Composing Digital Music For Dummies

Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax 317-572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

About the Author

Russell Dean Vines is a music industry veteran, with more than 40 years of experience as a bandleader, sideman, composer, arranger, clinician, lecturer, and consultant.

Russ started music lessons as soon as he entered elementary school, eventually studying violin, French horn, guitar, piano, tenor saxophone, and his primary instrument, bass. He decided to become a professional musician when he was in middle school. While attending a dinner show at John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks, Nevada, Russ realized that the tuxedo-clad musicians in the house orchestra dressed better and probably earned more than the hard-scrabble ranchers he’d grown up among throughout the West.

At age 13, he booked his first gig, in a biker roadhouse in Reno, playing bass alongside one of the rare female baritone vocalists who could also play barrelhouse piano, and a little person on drums. Russ’s featured solo consisted of blowing bubbles with a straw in a glass of water, improvising on the theme from the TV show Flipper. The gig paid more than his paper route and made it possible for Russ to buy cutout records on sale at the local Western Auto store. There he discovered the music of multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk (pre-Rahsaan) and bassist Charles Mingus. The adolescent Russ found their music weird but appealing.

Down Beat magazine awarded the young bassist/composer a Hall of Fame scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied with Charlie Mariano, Major (Mule) Holley, Herb Pomeroy, John LaPorta, and others. Russ learned many valuable lessons, such as:

* Don’t accept a gig at a joint that has chicken-wire surrounding the bandstand.

* Playing outside has nothing to do with the weather.

* It’s a mistake to leave your ax onstage between sets, because it could be in the pawnshop before you get back.

Having absorbed too much information in Boston, Russ returned to Reno, where he performed as a sideman in Reno nightspots, working with well-known entertainers including George Benson; John Denver; Sammy Davis, Jr.; and Dean Martin. For several years he played electric bass and was an orchestrator for Hello, Hollywood, Hello, at the MGM Grand.

Russ also worked in small towns throughout Nevada as an artist in residence for the National Endowment for the Arts. The “residence” part sometimes consisted of an elderly single-wide situated between a town’s legal brothel and its liquor store.

He has composed and arranged hundreds of pieces of jazz and contemporary music that were recorded and performed by his own big band and others; founded and managed a scholastic music publishing company; and adjudicated performances at student festivals.

Always interested in digital music, Russ was able to put theory into practice when he taught himself to use a New England Digital Synclavier II, owned by Swami Kriyananda. His compositions on the Synclavier, as well as pieces written for more traditional instruments, are captured on the 1983 album Gemini, by Russ Vines and the Contemporary Music Ensemble. The recording was chosen as an Album of Exceptional Merit by Billboard magazine.

After moving to New York, Russ worked as a systems consultant for Sony BMG Music Entertainment, CBS/Fox Video, and others. He holds a gaggle of computer certifications and is now an internationally recognized authority on computer security. He is the author of ten best-selling information system security texts, including the top-selling The CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security (Wiley), which reached #25 on Amazon.com and was on the site’s Hot 100 list for four months.

Russ in now chief security advisor to Gotham Technology Group and writes frequently for online technical magazines, such as The Wall Street Journal Online, TechTarget.com, and SearchSecurity.com. He also writes on a variety of subjects, including fast cars and fun gadgets, for Jim Cramer’s TheStreet.com.

Dedication

To Elzy. Forever.

Author’s Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all the software, hardware, and music vendors that contributed to this book. Without their contributions, I would not have been able to provide as comprehensive a look at the current state of digital music.

I would also like to thank my associates at Wiley: acquisitions editor Mike Baker, media development associate project manager Laura Atkinson, and especially my project editor and copy editor, Elizabeth Kuball.

And a big thank-you to the musicians and friends who contributed ideas and helped me throughout the sometimes arduous writing process. A special shout-out to percussionist extraordinaire Dom Moio, guitarist and educator Tomas Cataldo, and multi-instrumentalist Howard Johnson.

Title

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part l : So You Want to Compose Digital Music

Chapter 1: Introducing Digital Music

What Is Digital Music Anyway?

Knowing What Equipment to Get

Getting Started with a Composition

Look, Ma — No Hands! Composing from Scratch

Taking Your Music to the Next Level

Chapter 2: The Digital Music Revolution

Music Goes Digital

Who Does What in the Music Biz

Your Role as a Digital Musician

At the Barricades: Talking to Some of the People at the Forefront of the Revolution

Chapter 3: Music Notation Basics

The Four Main Elements of Musical Notation

The Parts of a Music Score

Part II : Gearing Up

Chapter 4: Digital Composing Hardware

Getting Your Computer Ready

Composing with MIDI Instruments

Chapter 5: Getting Cool Gear

Using All-in-One Music Centers

Super MIDI Modules

Chapter 6: The World of Music Software

Identifying the Main Types of Digital Music Software

Composing with Musical Notation Software

Digital Audio Workstations

Other Great Software

Software Samplers

Playing with Plug-ins

Part III : The Basics: Building Your First Tune

Chapter 7: Instant Music: Using the Templates

Setting Up Your Composing Software

Opening My New Tune

Building Your Tune

Chapter 8: To Live and Burn in L.A.: Output 101

Outputting Your Audio

Outputting Your Music to Other Formats

Printing Your Music

Chapter 9: Sharing the Love: Internet Publishing

Weighing Your Publishing Options

Looking at Copyright Issues

Part IV : Getting Fancy: Building Your Tune from Scratch

Chapter 10: What’s the Score? Creating Your Score Paper

Choosing the Manuscript Paper

Changing Your Score

Chapter 11: No-Frills Notes: Basic Note Entry

Entering Notes with the Mouse

Adding Text and Lines

Entering Other Types of Text

Chapter 12: Composing with Your Instrument

Entering Notes with a MIDI Keyboard Controller

Entering Notes with a Guitar

Scanning Music Using PhotoScore

Chapter 13: Keep the Beat: Adding the Drum Part

Looking At the Four Ways to Write a Drum Part

Writing a New Drum Part

Adding a Drum Pattern

Getting a Drum Sample

Part V : Beyond the Basics: Advanced Composing Tips and Tricks

Chapter 14: Spice Is Nice: Marking Up Your Score

Writing Chord Symbols and Tablature

Adding Expression to Your Score

Using Articulations

Adding Lyrics

Making Your Score Pretty

Chapter 15: You’re a Real Composer Now

Composing Background Melodies

Adding Intros and Outros

Adding Video to Your Score

Chapter 16: Fine-Tuning the Mix: Playback Options

Changing the Playback Device

Changing the Playback Feel

Mixing It Up

Saving and Burning Your Opus

Part VI : The Part of Tens

Chapter 17: Ten Digital Music Terms You Should Know

Beats

Digital Audio

Latency

MIDI

Multitimbral

Polyphony

Sampler

Sampling Rate and Bit Depth

Sequencer

Software Synthesizer

Chapter 18: Ten (Or So) Composers You Should Know

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

George Gershwin (1898–1937)

Duke Ellington (1899–1974)

Aaron Copland (1900–1990)

Alfred Newman (1900–1970)

Willie Dixon (1915–1992)

Thelonious Monk (1917–1982)

John Williams (1932– )

John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (1942– )

(More Than) A Few More

Chapter 19: Ten (Or So) Sibelius Tips and Tricks

Undoing Your Mistakes

Changing the Way Your Score Looks

Using Keyboard Shortcuts

Getting to Know the Keypad

Deselecting to Start Off

Exporting Your Score to Other Programs

Working on Your Playback Devices

Creating Text to Help the Musicians

Fiddling with the Tempo

Part VII : Appendixes

Appendix A: Common Instrument Ranges

The String Family

The Woodwinds

The Brass Family

Keyboards

Percussion Instruments

Voices and Choirs

Appendix B: About the CD

System Requirements

Using the CD

What You’ll Find on the CD

Troubleshooting

: Wiley Publishing, Inc., End-User License Agreement

: Further Reading

Introduction

The world of desktop publishing has expanded to include music: Anyone with a PC or Mac at home already has the basics for a music creation studio. Composing Digital Music For Dummies, along with your home computer, is the fundamental toolkit you need to write music using the latest digital software.

Don’t be nervous about trying your hand at writing your own digital music. If you’ve always loved music, but you’ve never thought that you could be a composer, this book is for you. If you heard about the digital music revolution, and wondered how the music you hear on the radio, the TV, the Internet, and even on your cellphone is made, this book is also for you.

About This Book

Composing Digital Music For Dummies delivers everything you need to get started making your own tunes. If you have a computer and this book, you have all the tools and information you need to build a piece of music, play it back, burn it on a CD, or print it out for others.

Composing Digital Music For Dummies simplifies the basics of composing music. In this book, I show you:

How to use software to compose music

The fundamentals of digital composition

The role of MIDI and other digital tools

How music is written and produced

I avoid advanced musical or computer techno jargon and, in a clear, friendly manner, demystify the essential steps to making your own music and making music your own.

But the big deal is: You don’t have to read music or have music theory training to get started. You can begin making music today — and you can have fun while doing it!

The CD that comes with this book has everything you need: a demo version of Sibelius 5 (the most popular music notation software), templates to get you started, and audio files of all the examples I provide in the book.

Conventions Used in This Book

Because Composing Digital Music For Dummies is a reference book that you can use over and over again, I use some conventions to make things consistent and easy to understand:

I provide keyboard shortcuts for both PC users and Mac users — music doesn’t discriminate and neither do I. I list the PC shortcut first, followed by the Mac shortcut in parentheses.

When I give you a list of steps to follow, the action part of the step is in boldface.

When I define a new term, I put it in italics, and provide the definition nearby (often in parentheses).

I list all Web addresses and e-mail addresses in monofont, so you can tell the address apart from the surrounding text. Note: When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that I haven’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So, when using one of these Web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist.

One more thing: In the For Dummies series, acronyms are typically spelled out on their first use in a chapter, but the acronym MIDI is one I use so often in this book that I don’t always spell it out. I talk about MIDI in depth in Chapter 4, but for now, know that it stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and it’s a way for electronic instruments made by different manufacturers to work and play together.

What You’re Not to Read

I think every pearl of wisdom in Composing Digital Music For Dummies is cool, interesting, and useful, but I have included some stuff that you really don’t need to know.

The Technical Stuff icon points out information that’s fascinating for geeks like me, but that you may or may not be interested in. If you’re in a hurry, you can safely skip these paragraphs without missing anything critical.

You can also skip sidebars (the text in gray boxes throughout this book). Sidebars are interesting anecdotes or historical information, but they’re not essential information.

Foolish Assumptions

I don’t make many assumptions about you, but I do figure that one of the following statements probably applies to you:

You like to tinker with an instrument and make up tunes by grooving on a line or just a feeling. You may have some basic knowledge of a PC or Mac, but you’re not a tech wiz or musical genius.

You play in a band and want to arrange tunes for other players or other instruments to see what they sound like. You may have studied music in school and you may have made a few bucks on a gig or two. You know some harmony and theory, but you want to take the next step and compose digitally.

You’re a computer wizard, but you don’t have any formal music training or background and you want to know how to compose music like you’ve heard on the latest games and Web streaming audio.

I also assume that you have a personal computer with a CD drive at your disposal — either a Mac or a PC. (If you don’t have a computer, start with Chapter 4, which gives you some tips about what kind of firepower you’ll need to compose digital music.) Eventually, you’ll want to get more gear — and in this book I show you how to get the best bang for your buck — but I don’t believe that music can only be created by those who have the most stuff, or the most expensive education.

How This Book Is Organized

Composing Digital Music For Dummies is really two books in one:

It’s an in-depth primer on the tools that modern digital composers use to create the music you hear around you every day. Some chapters have descriptions and links to hardware, software, and even interviews with the folks who are creating this music.

More important, it’s a tool to help you begin to compose using these digital music tools.

This book is modular, which means you can pick it up and read any chapter you want in any order you want.

Part I: So You Want to Compose Digital Music

If you want to compose great music using the latest and coolest digital tools, then you’ve come to the right place! But before you become a household name, check out Chapter 1 and get an introduction to the world of digital music, what you need to participate, and where you can go from here. In Chapter 2, you get the real scoop on who does what in the digital music industry, from video game composers to experimental electronic artists. You even get a brief rundown on how records are made. In Chapter 3, I offer up a primer on basic music notation: what the funny little dots and lines mean, and all the other marks that make up a page of music, like time signatures, key signatures, and chord symbols.

Part II: Gearing Up

In this part, you get a crash course in the hardware and software worlds of digital music composition. Chapter 4 tells you exactly what you need and don’t need to start writing music like the pros. Chapter 5 is all about digital music hardware, from ready-built computer systems that play music, to futuristic gear that only a mother could love. Then in Chapter 6 I explain the ups and downs of the software side of composing; notation software, digital audio workstations and sequencers, and hip new software plug-ins that can make you sound like a guitar god.

Part III: The Basics: Building Your First Tune

Part III is where you get your hands on your first composition. In Chapter 7, you install the software from the CD and get familiar with using the templates for composing. Chapter 8 gives you the skinny on making an audio recording of your tune and how to print it out for other musicians to play. Chapter 9 shows you how to stick your toe in the water of Internet publishing, and gives you important information on the copyright and legal issues you need to know as a composer.

Part IV: Getting Fancy: Building Your Tune from Scratch

In Chapter 10, I introduce you to digital score paper, how to pick the right score paper for your band, and how to add new instruments to your score. Chapter 11 gives you the info you need to add notes using your mouse and computer keyboard; then you get fancy with your score, by adding text and bar lines. In Chapter 12, you go beyond using a mouse to enter notes, hook up a MIDI keyboard or guitar to your computer, and scan printed sheet music right into your score.

Part V: Beyond the Basics: Advanced Composing Tips and Tricks

Part V is the land of the advanced composer. If you’re experienced with writing music, or you’ve followed this book from the beginning, these advanced composing tips and tricks will push your music to the next level.

Chapter 14 shows you how to add chord symbols for the rhythm section, add lyrics for the singers, and add color to your score. Chapter 15 lets you create a countermelody, an introduction, and an ending for your tune, all elements that make a budding composition a real piece of music. And Chapter 16 gives you some inside information on tweaking your computer’s playback sound to make it more authentic, as well as some tips on mixing the sound before burning it on CD.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

A Part of Tens is the most recognizable (and some say useful) part of any Dummies book, and I think my Part of Tens is no exception. Here you find ten digital music terms that every composer should know to make the most of his music. I also have a (very biased) list of ten composers you should be aware of, as well as their contributions to the world of music. Finally, I offer up a list of the handiest Sibelius keyboard shortcuts and other assorted tips to make you the most efficient Sibelius user ever!

Part VII: Appendixes

Appendixes are usually the places in the back of a book that contain odd, arcane tidbits of information that most readers can take or leave. But I think you’ll find interesting information in these two appendixes.

Appendix A gives you a little background on the concept of transposing instruments, and shows you the written musical range of most of the instruments in the orchestra. Appendix B gives you the lowdown on what I’ve put on the accompanying CD, such as software, Sibelius templates, Web resources, and MP3 music files. It’s all stuff that’s going to help you get the most out of the book and the most out of your composing.

The CD-ROM

Although I describe a lot of different types of digital music production tools in Composing Digital Music For Dummies, the primary software used in the book is Sibelius 5, the latest version (as of this writing) of the Sibelius family of digital music creation and notation tools. I include a demo version of Sibelius 5 on the CD, along with templates and audio MP3 files so you can hear exactly what the examples I mention in the book are supposed to sound like. Also, on the CD, I provide links to lots of other composing resources, from free software and music samples to hardware dealers and copyright advice.

Icons Used in This Book

For Dummies books are friendly, informative, and fun. One of the reasons they’re so readable is because of the various graphic icons in the left-hand margins of the pages. These icons draw your attention to pointers you can use right away, warnings of impending doom, and some technical stuff you may find interesting.

Any time you see the Tip icon, you can bet you’ll be getting some useful information I’ve gleaned from years of experience. It may be a shortcut to digital music success or expert advice for your future.

The good thing about this book is that it’s a reference, which means you don’t have to memorize it — you can keep it on your desk and come back to it whenever you need to look something up. But when I tell you something that you really should remember, I flag it with the Remember icon.

Composing digital music is not, by and large, a dangerous thing. You can’t screw up much of anything — even the files on the CD will always be there for you to download from scratch if you don’t like the changes you’ve made to them. But on the few occasions when you could create a serious hassle or headache for yourself, I let you know by using the Warning icon.

The geek in me can’t help but tell you about theoretical or obscure technical stuff you don’t really need to know to use this book. When I do, I use the Technical Stuff icon. You can skip any paragraphs marked with this icon — but if you’re as much of a geek as I am, you may want to read the Technical Stuff paragraphs first!

When you see the On the CD icon, you can hear an audio example of the template you’re working on, sounds from various music software, and other fun audio clips — all available on the CD that comes with this book.

Where to Go from Here

I’ve crafted Composing Digital Music For Dummies so you can jump in anywhere and get the info you need, without having to start from the beginning and read every page. You can skip around throughout the book, or within chapters, to find the information you need, using the table of contents and index as your guides.

If you’ve never written music before, or you’re completely unfamiliar with how to create your own digital music, you can always start with Chapter 1 and read the book in order, downloading the templates and working through the examples as I help you create your first tune.

If you’re somewhat acquainted with MIDI and digital music terms, you may want to start by checking out some of the latest software and gear in Chapters 5 and 6. You also may want to brush up on your musical notation basics in Chapter 3, or check out some legal implications of publishing your music in Chapter 9.

Whatever level of musician or computer geek you are, there’s something for you in Composing Digital Music For Dummies. So what are you waiting for? Start composing music!

Part l

So You Want to Compose Digital Music

In this part . . .

Before you start your journey toward making a major splash in the music industry, Chapter 1 introduces you to the big world of digital music and digital music composition. Chapter 2 describes the digital music revolution and shows you how digital music is produced for CDs, podcasts, ringtones, stage, film, and TV.

In Chapter 3, you get a primer on the music notation fundamentals you need in order to get the most out of the book, such as the parts of a music score, the different notes, and what all those little dots are on a page of sheet music.