Post by rainbow on May 25, 2011 9:29:19 GMT
Hi,
In response to John G's question re: which instruments did I use for the 'Nights In white Satin' Collaberation with Mark, I thought it best to move over here and give a lengthy reply and maybe outline the production process for anyone interested.
I'm putting everything together in GarageBand running Mac OSX and starting with a midi of 'Nights' loaded into GarageBand which gives a basic split of instruments automatically selected by GB on importing the midi and is the basis of the backing track to be put together.
Next I set about selecting alternative virtual instruments which have been imported from other software hosts such as East West Quantum Leap (EWQL) or AMG or Arturia or Apple Jam Pack Instruments and track by track suitable instruments are selected in place of those originally selected by GB itself. (Are you with me so far? OK) ;D
These virtual instruments selected have been put into GarageBand by myself over many hours now but by a relatively simple process of converting each instrument sample into a 'plug-in' ie a sample from the host software such as EWQL, AMG etc which is auditioned and played within the host software and if you like the sound then within your DAW such as GarageBand or Logic (Mac) or Mixcraft, Cubase etc (Windows) you merely import it into your DAW as an Au (Mac) or VST (Windows) into your plug-ins folder on your hard drive and it will show up on your drop down menu as an named instrument (virtual) which you can use as a plug-in with a loaded midi to substitute the original 'voice' and overall sweeten the individual sound of each track instrument and you tailor your choice of instrument to your personal taste or to maybe matching the original recording you are trying to cover perhaps. Once you have imported this sound as a plug-in then you can also use it as a virtual instrument and play the sound via your midi keyboard controller in the same way as you would play any 'patch' or program on a real hardware synth/keyboard if you wanted to. (Hope that makes sense!)
So to get back to the Collab and to specifically answer John G's question as to what instruments I used I'll list them and show how I built the backing track:
The bass part was 'Picked Electric Bass' (Apple Jam Pack Instruments) with no added track effects.
The drum part was 'Ticket To Drums' (EWQL Fab Four) which was double tracked to raise the presence and then with added compression and drum room reverb.
The 12 String Guitar part was made up of 3 tracks of different guitar virtual instruments: 'Blackbird Guitar' (EWQL Fab Four); 'Delayed Echoes' (Apple Jam Pack Instruments); and my custom version of '12 String Reverb' (apple Jam Pack Instruments) which I added Jazz Chorus to and played around with the levels of each instrument to get the final 'layered' instrument you hear on the collab.
The mellotron part is 'AMG Tron Strings' which is a favourite and I sometimes layer this up in recordings with one of several mellotron patches I have on my Alesis Fusion Synth and which lends a different colour to the sound. I also used the 'AMG Arp Solina' strings virtual instrument faded in at the end of each choral part of the recording which is that phased, swooshy string sound that sort of carries over at the end of each of those parts. This is panned hard left as on the original.
The choral/backing vocals are made up of layered tracks of the following:
'Chamber Choir & 'Classical Voices' (Apple Jam Pack Instruments)
'Alto Solo KSII' & 'Boys Solo oh slur DXF' (EWQL Choirs)
'America E1 Solo Voice' & 'Wales VE1 Solo Voice' (EWQL Voices Of Passion)
'AMG Tron Choir'
That pretty much takes care of the backing track which I took down in volume overall when I imported Mark's vocal wav and I used the original 'Days Of Future Passed' version of the song as a reference (which is really quite sparse) for the mix.
Next, Mark's vocal track was double tracked and centred to bring it upfront more in the mix and added just gentle compression to those 2 tracks. Then copied one of those tracks to pan hard left and right and added vocal reflection which is just a little gentle compression, reverb and echo in combination.
The guitar solo is in place of the original flute solo on the original recording and is my Strat going thro' the Boss ME70 pedal set 'Jazz Fusion' with no added track effects. This was copied to tracks panned hard left and right with added compression and a wide reverb to work as a 'reflection'.
The whole thing was mastered to an 'Orchestra meets Pop' setting and exported to iTunes as an mp3 and sent to Mark who posted on the forum ... job's a good 'un!! Phew!!
;D
Pretty much this is my current working method for working with a midi to make up a suitable backing track for a cover song/tune for members stage and then just add other keyboard/guitar parts as required and very occasionally a vocal part (very occasionally!!) ;D
Sorry for the long-winded ramble but I hope it might be of interest to some involved in the production of home recordings using a midi file as a start point ... and it does eventually answer John G's question ... good one John
Best regards ... Rainbow:)
In response to John G's question re: which instruments did I use for the 'Nights In white Satin' Collaberation with Mark, I thought it best to move over here and give a lengthy reply and maybe outline the production process for anyone interested.
I'm putting everything together in GarageBand running Mac OSX and starting with a midi of 'Nights' loaded into GarageBand which gives a basic split of instruments automatically selected by GB on importing the midi and is the basis of the backing track to be put together.
Next I set about selecting alternative virtual instruments which have been imported from other software hosts such as East West Quantum Leap (EWQL) or AMG or Arturia or Apple Jam Pack Instruments and track by track suitable instruments are selected in place of those originally selected by GB itself. (Are you with me so far? OK) ;D
These virtual instruments selected have been put into GarageBand by myself over many hours now but by a relatively simple process of converting each instrument sample into a 'plug-in' ie a sample from the host software such as EWQL, AMG etc which is auditioned and played within the host software and if you like the sound then within your DAW such as GarageBand or Logic (Mac) or Mixcraft, Cubase etc (Windows) you merely import it into your DAW as an Au (Mac) or VST (Windows) into your plug-ins folder on your hard drive and it will show up on your drop down menu as an named instrument (virtual) which you can use as a plug-in with a loaded midi to substitute the original 'voice' and overall sweeten the individual sound of each track instrument and you tailor your choice of instrument to your personal taste or to maybe matching the original recording you are trying to cover perhaps. Once you have imported this sound as a plug-in then you can also use it as a virtual instrument and play the sound via your midi keyboard controller in the same way as you would play any 'patch' or program on a real hardware synth/keyboard if you wanted to. (Hope that makes sense!)
So to get back to the Collab and to specifically answer John G's question as to what instruments I used I'll list them and show how I built the backing track:
The bass part was 'Picked Electric Bass' (Apple Jam Pack Instruments) with no added track effects.
The drum part was 'Ticket To Drums' (EWQL Fab Four) which was double tracked to raise the presence and then with added compression and drum room reverb.
The 12 String Guitar part was made up of 3 tracks of different guitar virtual instruments: 'Blackbird Guitar' (EWQL Fab Four); 'Delayed Echoes' (Apple Jam Pack Instruments); and my custom version of '12 String Reverb' (apple Jam Pack Instruments) which I added Jazz Chorus to and played around with the levels of each instrument to get the final 'layered' instrument you hear on the collab.
The mellotron part is 'AMG Tron Strings' which is a favourite and I sometimes layer this up in recordings with one of several mellotron patches I have on my Alesis Fusion Synth and which lends a different colour to the sound. I also used the 'AMG Arp Solina' strings virtual instrument faded in at the end of each choral part of the recording which is that phased, swooshy string sound that sort of carries over at the end of each of those parts. This is panned hard left as on the original.
The choral/backing vocals are made up of layered tracks of the following:
'Chamber Choir & 'Classical Voices' (Apple Jam Pack Instruments)
'Alto Solo KSII' & 'Boys Solo oh slur DXF' (EWQL Choirs)
'America E1 Solo Voice' & 'Wales VE1 Solo Voice' (EWQL Voices Of Passion)
'AMG Tron Choir'
That pretty much takes care of the backing track which I took down in volume overall when I imported Mark's vocal wav and I used the original 'Days Of Future Passed' version of the song as a reference (which is really quite sparse) for the mix.
Next, Mark's vocal track was double tracked and centred to bring it upfront more in the mix and added just gentle compression to those 2 tracks. Then copied one of those tracks to pan hard left and right and added vocal reflection which is just a little gentle compression, reverb and echo in combination.
The guitar solo is in place of the original flute solo on the original recording and is my Strat going thro' the Boss ME70 pedal set 'Jazz Fusion' with no added track effects. This was copied to tracks panned hard left and right with added compression and a wide reverb to work as a 'reflection'.
The whole thing was mastered to an 'Orchestra meets Pop' setting and exported to iTunes as an mp3 and sent to Mark who posted on the forum ... job's a good 'un!! Phew!!
;DPretty much this is my current working method for working with a midi to make up a suitable backing track for a cover song/tune for members stage and then just add other keyboard/guitar parts as required and very occasionally a vocal part (very occasionally!!) ;D
Sorry for the long-winded ramble but I hope it might be of interest to some involved in the production of home recordings using a midi file as a start point ... and it does eventually answer John G's question ... good one John
Best regards ... Rainbow:)
