A social night out breaks our daily monotony every once in awhile. It may be for dinner, a few drinks, to socialize with our friends or some private event we have been invited to. Most of the time entertainment is involved in some way or another. In Charlotte County we have a plethora of venues to pick from. There are the local neighborhood bars, such as The Celtic Ray, Beef O’Brady’s or the pizza place down the street. For lodge members there are The American Legion, The VFW Post, The Elks Club, The Moose Club, The Eagles and The Knights of Columbus. On any given night there are a multitude of private parties for weddings, graduations, birthdays, anniversary's or the second Tuesday of the month. (OK, I made that one up)
By now you may be asking what all these events have in common and what are they doing in a computer column. Each of these venues usually offers some form of musical entertainment on any given day of the week. Today, most musicians use a computer for more than making a list of their songs or drawing up contracts. Most of the time there will be a small ensemble (usually one or two musicians) that sounds like a small jazz band, a rock and roll band or a full orchestra. (How can that be Martha?)
They achieve that full band sound by utilizing a computer, available composing software and then emulate the missing instruments. Musicians may add Drums, Bass, Guitar, Piano, Strings, Horn Sections, or any other instrument needed to fill out a song including sound effects. Single performers may use a computer to enhance a performance while playing a lead line on a harmonica or other instrument. Musicians may pre-record a verse or the chorus of a song in a computer to provide background harmonies for the melodies they want to sing. Then the pre-recorded music is enhanced in the computer using fairly inexpensive software, converted to a format such as MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and played back at the appropriate time in the song. Software can be used to raise the pitch of a voice if the notes are falling a bit flat. It can be used to clean up part of a song where two or more instruments may be conflicting or muddying up the sound. The musician can tweak the various sounds and tracks until the desired effect is achieved.
One software package actually uses real recordings of top studio Jazz/Rock/Country drummers. These are not samples tracks, but are full recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars, playing along in perfect sync with other tracks. For example, choose a brushes style drum sound, and you will now hear lush Jazz brushes. The results are dramatically better than previous artificial drum tracks. They sound like a real drummer, because they are recordings of a real drummer.
Only a short time ago, this level of sophistication was offered to musicians recording in multi million dollar studios. Now it is available to the local musician at a reasonable cost. For a look at some software that can make this magic happen, surf over to http://www.pgmusic.com/bandbox.htm for a program called Band in a Box (under $200 for the starter version) or continue on to http://www.cakewalk.com/sonar and look at Cakewalk SONAR X1 Studio. (Under $200) I had the opportunity to watch a local musician (Just For Fun, www.justforfunband.com) record and create sixteen tracks for a song they were going to perform using Sonar. It was amazing to hear the results.
Today it is possible to record the next big hit song on a home computer and create graphics for a CD and jewel case. Burn either a master CD to send to a replication house for copies to be made or make the copies at home on a low cost DVD Duplicator. Use a home computer to connect to the Internet and create a web page that includes original music. A web site can reach many more people than a local music gig could hope to achieve. Innovative music can also be placed on various web sites that promote Indie (independent) music. It is not beyond the realm of possibilities for a producer to visit your web site, hear your music and transform you into the next American Idol. So, lay down the boogie and play that funky music till you die.
Let me know where you’re playing and don’t forget the tip jar.
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