However, all that changed when I began dabbling in tracking programs for my
computer; Here was a very unorthodox method of composing music, yet it
seemed much easier than keeping track of musical bars, time signatures, key
signatures and "DC al fine" signs. I tried my hand at several of my most
vivid melodies to begin with, and although I was somewhat unsatisfied with
the result, the songs were good enough to convince me that my ultimate goals
could be reached. I continued to "track", finding new samples and testing
new harmonies, not caring much about chord progressions and key signatures.
Within time, I realized that it was possible to create music solely by ear,
and not feel the necessity of planning carefully the chords to a song
prematurely since I just plunked at the keyboard right there, and chose the
notes that sounded best suited for my dreams.
Tracking became a regular hobby of mine, and I found that it was very well
suited for making modern music styles that required heavy emphasis on drum
beats and repetitive bassline patterns. Not only did I compose many days a
week, but I also downloaded various songs and music packs off of BBS's and the
internet. I quickly found styles and composers that I was more fond of than
others, and I picked up an assortment of techniques and tricks that helped
me in my own tracking.
Possibly the biggest and most widespread discovery that I made was that an
echo, a cloned channel with a lesser volume and slight offset from its
original, made a melody sound much smoother and generally more attractive to
the ear. I went crazy using multiple echoes at first, but then realized
that the lead melody now sounded cloudy and indistinct. While conditioning
myself to cut down on the ridiculous echo building, I found a new thing to
endulge in: portamentos. If the lead melody needed something other than
echos to sound good (other than a plain good melody), portamentos in the
proper areas did the job; they made for wondrous texture. One more thing I
discovered in my conquest of music was the joy of panning, experimentation
by shifting the channels left to right and right to left. Armed with these
new weapons, I dove into some more heavy tracking for several months.
Despite the knowledge I had accumulated, the tricks, the special effects, I
finally realized that the essence of a song was its emotional effect on a
person. The key was to create an image inside the listener's mind, be it a
portrait, a scene, a colour or even a texture. For that reason, the title
of the song became extremely important... and a short explanation of the
sequence of the parts of the track also helped in creating the general mood
of different songs. Partial songs that had no distinct image or feeling
simply headed nowhere and I was easily stuck with them, while others that
had very striking impressions were very easy and enjoyable to progress on.
Orchestral pieces needed powerfully moving stories, rock songs needed
emotional appeal and dance songs required the natural groove and liberating
rhythm.
Through my ventures of musical composition, I've learned that the best
suggestion I could possibly make to any other computer musician is that you
need to love composing. Ultimately, you cannot compose just to show off, or
expect to make music and become famous or infamous, rich or glamourous. One
must create music to fulfill his or her own visions and satisfy their minds.
The sincere emotional, spiritual aspect needs to be there; otherwise,
people will only hear a lifeless mass of notes and effects that really
doesn't mean much to them, especially after they've deleted the file.
-LakEEE of Craw Productions