An INSTRUMENTAL - Raw vs. Final

[GregB]

Before I started the proper recording sessions for "The Flat White Album" in earnest, I was having issues with an instrumental 'Suite for Guitar' .  Although an 'OK' player I was struggling with consistently producing clear-sounding strings and smooth runs.  So I challenged myself to record it on video. This turned out to be a good investment of effort because, although I eventually recorded each musical section separately, these recordings were done with very few mistakes. 

 

In the live video there was one really bad mistake when starting a new section, so I simply froze in position,  then continued the performance from that section start point.  I later removed the error in the video edit ... can you spot it (there's a slight image twitch)?   

 

In the end, this was a good practice session but with the bonus of producing the simplest of all my music videos - one setup, one take, and no requirement to find the usual multitude of 'story' images plus hours of editing.   

 

Because the performance was planned to be just a single take, I had to play/practice each day for a week (very rare for me!).  The audio is the unprocessed recording from a Zoom H1 stereo mic (visible on the table) plus a Rode directional mic shoed on a Canon 70D.  

The 'audience' vibe bookending the video was done purely as a joke, but I liked it so much that I incorporated it on the final album track to feel like an orchestral concert performance.

 

The sections (all using E, A  and D bass drone, except ‘Sunshine Variations’ and ‘Bridge’):

·  Fanfare/Anthem (E)

 ·  Lost (Em) 

·  Chase (Em) 

·  Lost and Sad (Em reprise) 

·  Sunshine (Mozart inspired) 

·  Sunshine variations (Am with modulation) 

·  Sunshine (Mozart reprise, with fuller chords)  

·  Bridge 

·  Fanfare/Anthem (reprise)  

·  Maypole (E folkstyle)

 

 

The final album version is below, with the orchestration built around the same guitar part (as above, but re-recorded).  I recorded the guitar without a click track - it sounded too robotic otherwise and also allowed me the freedom to play more dynamically while concentrating more on good playing technique.  However, the downside was that the orchestration (12 MIDI tracks) was far more time-consuming as all the notes had to be 'floated' manually into place as bars/beats on the DAW timeline served no purpose.

 

 

Cheers,

Greg

[GregB]

1 hour ago, VoiceEx said:

some of the MIDI parts could use some fine tuning in the Release, Expression and Dynamics

 

Hi. I agree.

 

I'm OK but I've never excelled at MIDI. A lot of people say that Pro Tools is poor in its MIDI capabilities, but it's all I know, and I did a lot with note velocity, note overlaps for legato, and micro-level writing of track volumes.  But there must always come a point when I decide it's 'good enough' ... it's usually when I stop wincing 😄  There's also a trade-off between effort and perceived reward ... and the clock is ticking ever louder for me.   Perhaps another DAW would provide a more natural, organic and efficient method for shaping the sound? But who has the patience and time to learn another DAW?

 

As for sound libraries it's a matter of a shoestring budget ... half were from Protools internal XPand2 samples/synthesis libraries, the rest were real samples via Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 ($129).

 

As with the rest of the album, I always hoped that if someone really liked a track they would do a more professional cover. .... Interested?? 😅

 

Cheers,

Greg

Edited January 15, 2022 by GregB
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