Maybe this is what the whole process is about.

All the fine-tuning, the tweaking of MIDI recordings (like editing of tempos, modifying harmony, correcting stereo imbalance, changing rhythm and style) is ultimately designed to improve musical expression. Certainly if the dynamics of a piece of music is weak (in variation and contrast), expression suffers.

There is one continuous controller in the world of MIDI-ing that is focused on the quality of expression. To test this feature, I used a classical recording, namely, Ravel's Ondine, performed by Robert Finley, piano. This lovely piece of music begins with a trill, a series of chords, and a melody line. At the risk of alienating both Ravel and Finley (but for the noble sake of research), I drew an ascending straight line from the first measure to measure 15 (moving from a mid-way value to the maximum). This produces a subtle change in expression, a crescendo, a gradual increase in volume in the musical passage.

Once you get the hang of this technique, you can use Controller #11 (Expression) to create crescendos and decrescendos, to expand and diminish intensity. To control the dynamics of a recorded sequence, endowing it with peaks and lulls of energy, infusing it with variation and contrast.

In sum, you can record and play your sequence woodenly, or enhance it. In fact, many of the continuous controllers are available for modifying a MIDI recording, often for the better: Controller #5, Portamento Time (a continuous gliding movement from one tone to another); Controller #8, Balance; Controller #10, Pan; Controller #64, Damper Pedal (Sustain), and many others. A veritable cornucopia for anyone assiduously trying to make music sound just a little better.

Especially in popular music, the property of surprise is one of the most important qualities that changes a commonplace recording into something special. There are diverse ways of accomplishing this. Syncopation, for instance, where the anticipated beat seems to be either “early” or “late.” An extraordinary harmony that is just enough dissonant. A delicately suspended chord.

In fact, one can introduce the element of surprise by means of virtually any of the variables we've been talking about: the sudden appearance of a novel patch; an unexpected shift in tempo; a change in velocity, volume, or duration; an original and creative improvisation; the appearance of a new style; the postponement of the resolution to the tonic chord...

Or even the precipitous conclusion of a book!

Copyright © 1995 Eugene A. Confrey, PhD. All rights reserved.