Chapter 1
Introducing Digital Music
In This Chapter
Joining the revolution in digital music
Gearing up: What you need and what youâll want
In the early 1980s, a computer program was developed that caused a major shift in the music universe. The way people listen to music changed dramatically. (If you want the history behind this shift, check out the sidebar âA brief history of digital musicâ in this chapter.) The ways of making and selling music altered almost overnight, and the record companies are still struggling to catch up. Small, independent music composers and producers are creating new sounds and new beats. And the Web is altering forever how people acquire music.
To make the best music, you still need a good ear. Some musical education doesnât hurt, although you donât really need much â some basic knowledge of how the notes are written is all you need to get you started (check out Chapter 3 for more on that). But even that is changing â an ever-growing number of producers donât use scores or produce written music: They arrange beats and digital audio, and combine MIDI tracks (see âWhat Is Digital Music Anyway?â for more on MIDI) with vocalists into a unique sound and rhythm. You donât have to read music or have music theory training to make music today. You can make your own pro-quality sounds using the tools from any computer or music store.
In this chapter, I give you an overview of what digital music is, what kind of equipment you need to create it, and how you can get started creating your own music today.
A brief history of digital music
In 1983, the musical earth shifted, and the seismic shockwave is still being felt today. No, it wasnât the release of Madonnaâs first album (although that did happen in 1983). It was the creation of the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI). MIDI was released into the wild, and the musical Tower of Babel fell.
MIDI meant that different electronic music machines, which in the past could only speak their own language, could now all talk to each other and share information. MIDI meant that people could build electronic musical gear in their garage that would work with any computer.
The shift was the end result of multiple technological advancements that were shaking the culture, all of which combined to create digital music. These technological advancements included:
The invention of the transistor, which made small, portable electronic devices possible
The invention of the personal computer
The development of the Internet, originally begun as ARPANET, the U.S. Department of Defenseâs first information-sharing network
All these elements, along with cultural shifts in the United States, made the digital music revolution almost inevitable.
What Is Digital Music Anyway?
Because digital music doesnât necessarily sound âdigitalâ (that is, all computery and technoid), you probably donât know how much of the music you hear every day has some connection to the digital revolution. In fact, almost every piece of music you hear has been âdigitizedâ in some way:
When you buy CDs or download MP3s, youâre purchasing music that was encoded digitally, whether the music is of a string quartet or a techno-pop band.
If youâre watching TV or a movie, youâre listening to a musical score that has at least
some digital elements and was produced using digital music software and hardware.
Most recording studios use digital hardware and software to record the musicians and singers, and use digital mix-down tools and plug-ins to finish the tracks.
More and more commercial pop and R&B producers are using prepackaged
beats (collections of ready-made rhythm section tracks) and then overdubbing them with a live singer or instrumentalists.
A music student who uses Sibelius or Finale to create a score and then print the parts out for their school orchestra is using digital music creation tools.
Auto-Tune
You donât even need to have a sense of pitch to sing! Auto-Tune is an audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies (www.antarestech.com). Itâs used to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances and to disguise inaccuracies and mistakes made by the vocalist. Auto-Tune is used as a software plug-in with popular digital audio workstations, such as Pro Tools. (For more on digital audio workstations, or DAWs, check out Chapter 6.)
And the list goes on and on.
And all this digital music is possible because of the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), an industry-standard computer program that enables electronic musical instruments (such as synthesizers, computers, and other equipment) to communicate, control, and synchronize with each other. The term MIDI refers to both the type of cables and plugs used to connect the computers and instruments, and to the language those computers and instruments use to talk to each other. Almost every electronic musical instrument on the market today has MIDI connectors and can, therefore, be used with other MIDI instruments and with your computerâs MIDI interface.
A piece of MIDI music can be transferred back and forth between different music-composing software programs made by different vendors and still work, because itâs MIDI-compliant. The MIDI language conveys information and instructions, both from the computer to the instrument and from the instrument to the computer. For example, if you tell your computer that you want your MIDI keyboard to play a note, the computer sends a MIDI message telling the keyboard which note to play. When you tell your computer that you want the keyboard to stop playing that note, the computer sends another message that stops the note from playing. MIDI files contain all the MIDI messages and timing information that are needed to play a song.
Knowing What Equipment to Get
You donât need much stuff to start composing digital music. But needs and wants are two very different things. In this section, I fill you in on the most basic of equipment you need to get started, and then let you know about some other cool things youâll probably want. Iâll let you and your credit card work that out.
What you need
Even though you may have wanted to use me as your excuse for running out and buying a whole ton of new equipment ...