Paul Read News

Caveat Emptor. Today I purchased Snow Leopard, the latest operating system for Mac and so far it has been hideously buggy. I know there is a natural wait time for all applications to catch up, but even Apple’s Safari is operating with tremendously frustrating required reloads. Over and over again. I don’t know why I do this… buy the latest operating system instead of waiting until the bugs have been exterminated.

Live and…hopefully….learn

P

My composition, Ballad For Mr. G now appears on the Garritan Jazz and Big Band Library Player at this link. THE J&BB Jukebox – Listen to Jazz/Big Band Music while Enjoying the Forum! – Northern Sound Source
I am honoured to have had one of my compositions picked for their demo. Tom Hopkins took my midi files and reworked them a little. I will underline that I use this as a tool to do mockups of the final chart for playing with a live band. I recorded this tune with my own band this past weekend, and it was clear to me how effective a tool it was to use the JABB library in order to make the final revisions on the chart. Kind of takes the place of the first rehearsal.

Paul

Transcribing is a part of the development for most jazz musicians. This being the 21st century (isn’t it?) there are plenty of tools that can help you in this endeavour. I recommend you take a look at one of the best sorftware packages called, “Transribe!” available at:

Seventh String Software – the home of Transcribe!

This site provides a bonus. A free index to a large array of the most popular fakebooks. It doesn’t give you the tune, but it can tell you WHERE to find the piece might be looking for. Be aware, Fakebooks are a mixed blessing. Some have poor changes or incorrect melodies and it is always essential to check them with a source recording. The more recently available LEGAL books, such as those published by the Sher music publishing company are quite reliable, but the practice of checking the notation against several recordings is ESSENTIAL.

Later

P

This has to be one of the greatest forums on the internet for composers and other musicians who use sample libraries in their work.
Northern Sound Source – Powered by vBulletin

For those with questions about Finale (my notation program of choice since the late 1980s), this on-line forum is indispensable!
MakeMusic Forum

A DAW in the midi world is a Digital Audio Workstation. There are many. The one I LOVE is Digital Performer 4.6 (mark of the Unicorn or MOTU as we like to call it is the maker) but I think only available for the MAC. It is a complete recording studio under one roof with automated mixing, nearly limitless midi and audio tracks available (depending on your computer). Bouncing from one track to another is available and the automation and audio editing features are outstanding. You can Master your final product and while there are many DAWS to choose from, this is clearly a frontrunner. But certainly check out other ones like CUBASE, or Logic (which is now put out by Apple) and ProTools and SONAR and on and on.

DP4.6 offers loads of plug ins for seriously professional reverb etc. (I use an pricey but wonderful third party product called Altiverb 5 – a Netherlands made convolusion reverb system that allows you to use specific reverbs which take you into real places like studios, concert halls around the world where they have done a remarkable job of giving you many options to choose from).

Here is the gear I use at the moment: G5 dual 2GHz, 4Gb SDRAM, OS10.4.3, Finale 2006a, Digital Performer 4.6, Altiverb 5, Yamaha S90, Built-in audio, Reason 3, M-Audio Ozone, Giovani, Symphonic Choirs, Kontakt 2. GPO, JABB.

More later

Paul