Hello and welcome to my blog for week 5. In this weeks blog I’ll cover my groups performance in music tech forum, the research I’ve been doing on guitarist that use MIDI for performing and recording and some products I’ve found information about in the past week.
My group in music tech forum performed a funky jazz type of tune incorporating a moog. The members in my group were Kevin on the Roland electronic drum kit, which produces some unreal sounds, Adam on guitar and moog, Paul on Saxophone and piano and I played guitar. The song was developed by me remembering a staccato rhythm Paul and I wrote in a previous band backing Tasmania. This rhythm was used as the intro, followed by a four bar moog solo by Adam using the phase shifting device on the instrument. This went into a twelve bar funk groove using the chords F9, E9, Eb9, and back to E9 that I came up with. This section had free style Moog improvisation performed by Adam. Then we decided I’d do a 16 bar guitar solo over the groove followed by a 16 bar sax solo because the sax had a much wider dynamic range than my clean guitar sound plugged straight into the desk. After the solo section we reversed the entire intro because it seemed to work really we well, and have a tight ending with the staccato rhythm. I know this might sound like a very amateur and simple, but we only had three one rehearsals to write the piece. Under the circumstances I thought we did a reasonable job. Things I would improve if given the chance to redo the performance. Include more instruments from the studio, provided by the university, for example an analogue synthesiser to outline the chords changes in the solos using the arpeggiator function. I personally think it would be really enjoyable to try and copy the arpeggiator using sweep picking arpeggios on the guitar. I could come up with some interest harmonies starting on different chord tones to the synthesiser. Unfortunately this was not possible because the synthesisers were in use by other groups. My guitar was plugged straight into the desk and I had a really awful clean mid-range sound which was hard to work with. Like most guitarist I’m really fussy with my tone and so I should be because there are so many guitarist today that have appalling tone. This is just my opinion and tone is a very personal thing.
Last week I talked a bit about the Roland GK-2A digital pickup as shown below.
I mentioned I would find out how such guitarists as Jennifer Batten (Michael Jackson, Jeff Beck, solo artist) and John Petrucci (Dream Theatre, Liquid Tension) use MIDI in performing and recording. I failed to find any information on John’s use of MIDI. I’ve heard that he uses MIDI to store his guitar sounds for performing live with Dream Theatre. He does this because he requires so many different types of sounds to recreate his work in the studio. He apparently uses a massive foot controller with about 24 switches, each switch stores all the guitar sounds for each individual song. The guitar tones change automatically through out the song so he doesn’t have to tap dances around pedals all night and can concentrate on the just playing the song. He does this because his parts are so complex. I will try and find more information about this in the future weeks, and see if I can find out what gear he uses to pull this off.
Jennifer Batten on the other hand uses MIDI for performing and recording. In the Jeff Beck band she uses the Roland GK-2A pickup with a Roland GR-33 to play orchestra parts with her guitar. In the studio she has used a Roland GI-10 converter with the Roland 1080 for sounds.
While researching Jennifer Batten I found she was involved with Washburn in creating a signature model guitar the JB-100 MIDI which has a Roland GK-2A pickup and an inbuilt switching unit (Shown below).
I have also found some guitar companies such as Godin, Brian Moore, and Gibson who make a similar product to Jennifer Batten’s signature model I will look into these and hopefully tell you a bit about them next week. If pictures didn't work i'll fix them in the future!
References
Simoes P.J.R. Roland GK2a. April, 04, 2007
www.genocities.com/.../Alley?9516/instr.html
Guitarhoo. (2005) Guitarhoo! Interviews. April, 04, 2007
http://www.guitarhoo.com/interviews/jenniferbatten.shtml
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Week 4 - MIDI Pick-up
Hi welcome to the second instalment of my music tech forum blog for first semester.
I’m really starting to settle in at the University of Adelaide now. Classes are getting more practical and more in depth, which is making my interests, grow in MIDI, audio studies and music tech. My knowledge of music technology is growing every day and I can now combine this with the performance and theory side of music I have studied in the past.
I’m performing a 3 minute piece of music tomorrow in music tech forum. Our very last rehearsal for the performance is tomorrow at 12. My group has decided to do a funk song, because it’s an easy genre of music to put together in the limited time we have to organise the piece of music. I’ll let you know how rehearsal and the performance go next week.
I’ve been looking into using MIDI with a guitar used as the controller. This interest is because I want to be able to store guitar sounds using MIDI, be able to play any kind of instruments part in a live or recording situation on the guitar and loads of other options. I found some useful information on one of Roland first guitar MIDI setups, which includes a GK-2 pickup and a GR-50 rack mounting sound module. The Gk-2 consists of a pickup which is attached to a switching unit. The MIDI pickup sits underneath the strings like a normal magnetic pickup, usually in between the bridge of the guitar and the bridge pickup. I found this is a great device because the guitar can be used normally and as a controller that sends MIDI data from each string. By doing this you can blend two different instruments to play in unison or set the guitar and other instrument to play a constant harmony. The options are endless in a live or recording situation I personally could have hours and hours of enjoyment experimenting with this device. The pickup works by sending digital data to a rack module which converts the data to MIDI. At first I was worried about having to drill holes in my guitar to attach the pickup and switching unit, but I’ve found you can attach them with an adhesive. This week I’m going to look further into the GR-50 sound module which they don’t make anymore with one they do called the GR-30. I’ll also look into why such plays as Jennifer Batten, John petrucci, and Alan Holdsworth use some kind of MIDI setup.
References
Denyer, R. (1982). The Guitar Handbook. In A. Buckingham (Ed.), Performance Technology (PP.224). Spain: Darling Kindersley Limited.
I’m really starting to settle in at the University of Adelaide now. Classes are getting more practical and more in depth, which is making my interests, grow in MIDI, audio studies and music tech. My knowledge of music technology is growing every day and I can now combine this with the performance and theory side of music I have studied in the past.
I’m performing a 3 minute piece of music tomorrow in music tech forum. Our very last rehearsal for the performance is tomorrow at 12. My group has decided to do a funk song, because it’s an easy genre of music to put together in the limited time we have to organise the piece of music. I’ll let you know how rehearsal and the performance go next week.
I’ve been looking into using MIDI with a guitar used as the controller. This interest is because I want to be able to store guitar sounds using MIDI, be able to play any kind of instruments part in a live or recording situation on the guitar and loads of other options. I found some useful information on one of Roland first guitar MIDI setups, which includes a GK-2 pickup and a GR-50 rack mounting sound module. The Gk-2 consists of a pickup which is attached to a switching unit. The MIDI pickup sits underneath the strings like a normal magnetic pickup, usually in between the bridge of the guitar and the bridge pickup. I found this is a great device because the guitar can be used normally and as a controller that sends MIDI data from each string. By doing this you can blend two different instruments to play in unison or set the guitar and other instrument to play a constant harmony. The options are endless in a live or recording situation I personally could have hours and hours of enjoyment experimenting with this device. The pickup works by sending digital data to a rack module which converts the data to MIDI. At first I was worried about having to drill holes in my guitar to attach the pickup and switching unit, but I’ve found you can attach them with an adhesive. This week I’m going to look further into the GR-50 sound module which they don’t make anymore with one they do called the GR-30. I’ll also look into why such plays as Jennifer Batten, John petrucci, and Alan Holdsworth use some kind of MIDI setup.
References
Denyer, R. (1982). The Guitar Handbook. In A. Buckingham (Ed.), Performance Technology (PP.224). Spain: Darling Kindersley Limited.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Week 3: Introduction to blog
Week 3: Introduction to blog
Hi my name is Andrew Scott I have moved to Adelaide from Tasmania. I was studying at the University of Tasmania doing a bachelor of contempery music where I studied guitar as my main instrument. Now that I’m here in Adelaide I’m stoked with the facilities, and the amount of musicians around the uni. I’ve come from working with one computer between fifteen people in tech to everyone having there individual computer. It seems like a great place to study. I’m doing a course called certificate 4 in music technology which involves the classes: Audio studies, MIDI studies, music tech forum, assignment writing, OHS, Keyboard Musicianship, composition, and concepts of music. I am currently in the process of dropping out of composition and concepts of music because my study in Tasmania covered all subject areas.
Currently in music tech forum the class has been divided into groups to perform a short piece of music (2-3 mins) to the other groups in the class. The performance will be in 2 weeks time in week five. We have no set rules on how the song will be constructed or what style it has to be. The guidelines we were given are we have to use the instruments we are familiar with, with the instruments we were shown in class this week. Some of the instruments shown were a Theramin, Analogue synthesiser, and different types of moogs. My group has organised to rehearse on Thursdays from 12:00 till 1:00. We have not had practise yet but I’ve come up with some ideas for the rehearsal. If we treat the piece as a jazz tune with an A B A form or an A B C A form, I think it will give the tune a sense of direction instead of just improvised noise throughout. Plus I know three of the four musicians have jazz experience and the forth member is a drummer. So we could write a head or A section then take turns improvising (B section), then play the melody again (A section). This could maybe make the song drag out and go for way more than three minutes, so I’ll keen you up to date with how it goes.
I’m starting to really get into learning how to use MIDI, and using the guitar as the controller. I’ve done a bit of research and have asked my teacher Luke if I can do my presentation and paper on it so I can finish the year having a really broad knowledge on this subject. I’m a real keen guitarist and composer and want to get my music out there but since I’ve just moved don’t have a band. So I’ve been thinking there’s not better way to add drum, bass, and key parts to my compositions than using a MIDI setup. I’ll go into everything here, and more next week and include some picture and audio
Hi my name is Andrew Scott I have moved to Adelaide from Tasmania. I was studying at the University of Tasmania doing a bachelor of contempery music where I studied guitar as my main instrument. Now that I’m here in Adelaide I’m stoked with the facilities, and the amount of musicians around the uni. I’ve come from working with one computer between fifteen people in tech to everyone having there individual computer. It seems like a great place to study. I’m doing a course called certificate 4 in music technology which involves the classes: Audio studies, MIDI studies, music tech forum, assignment writing, OHS, Keyboard Musicianship, composition, and concepts of music. I am currently in the process of dropping out of composition and concepts of music because my study in Tasmania covered all subject areas.
Currently in music tech forum the class has been divided into groups to perform a short piece of music (2-3 mins) to the other groups in the class. The performance will be in 2 weeks time in week five. We have no set rules on how the song will be constructed or what style it has to be. The guidelines we were given are we have to use the instruments we are familiar with, with the instruments we were shown in class this week. Some of the instruments shown were a Theramin, Analogue synthesiser, and different types of moogs. My group has organised to rehearse on Thursdays from 12:00 till 1:00. We have not had practise yet but I’ve come up with some ideas for the rehearsal. If we treat the piece as a jazz tune with an A B A form or an A B C A form, I think it will give the tune a sense of direction instead of just improvised noise throughout. Plus I know three of the four musicians have jazz experience and the forth member is a drummer. So we could write a head or A section then take turns improvising (B section), then play the melody again (A section). This could maybe make the song drag out and go for way more than three minutes, so I’ll keen you up to date with how it goes.
I’m starting to really get into learning how to use MIDI, and using the guitar as the controller. I’ve done a bit of research and have asked my teacher Luke if I can do my presentation and paper on it so I can finish the year having a really broad knowledge on this subject. I’m a real keen guitarist and composer and want to get my music out there but since I’ve just moved don’t have a band. So I’ve been thinking there’s not better way to add drum, bass, and key parts to my compositions than using a MIDI setup. I’ll go into everything here, and more next week and include some picture and audio
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