Icott lones_lust qav Notation

echnology doesn't always make

it easier to make music (in fact,

some days we joke about renam-

ing this magazine Music Despite

Computers), but every once in a while, itallows musicians to achieve the sounds theyhear in their heads. A generation ago, lsao

Tomita and Wendy Carlos created entireorchestras by performing hundreds of over-dubs on primitive single-note synths. Whenyou realize what they had to go through toachieve their vision, you almost wonder why

they were crazy enough to try. Until you

hear the music.

We were reminded of that dedication this

month when we Iistened to Scott Jones,s

tape. With just a keyboard, a low-end Mac,

and an entry-level notation program, this 3O-

year-old guitarist from Missouri records inspir-

ing jazz fusion -

we've played his tape more

than any other since we started the Spotlight

series. What's astonishing, though, particularly

in this technique-intensive style, is that Scott

doesn't play keyboard. Instead, he inputsnotes in step time, one by one.

How did he come up with this approach?

"l stumbled on it by accident, actually," Scott

says. "l was just curious about computers

and went out and bought one in'92. I thought

maybe I could do some charting on it/ tran-scriptions and stuff. So I bought Encore and

Master Tracks Pro [Passport's notation and

sequencing software, respectivelyl. I experi-

mented with MasterTracks, but I couldn't get

anything but typical drum sequencing out ofit -

you have to layer one sound at a time and

play it into the sequencer against a click.

"l have no keyboard chops whatsoever,

so trying to play with the clicks, fast or slow,

wasn't working. I had played drums for aboutfive years, so I thought, 'Well, l'll get one ofthose books with transcriptions of famous

drummers, write the parts into irotation soft-

ware, hit PIay, and see what happens.' So I

did, and although obviously there was some

room for improvement, I realized there was

a lot more potential for that to come outthe way I wanted it. Then I thought, 'Well, ifI can do the drums in this, I can probably do

the rest of it.'And I just started writing in the

notation software and completely ditched the

sequencing software."

He started out b1'drawing in one note dt

a time with the mouse, but "after it would take

me daysto finish something, I thought, ,This

is crazy.' Although I don't have keyboard

chops, I know my way around a keyboard,

and I decided that's probably how I shouldenter the music. That way every note would-n't be entered at the same velocity, which was

bumming me out. When you enter a note withthe mouse, it goes in at velocity 64. Whenyou enter notes from the MIDI keyboard,Encore picks up the dynamics. Now, obviously

there's the issue of it being too perfect,

because it goes in precisely on the beat and

the computer's just going to read the music

SPOTLIGHT

By David Battino

fll *rr,rature ,, ac, a mrd-

line keyboard, inexpensive

notation software, and a ton

of talent. Scott fones over-

colaes his lirnited tools to,

produce remarkable music"

as written. l'm using a really old version ofEncore, and there's no'randomize' or'human-ize' function, so l've just found ways aroundit and tried to make things breathe. I try to

JULY/AUGUST 1 996 . Mt Sl( & (0MPUTtRs

SpotLisE!

obtain a live quality to what I'm doing, as

though the musicians were sitting down and

reading the chart, and interpreting it.

"When I start, it's with just an idea in my

head, maybe just a groove, not necessarily any-

thing solid. I might say, 'This kind of feel

interests me. Let me explore this.' l'm tran-

scribing what l'm hearing in my head. Since

l'm dealing with Encore, if I think something

cooler could happen on beat four of bar six,

then I just delete beat four and throw in a fill.I might even start out with the basic pattern,

like everybody does in a drum machine-

type situation, but then take that basic pat-

tern and go back measure by measure and

make it a little different.

"lt's still tedious. But if you think about the

ti"me it would take -

especially with thekind of music l'm trying to write

- to make

the phone calls to musicians, see if their

schedules would work out to rehearse the stuff,

and then maybe get a couple of takes. . . . With

the computer, I actually sit down with noth-

ing written and eight hours later have a com-pletely finished product."

The process, The drum parts Scott writes

are outstanding -

there's a lot of interesting

variation, but the groove never disappears. And

unlike a lot of computerized drummers, he

avoids the temptation to play 25 different

drums on each beat. It's a virtuoso performancg

but a realistic one. He finds that entering the

drum hits as musical notation helps out,because he can easily see the notes in rela-

tion to each other.

To start, he assigns the main drum kit tothe bottom staff, then selects a step size inEncore. "lf I want a 1 6th-note groove, I select

a 1 6th-note step and play it on the keyboard,"

he explains, "and create the part Iinearly. I

wanted to get away from the multitracking

approach, because when you're playing a

fill you can't be playing a hi-hat groove. I've

heard that so much it just makes me crazy.

"So I have one staff for the main drum kit,

and then I have another staff for the 'ghost

notes.'The fRolandl lV-30 allows me to have

two drum kits at the same time, so I use one

drum kit for the main kit, and then I use the

orchestral kit for the ghost notes of the snare.

I back up all the main hits of the snare on the

main kit.

"l'll think, 'The main hits on this measure

were two and four, so they'll hit hard like themain part, but there are going to be all these

ghost notes with the hi-hat. So I have to thinkagainst the hi-hat and omit hi-hat hits where

the snare ghost notes will go. When a drum-

mer plays ghost notes between his hi-hat

with his right hand and the ghost notes withhis left hand, they're trading off.

"l try to write the solos as fast as possible.

As soon as I hear the lick in my head, I say,

'Okay, what are the rhythms?' and play it on

the keyboard as fast as I can. I think of the

dynamics that might occur if it were being

played Iive -

trail off , build up, whatever. I

try to be really aware of every note l'm play-

ing as l'm doing it, the way it's related to the

next note, the last note. . . . I try to not go back

and tweak solos unless it completely doesn'twork. That way it's still improvised in a way

-in slow motion, but still improvised."

Scott recently became the music director

for Crace Church in St. Louis, which involves

arranging in contemporary styles for fullrhythm section and vocals, and often horns

and strings as well. We wondered if he ever

gave his computer-notated pieces to humanplayers to get their opinions.

"No," he said. "This is my superhuman

Macintosh music. I'm going to leave it at

that. Not that it could never be developed fora live band, but when l'm sitting writing, I'mthinking, 'What if I owned Chick Corea's

Elektric Band and they were all sitting here and

I could just hand them parts? How would they

play it?'And although there is that caliber ofmusician in this town, I don't really have themoney, and l'm sure they don't have the

time. So, I just sit down and think, 'Nobody's

ever gonna play this, but I don't want tomake it sound totally ridiculous and unplayable

either.' I write completely differently when I

arrange for live musicians. I try to tame itsomewhat so that ifs playable fairly quicklyand they can leave room for themselves.

"What's funny is that since l've been

arranging, I haven't sequenced a thing. I

Ahhough he does most of his composi.tion on a tiny Mocintosh Clossic ll screen, Scofi occosionally gets occess to oMac wik.o full'poge_monitor, hom which he printed this musicol excerpt using Possport Encore. ihZ moin drum kitis on ke bollom stoff , .the

'ghost note' snare is on ke stoff obove thot, and the bass is directly obove. "Comp" piano(chords ond boss doubling) fills the top two slaves, ond the keyboord solo is on the th;rd stafi. Scol notes, -ihis' noto-tion doesn'f look like o typicol chort becouse it's for computer ploybock only.,,

MUSI( & (0MPUTtRS . JULY/AUGUSI 1996

haven't had the time. I wake up, I transcribe,

I go teach guitar. lt's a great situation. Maybe

that's what all the sequencing was leading up

to. lt was teaching me how to arrange, because

I never went to school.

"t've been playing in the band up at Crace

for five years, with these incredible musi-

cians, so I have all that stuff in my head. The

computer's been a great thing for me to get all

that stuff out. At one point, I used guitar, drum

machine, and four-track, but now that I have

thil I couldn't even imagine it. Overall the com-

puter has been just a great thing for me. Even

if I can't put my guitar with it or it has certain

drawbacks, it's still probably the best thing thals

happened to me in a long time."

We suggested that the next step might be

hard disk recording, which would allow him

to capture his guitar and combine it with the

MIDI parts. Scott replied, "Oh yeah! lt all

comes down to finances. I do make a really

good Iiving playing music, and it's just been

great, but I don't have a lot of extra money lying

aiound to invest in a lot of the tech stuff.

l've got what I need, and that's the bare-

bones stuff. I have access to some great musi-

cians up at Crace, and that pretty much is my

live outlet, because we play all klnds of styles

up there. So it hasn't been frustrating to just

be sifting in my basement sequencing and have

that be my only outlet.

"l basically just wanted to pass this stuff

around," Scott concludes. "l hope eventually

to be known as a composer and sequencing

artist. l'd love to score for film, write or

sequence for major artists, and eventually

release a CD of my work. l've Sotten some

really great feedback from the lnternet -

through AOL l've met [producer] Jay Craydon,

lguitarist] David Torn, lbass player] David

Hungate from Toto, a lot of those guys. I sent

out my tapes to them and they've been incred-

ibly supportive. This is the stuff that l've got

in my head that I get out through the Mac and

really can't get out anywhere else." (vt

Contact: ScottJones, 2695 Creve Coeur Mill

Rd. Maryland Heights, MO 63043; 314-644-

2693 or 291-6647 ext.2109; e-mail:

KIJWTJ@aol.com.

Are you doing interesting, unusuol things with music ond computers? Let _us

put you in the spotlight. Send.detoils (including o tope ond photo). to:

spJilight,itusic & c-ompurers, il I Borel Avenue,'iuite loo, ian' Mateo, CA 9tuo2. Pleose include o doytime phone number.

Novice? Pro? Somewhere in between? Whatever your level, HOHNER MIDIA

gives you the right tools for your music. At the right price!

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^ ==4,, l6Track

dealerand a free brochure Pro composer44 9399

Call 1'800'33 0-7753 $2se $1se

Dearerinquirieswelcome. Alsoavailable: soundcardMlDl cable$29

ln cenada callxay-sound, lnc. "Let the music flow" on your Windows PC! iL?i[3ffi:"tJ?ir!l1-800343-0353

HOHNER MIDIA proudly announces the newest member of our software family:

ILDD tt0asl'lilt!With H9HNER MtD;A,S RED R9ASTER software, anJ"bo-n "ourne/' you can easily make a FULL RED BooK AUDIO CD! $ 695

All pices are manufacturer's suggested retail price'

HOHNERMIDIAP.O.Box 5497

Santa Rosa, CA 95402 http ://www. hoh nerm id ia.com

READER SERVICE NO. I I3

Tel: (707) 578-2023

Fax: (707) 578-2025

Com puserve 1 007 7 2,1052HOHNER MIDIA

JULY/AUGUSI I996 . Mll 5l( & (0MPIJTERS 25

tj

!II

I

haven't had the time. I wake up, I transcribe,

I go teach guitar. lt's a great situation. Maybe

that's what all the sequencing was leading up

to. lt was teaching me how to arrange, because

I never went to school.

"t've been playing in the band up at Crace

for five years, with these incredible musi-

cians, so I have all that stuff in my head. The

computer's been a great thing for me to get all

that stuff out. At one point, I used guitar, drum

machine, and four-track, but now that I have

thil I couldn't even imagine it. Overall the com-

puter has been just a great thing for me. Even

if I can't put my guitar with it or it has certain

drawbacks, it's still probably the best thing thals

happened to me in a long time."

We suggested that the next step might be

hard disk recording, which would allow him

to capture his guitar and combine it with the

MIDI parts. Scott replied, "Oh yeah! lt all

comes down to finances. I do make a really

good Iiving playing music, and it's just been

great, but I don't have a lot of extra money lying

aiound to invest in a lot of the tech stuff.

l've got what I need, and that's the bare-

bones stuff. I have access to some great musi-

cians up at Crace, and that pretty much is my

live outlet, because we play all klnds of styles

up there. So it hasn't been frustrating to just

be sifting in my basement sequencing and have

that be my only outlet.

"l basically just wanted to pass this stuff

around," Scott concludes. "l hope eventually

to be known as a composer and sequencing

artist. l'd love to score for film, write or

sequence for major artists, and eventually

release a CD of my work. l've Sotten some

really great feedback from the lnternet -

through AOL l've met [producer] Jay Craydon,

lguitarist] David Torn, lbass player] David

Hungate from Toto, a lot of those guys. I sent

out my tapes to them and they've been incred-

ibly supportive. This is the stuff that l've got

in my head that I get out through the Mac and

really can't get out anywhere else." (vt

Contact: ScottJones, 2695 Creve Coeur Mill

Rd. Maryland Heights, MO 63043; 314-644-

2693 or 291-6647 ext.2109; e-mail:

KIJWTJ@aol.com.

Are you doing interesting, unusuol things with music ond computers? Let _us

put you in the spotlight. Send.detoils (including o tope ond photo). to:

spJilight,itusic & c-ompurers, il I Borel Avenue,'iuite loo, ian' Mateo, CA 9tuo2. Pleose include o doytime phone number.

Novice? Pro? Somewhere in between? Whatever your level, HOHNER MIDIA

gives you the right tools for your music. At the right price!

,Cz'r /A\ r,, z lr

-\.t j, ( A27: {#4,,.- .,,_r$ ,,,jf",)\ '6.} ii/ 4.-f ; . B?llffii 'WG k# ry "el.$'r ru Y4* :=g'r!:3

- DRUrilTlx -*EUIERPT" * -.^-,nel,-oii{ -- MUstscAN *ili?dfrs:s$" -:*-QilMQ[$" **.::T!!!I!'-{* ;*;-Umlffi3t ffiffi;t ffit $,ryil mtrfl ffitt mry:l Par

Drumatix Euterpe Solo Midiconnections Musicscan Personal Q-Tracks Samplitude Soundscore

Humanized Ear Multimedia Scan into Composer 8 Midi Sequencer Multimedia Pitch to Midi

Drums Training Arrange, Midi Notate & Print $53 4 Track. ':"-$6.9 $qs sequence, $qs $q9 | Hard Disk

I

I I Print,&Karaoke I I I Recordins ^ l.

orr',"lti- * EuterpJ stuaio ' qr- -- - .- I I Q-Tracks Pro $6P sounoscore

$ss g14e Midiconlnections*ffi'"t ".:n,+_Br.

$1es "#k"- 'ffi"

To order, orfor more Classic $139 $1gginformation about products, $1q9 I

- i-

orthe location of your I .. peJonal Samplitude StudionearestHOHNERMlDlA MidiConnections

^ ==4,, l6Track

dealerand a free brochure Pro composer44 9399

Call 1'800'33 0-7753 $2se $1se

Dearerinquirieswelcome. Alsoavailable: soundcardMlDl cable$29

ln cenada callxay-sound, lnc. "Let the music flow" on your Windows PC! iL?i[3ffi:"tJ?ir!l1-800343-0353

HOHNER MIDIA proudly announces the newest member of our software family:

ILDD tt0asl'lilt!With H9HNER MtD;A,S RED R9ASTER software, anJ"bo-n "ourne/' you can easily make a FULL RED BooK AUDIO CD! $ 695

All pices are manufacturer's suggested retail price'

HOHNERMIDIAP.O.Box 5497

Santa Rosa, CA 95402 http ://www. hoh nerm id ia.com

READER SERVICE NO. I I3

Tel: (707) 578-2023

Fax: (707) 578-2025

Com puserve 1 007 7 2,1052HOHNER MIDIA

JULY/AUGUSI I996 . Mll 5l( & (0MPIJTERS 25

tj

!II

I