[audiobook] Creative Sequencing Techniques for Music Production by Andrea Pejrolo at Arts-Photography

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. and the fellow I got it for (a professional musician and producer who composes music for soundtracks and has a discography thatBy Brendan J. LasalleThis was a gift. and the fellow I got it for (a professional musician and producer who composes music for soundtracks and has a discography that would make you think I was lying) was extremely happy with it.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. A Welcome Point of ViewBy frankp93Pejrolo teaches at Berklee and his books are geared towards composers and arrangers of jazz. classical ensembles and film scores. He speaks to you as a fellow composer addressing musicians comfortable with traditional notation and instrumentation who perhaps view MIDI composition and production more with the goal of emulating their analog experience rather than experimenting with abstract sound as often heard in electronic dance music.I realize thats a generalization on both sides - theres certainly plenty here for someone interested in dance music and there are non-commercial composers very interested in abstract sound. My point is the audio examples you can download from the books website and Pejrolos point of view are not coming from the DJ/Remix/Club orientation that other MIDI production books Ive read take for granted.A couple of examples: The book goes into considerable detail on how to produce tempo changes more often found in orchestral scores than in dance tracks: rallentandos. accelerandos. etc. When discussing how to layer MIDI and audio tracks to create richer composite sounds Pejrolos example enhances the initial attack of a phrase built from an orchestral string library by layering a recorded solo string track over it.A key point the author makes throughout the book is that contemporary composers using technology to achieve an individual expressive voice have to seek out the flexibility beyond presets and basic techniques. The tools should serve your ends. not the other way around.Where other books present quantization as a one size transformer to be applied to an entire track. Pejrolo drills deeper by demonstrating parameterized quantization filters that allow you to alter events occurring at particular moments or within designated pitch ranges. leaving the remaining material untouched or perhaps transformed in a different way. Once you understand and apply some of these techniques its easy to see the potential for richer. more varied and `humanized textures and grooves.The primary focus of `Creative Sequencing Techniques is MIDI production and theres not a lot of material on audio recording techniques. There are however both basic and advanced techniques you can apply to audio post-tracking such as audio editing. creating grooves from audio. pitch control and time-stretching. Granted. some of these techniques were more cutting edge in 2005 when the book first appeared than they are today. but in my experience theyre still often ignored or shortchanged in other books.The chapters I think really distinguish `Creative Sequencing are `Elements of MIDI Orchestration which. by the authors own admission. is essentially an overview and intro to his other book. `Acoustic and MIDI Orchestration For The Contemporary Composer. co-written with Richard DeRosa - which Id highly recommend as a sequel for those interested in scoring.The other is the final chapter. Working with Video. a surprisingly informative introduction to digital film scoring using both linear and non-linear video source formats. The level of detail far surpassed anything Id read elsewhere. where this subject is often treated as an afterthought.I do have to mention a not entirely successful feature of `Creative Sequencing Techniques that centers around Pejrolos belief that aspiring professionals should have what he regards as the big four DAWs under their fingers - namely Digital Performer. Logic Pro. Pro Tools. and Cubase (while the list appears unchanged from 2005. there may now be some room for debate as to whether these are still all you need to know).But the problem I have as a reader is not so much Pejrolos choices (I use Sonar and Cubase so Im in the ballpark). its the format of the book that amounts to a 4-in-one tutorial.Each topic is first presented generally. followed by separate paragraphs or sections identified by the DAW shortcuts `DP. `LP. `PT and `CU and their corresponding icons in the margins.I think this compresses the coverage of individual DAWS in a way likely to confuse someone not already fluent with the software. Pejrolo hopes the book will be useful to all levels of experience but its hard to imagine learning all you need to know about for example Pro Tools from this book - no matter how fluent in Cubase you happen to be.As well. if youre not an aspiring professional and have one or two favorite applications youre looking to get the most from. the constant litany of. "In CU you apply the filter like this. in PT its done this way. In DP. etc..". got to be so distracting and repetitious that after a while I found myself skipping right to the Cubase parts.This doesnt negate the value of the book by any means. but Id recommend `Creative Sequencing Techniques as an advanced supplement. keeping your books and tutorials written for your specific DAW close at hand.If youre already very experienced. be patient with the first 70 pages or so on setting up a project studio. MIDI. and equipment. The book ramps up fairly quickly from there.Overall I found `Creative Sequencing Techniques both informative and refreshing in a genre weighted heavily towards dance music production where books often lack the perspective of those who write more traditional styles of music.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Well written with practical adviceBy Ron WisThis is a densely packed. beginners (moving to advanced) book on how to set up your computer and software (using Cubase. Pro Tools. Logic and Digital Performer) to create a digital audio workstation (DAW). A DAW gives you the ability to record music from external sources (like a guitar) to your computer. As well as record. you can create music entirely within the software using its built-in instrument sounds. The author starts with information on hardware requirements. technical information. setup and types of software. Along the way. the author injects a lot of practical advice on the best ways to creating digital music. One annoyance is that the book is written with 4 different pieces of digital audio software in mind. Many paragraphs are interrupted to show how a procedure is handled by each of the different software brands. breaking the flow. Also. no mention of what software versions are being used which could lead a beginner to confusion if his version was different. Im finding that. at least for Cubase 5. some of the procedures and menu items are outdated. There several exercise questions at the end of each chapter. however. there are no answers given. There is a companion website with videos tutorials and example loops that you can download and use in your DAW.Not a perfect book. but none-the-less. it has valuable information for the computer musician. I recommend it.