Practical MIDI

If you've been following this column you already know about the practical uses of midi files and how to be more versatile and how to use them for your recording career. I've focused mainly on single acts or duos that depend on midi files for that fuller sound without all the added expense of additional musicians. What about you people that are in bands already? Can midi files be useful to you as well? You betcha.

Even if you don't use the midi files on the live job itself, they can be very useful for your own practice sessions. I.m sure you've all gone the route of playing the record or CD over and over again trying to get a feel for the song. But when you get to your particular part, be it bass, lead, keys or even vocal harmonies, you probably have a difficult time separating your part from the mix. It.s hard to hear exactly what you should be playing or singing.

Sure, there are programs or gadgets out there that will let you slow a CD down to hear the parts slower, but you still have the entire mix to contend with. What you want to hear just your part? I don.t know about you, but as for me, I learn best through repetition. If I can listen to my part over and over it gets engrained in my memory so that I can do it in my sleep. And believe me there were some jobs that I could have slept through.

For my particular example, I was trying to learn the harmony vocal for Extreme's "More That Words." It's easy to hear what the lead singer is doing but trying to distinguish the harmony part is difficult because you always have the melody overpowering it and staying with you. Here's how I solved that with midi. I found a good rendition of the song in midi format and loaded it into my sequencer. Then I lowered the volume on the melody track so I could just hear it in the background. I turned the harmony track up so that it was the dominant sound coming through. Then I played the midi file and recorded it onto cassette.

Now I have a version that I can take with me in the car and sing my part over and over until I have it down pat.

Meanwhile my partner in the duo is doing just the opposite. He's got the harmony track muted and is singing along to the melody track until he's got it down. Next time I loaded the midi file I muted both the harmony track and the melody track while my partner and I sat there singing our perspective parts to the music. And that's all there is to it.
You can use the same procedure for learning your lead licks and solos. Suppose you want to learn the acoustic solo to Eric Clapton's "Change The World." Once again, find yourself a good version of it (Cybermidi probably has one in its collection) Turn the volume down a bit on all the channels but the lead guitar. Next, reduce the tempo by one half and listen carefully. That's one of the good points about midi files. Unlike sound recordings that change key when you slow them down, midi files have no sounds;just events that trigger sounds in your midi instrument. So when you slow down a midi file, the key remains the same.

Anyway, now you can listen to the slowed down solo and pick out each note and play along, gradually increasing the tempo until you can play it at normal speed. If you can't quite get it that way, try viewing the midi file in another format.

Cakewalk, for example, has the option to allow you to view a track as sheet music so you can see exactly what notes are being played. Furthermore, you can look at the event list to see the notes actually described in plain English. It will tell you that starting on measure 81, beat 2 is the note E or C# or A or whatever the note is at that point. Just write them down, find them on your guitar neck and pluck away.

With a little practice and patience you'll soon be playing your part like a pro. Geez, if only I'd had midi files when I was starting out back in the olden days. I could have learned that tough solo to Louie, Louie.

©2002 Bill Bernico for CYBERMIDI.com Downwind Publications