I am making songs with nothing but my voice and MIDI instruments...is it hopeless?

H

Hot_Mess

New member
It sounds pretty good to me, but is that hopelessly amateurish? Or is this something that people do? My ultimate goal would be to get my songs as polished as a I can and then make a video and post to Youtube. I guess my question is, if I don't find a real bass player, and instead use midi bass, and midi guitars, will my recordings always be second rate?

I am using Logic and Macbook Pro.

Thanks for answering my stupid question!--Jessica
 
Hot_Mess said:
I guess my question is, if I don't find a real bass player, and instead use midi bass, and midi guitars, will my recordings always be second rate?
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In my experience, we used MIDI bass in a pinch, but aside from that, MIDI bass and definitely MIDI guitar aren't going to sound good in the slightest.

I'm not sure where you live, but there's GOT to be at least a guitar player in your area, and if you're lucky, he'll even have decent gear (a nice amp and guitar), and if you're REALLY lucky, he'll be good at guitar too. xD

Your average guitarist can usually do all you need for bass, too, but you're going to have to find someone that owns a bass. You'll probably just end up putting that through a DI box or something. I really like the Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver pedal. I can get all the sounds I really need out of that.

Hopefully you find someone that can help you out with that. Keep us posted!
 
A lot depends on what type of music you are doing, as well. But MIDI-ed guitar doesn't sound real at all.
 
mjbphotos said:
A lot depends on what type of music you are doing,.
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That's the main isue. Many types of music are only MIDI with vocals. So, to answer whether it can be done or not, the answer is yes. Will YOU be able to do it? That's up to you.
 
Using midi can be tacky sounding and unconvincing. It can also be flawless sounding.

The reason is that midi doesn't have a sound. It's data.
You can use midi to trigger the same generic crappy samples over and over again, or you can use it to trigger an acoustically recorded loop. See?

The quality of your virtual instruments/samples, and the attention to detail in programming/performing will make or break any midi track.

Bass is probably one of the most forgiving things to create using a midi VI, mix dependent.
If your bass is uneventful and just filling out root position, it shouldn't be too much of a task.

Guitars are another story. I'd say plenty of people use midi eguitars/acoustic guitars in pop/dance tracks, but I don't see anyone making a convincing rock or metal track with a standard electric guitar VI.

Post up an mp3 clip of what you've got. :)
 
The original question actually mixes two different, though related, topics: (i) making a recording with just synthesized instruments and voice and (ii) using MIDI to control synths.

If the question is, "Can you make a recording with just synths and voice?" the answer is obviously yes. I'm pretty sure there are several whole genres of music that consist of nothing but that, sometimes without even the voice. The trickier issue, of course, is what happens once you get out of those genres. Rough-hewn acoustic folk music is probably going to sound a bit funny. Standard-issue radio pop, not so much of a problem. I'll agree with the others on the subject of guitars: generally you're going to do better with an actual guitar. I don't know if that's because it's hard to synthesize a guitar, or just because everyone in the world knows how to play a guitar, so there's no market for a good synthesized imitation anyway. With other instruments that are supposed to sound like, you know, instruments, the quality of the soft or hardware and taking some time to get the parameters and variations right can make a big difference.

If it's, "Does using MIDI to run the instruments destroy everything?" the answer is generally also no, so long as the synth sounds right. If it's something electronic that's ordinarily played with a keyboard (like, say, an organ) it doesn't even know whether someone's pushing keys in real time or a computer is telling it imaginary keys have been pressed. On the other hand, if everything lines up perfectly in time, there's no variation in velocity and there's no timbral variation or expression, it's can wind up sounding dead.

Bass should work fine, at least outside of some genres, like popping/slapping funk or something. Entire records have been made with all the bass lines played on keyboards going back to the '60s. If a keyboard can play it, a MIDI sequencer can.
 
I have a composer mate who is talented vocally but doesn't play an instrument. He writes everything in MIDI to try it out then finds musicians to record it properly once he's happy with his arrangement.
 
Nowadays, I think that's pretty much SOP for people who write film scores or what have you. Since (so far as I know) all the notation programs used to write out scores include the ability to play the score as MIDI, the capability to listen to what you write is essentially built-in, except for the people (I guess there are some) who write scores by hand.
 
Most instruments with dedicated sample libraries sound pretty legit, with the exception of guitars. I used a guitar VST for a song of mine and someone mistaked it for a bagpipe. :facepalm:
 
One of the biggests selling album in Australian history was almost entirely voice (John Farnham) & synths/early midi (David Hirschfelder) : Whispering Jack.
I LOATHED it but it was mammoth.
IF you're attempting to make an album that SOUNDS as if it's all natural acoustic instruments with midi you'll be hard up to do so. NOT impossible but certainly extremely difficult.
 
I am certain you can, but there are some obstacles as everyone has stated you need to work around and cater to:

Build is some groove, some flaws in the music (like a bass being a little early or a little late, but from a style, not slop). Getting the right effects into the mix, for example, if I use MIDI I use bass ducking with the drums or even a vocal track (or you can use as vocal track just for source ducking).

Stay away from instruments that don't port well to MIDI (acoustic guitar is a major one, it just doesn't work in MIDI).

Then finally, if you want real instruments, get your piece created and ask someone to record some tracks for you. There are plenty of ways to get some collaboration going and I bet if you look and get your arrangement mature, there are people near and far who would love to work with you.

As a last resort and it is done very much in EDM, use samples. What the hell, if it sounds good, it sounds good. It is a journey, just get started and you will find what works best for you with what you have. That is what the rest of us did/are doing :)
 
Thanks for all the responses. Very helpful.

Here's the song with the midi guitars (and everything else). Feedback appreciated.
 
Link to cr*** song with midi guitars

Thanks for all the responses. Very helpful.

Here's the song with the midi guitars (and everything else). Feedback appreciated.

Never mind. Guess I can't post a link until I've "made ten posts or more." Whatev.
 
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