sj in music and computers jul 1996
TRANSCRIPT
Icott lones_lust qav Notation
echnology doesn't always make
it easier to make music (in fact,
some days we joke about renam-
ing this magazine Music Despite
Computers), but every once in a while, itallows musicians to achieve the sounds theyhear in their heads. A generation ago, lsao
Tomita and Wendy Carlos created entireorchestras by performing hundreds of over-dubs on primitive single-note synths. Whenyou realize what they had to go through toachieve their vision, you almost wonder why
they were crazy enough to try. Until you
hear the music.
We were reminded of that dedication this
month when we Iistened to Scott Jones,s
tape. With just a keyboard, a low-end Mac,
and an entry-level notation program, this 3O-
year-old guitarist from Missouri records inspir-
ing jazz fusion -
we've played his tape more
than any other since we started the Spotlight
series. What's astonishing, though, particularly
in this technique-intensive style, is that Scott
doesn't play keyboard. Instead, he inputsnotes in step time, one by one.
How did he come up with this approach?
"l stumbled on it by accident, actually," Scott
says. "l was just curious about computers
and went out and bought one in'92. I thought
maybe I could do some charting on it/ tran-scriptions and stuff. So I bought Encore and
Master Tracks Pro [Passport's notation and
sequencing software, respectivelyl. I experi-
mented with MasterTracks, but I couldn't get
anything but typical drum sequencing out ofit -
you have to layer one sound at a time and
play it into the sequencer against a click.
"l have no keyboard chops whatsoever,
so trying to play with the clicks, fast or slow,
wasn't working. I had played drums for aboutfive years, so I thought, 'Well, l'll get one ofthose books with transcriptions of famous
drummers, write the parts into irotation soft-
ware, hit PIay, and see what happens.' So I
did, and although obviously there was some
room for improvement, I realized there was
a lot more potential for that to come outthe way I wanted it. Then I thought, 'Well, ifI can do the drums in this, I can probably do
the rest of it.'And I just started writing in the
notation software and completely ditched the
sequencing software."
He started out b1'drawing in one note dt
a time with the mouse, but "after it would take
me daysto finish something, I thought, ,This
is crazy.' Although I don't have keyboard
chops, I know my way around a keyboard,
and I decided that's probably how I shouldenter the music. That way every note would-n't be entered at the same velocity, which was
bumming me out. When you enter a note withthe mouse, it goes in at velocity 64. Whenyou enter notes from the MIDI keyboard,Encore picks up the dynamics. Now, obviously
there's the issue of it being too perfect,
because it goes in precisely on the beat and
the computer's just going to read the music
SPOTLIGHT
By David Battino
fll *rr,rature ,, ac, a mrd-
line keyboard, inexpensive
notation software, and a ton
of talent. Scott fones over-
colaes his lirnited tools to,
produce remarkable music"
as written. l'm using a really old version ofEncore, and there's no'randomize' or'human-ize' function, so l've just found ways aroundit and tried to make things breathe. I try to
JULY/AUGUST 1 996 . Mt Sl( & (0MPUTtRs
SpotLisE!
obtain a live quality to what I'm doing, as
though the musicians were sitting down and
reading the chart, and interpreting it.
"When I start, it's with just an idea in my
head, maybe just a groove, not necessarily any-
thing solid. I might say, 'This kind of feel
interests me. Let me explore this.' l'm tran-
scribing what l'm hearing in my head. Since
l'm dealing with Encore, if I think something
cooler could happen on beat four of bar six,
then I just delete beat four and throw in a fill.I might even start out with the basic pattern,
like everybody does in a drum machine-
type situation, but then take that basic pat-
tern and go back measure by measure and
make it a little different.
"lt's still tedious. But if you think about the
ti"me it would take -
especially with thekind of music l'm trying to write
- to make
the phone calls to musicians, see if their
schedules would work out to rehearse the stuff,
and then maybe get a couple of takes. . . . With
the computer, I actually sit down with noth-
ing written and eight hours later have a com-pletely finished product."
The process, The drum parts Scott writes
are outstanding -
there's a lot of interesting
variation, but the groove never disappears. And
unlike a lot of computerized drummers, he
avoids the temptation to play 25 different
drums on each beat. It's a virtuoso performancg
but a realistic one. He finds that entering the
drum hits as musical notation helps out,because he can easily see the notes in rela-
tion to each other.
To start, he assigns the main drum kit tothe bottom staff, then selects a step size inEncore. "lf I want a 1 6th-note groove, I select
a 1 6th-note step and play it on the keyboard,"
he explains, "and create the part Iinearly. I
wanted to get away from the multitracking
approach, because when you're playing a
fill you can't be playing a hi-hat groove. I've
heard that so much it just makes me crazy.
"So I have one staff for the main drum kit,
and then I have another staff for the 'ghost
notes.'The fRolandl lV-30 allows me to have
two drum kits at the same time, so I use one
drum kit for the main kit, and then I use the
orchestral kit for the ghost notes of the snare.
I back up all the main hits of the snare on the
main kit.
"l'll think, 'The main hits on this measure
were two and four, so they'll hit hard like themain part, but there are going to be all these
ghost notes with the hi-hat. So I have to thinkagainst the hi-hat and omit hi-hat hits where
the snare ghost notes will go. When a drum-
mer plays ghost notes between his hi-hat
with his right hand and the ghost notes withhis left hand, they're trading off.
"l try to write the solos as fast as possible.
As soon as I hear the lick in my head, I say,
'Okay, what are the rhythms?' and play it on
the keyboard as fast as I can. I think of the
dynamics that might occur if it were being
played Iive -
trail off , build up, whatever. I
try to be really aware of every note l'm play-
ing as l'm doing it, the way it's related to the
next note, the last note. . . . I try to not go back
and tweak solos unless it completely doesn'twork. That way it's still improvised in a way
-in slow motion, but still improvised."
Scott recently became the music director
for Crace Church in St. Louis, which involves
arranging in contemporary styles for fullrhythm section and vocals, and often horns
and strings as well. We wondered if he ever
gave his computer-notated pieces to humanplayers to get their opinions.
"No," he said. "This is my superhuman
Macintosh music. I'm going to leave it at
that. Not that it could never be developed fora live band, but when l'm sitting writing, I'mthinking, 'What if I owned Chick Corea's
Elektric Band and they were all sitting here and
I could just hand them parts? How would they
play it?'And although there is that caliber ofmusician in this town, I don't really have themoney, and l'm sure they don't have the
time. So, I just sit down and think, 'Nobody's
ever gonna play this, but I don't want tomake it sound totally ridiculous and unplayable
either.' I write completely differently when I
arrange for live musicians. I try to tame itsomewhat so that ifs playable fairly quicklyand they can leave room for themselves.
"What's funny is that since l've been
arranging, I haven't sequenced a thing. I
Ahhough he does most of his composi.tion on a tiny Mocintosh Clossic ll screen, Scofi occosionally gets occess to oMac wik.o full'poge_monitor, hom which he printed this musicol excerpt using Possport Encore. ihZ moin drum kitis on ke bollom stoff , .the
'ghost note' snare is on ke stoff obove thot, and the bass is directly obove. "Comp" piano(chords ond boss doubling) fills the top two slaves, ond the keyboord solo is on the th;rd stafi. Scol notes, -ihis' noto-tion doesn'f look like o typicol chort becouse it's for computer ploybock only.,,
MUSI( & (0MPUTtRS . JULY/AUGUSI 1996
haven't had the time. I wake up, I transcribe,
I go teach guitar. lt's a great situation. Maybe
that's what all the sequencing was leading up
to. lt was teaching me how to arrange, because
I never went to school.
"t've been playing in the band up at Crace
for five years, with these incredible musi-
cians, so I have all that stuff in my head. The
computer's been a great thing for me to get all
that stuff out. At one point, I used guitar, drum
machine, and four-track, but now that I have
thil I couldn't even imagine it. Overall the com-
puter has been just a great thing for me. Even
if I can't put my guitar with it or it has certain
drawbacks, it's still probably the best thing thals
happened to me in a long time."
We suggested that the next step might be
hard disk recording, which would allow him
to capture his guitar and combine it with the
MIDI parts. Scott replied, "Oh yeah! lt all
comes down to finances. I do make a really
good Iiving playing music, and it's just been
great, but I don't have a lot of extra money lying
aiound to invest in a lot of the tech stuff.
l've got what I need, and that's the bare-
bones stuff. I have access to some great musi-
cians up at Crace, and that pretty much is my
live outlet, because we play all klnds of styles
up there. So it hasn't been frustrating to just
be sifting in my basement sequencing and have
that be my only outlet.
"l basically just wanted to pass this stuff
around," Scott concludes. "l hope eventually
to be known as a composer and sequencing
artist. l'd love to score for film, write or
sequence for major artists, and eventually
release a CD of my work. l've Sotten some
really great feedback from the lnternet -
through AOL l've met [producer] Jay Craydon,
lguitarist] David Torn, lbass player] David
Hungate from Toto, a lot of those guys. I sent
out my tapes to them and they've been incred-
ibly supportive. This is the stuff that l've got
in my head that I get out through the Mac and
really can't get out anywhere else." (vt
Contact: ScottJones, 2695 Creve Coeur Mill
Rd. Maryland Heights, MO 63043; 314-644-
2693 or 291-6647 ext.2109; e-mail:
Are you doing interesting, unusuol things with music ond computers? Let _us
put you in the spotlight. Send.detoils (including o tope ond photo). to:
spJilight,itusic & c-ompurers, il I Borel Avenue,'iuite loo, ian' Mateo, CA 9tuo2. Pleose include o doytime phone number.
Novice? Pro? Somewhere in between? Whatever your level, HOHNER MIDIA
gives you the right tools for your music. At the right price!
,Cz'r /A\ r,, z lr
-\.t j, ( A27: {#4,,.- .,,_r$ ,,,jf",)\ '6.} ii/ 4.-f ; . B?llffii 'WG k# ry "el.$'r ru Y4* :=g'r!:3
- DRUrilTlx -*EUIERPT" * -.^-,nel,-oii{ -- MUstscAN *ili?dfrs:s$" -:*-QilMQ[$" **.::T!!!I!'-{* ;*;-Umlffi3t ffiffi;t ffit $,ryil mtrfl ffitt mry:l Par
Drumatix Euterpe Solo Midiconnections Musicscan Personal Q-Tracks Samplitude Soundscore
Humanized Ear Multimedia Scan into Composer 8 Midi Sequencer Multimedia Pitch to Midi
Drums Training Arrange, Midi Notate & Print $53 4 Track. ':"-$6.9 $qs sequence, $qs $q9 | Hard Disk
I
I I Print,&Karaoke I I I Recordins ^ l.
orr',"lti- * EuterpJ stuaio ' qr- -- - .- I I Q-Tracks Pro $6P sounoscore
$ss g14e Midiconlnections*ffi'"t ".:n,+_Br.
$1es "#k"- 'ffi"
To order, orfor more Classic $139 $1gginformation about products, $1q9 I
- i-
orthe location of your I .. peJonal Samplitude StudionearestHOHNERMlDlA MidiConnections
^ ==4,, l6Track
dealerand a free brochure Pro composer44 9399
Call 1'800'33 0-7753 $2se $1se
Dearerinquirieswelcome. Alsoavailable: soundcardMlDl cable$29
ln cenada callxay-sound, lnc. "Let the music flow" on your Windows PC! iL?i[3ffi:"tJ?ir!l1-800343-0353
HOHNER MIDIA proudly announces the newest member of our software family:
ILDD tt0asl'lilt!With H9HNER MtD;A,S RED R9ASTER software, anJ"bo-n "ourne/' you can easily make a FULL RED BooK AUDIO CD! $ 695
All pices are manufacturer's suggested retail price'
HOHNERMIDIAP.O.Box 5497
Santa Rosa, CA 95402 http ://www. hoh nerm id ia.com
READER SERVICE NO. I I3
Tel: (707) 578-2023
Fax: (707) 578-2025
Com puserve 1 007 7 2,1052HOHNER MIDIA
JULY/AUGUSI I996 . Mll 5l( & (0MPIJTERS 25
tj
!II
I
haven't had the time. I wake up, I transcribe,
I go teach guitar. lt's a great situation. Maybe
that's what all the sequencing was leading up
to. lt was teaching me how to arrange, because
I never went to school.
"t've been playing in the band up at Crace
for five years, with these incredible musi-
cians, so I have all that stuff in my head. The
computer's been a great thing for me to get all
that stuff out. At one point, I used guitar, drum
machine, and four-track, but now that I have
thil I couldn't even imagine it. Overall the com-
puter has been just a great thing for me. Even
if I can't put my guitar with it or it has certain
drawbacks, it's still probably the best thing thals
happened to me in a long time."
We suggested that the next step might be
hard disk recording, which would allow him
to capture his guitar and combine it with the
MIDI parts. Scott replied, "Oh yeah! lt all
comes down to finances. I do make a really
good Iiving playing music, and it's just been
great, but I don't have a lot of extra money lying
aiound to invest in a lot of the tech stuff.
l've got what I need, and that's the bare-
bones stuff. I have access to some great musi-
cians up at Crace, and that pretty much is my
live outlet, because we play all klnds of styles
up there. So it hasn't been frustrating to just
be sifting in my basement sequencing and have
that be my only outlet.
"l basically just wanted to pass this stuff
around," Scott concludes. "l hope eventually
to be known as a composer and sequencing
artist. l'd love to score for film, write or
sequence for major artists, and eventually
release a CD of my work. l've Sotten some
really great feedback from the lnternet -
through AOL l've met [producer] Jay Craydon,
lguitarist] David Torn, lbass player] David
Hungate from Toto, a lot of those guys. I sent
out my tapes to them and they've been incred-
ibly supportive. This is the stuff that l've got
in my head that I get out through the Mac and
really can't get out anywhere else." (vt
Contact: ScottJones, 2695 Creve Coeur Mill
Rd. Maryland Heights, MO 63043; 314-644-
2693 or 291-6647 ext.2109; e-mail:
Are you doing interesting, unusuol things with music ond computers? Let _us
put you in the spotlight. Send.detoils (including o tope ond photo). to:
spJilight,itusic & c-ompurers, il I Borel Avenue,'iuite loo, ian' Mateo, CA 9tuo2. Pleose include o doytime phone number.
Novice? Pro? Somewhere in between? Whatever your level, HOHNER MIDIA
gives you the right tools for your music. At the right price!
,Cz'r /A\ r,, z lr
-\.t j, ( A27: {#4,,.- .,,_r$ ,,,jf",)\ '6.} ii/ 4.-f ; . B?llffii 'WG k# ry "el.$'r ru Y4* :=g'r!:3
- DRUrilTlx -*EUIERPT" * -.^-,nel,-oii{ -- MUstscAN *ili?dfrs:s$" -:*-QilMQ[$" **.::T!!!I!'-{* ;*;-Umlffi3t ffiffi;t ffit $,ryil mtrfl ffitt mry:l Par
Drumatix Euterpe Solo Midiconnections Musicscan Personal Q-Tracks Samplitude Soundscore
Humanized Ear Multimedia Scan into Composer 8 Midi Sequencer Multimedia Pitch to Midi
Drums Training Arrange, Midi Notate & Print $53 4 Track. ':"-$6.9 $qs sequence, $qs $q9 | Hard Disk
I
I I Print,&Karaoke I I I Recordins ^ l.
orr',"lti- * EuterpJ stuaio ' qr- -- - .- I I Q-Tracks Pro $6P sounoscore
$ss g14e Midiconlnections*ffi'"t ".:n,+_Br.
$1es "#k"- 'ffi"
To order, orfor more Classic $139 $1gginformation about products, $1q9 I
- i-
orthe location of your I .. peJonal Samplitude StudionearestHOHNERMlDlA MidiConnections
^ ==4,, l6Track
dealerand a free brochure Pro composer44 9399
Call 1'800'33 0-7753 $2se $1se
Dearerinquirieswelcome. Alsoavailable: soundcardMlDl cable$29
ln cenada callxay-sound, lnc. "Let the music flow" on your Windows PC! iL?i[3ffi:"tJ?ir!l1-800343-0353
HOHNER MIDIA proudly announces the newest member of our software family:
ILDD tt0asl'lilt!With H9HNER MtD;A,S RED R9ASTER software, anJ"bo-n "ourne/' you can easily make a FULL RED BooK AUDIO CD! $ 695
All pices are manufacturer's suggested retail price'
HOHNERMIDIAP.O.Box 5497
Santa Rosa, CA 95402 http ://www. hoh nerm id ia.com
READER SERVICE NO. I I3
Tel: (707) 578-2023
Fax: (707) 578-2025
Com puserve 1 007 7 2,1052HOHNER MIDIA
JULY/AUGUSI I996 . Mll 5l( & (0MPIJTERS 25
tj
!II
I