{"id":24348,"date":"2016-02-25T16:47:23","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T20:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/?p=24348"},"modified":"2016-02-25T16:47:23","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T20:47:23","slug":"how-jerry-gerber-creates-incredible-compisitions-without-ever-using-the-prv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/2016\/02\/25\/how-jerry-gerber-creates-incredible-compisitions-without-ever-using-the-prv\/","title":{"rendered":"How Jerry Gerber Creates Incredible Compositions Without Ever Using the PRV"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The art of \u201cmaking music\u201d in this digital age… When you really <\/em>think about it, how incredible is it that as music-creators we can take something from our minds, and sculpt it into something tangible?\u00a0 No matter how novice or professional you are, no matter what others think or say about the music YOU create, there\u2019s no denying that we are living in an incredible time of opportunity for crafting music.<\/p>\n

A while back I was introduced to a gentleman and composer working in SONAR<\/a> out of Northern California by the name of Jerry Gerber.\u00a0 I knew he was a great composer from his accomplished list of credentials, but what I wasn\u2019t prepared for was being absolutely fascinated by the sonic depth of \u201chis sound,\u201d the detail and integrity of his tracks, and moreover\u2014how he accomplishes all of the above mentioned.\u00a0 When you listen to his work, and then hear his theoretic viewpoint of how to correctly compose and produce music, you quickly realize that this guy has tapped into something a bit deeper than most musicians.<\/p>\n

What really made an impression on me was that without ever using the Piano Roll View (PRV), Jerry Gerber has composed and produced for some very highly-profiled films, television shows, computer games, concerts, dance and interactive media, and also back in the day wrote all of the original music for the remake of the popular children’s television show, The Adventures of Gumby<\/em>. \u00a0His approach to all this is through an expert level of \u201cMIDI Sequencing\u201d which he explains in the newest edition of the SONAR Newburyport eZine.<\/p>\n

\"\"I was intrigued and beyond impressed by his words in the eZine, so I decided to [self-indulgently] dig a bit deeper by reaching out to Jerry to get some insight on his methods of madness with his new record.\u00a0 His words of musical wisdom make a lot of sense for anyone creating music in any genre, and I highly recommend the read; and then applying what you learn by analyzing and enjoying his new full-length composition.<\/p>\n

[Cakewalk]:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You talked a lot about the \u201cprogramming\u201d aspect of the new record, but what was the \u201cwriting\u201d process like for you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

[Jerry G]:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Composing nowadays involves a two-step process:\u00a0 I do a lot of free improvisation on the piano, which generates ideas. Stravinsky once mentioned how important it is not to have “contempt for the fingers,” meaning, in my interpretation, that what our hands do spontaneously (governed by mind of course!) may be inherently musical and expressive and we should not necessarily throw that in the back seat for the sake of further abstraction. My improvisations involve no notation, no recording, nothing memorized\u2014it’s the raw, spontaneous joy of making music and experiencing a sense of oneness with the sound, the closest analogy is meditation. I find that this process is a check on over-intellectualizing the composition process.\u00a0 When writing intricate music, it is tempting to come up with ideas that seem great, but don’t actually work well as sound. Music is about ideas and about sound.\u00a0 No matter how complex, clever or ingenious the ideas, they have to work as sound.\u00a0 Improv really helps to maintain that balance.<\/em><\/p>\n

The 2nd step is going into the studio and composing.\u00a0 I open SONAR’s staff view and begin by popping notes onto the staff with the mouse.\u00a0 I generally begin with either a harmonic idea, a melodic idea, or even a tempo.\u00a0 There’s no one way to begin a piece.\u00a0 I think of composition as controlled spontaneity, part of the mind is feeling, sensing, imagining and listening (as in improv), the other part is involved in the technical processes of notation and sequencing.\u00a0 Before computers, I relied upon paper, pencil, piano and metronome.\u00a0 If someone would have told me 40 years ago I’d be producing symphonic music from my studio using computers and software in the not-too-distant future, I probably wouldn’t have believed them.\u00a0 While working on a piece I’ll sometimes print out a rough draft of the score and study it, but most of the composition process takes place in SONAR’s notation editor.\u00a0 I also use the event list a lot for inserting program changes and individual controller changes.<\/em><\/p>\n

[Cakewalk]:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your new record is an amazingly balanced and tasteful bliss of intricate structure. What features and views in SONAR do you use technically and can you briefly share any examples of how the process flows in SONAR?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>[Jerry G]:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thanks!\u00a0 I spend most of my time in the staff view, the event list and the controller view while composing.\u00a0 After the composition is finished and the MIDI programming is complete, I render the MIDI data to audio and work with volume envelopes and signal processing. When writing orchestral music, I rarely play ideas into SONAR; I prefer to enter them via the mouse.\u00a0 There’s a lot of editing of note lengths, attack and release times, velocity and patch\/articulation changes that need to be input, so it’s not faster for me to play the music via a musical keyboard.<\/em><\/p>\n

[Cakewalk]:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How does the programming for the percussion and drums work in your projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Jerry G]:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If I am using percussion from the VSL orchestral library I treat them as I do any instrument, creating a separate staff for timpani, snare, etc.\u00a0 If I am using a drum kit software plugin (I use EZ Drummer) I’ll create a groove in EZ Drummer and export it as a MIDI sequence into SONAR, placing the percussion pattern where it needs to go in the composition.\u00a0 It’s also not unusual for me to play percussion parts in via a music keyboard.<\/em><\/p>\n

[Cakewalk]:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What do you like about SONAR Platinum over the previous versions of SONAR?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Jerry G]:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No doubt, SONAR has made enormous progress over the past 3 years.\u00a0 When the X-series came out, I was frustrated, changing the ergonomics so drastically took quite a bit of time to iron out the bugs and get things working properly.\u00a0 By X3 I was warming up to the new look (I’ve used SONAR exclusively since Cakewalk for DOS, back in the early 1990s!).\u00a0 Platinum is really fine, the developers have fixed nearly all the problems plaguing the early X-series releases and have made many staff view improvements, which is important to me.\u00a0 SONAR’s signal flow is quite logical and I love the ergonomics of the latest Platinum release.\u00a0 I doubt there’s a better DAW on the market.\u00a0 Creating a DAW must be an incredibly complicated process.\u00a0 Some people think that by not using real players, I am being “anti-social” (orchestral conductors probably think this more than anyone), but in fact the developers of SONAR and the people who create the libraries and audio hardware\u2014these are my unseen partners that support my creative work, so it hardly feels anti-social to me.\u00a0 So instead of working with conductors I work with semiconductors.\u00a0 ;>)<\/em><\/p>\n

[Cakewalk]:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is next for you after releasing this record?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Jerry G]:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve begun work on my 14th album, starting with some short piano pieces.<\/em><\/p>\n

Click here to learn more about SONAR.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Anatomy of a SONAR Project: Virtual Harmonics<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Composition and production with virtual orchestras are about much more than just playing notes\u2014and the musical philosophies in this article apply to all forms of music<\/em><\/p>\n

By Jerry Gerber<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A paradox of the medium in which I work is that though I receive sincere praise about the \u201crealism\u201d of my virtual orchestrations, my intent has never been to fool listeners into believing they\u2019re hearing a recording of a live ensemble. Instead, my aim is to create music and recordings that are expressive, satisfying, and artistically effective as compositions and sound, using the medium of computer-based instruments. My art is a studio art, not a performance art in the traditional sense. Bringing MIDI performance values up to a high level of artistic expression requires that the composer understand composition and MIDI programming, and this understanding results from a long and deep commitment to the medium. As always the real work is in the details. The digital orchestra, like any artistic medium, has its strengths and weaknesses, its potential and its limits. I try to be cognizant of both as I work with new music possibilities.<\/p>\n

My new CD Virtual Harmonics<\/em>, a product of about two and a half years\u2019 work, contains a new symphony for virtual instruments and four short pieces. One of the most joyous aspects of composing for its own sake, rather than as an adjunct to film, TV or games, is that the music itself determines the work\u2019s content and form. This is both liberating and challenging; the piece expresses nothing but itself and the musical values and imagination of the composer.<\/p>\n

Symphony #9 for the Virtual Orchestra<\/em> is a four-movement, 34-minute work for virtual instruments, including orchestral samples from the Vienna Symphonic Library Orchestral Cube, software synthesizers including Tera, Massive FM8 and Z3TA, and choir samples from Requiem Pro. Each movement is designed around a few themes, sub-themes and motives, and the development proceeds from the economical use of these materials.<\/p>\n

The 1st<\/sup> movement begins with double chromatic mediant harmonies in the divisi violins and divisi violas, setting the momentum and tension. Other primary material includes the horns at measure 3, the cellos at measures 10-11 and also at measures 32-33. There are also counter-motives in most of my symphonic movements. In this movement there are only orchestral samples, no vocals or synths.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>At least in my experience, structure evolves from content. The ideas themselves\u2014where they want to go and how they get there\u2014suggest and sometimes determine a piece\u2019s form. I don\u2019t start off with a pre-existing idea regarding overall structure, at least not consciously; I usually have an approximate length in mind, but even this depends on the ideas themselves, which are guided by subjective taste and aesthetic sensitivity. Freedom of imagination is the artist\u2019s closest ally.<\/p>\n

The second movement uses three instances of Z3TA+2, Cakewalk\u2019s ingenious software synthesizer. I often play off arpeggiated rhythms and LFO-modulated timbres in my orchestrations; these dynamic harmonics can give clues as to how the orchestration, rhythm, and harmonies should proceed. The integration of orchestral samples and software synthesis is a natural starting point of exploration in this medium. Where virtual orchestration and traditional orchestration meet is often in specific ideas about the organization of timbre. Here are a few principles of orchestral writing to keep in mind.<\/p>\n

Transparency<\/em>: This implies that each musical part can be heard and has its own sonic space in which it can be heard. The ear rejoices in hearing chords sound together, but also in hearing each line as a thread in the tapestry of the musical texture. One meaning of transparency involves hearing a complex and dense passage with thick chords, while the linear polyphony is audible and the ear can follow a given instrument. This often requires eliminating all unnecessary notes and materials. As Brahms said, \u201cIt is not hard to compose, but it is wonderfully hard to let the superfluous notes fall under the table.\u201d Often, what we omit from the composition defines its expressive power. The composer who doesn\u2019t know the value of silence will not come to know the power in the notes. Transparency allows the music to breath, to allow space and silence to infuse their expressive qualities into the work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Orchestral Weight<\/em>: This represents how many instruments are being assigned to a specific musical part. Other than true polyphonic texture, musical parts are often in a hierarchy of melodic and rhythmic importance. There are numerous hierarchies in music; intervallic, dynamic, rhythmic and temporal processes are in a constant state of change. In orchestral writing, the idea of the long-line <\/em>is crucial because it is through a single melodic thread that the structures and ultimate shape of the piece unfolds. The ability to sustain the long-line is part of every good symphonist\u2019s technique, whether writing for acoustic instruments or computer-based instruments. As Copland pointed out, it is one thing to write a successful 3- or 4-minute piece, another thing entirely to craft a much longer work that achieves unity, variety, cohesiveness, and both surprise and inevitability. The depth of thought and feeling a composer brings to a piece directly influences how techniques will be used, and while technique itself can be learned and practiced, desire, imagination and the will to write music is something a composer finds only within his own psychological, intellectual and emotional resources.<\/p>\n

Orchestral Balance<\/em>: Balancing the ensemble means that loud passages are not too loud, soft passages are not too soft, the transitions between them create the desired effect, and the composer is considering the four basic frequency ranges: Bass (20-200 Hz), low midrange (200-1000 Hz), high midrange (1000-5000 Hz), and high range (5000-20,000 Hz).<\/p>\n

The ability to hear the subtle interaction of harmonics, the inner voices of a contrapuntal or homophonic texture, and the difference between very slight increases and decreases of volume (1 dB and less), is a necessary skill. Mastering engineer Bob Katz says that mixing at around 83 dB is a very good idea because mixing at too loud a level overemphasizes the lowest and highest notes, while mixing at too soft a volume risks the temptation to bring up the bass and high notes too much, which throws the mix out of balance. There\u2019s a huge subjective component at work, because musical style often sets the bar as to how a mix should proceed.<\/p>\n

Another example of balance is about ensuring that the orchestration isn\u2019t cluttered with instruments that don\u2019t add to the desired tonal color of the mix, or the music\u2019s overall sonic impression. We must always consider the principles learned in the study of harmony, counterpoint and orchestration in context<\/em>\u2014every musical situation is different. Even in the same piece, the musical experience must exist within the flow of time. Theory may be a starting point in composition, but sooner or later intuition, imagination and the need to experiment drives the ultimate shape of the work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In the symphony\u2019s 3rd<\/sup> movement, I programmed choir samples from the Requiem Pro library. Sometimes the voices are in front singing the primary line; other times, they blend into the orchestral texture. Achieving syllabic variation occurs via a MIDI controller, and adjusting volumes with controllers 7 or 11. Writing an adagio is challenging because a slow piece should not feel like it\u2019s moving about aimlessly and slowly, but should have direction and momentum, even if very subtle. By examining the tempo map to this movement you\u2019ll see there are many tempo changes, which enhance the musical flow and maintain the sense of direction.<\/p>\n

The 4th<\/sup> movement makes use of various software synthesizers, more than the other movements. It makes use of pedal points and counterpoint and is based on only a few melodic ideas and motives. The violins at the opening measures (m1-m25) might be considered the main theme and there are sub-themes that occur throughout the piece. I also use a variety of percussion in this movement, including snare, tambourine, cymbals, gong, harp and a complete drum kit from EZ Drummer\u2019s software.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t stress enough the importance of MIDI controllers. Phrase-shaping is critical to crafting a musical line with variations in dynamics, velocity, note length, location relative to the beat, attack and release time, and sample-switching. As illustrated in the event list in my compositions, a lot of programming goes into effective phrase-shaping; it\u2019s not just a matter of choosing the right articulation, because that\u2019s only the first step. Depending on the dynamics, tempo, and orchestral factors, sometimes deep programming is necessary to create a line that has fluidity, expression, naturalness and a sense of intention that comes with attention to detail. This is why composing and producing in this medium can take lots of time\u2014the composer isn\u2019t just writing the music, but also interpreting the music through programming and mixing.<\/p>\n

I assign controller 18 to attack time and controller 19 to release time, as these are the two ADSR envelope components I use the most. Creating a smooth legato line, particularly in the strings, often requires attack and release adjustments in addition to choosing the best sample-set for the passage. Velocity is another component of phrase-shaping. The emphasis on strong and weak beats is necessary to overcome the sense of mechanicalness which always degrades musical expression, which is the opposite of intention. The precision by which the computer can perform music is only a liability when the musician doesn\u2019t understand phrasing. We can introduce \u201cconscious randomness\u201d through various means, including variation in tempo, with strong and weak beats, by displacing notes slightly before or after the beat, and, with VSL\u2019s software player, attack pitch.<\/p>\n