. But silly me.... I forgot that some instruments don't play in orchestras... like Saxophones.

What's a girl to do?!

Then my computer starts acting funny.

"I can't handle all these plugins!" "You don't need to record that do you?" "You're pushing too hard!"

So, it was decided that I need a new computer. I hemmed and hawed about this because as much as I may need one, I really hate having to install all of those really large, cumbersome apps onto another device.


Last night, I got the new computer. Hard to get things done. Now comes the harry. This is going to take all day. So, here I sit. Waiting for things to happen...

I guess I have to take my own advice. I know it's going to be a great setup for me once it's done. So, what can I do? I have to KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Peace, Love, and all that Jazz,

Amy

Rewrites... Among other Things

I can't tell you how much I dislike rewrites. Not because the process is abhorrent... Well, actually, it kind of is, but I do like it too.

No, really! It's because it's this process of looking back over your work (😊) and I usually cringe at my initial thoughts (😬). It's a lot of, "Dear God! What were you thinking?!?" kind of stuff.

I always improve. Always find some mistake. Always make it more of the vision I wanted. And best of all, it's always more cohesive.

Yes, when I first do a write through it's like this:



It starts of great, but somewhere in the middle it goes a little wonky.

Right now, I've thrown out an entire scene (it was horrible), and am putting in a new one. I'm hoping to keep it funny and upbeat and just fun. Comedy is harder to write than serious scenes. But hey, I'll be happy if it makes sense and isn't too hokey.

No, actually, I won't be happy until I make it into the vision I have for it. I'm so excited to see how it will turn out.

So, where do I go for inspiration? Well, Youtube, google images, and obviously giphy. 😋 I just do a relative search and usually find what I'm looking for. I also listen to a lot of books. Currently, I'm listening to "All Things Considered" by G.K. Chesterton. I find that listening to books allows me to do mundane things like the dishes and still gain wisdom.

What are you working on? What are your challenges? Do you have a favorite resource?

Whatever you're working on, don't give up. Keep moving forward. Even if it's just an inch a day. That's still progress.

TTFN,

Amy

"Can't Say No" - The Evolution of a Song

When you write songs, there are times that you start with an idea, abandon it, just to come back to it in the end. Such it was with this song.

So often, we just get to reap the benefit of enjoying someone's art without knowing how many hours they've labored on it. I thought you'd like a visit to the inner workings of this songwriter's brain. So, we'll look at this song in depth.

First it started with an idea. I kept thinking of the words to be "Can't Say No" so I created the Sibelius file to have that title, but somehow it morphed into "Inspiration" I recorded my voice onto my favorite app, "Voice Recorder Pro". As you can see the whole process began sometime in the latter part of February.

Next, I opened up Sibelius and began figuring out the key and chords I wanted to put into the piece. There were times I had to walk away from the song due to waiting for more inspiration or a conflict with time.

I worked at putting the song together in stages, Chords for keyboard and bass parts, then Sax and then Vocal. I also only worked on different sections: First the Intro, then the First Verse, Chorus, and so forth and so on. Went back and perfected to parts. On the whole, I listened to the song over 50 times before I was satisfied enough to let it go into the recording process. It was about 2 weeks ago that I began recording. 

I then brought it into Logic Express to record vocals. I exported the Midi files to have the instruments on Logic play them back. When I realized that it would take much, much more time to fix the sounds of these instruments into what I liked (quantifying, style, etc...) I decided to go back to Sibelius and use the recorded version of the song. 

Remember, I had changed the song to "Inspiration"? So, I initially recorded the song with a completely different set of lyrics. They went like this:

First I downloaded the background audio tracks as a whole chunk, all the instruments at once... Nope! Then I went and put them in separately and recorded the vocal. I worked with the EQ, reverb and other mix options to get it where I wanted. I listened on my living room stereo after I thought I had a great mix. UGH! Boomy, nasty! Horrible!!!

Back to the drawing board. I realized somewhere in here that I hated the Lyrics, so I changed them back to my original thought. After the first 20 remixes, running up and down from my studio and listening on the stereo, I realized I may need to change something in the original recording.So looked at Sibelius, and sure enough, Chorus and Reverb were on for every track making it almost impossible to fix the EQ. Resend Files. Back to Mixing. 

Mix should be good now right? UGH... STILL???? Time for some help. Looked up EQ expert advice. AHA! Too much of this Frequency, not enough that. I used this Cheat Sheet from Sonic Bids. Very handy. It was my piano and Bass mostly. 

10 more mixes with tweaking latter... And my sweet husband's help.... We got it? Maybe.. Think So... Send it off to family to listen on different devices. Some good feedback, some not so good. My brother Chris (Audio Engineer and Awesome Eskrima Instructor) thought it sounded a bit thin. So, back for 2 more tries and this time I think it's good. Chris may be taking a crack at it yet. 

It's best to listen to it with headphones (laptop/desktop speakers are terrible!!). Remember the song is not MASTERED, just mixed. I think it sounds pretty fun though. Let me know in the comments your thoughts. 

So, let's break this down from the initial time of beginning the idea of the song to completion of the song (which may still be going on). 

Inital setup (Idea development): 3 days or so

Writing out song: 2 Weeks

Recording/Mixing song: 2 Weeks

A month to make a song? Yeah well, remember that the more you do something, the more productive you become. It used to take me much, much longer and hopefully, one day it will take me even less time. Also consider, I work part time, take care of kids and a household, and have friends. 

I love writing music! It's amazing, fulfilling work. Keep doing the best at everything you love! It's so worth it. 

Keep moving forward!

Amy

Update - NEW SONG!

This song currently has the title of "Duh-duh" because I've not given it a more appropriate title yet. Much like the Beatles used to call the song "Yesterday" the name of "Scrambled Eggs" before they came up with the final lyrics.

Please keep in mind that the instruments you will hear are midi instruments and as such not always controllable in their sound. This is a short preview and I'll keep putting up more as I complete the piece. Please let me know your thoughts!

**** Song written and arranged by Amanda B. Kurylo. All rights reserved. *****

Music Writing Tools and a... Vlog?

Drum roll please...

Without further ado, I bring you a new addition to this blog, and that would be a

VLOG! 

Excited? I hope so. Today's blog will be about my favorite writing tools for the music. They include phone and computer apps, and I'm sort of a tech type who likes to play. 

So please, check out my youtube channel and enjoy the video. Let me know your thoughts and enjoy! 

A word of wisdom for today:

"When you get tired learn to rest, not to quit."

Keep Moving FORWARD!!!

Amy