Menu
WEEKLY BLOGS
The journey of a growing multi-instrumentalist and her composing.
This week has been pretty productive! I've worked a lot with testing out different instrument recording software. As of last night I played around using Mixpad but I didn't take a liking to it. Some of the reasons I didn't like Mixpad were because the effects appeared to be somewhat choppy. For instance, If I were to select a track and add a tremolo effect (rhythmically changes volume), It caused the background noise to also have a tremolo effect.
For some, this would be an easy solution by using a noise reduction effect. However, instead of actually taking out the static in the background of the track, it instead cut out complete chunks of the track. I tested different things with different sensitivity and phrase length settings but I didn't have much luck. So, instead of using Mixpad, I would like to instead experiment with Bandlab. I've used Bandlab plenty of times in the past and I haven't had many issues with it. Although, the last time I used the software Bandlab I was using it for recording vocals rather than instruments. In spite of that, there is one thing I know for sure. The software Bandlab has never let me down when it comes down to noise reduction. Though, I don't want to be stuck bouncing between two recording software Mixpad, and Bandlab. So I'd like to hear some recommendations to break the tie! (If anyone has never heard of Mixpad, here's a picture of what I was testing out)
2 Comments
This week has been pretty crazy, I've continued practicing improvisation on all of my instruments, but it hasn't been easy. Every musician knows how difficult it is to play with a stuffy nose and a sore throat; that's just what happened to me. However I'm still pushing forward regardless of my terrible allergies. I learned this week that my alto saxophone has some type of issue that causes it to have a very strange tone.
I'm still unsure what is causing it to sound so strange, but I need to take it to my local music shop. I still practiced my alto saxophone regardless of its issues, and I've made some progress! I've also started trumpet lessons as of two weeks ago with my band director Mr. Brusseau, he's helped me greatly with my tone and articulation. If anyone was wondering why I haven't mentioned my trombone, It's because I plan on playing it last. Since my primary instrument is a trumpet (high brass), which has a smaller mouthpiece (3c-5c). It makes it very difficult to play on a low brass instrument such as trombone (12c-17c) consistently without completely blowing out my embouchure due to its larger mouthpiece. A 12c mouthpiece (trombone) and a 5c (trumpet) are two very different mouthpiece sizes. Although a 12c mouthpiece falls into the smaller range trombone mouthpieces. I've been working on playing some jazz scales on my Gretsch guitar as well as some chords for some nice bass support for the melody. I also had this really interesting idea to add a accelerando at the last few phrases of the piece. I'm very excited to continue making rough drafts these next couple weeks! This week I focused on playing my alto saxophone and improvising solos on my Gretsch guitar. I'm using various scales and tweaking partials to create a sense of growth in the solo. I've continued to practice my jazz scales on trumpet as well. I've also come to the realization that its easier to come up with music first through improvisation, and then to compose the music.
During band class this week we had some different college band directors come in to help us improve our music for MPA. I learned a lot this week about exaggerating accents when needed to help shape the music. It's always nice to have input from other directors to open your mind to other musical concepts. When the director decided to focus on the bass voices it gave me some potential rhythmic ideas to support the melody throughout the piece I'm writing. To really bring out each instrument throughout the piece I think it would be cool to pass of the melody to other instruments during the piece. I think I might create a polyphony so I can have two main melodies throughout the piece. This past week was the first time I genuinely tried out composing music in various genres. Even with my crazy schedule for MPA and the MPA preview concert preparation, I've managed to pick up a few jazz scales on my primary instrument, the trumpet. While practicing some improvisational techniques, I was listening to some jazz and indie music.
I discovered that Faye Webster's music truly helped me in developing my improvisational skills. Along with writing and experimenting with music, I've been searching for a new trumpet. I've used a Yamaha YTR2330 for around five years now. Even with the countless tuning slide issues it has had since the day I bought it, my trumpet, which I purchased used, has held up fairly well. Last week when my piston valves got jammed at the bottom of my valve casing, I realized something. I started to think back on how much I've improved as a musician, and I came to the conclusion that I want to look into the Cannonball company for my next trumpet. |
AuthorI'm Hannah Baldwin, I'm a sophomore in highschool and I'm apart of my high-school Symphonic Band and marching band. I play multiple instruments such as trumpet, alto saxophone, trombone and guitar. I love composing music. Archives
April 2023
Categories |