New Song
I used GenieSoft’s (Formally CakeWalk’s) ScoreWriter 2.6 to create the music, and then I just sang along. No plug-ins were used.
I’d appreciate any feedback. Thanks!
Emmett
It’s My Way (Sample Song Page)
Hey Emmet, great song. I like ur voice and it sits very well in the mix. Kinda like the Bowie sound 
U say that the music is software generated? Thats rather cool Thanks for posting it P.S. I wish I could compose music like that…its definately a gift that I haven’t opened yet lol
Bob
yep, i luved it, a little too well mixed for this forum. are you just trying to get your stuff out there? or asking questions(the reason for this forum?)
this was definitely mastered by someone…but really done well.
scott
####, just listened to it 3 times, and like it more and more!
this has got to be a mastered mix, am I wrong?
please let us know how you did this, as this is a great job.
scott
Thanks, Bob and Scott, for the words of encouragement. It’s the first song I’ve done in about a year and it took me about 4 weeks to finally say it was done. 
Bob, as you know, I have listened to two songs of yours and really liked them. I thought “Stormy Monday” was terrific, and I like your voice. The mix, I felt, was right on the money. Thanks for the remix of “Elmore’s Blues.” But I think Scott is right. The song sits well enough without the added bass track (but I like both versions ). If you wrote both tunes, then you are a gifted writer.
Scott, like I said, I composed the song using a program called ScoreWriter (www.geniesoft.com). It’s a program that presents you with a blank sheet of music and a palette of different notes and rests. Each stanza (I think you can have up to 16) is assigned an “instrument” via the sound card’s midi mixer. And each stanza can have up to four instruments. As you place the notes on the stanza, you hear what it sounds like. Then you hit “Play,” and the program plays your composition.
The note-by-note notation also applies to percussion. I wrote 3 separate stanzas for the snare, hi-hats & cymbols, and bass drum (fortunately, you can copy & paste!).
I had stanzas for all those strings you hear, piano, bass, flute, and music box.
Then ScoreWriter allows me to create a midi file of the finished music. I have a program called Midi2Wav (http://www.midi2wav.com) that converts the midi to a wav file. Because midis can sound “computerized,” I run the wav through a wav editor (Sound Forge) and use the EQ to tweak the sound (I open everything up to make it sound richer).
Then I load the music wav into n-Track and start recording the vocals, usually a verse (or even a line) at a time. Then, using n-Track, I assemble all the pieces of the main vocal (this song took 49 takes!) and mix that down into one wav. Then I run that thru Sound Forge to add reverb and whatever other effects I think my voice needs.
Then I go through a kind of trial and error session of trying to come up with backing vocals. Then I process all those thru Sound Forge to add effects.
I’m not crazy about using any of n-Track’s built-in effects because they are such a drain on resources. If I do a three-part harmony (for a backing track), I will use n-Track’s Left & Right pan effect on each part to separate the voices–i.e., to create a stereo effect.
But for all the time I have been using n-Track (I think the first version I used was 2.x), I have never posted anything before. This song was my first time.
Emmett
Emmett, if u look at the song info for the songs i recorded u’ll see that I credit T-Bone Walker and Clapton for those songs. They are not mine by anymeans, I just recorded my own versions thats all. I still wish I could compose…haha.
Bob,
Wanna know what a true idiot I am? I did look at the song credits and I assumed T-Bone Walker was your stage name, like an alias. (I haven’t heard of T-Bone Walker, obviously!)
Well, your covers are excellent then! I voted a 5 on one of them, but then was given that 5-minute warning before I could vote on the other. I’ll go and vote on that now.
Emmett
no offense, but what the heck are you guys talking about? T-bone steaks, Ruths Chris (why does someone have the right to add an S to a steakhouse first name?)
That’s what inquiring eyes want to know!
Emmit,
thanks for your response, I would love to sit along side of you for something like this as I know nothing about midi…and I think (know) I am missing a lot here.
Are you local to wash dc?
Scott
Hi Scott,
I am in Houston, TX. I was closer to DC a couple of months ago when I was living in the state of Rhode Island.
I have a Soundblaster Live 24-bit sound card. It has midi functionality, like most sound cards (I think). Midi “instruments” sound different (quality, realism) from card to card, and I have always preferred the Soundblaster sounds - or as they are properly called, “voices.” My particular card can store up to 128 voices (instrument sounds), but some of the fancier (albeit, more expensive) cards can have a lot more than that.
The Soundblaster card comes with its own “set” of voices preinstalled. A set of voices is called a "sound bank."
If, for example, you’re not crazy about some of the sounds of instruments that come preinstalled on your card, you can always use another sound bank.
Sound banks are created either professionally by companies or by people like you and me. Many of them are free and can be downloaded. Just type “sound bank” in your web searcher and you’ll discover lots of sites.
How does it work? Remember how I said my card has 128 voices? Each voice is assigned a number, 1 thru 128. The soundcard “knows” what each number represents–that is, it knows what instrument to assign to it. For example, #1 is typically PIANO; #10 is always percussive sounds (drums). How the instruments are assigned is stored in memory.
So, on a Soundblaster card, #1 sounds like a normal, run-of-the-mill piano.
But suppose I don’t care much for the Soundblaster PIANO sound. That’s when I can go to the Net, read about the different soundbanks available, and download one that I think I will like.
The added software that comes with the Soundblaster card allows you to install different soundbanks. Again, using the software, I can load the newly installed soundbank into memory. Now all my midis will sound different, hopefully better and more realistic.
The soundcard’s assignments of #1-128 stays the same. Meaning, #1 will always be piano and #10 will always be drum sounds. But the piano will sound different, and so will the drum sounds. So, really, all I have done by loading a new soundbank into memory is change the “texture” of the pre-defined instrument.
Just like you can change the “look” of typewritten text by changing its font (say, from Times New Roman to Arial), you can change the “sound” of an instrument by changing its font. That’s what soundbanks actually contain: New and different fonts for all 128 voices. That’s why, when you look to download a new set of sounds for your soundcard, you will be asked to choose among different packages (one big file) of Sound Fonts.
I went to a web site and downloaded a set of sound fonts to use with my soundcard because I didn’t like Soundblaster’s preinstalled sounds. The file I downloaded was called RealFont. (I chose RealFont among all the others because its description bragged about how realistic its midi instruments sounded). I ran its installation program and then used Soundblaster’s software to load it into memory.
That’s how I managed to make the backing musical tracks for “It’s My Time” sound the way that they do.
That ScoreWriter program I told you about allows me to write music on different stanzas (much like orchestral music). Ever see piano music and how it’s laid out? Typically, you see three stanzas grouped together by a solid line along the left edge. Those three stanzas, together, are called a “system.” The top stanza is usually melody, the middle one is usually accompaniment, and the bottom stanza is usually the bass line. ScoreWriter allows me to assign to up to four different “voices” to each of these stanzas. Plus, it allows me to make systems of 16 stanzas. So, if I wanted to (or if I had the talent!), I could create a piece of music incorporating 64 different instruments.
ScoreWriter uses the midi sounds that are installed in memory. So, if I write a piece of music using ScoreWriter, it will use the sound fonts I have installed. I can save my composition as a midi file, with all the instruments together, or I can save each instrument as a separate midi file.
n-Track allows you to import midi files now. If I import all separate midis (each instrument is separate from the rest), then n-Track will allow me to mix them. Generally, I arrange the orchestra while using ScoreWriter; then I create one midi file with all the instruments together.
Scott, what I have given you here, believe it or not, is a rather simplistic explanation of how midis work. But you really don’t need to know all the ins and outs to create midi files.
The way I create them using ScoreWriter (where I create sheet music note-by-note) is not the only way. If you have a midi keyboard (with a midi jack in the back), you can plug it right into your computer and create your midi file by playing the keyboard.
But I am not a good enough keyboard player to do it that way. I’d rather stick to the note-by-note method of creating music on my computer. I might not be able to play it live on the keyboard, but I can write some pretty complicated music.
Oh, and here’s something that might surprise you. I can’t read music either. I use my ear to figure out where to place the notes on the music sheet. The only thing I had to learn, really, was that each bar was four beats and each note and rest was a fraction of 4 (half note, quarter note, eighth note, etc.).
If you’re interested in creating midis, I suggest downloading ScoreWriter to start experimenting. There’s a trial version available on www.geniesoft.com. It’s by far the easiest scorewriting program Genie Soft offers.
I apologize for this long-winded reply. I hope I was able to shed some light on the concept of midis.
Emmett