Practical advice for realistic midi programming and home recording and mixing

Hi

I'm Tommy T. I've been programming and recording tracks at home for about 15 years now.

I haven't written a hit song, and I've only had songs played on minor radio stations, but what I have noticed over the years is that people often comment on the quality of the recordings, mixing, and how well the instruments are played. This last point is key, since 90% of my instruments are PROGRAMMED.

People, often musicians, will comment on how the bass player ‘really hit the vibe of the track', or how the instruments are ‘very well recorded'. I always get a kick out of this, because it tells me my programming fooled a musician into thinking it was a real player.

I'm not a keyboardist, so all my programming is step edited one note at a time.

You can hear the tracks that I'll be using as examples here at the Striking Smith website - Gunnin for a Revolution and Starry Eyes.

When I was getting serious about programming tracks, I struggled to find information on the internet and in books that explained how to make your midi programming more realistic. Granted, nowadays there is some more information around (especially on drum programming), but I'd like to share with you some of my own tips and techniques.

Right now I'd like to state that I am not sponsored by any sample or software company - any recommendations or endorsements I make here are completely unrewarded.

I'll start by describing my setup, and follow with a list of tips. I'll elaborate on some of the tips in later sections. Then I will talk a little about mixing.

The gear I use is basic, mostly cheap, and common.

Hardware:

• PC running Windows XP SP 2
• 1 hard drive for the OS
• 1 hard drive for holding samples and virtual instrument files
• 1 hard drive for recording the audio
• 2 Universal Audio UAD-1 dsp effect cards
• Lynxone audio card
• Sebatron Vmp-2000e dual tube preamp
• Shure Beta 58a dynamic mic

Software:

• Cubase SX 3
• Vocalign

Virtual Instruments:

• Monologue
• Virtual Guitarist
• Mr Tramp
• Garritan Personal Orchestra
• Spectrasonics Atmosphere (synth)

• Spectrasonics Stylus (drums/perc)

• Spectrasonics Trilogy (bass)
• B4 Organ
• Toontrack EZDrummer
• Mr Ray 73
• Pro-52
• Saxlab

Plugins:

• UAD-1 cards with standard plug + LA2a and 1176LN
• Artsacoustic Reverb
• Antares Autotune
• Antares Datube
• Magneto
• Waves Guitar Amp
• Blockfish
• Floorfish
• Spitfish
• Izotope Trash
• jcm900 sim
• Sidekick
• Sir 1010
• Voxengo delay
• Voxengo tapebus
• Voxengo Cruchessor

.

Tip 1 - Mix treatment of sounds/samples is just as important as programming:

Ever tried comparing your, say, sampled drum sound to that of your favorite band's drum sounds, and felt frustrated and disappointed? Their snare sounds so big and fat, and yours sounds so... puny? I know that feeling, and learnt quickly that it's not just your programming that counts to making your instruments sound great, it's also how they are treated/mixed, plus the sound you start off with. I'll cover this more in the MIXING section.

Tip 2 - Get your tempo right:

Spend some time when you're beginning your production to work out the right tempo. Program/record some basic tracks, bounce off a stereo file mixdown of the song, and change it's bpm with a program like Prosoniq's Timefactory - experiment with slightly faster and slower times, and see what fits best. Invest a little time now, and you won't have to face the massive task of changing tempos mid way through a project.

Don't be afraid to vary the tempo throughout the track if it feels right.

Tip 3 - It really doesn't matter what software host you use:

There are lots of host programs out there (Cubase, Sonar, Acid, Fruityloops etc, etc...). There are some differences, but most do the same sort of thing. Just pick one, and become a guru at using it. I've used Cubase since day one - there may be other programs out there that are better in some areas (or not), but my workflow is great in Cubase, because I am used to it. I'm not saying don't try more than one program (you should experiment), but don't stress about finding the perfect one. Even the most basic digtal recording program has infinitely more features than the gear the Beatles were using, and they did ok.

Tip 4 - Feel is king:

I used to get hung up on buying the perfect microphone, best preamp, best plugin. At the end of the day, a quote from an old audio engineer friend of mine still rings true - ‘Shit in, shit out'.

Listen to some of the earliest hit recordings. Compared to today's standards, the recording quality is pretty average, yet our minds still register them as great recordings. Why? Because they've captured a great performance, and the feel and emotion in that performance has a corresponding emotional affect on us.

A great modern day example would be the 2004 album ‘Thunder, Lightning, Strike' from The Go! Team, recorded mostly in the kitchen of one of the band members homes. A mix engineer friend of mine described this album as ‘an ear assault', but couldn't deny how it made him want to dance - because it was full of energy, emotion, and FEEL. And that album gave the band international recognition.

So always aim firstly a) to write a great song, and b) record/program a great performance that's full of emotion and feel. Always aim for a perfect recording, but don't get hung up on achieving it in a home environment. If you get the song and feel right, someone might just want to invest their own money in producing better recordings for you in the future (and isn't that what we're aiming for?).

Tip 5 - Steal the feel:

If you've found the perfect drum loop or drum midi part for your tune, base the feel of your other midi parts on it. Some DAW host programs allow you to steel the feel of an audio file and apply it to the quantisation of a midi part. Rather than outline how each program does this, here's a stripped down, manual version:

1. find or play in the perfect piece of audio or midi part to use as your source (we'll use a midi drum part I've dragged out of Toontrack's EZDrummer groove menu)
2. if you're using audio instead of a midi drum part, vertically expand the track so it's peaks are visually easy to see
3. set up a midi track under it, and connect it to the midi instrument you wish to program with the same feel as your midi drums or audio
4. horizontally zoom into the first peak of your audio, and move the ‘play' cursor so it sits at the start of the peak
5. open the piano roll of the midi part you wish to program
6. the play cursor should still be in the same place, so step edit a note at the play cursor
7. repeat step 4-7 for each note or peak in your source

This is a little time consuming, but you may only need to do it for the first four to eight bars, and then you can copy the new midi part to use as a template for your other midi instruments. I have done this many times when trying to get a midi bass to loosen up and play with the same feel as the drums.

Another tip is to use a mic to record yourself playing the feel in with your hands, or beatbox it in with your voice - then use resulting audio wave to derive your midi timing. This will only work if you have good feel and timing yourself. Otherwise, find an appropriate drum loop or drum virtual instrument that has well programmed midi grooves to base your feel on.

.

I'm no mix guru - I think it's an art form that will always be a little elusive to me, but here are some tips that have helped me to create better mixes over the years.

• Just as important as great programming, I think the key to getting a good sound is having a great drum mix, and then an overall mix.
• Each song is going to require a different mix treatment (simply speaking, either a dry, or more roomy or effected sound). Decide what you're going for before you start.

• Choose a drum sampler that offers a room mic output. I use Toontracks EZDrummer, but there are many others out there. This is how the pros get such big fat drum sounds - they mix in the room mic, and sometimes send some of this room mic track to a compressor that's over-compressing the sound. They then sneak this over-compressed effects track back in under the mix to taste.
• Use delays and reverb for space. This really makes your midi tracks more realistic, because it gives the illusion that they were recorded in a real room. My favorite thing at the moment is using a reverb convolution from a Lexicon unit - the patch is called Spatial Bass - it's a very short reverb that spreads the bass out and back, and makes it mix in better with the other tracks. I also use it on anything that I want to gel into the mix a little more.
• Another way to give things space is to set up a short left right delay effects channel, and experiment with sending tracks to it. It spreads things out, and tends to push things back in the mix. I work out my delay times by dividing 60 seconds by the song's BPM, and then dividing that by 2 over and over until I get a figure between 10 and 60 milliseconds. Here's an example:

60secs/120bpm = .5 (500ms) /2 = 250ms /2= 125ms /2= 62ms(rounded) /2 31ms

I then set the left delay to 31ms and the right to 62. If it sounds too echoy, I'll divide by 2 again, and set the left to 15ms and the right to 31.

Send me your own tips, and I'll publish them here.

Glossary:

DAW - digital audio workstation - your recording pc and it's software http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Workstation

Quantisation - lining the timing of your midi notes to a set time grid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantization_%28music%29

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