This mini series is subtitled: Times I was a #techmasta and #technoob simultaneously
Part 1: HSC Composition recordings and scores
For those students who hadn’t recorded their compositions yet, we experimented with what MIDI sounds were most appropriate/realistic by opening the MIDI files in Logic, GarageBand, Sibelius and Finale, then combined these (by exporting those instrument parts as audio files and mixing them in Logic). The recordings were much more convincing and it was fun putting these skills learnt in SCMTME#1-4 to the test.
Instead of doing this, however, one student decided to record his composition for saxophone quartet the Friday before HSC compositions were due - with only 3/4 saxophones present. So we decided to multitrack each person, using the instrument mics we had borrowed from another school, connected to a pre-amp, connected (through a dongle, of course) to my laptop running Logic. The piece had a slow opening which accel.ed to a faster tempo for the majority of the piece. To multitrack this, I created two tempo regions in Logic and recorded each part in three sections (the slow intro, the accel. bar, and the faster section). Each person listened with a click in their ear (making sure that it wasn't picked up by the mic), while I listened to the recording from my end. While recording, I discovered comping, which made the whole process much more efficient. After recording the four parts for 2 hours, I took the file home and edited the sections together. I had to use quite a lot of automation and flex pitch to mix the recording. I also duplicated each track and panned them differently to help the listener differentiate the parts and create a more full sound. Since each person played by themselves, they didn't always match in articulation or dynamics, making the mixing quite tedious. More than this, though, I discovered that somehow a small portion (4 notes) of the record was missing - so I copied notes from a few different places that had the same rhythm and similar pitch, and used flex pitch to change the pitch and alter the rhythm slightly to fit in with the other parts/what was written (#technoob and #techmasta at the same time in my opinion). The recording in the end made the composition much more convincing (which I'm sure will impact the mark - otherwise why would they ask for one?). This task was a steep, but rewarding learning curve for sure.
Tl;dr - I multi-tracked and mixed a saxophone quartet. I learnt a lot.
Unrelated to prac, but related to tech: the next day I borrowed the school's equipment to help record my sister's HSC composition (for sop, alto and cello). My sister (a singer) recorded the sop and alto parts (thank goodness for comping), and Karen recorded the cello part. The parts blended quite nicely so there wasn't much editing needed (some pitch flex here and there, but nothing major). Again, the recording made the composition much more convincing, and it was great practicing these newly-learnt skills. (#technoob moment: the pre-amp was dodgy so we couldn't tell which mic was recording the cello, so we set it up like this - turns out they were both recording).
The morning that the HSC Compositions were due, my supervising teacher (also a violinist) re-recorded a student's composition (they innocently deleted all the original audio files, not knowing what they were). Although, by that time we had a pretty good system down pat for recording (this was the third time that piece was recorded). For this one I just had to help with the setup of the gear and performance, not the mixing.
To help with the scores, my supervising teacher was quite persistent with printing out and marking up drafts. I found that having it on paper allowed me to see faults in formatting and pick up odd compositional things that students had put in. For those with programs like MuseScore, and where students weren’t familiar with the program, I opened their MusicXML file in Sibelius and allowed them to finish formatting quite quickly – the results were much neater!
Who knew HSC compositions were such good opportunities for learning how to tech?