Chris Rutkowski, Composer/Pianist

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Step 3: To add a virtual (synthesized) trombone part to the pure audio file.

So far, I’ve striped the audio file with a bar and beat timeline, that was not present in the original recording. As there is rubato and natural fluctuation of the beat in a live performance, this cannot be done mechanically, but direct correlations must be made on a bar by bar basis. This was accomplished by using the beat mapping function of Logic described in the previous post.

The first challenge was to convert the trombone part from the Finale file into a SMF (Standard MIDI File) which can be read by the sequencer in Logic. In the last post I mentioned that this was more complicated than one would hope. Finale has its own sequencer embedded in the program to allow for its own (quite good!) audio playback of the notation. However, the individual files seem to contain the instrument list of the entire score, and so one must first delete all the extraneous instruments there before converting. After this was done, only one track was created by Logic upon importation. Another problem was discovered after importing. There were cues in the score that were, of course, treated no different from the notes meant to be played by the computer. These also had to be deleted.

When the trombone part was placed into Logic, the process of fine tuning began. Beat mapping had to be considerably refined, with constant reference to the written score. Working with the synthesized trombone required some technical finesse. For example, the timbre of the instrument varies with the dynamic of the attack. This is called velocity in MIDI (values of 1 to 127), and in the trombone patch, the timbre changed from a mellow and warm sound to a brassy one at around velocity 85. However, there is a trick in which the dynamic of an attack can be made independent of the velocity of the attack, and that is use the independent volume (loudness) controls in the DAW. Thus, one chooses the timbre one likes at a particular velocity, and if it’s too quite, just turn up the volume for that note.

I’m quite happy with the first results from the enhanced audio. The third movement of the piece is called “NOLA”, which is the familiar acronym of “New Orleans, Louisiana”. I used authentic New Orleans rhythms throughout, and there is percussion from beginning to end. Originally I used 4 percussionists, but coordinating the parts into a seamless groove was difficult. I then reduced all the parts except the timpani to a single drum set, and this worked like magic, providing a template for all the highly rhythmic instrumental parts to relate to. For the recording, we placed the drummer in the center of the stage, next to the conductor. The problem was that I couldn’t hear enough of some instrumental parts, particularly the bass parts-tuba, trombone, bari sax, bass and contrabass clarinet, bassoons and contrabassoons. As the recording was mixed directly to stereo, I couldn’t do the obvious by simply turning up the volume on the mics that recorded the bass parts. Hence the high tech fix of doubling those parts with synthesized ones in Logic.

I’ll try and post some before and after audio soon. In the meantime, I’ve moved on to adding the tuba part, which lead to a new challenge. That’s for the next post.