For Musicians Production Technique Tips |

Although MIDI has a reputation for sometimes sounding flat or mechanical, there are many ways to make your music more engaging to listeners. Here's a few tips for enhancing the emotional impact and richness of your Instrument sounds.
Topics:
Humanizing MIDI Music Dynamic Level and Pan Thickening Instrument Sounds Humanizing MIDI Music
Creating expressive music with MIDI takes a certain amount of care and effort. Here are some tips that can help your music convey a more human vibe:
Avoid excessive quantizing. Most MIDI sequencers let you "Quantize" notes to line them up exactly with the beat. While quantizing can tighten up a sloppy take, it can also leech the emotion from a good performance. Create expressive velocity data. A great deal of expression is contained in the note velocity messages within a skilled musician's performance. If your notes weren't played using a MIDI keyboard or other controller, try adjusting some velocity values manually in your sequencer. Even randomization of velocity values can help. Use volume & modulation controllers. Depending on the Instrument, Modulation or Mod Wheel (controller 1), may add a `vibrato' effect to the sound. This can help vary the flat, unchanging sound of looping samples. Use the MIDI volume controller (Continuous Controller 7) to create crescendos, decrescendos, and expressive phrasing in instruments such as strings, winds, synth pads, etc. Tip: Continuous Controllers such as Volume, Pan Modulation or Pitch Bend can generate huge amounts of MIDI information, increasing your listener's download times. Most sequencers offer a controller thinning function that reduces these messages while preserving much of the original gesture. Excessive thinning, however, may result in blocky, or stepped volume fades or pitch bends - so don't go to extremes. Fine-tune note lengths. The length of notes conveys a great deal of expression and can make a performance sound more lifelike, especially with basses and sustaining instruments such as strings or woodwinds. Pay attention to whether the notes sound better detached, or legato (end-to-end). Dynamic Level and Pan
Volume and Pan are fundamental mixing tools. You can set fixed Pan positions for Custom Instruments, but beyond that, all level and pan settings will be part of your MIDI sequence, or the result of interactive Music Object function calls arriving from the Web browser, Director Movie, or game.
Volume is set on a per-MIDI-channel (per-Instrument) basis, using MIDI Continuous Controller 7. Pan is also set on a per-MIDI-channel (per-Instrument) basis, using MIDI Continuous Controller 10.
It's a good idea to include a Volume and Pan message for each MIDI channel at the start of the Song. These settings can be changed during the song by placing appropriate controller messages on specific channels throughout your sequence.
Thickening Instrument Sounds
There are many ways to add depth and texture to the mix. Here are some examples:
Doubling: Playing the same part simultaneously with two different Instruments, on two MIDI channels, is the simplest method for creating a rich, full sound. It is especially effective in an environment like Beatnik where Web bandwidth constraints discourage large samples. Detuning: Try doubling the same Instrument on two MIDI channels, but send a small pitch bend message to one of them at the start of the Song. The result is similar to a "chorus" effect. Experiment with similar vs. different Pan settings for the two channels. Varying the amount of pitch bend during the Song can also be effective. Setting your Pitch Bend to a small value gives you greater resolution when setting subtle detuning offsets. Stereoizing: Double an instrument on two MIDI channels and pan them to opposite sides, then delay the MIDI events on one channel slightly. Echo effects can be created by longer MIDI event delays. For a better echo effect, reduce the velocities of the notes in the later `echo' track.

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