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Frequency / instrument ranges and descriptions of the types of sound

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more useful production terms

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Useful descriptive words for sound and their meanings

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From Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies, 5th Edition

By Jeff Strong

Recording music at home means you play several roles - producer, mixer, and probably musician, too. Be sharp by knowing recording-studio lingo and how to get "your effects" by setting effects parameters for reverb and the compressor quickly and easily.

Words to Know as a Music Producer

When you produce your own music at home, you need to know the language of the music-recording industry. This glossary lets you in on the secret (or not-so-secret) language of the record producer. Read and be enlightened (or not)!

Angular: This means nothing. If people use this term, ask them to explain themselves. They've just gone over the deep end.

Body: The frequency range of an instrument where it produces its richest tone, often around 800 Hz to 1 kHz.

Boomy: Too much low-frequency energy. To get rid of boominess, cut frequencies below 120 Hz.

Boxy: Too much 400-Hz to 600-Hz energy.

Bright: Lots of high end, usually referring to frequencies above 8 kHz.

Brown: A term for the sound that Eddie Van Halen used to get from his guitar amp. Brown usually refers to a low midrange quality (200 to 400 Hz) - not to be confused with muddy, however.

Cold: Lacking warmth. Often used as a derogatory term to describe digital recordings. It could also mean too much high end in a recording. In this case, reduce frequencies above 10 kHz slightly.

Depth: Full-bodied sound. Often the result of enhancing frequencies just above and below the main body of the instrument.

Dry: An instrument without effects applied to it.

Edgy: An extreme of punchy, bordering on uncomfortable, depending on the music.

Grainy: Poor digital resolution.

Harsh: Another derogatory term for digital recordings. This could also refer to frequencies in the 5-kHz to 8-kHz range that are too pronounced. Reduce harsh frequencies to suit your taste.

Muddy: Lack of definition in a sound, often as a result of too much low-mid (400- to 800-Hz) energy.

Nasally: Too much midrange energy, around 1 to 2 kHz in some instruments.

Orange: Get this guy out of your studio; he's just making stuff up!

Plosives: The result of saying or singing p or other stop consonant sounds(t, g, k, d, b).

Presence: A nice balance between an instrument's attack and its main tone. Usually attained by adding 2- to 5-kHz frequencies.

Punchy: A nice attack and sense of presence. A punchy sound can come from your performance, your instrument, or the effective use of compression (or all three). To create punch with a compressor, set the threshold to compress just a couple of decibels (dB), set the attack long enough so that the initial transient passes through uncompressed, and set the release so that it doesn't remain longer than the instrument and so that it isn't short enough to pump the compressor.

Round: Sometimes refers to sounds that have a pronounced midrange quality. When a sound is round, bass and treble are slightly reduced.

Smooth: The opposite of punchy. Smooth sounds are those that have an even level to them. The body of the sound is not overshadowed by the initial attack.

Sweet: Good or great, depending on how enthusiastically you use the word.

Warm: Lacking harshness or coldness. This is a catchall term used to describe anything from analog equipment to a pleasing quality that can't be put into words. Use this term around nonrecording people whenever you want to sound like you know what you're talking about. When someone else uses this term repeatedly, take his or her recording advice with a grain of salt (a large one).

Wet: An instrument with effects applied to it.

Setting Effects Parameters in Your Home Recording Studio

Every effect (signal processor) that you use in your home-recording studio has certain settings, called parameters, which you can adjust to tailor the sound to your liking. The compressor and reverb are the two most common effects (signal processors).

Choosing reverb parameters

Reverb is a natural part of every sound and represents the way a room sounds as a sound bounces around it.

Room size/type: Whether you use a reverb patch within your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) or a separate outboard reverb unit, you can choose the type of reverb that you want to use. You have the option of a room, hall, or plate (a type of reverb that uses a metal plate to create the sound). As well, you can choose the size of the room in either meters or feet.

Decay: The decay is the length of time that the reverb lasts. Larger or more reflective rooms produce a longer decay.

Predelay: The predelay is the amount of time from the sound's beginning to the start of the reverb (described in milliseconds). Predelay helps to define the initial sound signal by separating it from the reverb. This parameter is essential in making your reverb sound natural.

Density: The density parameter controls the level of the early reflections (the first few milliseconds of the reverb sound). This parameter enables you to simulate different sizes of rooms because, in a larger room, the main section of a reverb takes longer to reach you.

Diffusion: Diffusion affects the density of the reflections in the main section of the reverb sound. A higher diffusion setting results in a thicker sound.

Controlling compressor settings

The compressor is used to compress the dynamic range of your signal and is used in all the stages of recording: tracking, mixing, and mastering.

Threshold: The threshold setting dictates the level where the compressor starts to act on the signal. This is listed in dB (decibels).

Ratio: The ratio is the amount that the compressor affects the signal. For example, a ratio of 2:1 means that if a signal goes 1dB over the threshold setting, its output from the compressor is only 1/2dB louder.

Attack: The attack knob controls how soon the compressor kicks in. The attack is defined in milliseconds (ms), and the lower the number, the faster the attack.

Release: The release parameter controls how long the compressor continues affecting the signal after it has started. Like the attack, the release is defined in milliseconds.

Gain: You use the gain knob to adjust the level of the signal going out of the compressor. This is listed in decibels. Because adding compression generally reduces the overall level of the sound, you use this control to raise the level back to where it was going in.

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Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies Cheat Sheet - dummies

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Recording music at home means you play several roles - producer, mixer, and probably musician, too. Be sharp by knowing recording-studio lingo and how to get "your effects" by setting effects parameters for reverb and the compressor quickly and easily.

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Could use expression pedal to change synth sound?
Or keep a hand free

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The keyboard sound is moody, dark and tense, but very melodic and pretty, and upbeat

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Do we have synth in college?
Create riff that has 'ostinato' repeated note?
Talk to Seth about protools / effects

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Echo / reverb prolongs sounds

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Reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound after it is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected. This causes numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is absorbed by the surfaces of objects in the space - which could include furniture, people, and air. This is most noticeable when the sound source stops but the reflections continue, their amplitude decreasing, until zero is reached.

Reverberation is frequency dependent: the length of the decay, or reverberation time, receives special consideration in the architectural design of spaces which need to have specific reverberation times to achieve optimum performance for their intended activity. In comparison to a distinct echo, that is detectable at a minimum of 50 to 100 ms after the previous sound, reverberation is the occurrence of reflections that arrive in a sequence of less than approximately 50 ms. As time passes, the amplitude of the reflections gradually reduces to non-noticeable levels. Reverberation is not limited to indoor spaces as it exists in forests and other outdoor environments where reflection exists.

Reverberation occurs naturally when a person sings, talks, or plays an instrument acoustically in a hall or performance space with sound-reflective surfaces. Reverberation is applied artificially by using reverb effects, which simulate reverb through means including echo chambers, vibrations sent through metal, and digital processing.

Although reverberation can add naturalness to recorded sound by adding a sense of space, it can also reduce speech intelligibility, especially when noise is also present. People with hearing loss, including users of hearing aids, frequently report difficulty in understanding speech in reverberant, noisy situations. Reverberation is also a significant source of mistakes in automatic speech recognition.

Dereverberation is the process of reducing the level of reverberation in a sound or signal.

Sound level in a reverberant cavity excited by a pulse, as a function of time (very simplified diagram)

Reverberation time is a measure of the time required for the sound to "fade away" in an enclosed area after the source of the sound has stopped.

When it comes to accurately measuring reverberation time with a meter, the term (an abbreviation for reverberation time 60 dB) is used. T ₆₀ provides an objective reverberation time measurement. It is defined as the time it takes for the sound pressure level to reduce by 60 dB, measured after the generated test signal is abruptly ended.

Reverberation time is frequently stated as a single value if measured as a wideband signal (20 Hz to 20 kHz). However, being frequency-dependent, it can be more precisely described in terms of frequency bands (one octave, 1/3 octave, 1/6 octave, etc.). Being frequency dependent, the reverberation time measured in narrow bands will differ depending on the frequency band being measured. For precision, it is important to know what ranges of frequencies are being described by a reverberation time measurement.

In the late 19th century, Wallace Clement Sabine started experiments at Harvard University to investigate the impact of absorption on the reverberation time. Using a portable wind chest and organ pipes as a sound source, a stopwatch and his ears, he measured the time from interruption of the source to inaudibility (a difference of roughly 60 dB). He found that the reverberation time is proportional to room dimensions and inversely proportional to the amount of absorption present.

The optimum reverberation time for a space in which music is played depends on the type of music that is to be played in the space. Rooms used for speech typically need a shorter reverberation time so that speech can be understood more clearly. If the reflected sound from one syllable is still heard when the next syllable is spoken, it may be difficult to understand what was said. "Cat", "cab", and "cap" may all sound very similar. If on the other hand the reverberation time is too short, tonal balance and loudness may suffer. Reverberation effects are often used in studios to add depth to sounds. Reverberation changes the perceived spectral structure of a sound but does not alter the pitch.

Basic factors that affect a room's reverberation time include the size and shape of the enclosure as well as the materials used in the construction of the room. Every object placed within the enclosure can also affect this reverberation time, including people and their belongings.

Automatically determining T20 value - 5dB trigger - 20dB measurement - 10dB headroom to noise floor.

Historically, reverberation time could only be measured using a level recorder (a plotting device which graphs the noise level against time on a ribbon of moving paper). A loud noise is produced, and as the sound dies away the trace on the level recorder will show a distinct slope. Analysis of this slope reveals the measured reverberation time. Some modern digital sound level meters can carry out this analysis automatically.

Several methods exist for measuring reverberation time. An impulse can be measured by creating a sufficiently loud noise (which must have a defined cut-off point). Impulse noise sources such as a blank pistol shot or balloon burst may be used to measure the impulse response of a room.

Alternatively, a random noise signal such as pink noise or white noise may be generated through a loudspeaker, and then turned off. This is known as the interrupted method, and the measured result is known as the interrupted response.

A two-port measurement system can also be used to measure noise introduced into a space and compare it to what is subsequently measured in the space. Consider sound reproduced by a loudspeaker into a room. A recording of the sound in the room can be made and compared to what was sent to the loudspeaker. The two signals can be compared mathematically. This two port measurement system utilizes a Fourier transform to mathematically derive the impulse response of the room. From the impulse response, the reverberation time can be calculated. Using a two-port system allows reverberation time to be measured with signals other than loud impulses. Music or recordings of other sounds can be used. This allows measurements to be taken in a room after the audience is present.

Under some restrictions, even simple sound sources like handclaps can be used for measurement of reverberation

Reverberation time is usually stated as a decay time and is measured in seconds. There may or may not be any statement of the frequency band used in the measurement. Decay time is the time it takes the signal to diminish 60 dB below the original sound. It is often difficult to inject enough sound into the room to measure a decay of 60 dB, particularly at lower frequencies. If the decay is linear, it is sufficient to measure a drop of 20 dB and multiply the time by 3, or a drop of 30 dB and multiply the time by 2. These are the so-called T20 and T30 measurement methods.

The RT ₆₀ reverberation time measurement is defined in the ISO 3382-1 standard for performance spaces, the ISO 3382-2 standard for ordinary rooms, and the ISO 3382-3 for open-plan offices, as well as the ASTM E2235 standard.

The concept of reverberation time implicitly supposes that the decay rate of the sound is exponential, so that the sound level diminishes regularly, at a rate of so many dB per second. It is not often the case in real rooms, depending on the disposition of reflective, dispersive and absorbing surfaces. Moreover, successive measurement of the sound level often yields very different results, as differences in phase in the exciting sound build up in notably different sound waves. In 1965, Manfred R. Schroeder published "A new method of Measuring Reverberation Time" in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. He proposed to measure, not the power of the sound, but the energy, by integrating it. This made it possible to show the variation in the rate of decay and to free acousticians from the necessity of averaging many measurements.

Sabine's reverberation equation was developed in the late 1890s in an empirical fashion. He established a relationship between the T ₆₀ of a room, its volume, and its total absorption (in sabins). This is given by the equation:

.

where c ₂₀ is the speed of sound in the room (at 20 °C), V is the volume of the room in m ³, S total surface area of room in m ², a is the average absorption coefficient of room surfaces, and the product Sa is the total absorption in sabins.

The total absorption in sabins (and hence reverberation time) generally changes depending on frequency (which is defined by the acoustic properties of the space). The equation does not take into account room shape or losses from the sound traveling through the air (important in larger spaces). Most rooms absorb less sound energy in the lower frequency ranges resulting in longer reverb times at lower frequencies.

Sabine concluded that the reverberation time depends upon the reflectivity of sound from various surfaces available inside the hall. If the reflection is coherent, the reverberation time of the hall will be longer; the sound will take more time to die out.

The reverberation time RT ₆₀ and the volume V of the room have great influence on the critical distance d c (conditional equation):

where critical distance is measured in meters, volume is measured in m³, and reverberation time RT ₆₀ is measured in seconds.

Eyring's reverberation time equation was proposed by Carl F. Eyring of Bell Labs in 1930. This equation aims to better estimate the reverberation time in small rooms with relatively large quantities of sound absorption, identified by Eyring as "dead" rooms. These rooms tend to have lower reverberation times than larger, more acoustically live rooms. Eyring's equation is similar in form to Sabine's equation, but includes modifications to logarithmically scale the absorption term. The units and variables within the equation are the same as those defined for Sabine's equation. The Eyring reverberation time is given by the equation:

.

Eyring's equation was developed from first principles using an image source model of sound reflection, as opposed to Sabine's empirical approach. The experimental results obtained by Sabine generally agree with Eyring's equation since the two formulae become identical for very live rooms, the type in which Sabine worked. However, Eyring's equation becomes more valid for smaller rooms with large quantities of absorption. As a result, the Eyring equation is often implemented to estimate the reverberation time in recording studio control rooms or other critical listening environments with high quantities of sound absorption. The Sabine equation tends to over-predict reverberation time for small rooms with high amounts of absorption. For this reason, reverberation time calculators available for smaller recording studio environments, such as home recording studios, often utilize Eyring's equation.

The absorption coefficient of a material is a number between 0 and 1 which indicates the proportion of sound which is absorbed by the surface compared to the proportion which is reflected back to the room. A large, fully open window would offer no reflection as any sound reaching it would pass straight out and no sound would be reflected. This would have an absorption coefficient of 1. Conversely, a thick, smooth painted concrete ceiling would be the acoustic equivalent of a mirror and have an absorption coefficient very close to 0.

Reverse Reverb: Dry recording / reversed / reverb added / reversed with reverb

The Atlantic described reverberation as "arguably the oldest and most universal sound effect in music", used in music as early as 10th-century plainsong. Composers including Bach wrote music to exploit the acoustics of certain buildings. Gregorian chant may have developed in response to the long reverberation time of cathedrals, limiting the number of notes that could be sung before blending chaotically.

Artificial reverberation is applied to sound using reverb effects. These simulate reverb through means including echo chambers, vibrations sent through metal, and digital processing.

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Reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound after it is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected. This causes numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is absorbed by the surfaces of objects in the space - which could include furniture, people, and air.

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Do I play keys...?

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Maybe the sound of the keyboard is changed throughout the song because the rhythmic pattern and chord structure are so repetitive

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Ostinato: "repetitive rhythmic-harmonic schemes"

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In music, an ostinato (Italian: [ostiˈnaːto]; derived from Italian word for stubborn, compare English obstinate) is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include classical compositions such as Ravel's and the Carol of the Bells, and popular songs such as Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's " I Feel Love" (1977), Henry Mancini's theme from (1959), The Who's " Baba O'Riley" (1971), and The Verve's " Bitter Sweet Symphony" (1997).

Both ostinatos and ostinati are accepted English plural forms, the latter reflecting the word's Italian etymology.

The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in itself. Strictly speaking, ostinati should have exact repetition, but in common usage, the term covers repetition with variation and development, such as the alteration of an ostinato line to fit changing harmonies or keys.

If the cadence may be regarded as the cradle of tonality, the ostinato patterns can be considered the playground in which it grew strong and self-confident.

Within the context of film music, Claudia Gorbman defines an ostinato as a repeated melodic or rhythmic figure that propels scenes that lack dynamic visual action.

Ostinati play an important part in improvised music (rock and jazz), in which they are often referred to as riffs or vamps. A "favorite technique of contemporary jazz writers", ostinati are often used in modal and Latin jazz and traditional African music including Gnawa music.

The term ostinato essentially has the same meaning as the medieval Latin word pes, the word ground as applied to classical music, and the word riff in contemporary popular music.

Ostinati are used in 20th-century music to stabilize groups of pitches, as in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring Introduction and Augurs of Spring. A famous type of ostinato, called the Rossini crescendo, owes its name to a crescendo that underlies a persistent musical pattern, which usually culminates in a solo vocal cadenza. This style was emulated by other bel canto composers, especially Vincenzo Bellini; and later by Wagner (in pure instrumental terms, discarding the closing vocal cadenza).

Applicable in homophonic and contrapuntal textures, they are "repetitive rhythmic-harmonic schemes", more familiar as accompanimental melodies, or purely rhythmic. The technique's appeal to composers from Debussy to avant-garde composers until at least the 1970s "... lies in part in the need for unity created by the virtual abandonment of functional chord progressions to shape phrases and define tonality". Similarly, in modal music, "... relentless, repetitive character help to establish and confirm the modal center". Their popularity may also be justified by their ease as well as range of use, though, "... ostinato must be employed judiciously, as its overuse can quickly lead to monotony".

Ostinato patterns have been present in European music from the Middle Ages onwards. In the famous English canon " Sumer Is Icumen In", the main vocal lines are underpinned by an ostinato pattern, known as a pes:

Later in the medieval era, Guillaume Dufay's 15th-century chanson Resvelons Nous features a similarly constructed ostinato pattern, but this time 5 bars long. Over this, the main melodic line moves freely, varying the phrase-lengths, while being "to some extent predetermined by the repeating pattern of the canon in the lower two voices."

Ground bass or basso ostinato (obstinate bass) is a type of variation form in which a bass line, or harmonic pattern (see Chaconne; also common in Elizabethan England as Grounde) is repeated as the basis of a piece underneath variations. Aaron Copland describes basso ostinato as "... the easiest to recognize" of the variation forms wherein, "... a long phrase-either an accompanimental figure or an actual melody-is repeated over and over again in the bass part, while the upper parts proceed normally [with variation]". However, he cautions, "it might more properly be termed a musical device than a musical form."

One striking ostinato instrumental piece of the late Renaissance period is "The Bells", a piece for virginals by William Byrd. Here the ostinato (or 'ground') consists of just two notes:

In Italy, during the seventeenth century, Claudio Monteverdi composed many pieces using ostinato patterns in his operas and sacred works. One of these was his 1650 version of "Laetatus sum", an imposing setting of Psalm 122 that pits a four-note "ostinato of unquenchable energy." against both voices and instruments:

Later in the same century, Henry Purcell became famous for his skilful deployment of ground bass patterns. His most famous ostinato is the descending chromatic ground bass that underpins the aria "When I am laid in earth" (" Dido's Lament") at the end of his opera Dido and Aeneas:

While the use of a descending chromatic scale to express pathos was fairly common at the end of the seventeenth century, Richard Taruskin pointed out that Purcell shows a fresh approach to this musical trope: "Altogether unconventional and characteristic, however, is the interpolation of an additional cadential measure into the stereotyped ground, increasing its length from a routine four to a haunting five bars, against which the vocal line, with its despondent refrain ("Remember me!"), is deployed with marked asymmetry. That, in addition to Purcell's distinctively dissonant, suspension-saturated harmony, enhanced by additional chromatic descents during the final ritornello and by many deceptive cadences, makes this little aria an unforgettably poignant embodiment of heartache." See also: Lament bass. However, this is not the only ostinato pattern that Purcell uses in the opera. Dido's opening aria "Ah, Belinda" is a further demonstration of Purcell's technical mastery: the phrases of the vocal line do not always coincide with the four-bar ground:

"Purcell's compositions over a ground vary in their working out, and the repetition never becomes a restriction." Purcell's instrumental music also featured ground patterns. A particularly fine and complex example is his Fantasia upon a Ground for three violins and continuo:

The intervals in the above pattern are found in many works of the Baroque Period. Pachelbel's Canon also uses a similar sequence of notes in the bass part:

Ground bass of Pachelbel's Canon

Two pieces by J.S.Bach are particularly striking for their use of an ostinato bass: the Crucifixus from his Mass in B minor and the Passacaglia in C minor for organ, which has a ground rich in melodic intervals:

The first variation that Bach builds over this ostinato consists of a gently syncopated motif in the upper voices:

This characteristic rhythmic pattern continues in the second variation, but with some engaging harmonic subtleties, especially in the second bar, where an unexpected chord creates a passing implication of a related key:

In common with other Passacaglias of the era, the ostinato is not simply confined to the bass, but rises to the uppermost part later in the piece:

A performance of the entire piece can be heard here.

Ostinatos feature in many works of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Mozart uses an ostinato phrase throughout the big scene that ends Act 2 of the Marriage of Figaro, to convey a sense of suspense as the jealous Count Almaviva tries in vain to incriminate the Countess, his wife, and Figaro, his butler, for plotting behind his back. A famous type of ostinato, called the Rossini crescendo, owes its name to a crescendo that underlies a persistent musical pattern, which usually culminates in a solo vocal cadenza.

In the energetic Scherzo of Beethoven's late C sharp minor Quartet, Op. 131, there is a harmonically static passage, with "the repetitiveness of a nursery rhyme" that consists of an ostinato shared between viola and cello supporting a melody in octaves in the first and second violins:

Beethoven reverses this relationship a few bars later with the melody in the viola and cello and the ostinato shared between the violins:

Both the first and third acts of Wagner's final opera feature a passage accompanying a scene where a band of Knights solemnly processes from the depths of forest to the hall of the Grail. The "Transformation music" that supports this change of scene is dominated by the iterated tolling of four bells:

Brahms used ostinato patterns in both the finale of his Fourth Symphony and in the closing section of his Variations on a Theme by Haydn:

Debussy featured an ostinato pattern throughout his Piano Prelude " Des pas sur la neige". Here, the ostinato pattern stays in the middle register of the piano - it is never used as a bass. "Remark that the footfall ostinato remains nearly throughout on the same notes, at the same pitch level... this piece is an appeal to the basic loneliness of all human beings, oft-forgotten perhaps, but, like the ostinato, forming a basic undercurrent of our history."

Of all the major classical composers of the 20th century, Stravinsky is possibly the one most associated with the practice of ostinato. In conversation with the composer, his friend and colleague Robert Craft remarked "Your music always has an element of repetition, of ostinato. What is the function of ostinato?" Stravinsky replied; "It is static - that is, anti-development; and sometimes we need a contradiction to development." Stravinsky was particularly skilled at using ostinatos to confound rather than confirm rhythmic expectations. In the first of his Three Pieces for String Quartet, Stravinsky sets up three repeated patterns, which overlap one another and never coincide. "Here a rigid pattern of (3+2+2/4) bars is laid over a strictly recurring 23-beat tune (the bars being marked by a cello ostinato), so that their changing relationship is governed primarily by the pre-compositional scheme." "The rhythmical current running through the music is what binds together these curious mosaic-like pieces."

A subtler metrical conflict can be found in the final section of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. The choir sing a melody in triple time, while the bass instruments in the orchestra play a 4-beat ostinato against this. "This is built up over an ostinato bass (harp, two pianos and timpani) moving in fourths like a pendulum."

Many instruments south of the Sahara Desert play ostinato melodies.[clarification needed ] These include lamellophones such as the mbira, as well as xylophones like the balafon, the bikutsi, and the gyil. Ostinato figures are also played on string instruments such as the kora, gankoqui bell ensembles, and pitched drums ensembles. Often, African ostinatos contain offbeats or cross-beats, that contradict the metric structure. Other African ostinatos generate complete cross-rhythms by sounding both the main beats and cross-beats. In the following example, a gyil sounds the three-against-two cross-rhythm ( hemiola). The left hand (lower notes) sounds the two main beats, while the right hand (upper notes) sounds the three cross-beats.

Ghanaian gyil cross-rhythmic ostinato Play

Popular dance bands in West Africa and the Congo region feature ostinato-playing guitars. The African guitar parts are drawn from a variety of sources, including the indigenous mbira, as well as foreign influences such as James Brown-type funk riffs. However, the foreign influences are interpreted through a distinctly African ostinato sensibility. African guitar styles began with Congolese bands doing Cuban cover songs. The Cuban guajeo had a both familiar and exotic quality to the African musicians. Gradually, various regional guitar styles emerged, as indigenous influences became increasingly dominant within these Africanized guajeos.

As Moore states, "One could say that I - IV - V - IV [chord progressions] is to African music what the 12-bar blues is to North American music." Such progressions seem superficially to follow the conventions of Western music theory. However, performers of African popular music do not perceive these progressions in the same way. Harmonic progressions which move from the tonic to the subdominant (as they are known in European music) have been used in Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony for hundreds of years. Their elaborations follow all the conventions of traditional African harmonic principles. Gehard Kubik concludes:

The harmonic cycle of C-F-G-F [I-IV-V-IV] prominent in Congo/Zaire popular music simply cannot be defined as a progression from tonic to subdominant to dominant and back to subdominant (on which it ends) because in the performer's appreciation they are of equal status, and not in any hierarchical order as in Western music-(Kubik 1999).

A guajeo is a typical Cuban ostinato melody, most often consisting of arpeggiated chords in syncopated patterns. The guajeo is a hybrid of the African and European ostinato. The guajeo was first played as accompaniment on the tres in the folkloric changüí and son. The term guajeo is often used to mean specific ostinato patterns played by a tres, piano, an instrument of the violin family, or saxophones. The guajeo is a fundamental component of modern-day salsa, and Latin jazz. The following example shows a basic guajeo pattern.

Cuban guajeo written in cut-time Play

The guajeo is a seamless Afro-Euro ostinato hybrid, which has had a major influence upon jazz, R&B, rock 'n' roll and popular music in general. The Beatles' " I Feel Fine" guitar riff is guajeo-like.

In various popular music styles, riff refers to a brief, relaxed phrase repeated over changing melodies. It may serve as a refrain or melodic figure, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instruments that form the basis or accompaniment of a musical composition. Though they are most often found in rock music, heavy metal music, Latin, funk and jazz, classical music is also sometimes based on a simple riff, such as Ravel's . Riffs can be as simple as a tenor saxophone honking a simple, catchy rhythmic figure, or as complex as the riff-based variations in the head arrangements played by the Count Basie Orchestra.

David Brackett (1999) defines riffs as "short melodic phrases", while Richard Middleton (1999) defines them as "short rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic figures repeated to form a structural framework". Rikky Rooksby states: "A riff is a short, repeated, memorable musical phrase, often pitched low on the guitar, which focuses much of the energy and excitement of a rock song."

In jazz and R&B, riffs are often used as the starting point for longer compositions. The riff from Charlie Parker's bebop number " Now's the Time" (1945) re-emerged four years later as the R&B dance hit " The Hucklebuck". The verse of "The Hucklebuck"-another riff-was "borrowed" from the Artie Matthews composition " Weary Blues". Glenn Miller's " In the Mood" had an earlier life as Wingy Manone's "Tar Paper Stomp". All these songs use twelve bar blues riffs, and most of these riffs probably precede the examples given.

Neither of the terms 'riff' or ' lick' are used in classical music. Instead, individual musical phrases used as the basis of classical music pieces are called ostinatos or simply phrases. Contemporary jazz writers also use riff- or lick-like ostinatos in modal music. Latin jazz often uses guajeo-based riffs.

Vamp riff typical of funk and R&B[31] Play

In music, a vamp is a repeating musical figure, section, or accompaniment used in blues, jazz, gospel, soul, and musical theater. Vamps are also found in rock, funk, reggae, R&B, pop, and country. Vamps are usually harmonically sparse: A vamp may consist of a single chord or a sequence of chords played in a repeated rhythm. The term frequently appeared in the instruction 'Vamp till ready' on sheet music for popular songs in the 1930s and 1940s, indicating the accompanist should repeat the musical phrase until the vocalist was ready. Vamps are generally symmetrical, self-contained, and open to variation. The equivalent in classical music is an ostinato, in hip hop and electronic music the loop, and in rock music the riff.

The slang term vamp comes from the Middle English word vampe (sock), from Old French avanpie, equivalent to Modern French avant-pied, literally before-foot.

Many vamp-oriented songwriters begin the creative process by attempting to evoke a mood or feeling while riffing freely on an instrument or scat singing. Many well known artists primarily build songs with a vamp/riff/ostinato based approach-including John Lee Hooker (" Boogie Chillen", "House Rent Boogie"), Bo Diddley (" Hey Bo Diddley", " Who Do You Love?"), Jimmy Page (" Ramble On", " Bron Yr Aur"), Nine Inch Nails (" Closer"), and Beck (" Loser").

Classic examples of vamps in jazz include " A Night in Tunisia", " Take Five", " A Love Supreme", " Maiden Voyage", and " Cantaloupe Island". Rock examples include the long jam at the ends of " Loose Change" by Neil Young and Crazy Horse and " Sooner or Later" by King's X.

Jazz, fusion, and Latin jazz

In jazz, fusion, and related genres, a background vamp provides a performer with a harmonic framework supporting improvisation. In Latin jazz guajeos fulfill the role of piano vamp. A vamp at the beginning of a jazz tune may act as a springboard to the main tune; a vamp at the end of a song is often called a tag.

" Take Five" begins with a repeated, syncopated figure in time, which pianist Dave Brubeck plays throughout the song (except for Joe Morello's drum solo and a variation on the chords in the middle section).

The music from Miles Davis's modal period ( c.1958-1963) was based on improvising songs with a small number of chords. The jazz standard " So What" uses a vamp in the two-note "Sooooo what?" figure, regularly played by the piano and the trumpet throughout. Jazz scholar Barry Kernfeld calls this music vamp music.[full citation needed ]

Examples include the outros to George Benson's " Body Talk" and "Plum", and the solo changes to " Breezin'". The following songs are dominated by vamps: John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, and Grant Green's versions of " My Favorite Things", Herbie Hancock's " Watermelon Man" and " Chameleon", Wes Montgomery's " Bumpin' on Sunset", and Larry Carlton's " Room 335".

The Afro-Cuban vamp style known as guajeo is used in the bebop/ Latin jazz standard " A Night in Tunisia". Depending upon the musician, a repeating figure in "A Night in Tunisia" could be called an ostinato, guajeo, riff, or vamp. The Cuban-jazz hybrid spans the disciplines that encompass all these terms.

Gospel, soul, and funk

In gospel and soul music, the band often vamps on a simple ostinato groove at the end of a song, usually over a single chord. In soul music, the end of recorded songs often contains a display of vocal effects-such as rapid scales, arpeggios, and improvised passages. For recordings, sound engineers gradually fade out the vamp section at the end of a song, to transition to the next track on the album. Salsoul singers such as Loleatta Holloway have become notable for their vocal improvisations at the end of songs, and they are sampled and used in other songs. Andrae Crouch extended the use of vamps in gospel, introducing chain vamps (one vamp after the other, each successive vamp drawn from the first).

1970s-era funk music often takes a short one or two bar musical figure based on a single chord one would consider an introduction vamp in jazz or soul music, and then uses this vamp as the basis of the entire song (" Funky Drummer" by James Brown, for example). Jazz, blues, and rock are almost always based on chord progressions (a sequence of changing chords), and they use the changing harmony to build tension and sustain listener interest. Unlike these music genres, funk is based on the rhythmic groove of the percussion, rhythm section instruments, and a deep electric bass line, usually all over a single chord. "In funk, harmony is often second to the 'lock,' the linking of contrapuntal parts that are played on guitar, bass, and drums in the repeating vamp."

Examples include Stevie Wonder's vamp-based " Superstition" and Little Johnny Taylor's " Part Time Love", which features an extended improvisation over a two-chord vamp.

In musical theater, a vamp, or intro, is the few bars, one to eight, of music without lyrics that begin a printed copy of a song. The orchestra may repeat the vamp or other accompaniment during dialogue or stage business, as accompaniment for onstage transitions of indeterminate length. The score provides a one or two bar vamp figure, and indicates, "Vamp till cue", by the conductor. The vamp gives the onstage singers time to prepare for the song or the next verse, without requiring the music to pause. Once the vamp section is over, the music continues to the next section.

The vamp may be written by the composer of the song, a copyist employed by the publisher, or the arranger for the vocalist. The vamp serves three main purposes: it provides the key, establishes the tempo, and provides emotional context. The vamp may be as short as a bell tone, sting (a harmonized bell tone with stress on the starting note), or measures long. The rideout is the transitional music that begins on the downbeat of the last word of the song and is usually two to four bars long, though it may be as short as a sting or as long as a Roxy Rideout.

In Indian classical music, during Tabla or Pakhawaj solo performances and Kathak dance accompaniments, a conceptually similar melodic pattern known as the Lehara (sometimes spelled Lehra) or Nagma is played repeatedly throughout the performance. This melodic pattern is set to the number of beats in a rhythmic cycle ( Tala or Taal) being performed and may be based on one or a blend of multiple Ragas.

The basic idea of the lehara is to provide a steady melodious framework and keep the time-cycle for rhythmic improvisations. It serves as an auditory workbench not only for the soloist but also for the audience to appreciate the ingenuity of the improvisations and thus the merits of the overall performance. In Indian Classical Music, the concept of 'sam' (pronounced as 'sum') carries paramount importance. The sam is the target unison beat (and almost always the first beat) of any rhythmic cycle. The second most important beat is the Khali, which is a complement of the sam. Besides these two prominent beats, there are other beats of emphasis in any given taal, which signify 'khand's (divisions) of the taal. E.g. 'Roopak' or 'Rupak' taal, a 7-beat rhythmic cycle, is divided 3-2-2, further implying that the 1st, 4th, and 6th beats are the prominent beats in that taal. Therefore, it is customary, but not essential, to align the lehara according to the divisions of the Taal. It is done with a view to emphasize those beats that mark the divisions of the Taal.

The lehara can be played on a variety of instruments, including the sarangi, harmonium, sitar, sarod, flute and others. The playing of the lehara is relatively free from the numerous rules and constraints of Raga Sangeet, which are upheld and honoured in the tradition of Indian Classical Music. The lehara may be interspersed with short and occasional improvisations built around the basic melody. It is also permissible to switch between two or more disparate melodies during the course of the performance. It is essential that the lehara be played with the highest precision in Laya (Tempo) and Swara control, which requires years of specialist training ( Taalim) and practice ( Riyaaz). It is considered a hallmark of excellence to play lehara alongside a recognised Tabla or Pakhawaj virtuoso as it is a difficult task to keep a steady pulse while the percussionist is improvising or playing difficult compositions in counterpoint. While there may be scores of individually talented instrumentalists, there are very few who are capable of playing the lehra for a Tabla / Pakhawaj solo performance.

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In music, an ostinato (Italian: [ostiˈnaːto]; derived from Italian word for stubborn, compare English obstinate) is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch.

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This might affect the 'continuous' sound of the performance - 'no gaps'

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The note C in the same register appears in every chord!

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The chords do not move very far around the keyboard - stays in the bassy area

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A sustain pedal or sustaining pedal (also called damper pedal, loud pedal, or open pedal) is the most commonly used pedal in a modern piano. It is typically the rightmost of two or three pedals. When pressed, the sustain pedal " sustains" all the damped strings on the piano by moving all the dampers away from the strings and allowing them to vibrate freely.

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Speak to soundguy / technician / teacher

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What keyboards are available to use in college?

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How can I recreate the sound 'live'?

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Low Pass Filter and synthesizers changing over time could have been made using Pro Tools.

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Could use bass amp?
Roll down treble on guitar amp?

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Low Pass Filter - reduces brightness of sound by only letting low frequencies 'pass'

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How to work with high- and low-pass filters | lynda.com tutorial

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This music-mixing tutorial explores the how to work with high-pass and low-pass filters. Watch more at http://www.lynda.com/Audio-DAW-tutorials/Foundations-of-Audio-EQ-and-Filters/86649-2.html?utm_medium=viral&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=videoupload-86649-0207 This specific tutorial is just a single movie from chapter two of the Foundations of Audio: EQ and Filters course presented by lynda.com author Brian Lee White.

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Pro Tools is a Digital Audio Workstation
(D.A.W.) is an electronic device or computer software application for recording, editing and producing audio files such as songs, musical pieces, human speech or sound effects.

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A digital audio workstation or DAW is an electronic device or computer software application for recording, editing and producing audio files such as songs, musical pieces, human speech or sound effects. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software program on a laptop, to an integrated stand-alone unit, all the way to a highly complex configuration of numerous components controlled by a central computer.

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In the song, the keyboard sound changes over time, which can be accomplished using synthesizers

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A huge range of sounds, some are similar to the song.

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'Analogue Modelling Synthesizer'

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Korg Kronos Workstation Keyboard Demo Part

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http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/korg-kingkorg-analogue-modelling-synthesizer The KingKorg is an amazing sounding very versatile analogue modeling synth that can create a huge range of fat, classic synth sounds from a huge range of different synths as well as being easy to edit and ideal for performance.

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By using instruments he doesn't know, he can be more original in his approach, as he is not aware of traditional playing styles

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Everything in it's right place - Radiohead

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'not bright' - darker, lower, bassy

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Just a basic run-through demo of this restored 1968 Fender Rhodes "sparkletop" suitcase electric piano. This is one of the earliest models I've seen with the "stereo vibrato" feature (the keyboard itself is dated "DEC 28 1967" which would make this one a VERY EARLY 1968 model (possibly one of the first "stereo" models!).

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Released in 2000
'Disillusioned with rock music'
Written on grand piano
'complete ignorance of instruments used' 'keeps him going as a songwriter' Tom Waits
Transferred to Synthesizer and manipulated using Protools

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Everything in Its Right Place - Wikipedia

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Yorke bought a house in Cornwall and spent his time walking the cliffs and drawing, restricting his musical activity to playing the grand piano he had recently bought. "Everything in Its Right Place" was the first song he wrote on the piano, followed by " Pyramid Song" (released on Radiohead's 2001 album ).

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The keyboard sound could be an e-piano, although it is not as 'bright' sounding as some other e-piano sounds. There are no gaps or pauses between chords in the song.

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I'm interested by the keyboard sound and the vocal effects

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Radiohead - Everything in its Right Place

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Radiohead - Everything in its Right Place. From the album Kid A (2000). Machinima by www.cybertwigs.com, filmed at Virtual Furillen. For more info go to www.furillen.org. Lyrics: http://www.greenplastic.com/radiohead-lyrics/kid-a/everything-in-its-right-place/ This film is made for purely non-commercial purposes as a creative representation/fan video. No infringement of the original music/soundtrack is intended.