MIDI MUSICAL SCORING
By Alex J. Socorro



(This article is a preface to the forthcoming UFIMDAP workshop which is scheduled this weekend and on December 9 & 10, 2006 at the Film Academy of the Philippines boardroom, OctoArts building, panay Avenue, Q.C.—JNC).

Musical scoring is the art of providing relevant music to the visual presentation such as a feature or a documentary film. Like clothes to a fashion model, a movie is greatly enhanced by the accompanying music and sound. As an artist, the musical scorer not only has the talent to discern and concoct the required music and sound but also has the skills to create such audio requirements.

After the shoot, the movie footage undergoes editing where the film editor cuts desired scenes to form sequences. When editing has transformed the film into
a complete visual presentation, the edited rushes go to the musical scorer. While watching the entirety of the visuals, the musical scorer tries to learn the essence of the story, studies the sequencing of events and makes plans for the desired music and sound according to his taste. Once the plans have been finalized,
the musical scorer goes to a studio.

The planned soundtrack is a combination of music and sounds. The musical scorer can use existing music or he can create his own music, with or without vocals. Normally with the aid of an orchestra, the musical scorer produces the required music and sounds according to his plans indicated in his music sheets. As a background music, the required audio are commonly in short bursts.

Doing a live recording with an orchestra is tiresome especially to the untrained ear. Rehearsal is a must but mistakes are not unusual. After the recording,
the musical score is chopped into desired bits and later on inserted into the desired positions in the movie by the sound editor.

Musical scoring is a tedious task because it involves a lot of people and, of course, a lot of expenses. The time element is also a big factor since getting a schedule in recording studios sometimes affects the timetable. But with the present technology, the musical scorer is afforded the luxury of creating his music and sound all by himself.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a facility of the computer to produce sound. As the name denotes, the sound can be created by any musical instrument that is connected to the computer. While playing the instrument,
the sound can be stored in the computer and later on modified and converted into a format accepted by digital media. Very similar to the traditional musical scoring, a midi output can be written out into CD and played in an ordinary sound system.

MIDI had indeed revolutionized the field of music. In a sense, playing
a connected musical instrument to the computer is the expertise of a musician. But non-musicians can create their own music without the need of a musical instrument because there are softwares that can create music all by itself.
Such MIDI softwares like Cakewalk and Cubasis can simulate a musical instrument output. A plus factor for the MIDI software is the automatic notation that can be printed as a music sheet called “Scoring.”

Using the MIDI software for musical scoring is not easy although non-musicians who cannot read notes can create their own music. One can choose from an array of available instruments, from several types of pianos, several types of guitars, drums and any other standard musical instrument.

A typical midi software. Upper panel shows the tracks per instruments, lower panel shows the notes in the musical sheet.

With the use of the mouse, a note is created by clicking on a position in the track presented in the style of a music sheet. The duration of the note can be adjusted by dragging the mouse pointer. Simultaneous with the just created notes in the first track, the musical scorer can use the next tracks for other instruments of his choice. When several tracks contain notes in the same time frame, the musical score, when played, gives an impression of an orchestra playing. For
the convenience of users, notes can be inserted, changed or deleted and
the tempo can also be easily adjusted.

Once done with the musical score, the scorer can save it for further review. When satisfied, the musical score can be converted into the wave format right away. The wave form or wav format is the type of file used by the CD. For a little technical detail, a standard musical accompaniment for a 3-minute song in MIDI occupies about 30 to 50 KB, depending on the number of instruments used. But once converted into the wave form, the playable musical score will require 30 to 50 megabytes of storage. For a simple demonstration, a normal CD (not DVD) can contain around 18 songs in the wav format and thousands of songs in the MIDI format. However, MIDI format can only be played in the computer. Of course, the DVD can contain more songs because it has a bigger storage capacity.

With apologies to the traditional musical scorers, MIDI music is almost limitless in its capabilities. Aside from legitimate music, the MIDI software can also create sound effects. It all depends on the combination of instruments, tones and decibels. There are MIDI softwares that allow the use of 64 tracks, equivalent to 64 instruments playing all at the same time. And when a modification is required, the piece can be easily revised unlike the traditional mode where you summon the orchestra back to the studio for another round of recording.

Digging deeper, MIDI music is actually just a set of computer commands.
When played, the commands tell the computer sound system-- commonly known as audio or sound card-- to hit the particular note with a particular tone of
a particular loudness in a particular duration. Since computers are 99.9% accurate when it comes to processing, the sound produced is also 99.9% accurate. But then again, to be called an honest-to-goodness audio creation, MIDI music needs to be converted into wave form and written out into a Compact Disc.

Presently, MIDI music is a hit among veteran and aspiring composers. Just with the use of a home computer, the composer can create an arrangement and can even record the song with vocals provided his computer system has an attached microphone. With the aid of another software, the recorded song can be cleansed of unwanted noise. And once done, the demo song can be written out into a CD for possible submission to recording companies or prospective singers.

As with the musical scoring, a MIDI user need not undergo the hassle of coordinating with musicians. Since he could create a full musical score in the luxury of his computer, the MIDI user can fully concentrate on the quality of his masterpiece.

As already mentioned, MIDI users don’t necessarily need not be musicians in order to create a musical score. However, one needs to be well-versed in computers before handling the MIDI software. Due to lack of computer knowledge, the MIDI user will only be stymied since he will be preoccupied with the fears of dealing with the machine. To think that there are numerous commands and options available in the control panel, the uninitiated user will surely be overwhelmed.

The MIDI music is heaven-sent to musical scorers. But the convenience of creating music with the MIDI software is not a guarantee of a good musical score. A good musical score can only be produced by a talented musical scorer.

Comments to this article can be sent to ajsocorro@yahoo.com