How to make useful tempo maps for recording sessions, Part 2
Click tracks are often used in music recording, keeping ensembles playing tightly together and helping ensure that specific musical events happen exactly when they need to, as when scoring to picture. As discussed in part 1, a good tempo map will generate an audio click track that leads musicians easily and musically through performing a piece of music. (more…)
Preparing and using midi files and tempo maps for live recording
If you’re a composer today, you’re often tasked with twice the work you once were. Not only are you composing a score, but also creating an elaborate virtual instrument mock-up (or even final master recording) of the composition at the same time. When you add all of the hybrid musical styles used in scoring for games or picture, you end up with an almost infinite number of combinations of work-flow, software, and virtual/live instrumentation to manage – all within the allotted time and budget.
If only there was a tool that could allow you to successfully manage all these tasks, from composition to final audio master.
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Here are some questions that I am often asked with, I hope, some helpful answers….
What do you do?
As a producer, I help the artist or songwriter decide how to record a performance of a song in a way that best fits their vision of what the song should be. This ranges from helping to choose which songs to perform or in what style to do a particular song, to hiring the best musicians and studio for the particular job. I book studio time, musicians, and engineers (if not myself), rehearse the band if needed, and guide the vocalists and instrumentalists through their performances to make professional recordings.
Our student trombone choir is one of only three college trombone ensembles invited to perform at this year’s Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington, D.C.
Trombones at Tech took the stage on Thursday, March 22, but don’t worry if you missed the performance. The group will also present its program to a Cookeville audience in a show set for 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 26, in the Wattenbarger Auditorium of the Bryan Fine Arts Building.
The group joined collegiate ensembles from Penn State and Boston University to perform at the Eastern Trombone Workshop, hosted by the U.S. Army Band.
“Only two or three college trombone choirs are invited to perform at this event each year, so it’s a real honor to be included at such an exclusive level in such a prestigious event,” says Joshua Hauser, director of Trombones at Tech.
But Trombones at Tech’s prestigious performance wasn’t the university’s only representation at the event. A 2006 alumna, Jennifer Griggs, competed as a semifinalist in the National Trombone Solo competition at the workshop.
During its performance, Trombones at Tech presented a preview of the program from its forthcoming compact disc recording, made possible by a grant from the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan and available later this year.
It includes music by Nelhybel, Premru, Bellando and Edwards, as well as works composed by Hauser and alumnus Aldo Forte and premieres of new works by alumnus Glenn Martin and professor Greg Danner.
Hauser, who has devised a series of unique trombone warm-up exercises for his students, will also lead a warm-up session at the Eastern Trombone Workshop at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 24.
“This session includes the use of mp3 play-alongs and use of the Internet to help locate warm-up and basic technical exercises to include in practice routines,” he says.
The session will conclude with examples from Hauser’s new “Donut Etudes: Coordination Studies in 12 Keys for Four-part Trombone Ensemble,” published by Cimarron Music Press.
The name Donut Etudes comes from a tradition begun in Hauser’s warm-up exercises with Trombones at Tech. “The first person to miss a note has to buy doughnuts for the group,” he explains.
For assisting with various aspects of the CD recording and/or the performance tour, Hauser and Trombones at Tech would like to thank Arthur LaBar, chairperson of TTU’s music and art department; R. Winston Morris, tuba professor; Mark and Jennie Morette, Dan Rudin and Ted Wilson, for recording and copyright advice; Andrew Coggin and Adam Richey, recording engineers; Jim Lotz, recording techniques professor; Big “O” Donuts; Bryan Doughty and Cimarron Music Press; Ada Haynes, director of QEP; Student Affairs Office and Student Monies Allocations Committee; Darrell Garber, dean of the College of Education; and Marvin Barker, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.
“Recording this CD and performing at the Eastern Trombone Workshop are both excellent opportunities for reputation building — both for Trombones at Tech and for the university as a whole,” Hauser says. “We appreciate the support of everyone who’s helped us achieve these goals.”
