The Nukkels Archives

• Meanings
• Starting a track
• Melody
• Panning
• Volume
• Pitch
• Rapid effects
• Samples and instruments
• Professionalism
• DISCLAIMER

First things first. Just a few words and their meanings.
 
 

Term	Meaning	Example
Key	Which notes are sharp (or flat)	D Major - Uses the following notes D E F# G A B C#
Scale	Which notes you’ll use	Major - First note in the key, 2 up, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1 Minor - First, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1 Blues - First, 3, 2, 1, 1, 3, 2
Tempo	How often every fourth note plays (at speed =6)	120bpm (beats per minute) means every half a second, every fourth note plays (at speed =6)
Speed	How fast the song plays	The lower the speed, the faster the song plays and vice versa
Bass line	The low notes. Usually a deep instrument	Should always use the notes from the key you’re in. Usually start and finish on the first note of the scale. Often repetitive.
Lead	The melody line	Can be made up of many instruments to play the same tune. Should stick to the main key
Chord	Three or four notes played on the same instrument	major - First, third, fifth (eg. D F# A) minor - First, flat third, fifth (eg. D F A) 7 - First, third, (fifth), seventh (eg. D F# (A) C)
Rhythm	The beat. How the song flows	Play a snare every 8 rows, a closed hihat every 2 rows and a bass drum on rows 2, 4, 6, 10, 11, 12, 14
Bar/Measure	The section of the rhythm which repeats	Usually each 16 rows. The above beat would be one bar. You could make the next bar or 3 bars different and repeat the whole pattern

Starting a track

One thing to consider when tracking anything is to start with the basics such as beat and melody line. Once you know what sort of sound you are aiming for, then you should start adding a bass line and chords. Or you could start with some interesting chord progressions. A basic chord progression in any Blues key is the chord of the first note for 4 bars, then the chord of the fourth note for 2 bars, the first chord for 2 bars, the fifth chord for 1 bar, the fourth chord for 1 bar, then the first chord for 2 bars. You can make variations on this or just use any chords which fit what you want to do. The choice of chords is small, but the choice of chord progressions is endless, when you also consider the rhythm.

Melody

To help build up your song, you should consider using chords in one instrument and the lead in another instrument. In an orchestra, each instrument might only play a basic part of the melody, but when used with the other instruments, one instrument might play a part of the melody and another instrument will play the rest. To make your song stand out from others, try to create an original melody, with unique combinations of instruments.

Panning

Not all instruments will play directly in front of you, so you should try to vary panning for each instrument. In an instrument such as a piano, has the lower notes at the left of the instrument and the higher notes at the right. To achieve this effect, set the panning for the samples which will play the lower notes, to the left (ie. <128) and the higher notes, to the right.
Some instruments will move about while playing, so to emulate this effect, either put a panning envelope for that instrument or use single note panning commands. Sometimes a filter envelope can help to achieve this effect, but you should not use one if it does not give you the effect you are looking for, as it tends to warp the sound. Reverb is an effect which often creates the feeling of being in a hall, and the sound is echoing around the room. Again, this tends to change the sound you started with, so only use it with one instrument at a time, or even just a few notes.

Volume

Generally, instruments will not play at the same volume all the time, so try to change the volume with the mood of a song. For example, in an ambient song, try putting more volume on the notes at the beginning of a bar and play the last few notes in the bar more quietly. Changing the volume of percussion instruments will create a wider variety of beats. Making one instrument softer will allow another instrument to be heard. Volume slides are very useful for fading one instrument out and another in. To make your song a little longer, you may wish to try adding instruments one or two at a time, then fading them in and out to achieve the effect of having more song, but actually only playing some parts with others. Some instruments, such as brass, use mutes to dull the sound. Do not confuse a decrease in volume with a dull sound. A piano’s sustain pedal uses reverb effects and several channels, rather than a volume effect.

Pitch

Slow changes in notes can be more effective than a sudden one. You can set instruments to have a pitch envelope, but every note played on that instrument will play a change in pitch. It is much more effective to use single note portamentos. When the note plays, it will play normally until it gets to the portamento. Once it does, the note will slide deeper, depending on the value you give it. The effect of a large portamento value all at once is dramatically different to a small value each row. Stringed instruments will often use this effect rather than a sudden note change. If you want to create the effect of sliding up or down a stringed instrument, remember that the slide is constant.

Rapid Effects

Playing some notes very quickly together can be preferable to having to wait until the next row. Split chords and echo are ways of playing a chord or notes in quick succession after one another. For a split chord, use three (or four) channels and put the first note of the chord in one channel, the next note of the chord in the next channel, one row down, etc. For echo, do the same thing, but repeat the section of notes a few rows down in another channel.
Arpeggios are a way of playing a split chord very rapidly, without having time to ruin the sound, because the arpeggio plays the original note at the end. Retrig is an effect for playing the same note many times in only one row. It is extremely useful for percussion instruments.
Vibrato, tremolo and panbrello help to make the sound more professional. Vibrato makes the pitch slightly vibrate up and down very rapidly. Tremolo does the same thing but with the volume, while panbrello does the same thing with the panning. Vibrato, in particular, is often used for stringed instruments and voice.

Samples and Instruments

Most instruments will not sound the same when played at the highest and lowest notes for that instrument. A cello, for example, will play different thickness strings. Try to create many samples, each from a different pitch. Then ‘tweak’ them so that they are at the same frequency. Then use the lower notes in the instruments section to play the lower samples and the higher notes to play the higher samples. If done correctly, this will give an accurate imitation of the instrument.
One of the major uses of multiple sampled instruments is percussion and drum kits. To create a drum kit, first create a new instrument, then create several samples you want to use. Go to the instruments section, then assign notes to samples. When you have done this, change the notes in the note column to C-5 for the samples you have assigned.

Professionalism

You should be able to create sound which closely copies the sound of real instruments. You don’t need high quality 16-bit samples to make an excellent song. You just need to follow the rules of scales, chords and bass lines to create a very well put together song. NEVER overdo it. A 32 channels IT module with 30 high quality 16-bit samples is hardly ever as good as a simple, small with poor samples track. Just do what needs to be done to give the effect you want - it doesn’t matter if that means a 40Kb finished file. Samples can be used to great advantage, if you know how, but don’t spend too long looking for the ‘perfect samples’. Professional musicians often proof-read their music and dissect it, channel by channel, until they get it right. Getting a friend to check it for any bugs is also advised, as you will often become accustomed to hearing it with errors. For the final touch, check how it sounds with reverse stereo, reverb, Xbass, etc. You may want to try the tempo, speed, volume, etc. with different values, just to see if it can be improved.

Disclaimer

Author: Nukkels (a.k.a. Tim Ween)
Last modified: 22nd September, 1999