An Artist's Canvas
- Chirag Kotak (Sonik-Tec)
- Dec 4, 2015
- 5 min read
Sonik Dimensions - An Artist's Canvas
An Artist often starts with nothing, from emptiness, a blank and barren space. Out of that void of nothing, through the mysterious process of creation, something is born and emerges. Surprisingly, the Artist never sees his canvas, as an empty, blank and barren space . Instead He might see it as a bed of fertile soil upon which to grow a thriving garden or as an open doorway, leading Him to a place of infinite directions .
Up until the last few decades, Composers and musicians would manifest their ideas into the material realm, by using simple pen and paper. Since They did not have a whole orchestra at their disposal, while sketching out their ideas in rough, they would use an instrument like a piano to get an insight into how their compositions would sound .Mostly they would hear the entire composition and orchestration in their minds, at the initial stages of creating a piece of music. So much great Music was made, just that way.
Technology has brought the art of Music making a long way forward. With the advent of electricity and recording devices, the approach towards composition changed drastically. For many years the music and recording industry used Tape as the medium to record audio. Music could be recorded and then played back at a different time and place in the future. One could actually hear the composition, right at the initial stages of creating a piece of music and know pretty much what it was going to sound like eventually. Multiple instruments could be recorded, one after the other, to individual tracks and then could all be played back simultaneously, in a process called Multi-tracking and over-dubbing. Instead of a musician having to play perfectly through a whole song, multiple takes of a passage of music, could be recorded and edited to create one perfect , Golden take. Many ingenious conveniences were thus offered to the artists involved with the creation of Music. Aided, by these technological developments, many new techniques and new approaches towards creating Music were adopted.
Image : A tape Machine, and tools required for Editing the Tapes
In spite of all that could be achieved, Tape and Tape Machines were big bulky pieces of equipment. Editing these recordings made on tape, was not a very straight forward and pain free task. Archiving and storage was also cumbersome and took up a lot of space.
Ever since Computers appeared on the scene, the process of creating, storing and sharing Music has entered a whole new dimension. Today computers can replace all the bulky and numerous pieces of equipment of yesteryear, all in one little 'Box'.
The Modern Musician's canvas is called a DAW. A short for, Digital Audio Workstation. It is the Software platform upon which Music is created, recorded, edited and processed into its final form. It is the birth place of most of today's Music, especially Electronic Music. It is the central Hub of the Modern recording Studio and can also integrate with peripheral hardware devices such as Microphones, Mixing consoles, effect processors , Musical and MIDI instruments very effectively.
There are many popular DAWs used by Producers these days. Some of the more popular one's are FL Studio, Ableton, Logic Pro, Reason, Cubase and Protools among others.
A DAW consists of various parts or sections. Each of these parts offers the functionality to accomplish different tasks. Within each section are more features and tools, hidden away in menus.
- A File Browser : Available Sound samples, loops and audio clips on a Hard drive, can be auditioned and selected from this browser.
- An Audio Editor : Audio can be edited in various ways. Sections can be cut out, duplicated, reversed, stretched, pitched up or down etc.
- Synthesizers, Samplers and Virtual Instruments : Used to create and manipulate various sounds. Entire Virtual Orchestras and Bands are also available as Sound Libraries, which can be used to create very grand Orchestrations. Users can download or buy third party VST (Virtual Studio Technology) plug-ins to integrate into their DAWs.
- A Step Sequencer : Electronic Music is either Sequenced note by note using a computer mouse or is inputted into the DAW using MIDI Instruments. A step Sequencer is used to sequence notes and create patterns. It is Very useful in creating Drum Patterns in particular.
- A Piano Roll : Used to Sequence Notes and create patterns. It is more flexible,
and offers more options than a step sequencer. It is Very useful in creating
melodies, Chords, drum patterns and most sorts of patterns.
- A Playlist or arrangement Section - This is where the Track/ song is
constructed and Recorded on a timeline. Patterns made in the step sequencer and piano roll can be placed here along with other audio clips and loops.
- A Mixer Section : Sounds, patterns and instruments can be assigned to
individual mixer channels, where they can be mixed and blended together,
positioned Left or Right or in Surround, sent to effects, grouped and Routed to inputs and Outputs.
- An Effects Section : Channels can be processed through effects to enhance and correct sounds and instruments in various ways.
- An Automation section - Evolving changes and modifications can be made to sounds during a song. These changes can be recorded as automation. For example a sound that moves from left to right or a sound whose volume goes from soft to loud.
- A Video Player : Used to synchronize Music, recorded dialogues and Sound effects to video clips.
Different DAW's address and call these functions and sections by different names, but in general they all perform the same way when it comes to accomplishing certain specific tasks. The choice of which DAW to use, is eventually based on a Producer's personal preference.
DAW's are an essential and central part of a producers equipment . In a DAW, a producer, has at his disposal ,a wide range of options and tools, to create and work with all sorts of Music. Thanks to this, Music Production has become very accessible, convenient, easy, quick, and an extremely creative process, offering instant results. Unlike the earlier days, now a producer can create and instantly listen to the result of his creation. Experimentation reveals and unleashes techniques that have never been used before, leading to new styles of Music and exciting sounds, never heard before. All of this is possible, in the hands of Anybody that has a computer and 'The Mighty DAW' .
I hope You enjoyed discovering the applications used in the production of Electronic Music . Thank You for Reading. If You would like to know more about DAW's, please follow the Links below.
Author : Chirag Kotak
Sonik-Tec Electronic Music Production Courses , Mumbai
www.soniktec.com, Sonik-Tec’s Facebook Page Email: soniktec@gmail.com
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