The Paper Roll That Plays Itself

Plug a keyboard into a computer, press a key, and a piano sound comes out. It’s natural to assume the keyboard sent that sound down the cable. It didn’t. The cable carried no sound at all. That’s the part of MIDI that confuses almost everyone, and once you see it, the rest falls into place. Read More …

Book Notes :: Music Production for Film & TV

1.Sample Rates Definition: Sampling converts an analog signal into digital data. The sample rate is how many samples are captured per second. Two standard rates: 44.1 kHz — used for audio destined for CD. 48 kHz — required for film and television audio. Why 48 kHz for video: it was chosen to stay compatible with Read More …

The Instrumentalist vs. The Musician Mindset

The trap References are meant to guide, not dictate Easy to slip from “informed by reference” to “forcing mix to match reference” Two mindsets Instrumentalist: only hears own part, copies reference note for note, ignores that arrangement/tracking/instrumentation differ, boosts highs just because reference curve is bright, ends up harsh/brittle Musician: hears whole piece, knows where Read More …

The Week I Switched DAWs

I had a few short pieces finished. I was into a  fourth: “Haunted House”, and the music was already set in my head.  The hard part was never going to be the writing or figuring out the melodies, chords, whatever.  The hard part was getting a video file into Ableton without it choking. I spent Read More …

Scoring a Film With Two Old Computers

You don’t need a powerful machine to score a film. You need your computers to agree on what time it is, and to not fight over the same resources while they do it. This guide is for composers working with older hardware and no budget. The idea is simple: your desktop makes the music, a Read More …