Recording channels - your praxis

[sbrbot]

What is your praxis when you record your performances; do you record only one instrument per channel or you mix them inside the same channel. I encountered few times that when I mix different instruments in the same channel that CVP confuses itself and sometime start to reproduce sequence with wrong instrument (especially when I FF/RR my song a lot). My praxis is now to separate instruments in different channels. Last 8 channels are dedicated for style, and first 8 i quite enough for 8 parallel melodies.

Sometimes I mix (join) two channels with similar instruments into one mixed channel (e.g. when I record dual layer sound where R1 is piano/R2 violin and afterwards play violinon separate channel, then I like to join second layer R2 violin with additional separate violin channel).

What is your praxis? Share your experiences, what have you learned during all these years playing on CVPs? What is the best in your opinion?

[dbjorck]

Hi!

The best is to have a separate track for each instrument.

But I often run out of tracks, and then I firstly merge similar instruments into one (such as piccolo and flute, and bassoon and oboe sound quite similar, tuba and horns etc). Next I do look for overlaps where two instruments never play at the same time, and combine those. As you say that can be tricky at times, but with some experience it works fine - tip below. When you say that you're mixing different instruments, you are aware that one track can only play one instrument at a time right?

Tip: In Song Creator on the 1-16 tab for the required channel, move to the point where you want to change voice; preferably on the first note of the new instrument in order to not clip off any reverb from the previous instrument. Now simply select your voice from the panel the usual way - when you return it has inserted the commands for the new voice. (I apologise if you already knew this, but I used to manually enter MSB, LSB, and Program for a long time until I accidentally discovered this shortcut) Oh, and the initial voice must always be on beat 3 of bar 0.

Brgds

Danny

[sbrbot]

Hi!

The best is to have a separate track for each instrument.

But I often run out of tracks, and then I firstly merge similar instruments into one (such as piccolo and flute, and bassoon and oboe sound quite similar, tuba and horns etc). Next I do look for overlaps where two instruments never play at the same time, and combine those. As you say that can be tricky at times, but with some experience it works fine - tip below. When you say that you're mixing different instruments, you are aware that one track can only play one instrument at a time right?

Yes I'm aware of it. I tought about different sections on the same channel. Each section is played with its own instrument. Look at this scenario: for the sake of simplicity let's say that my song consist of 8 bars, first 4 bars are played with instrument#1 (I1) and second 4 bars with instrument#2 (I2). Before starting the 1 bar CVP inserts into MIDI information which instrument starts to play (I1), also before 5th bar it inserts information that now starts another instrument (I2). When I start playing my song, CVP reads data about I1 and plays 4 bars, before reaching 5th bar it reads information that next section should be played with I2, and now if I rewind on 2nd bar. Last information about which instrument should be played I2 is read before 5th bar. What will CVP do, how it will know that this part from 2nd til 4th should be played with I1 not I2?

Tip: In Song Creator on the 1-16 tab for the required channel, move to the point where you want to change voice; preferably on the first note of the new instrument in order to not clip off any reverb from the previous instrument. Now simply select your voice from the panel the usual way - when you return it has inserted the commands for the new voice. (I apologise if you already knew this, but I used to manually enter MSB, LSB, and Program for a long time until I accidentally discovered this shortcut) Oh, and the initial voice must always be on beat 3 of bar 0.


No I didn't know this. Thx for this hint. Even if knew this it would be helpful for others to know. So do not hesitate to write everything that can help.

[dbjorck]

Hi!

if I rewind on 2nd bar. Last information about which instrument should be played I2 is read before 5th bar. What will CVP do, how it will know that this part from 2nd til 4th should be played with I1 not I2?
Ah yes, if you are in the 1-16 tab and move up from the fifth bar to the second bar, it will play the I2 instrument for the notes that you pass, simply because it's applying each MIDI event as you go by them; effectively playing it backwards. However, if you then press play at the second bar, it should be using I1 as it starts by reading the whole file from the beginning to get the settings (which is why it takes a while for it to start playing). At least that's how my 309 works.

Brgds

Danny

[Carlo]

Hi!

Thank you, Danny, for the tip on your post #2 of this thread.

I, too, spent a lot of time with the Data List to manually change the voice in a channel while editing a song file.

It would be great to collect all these kinds of tips, e.g. what can be written into a midi file by merely pushing a CVP button in the right context, and put them into a FAQ section, also taking into account the wealth of interesting questions raised and answered in these last days...

Best regards,

[sbrbot]

The best is to have a separate track for each instrument.
Even better, for piano partition sometimes I'd like to have left and right hands on separate channels (looks better on score, also one can apply different effects on left and right hand). It's not so easy to separate them. If there's no overlapping between hand playing areas it could be solved with LEFT/RIGHT1 separation (although they both play the same piano instrument), but in majority of cases you have overlapping.

[Carlo]

Hi!

As I have often recorded 4-hands piano pieces, I, too, am in favour to record each part in a different track, but with some differences.

I would normally play the "Primo" part (i.e. the two upper parts) on a single channel, thus reproducing the effects and interpretation of a normal performer. This recording will of course appear on a single staff (e.g. on track 1), when visualized on the screen by the SCORE function.

I record the "Secondo" part (i.e. the two lower parts, which make the accompaniment) either on one or two separate channels, depending on their complexity.

If I happen to want to apply some part revoicing (as I often did), it is of course convenient to record all four parts separately, by using four different channels.

The main difficulty I encounter on doing that is to reach the right pianistic expression in the "combined" result, which is not at all trivial because you have to work in several sessions.
Therefore, you have to somehow "imagine" in advance (by a careful experimentation on the keyboard and try-and-error attempts) what the final effect will eventually sound like, and "plan" your recording style accordingly for each part.
Actions applied after the recording sessions (such as varying tempo and refining volumes) are normally necessary and serve to improve the overall rendition, but I find that if there is too much "post-processing" to be done, you should honestly admit to have performed too poorly and it is then better to start recording again with a fresher mind, either by beginning from scratch or by resuming a satisfying "save-point" (e.g. an earlier version of your recording) you had already got.

Best regards,