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Putting_Sound_on_your_Web_Site_ _Part_3
| Putting Sound on your Web Site - Part 3
Making MIDI Files for your site
HTML Code The best way to put auto playing sound on your web
site is MIDI. If you'd like the sound to load automatically and
loop in the background this is the best code to use in for both
Netscape and Explorer. If you'd like the
MIDI file to play on request in the foreground, it's just a
matter of linking as Click to hear
Sometimes your web server may not have the mime types configured
properly and this will prevent the MIDI files from playing. In
which case you need to contact your server.
Making Midi Files Making your own MIDI files can be a difficult
task. To make good sounding midi files takes a background in
arranging, music, MIDI sequencing and computers. You can
download MIDI files from various MIDI archives but the quality
can be poor and often not thematically correct for your site.
MIDI Design below at
http//www.scugog-net.com/room108/midi/container.html offer
complete customized MIDI Loops for $35 per song. One of the
common MIDI sequencing software available with free demos are
Cakewalk. This demo works great but doesn't save or print music.
I personally like using Logic with its great quantizing
features. If you have some musical background, here are some
hints to making good midi files.
Hints for Making MIDI The following hints are meant for
beginners. An experienced MIDI arranger will usually break these
rules for effect. For example, often parts are not quantized for
realism and the parts are done in a very different order.
Nevertheless, here is a template that will work for beginners in
MIDI 1) First, play just the melody of the song on a track. Be
sure the volume is high as you want your melody to sing out
above the other parts. If you can't get enough volume, make a
copy of the melody on another track. Pan each melody part left
and right and volume will be increased. Remember there is no way
to add reverb to midi but you can give a reverb effect by making
copies of a track and duplicating each track with an increasing
delay. 2)Then add quantizing to the melody. Look at the music.
If you see eighth notes as the fastest note, then quantize the
track to eight notes. Quantizing is a method pulling the notes
to the nearest beat. For example if you quantized an eight note
part of the melody to quarter notes, the melody would be doubled
up into quarter notes and wouldn't sound correct. If your timing
is poor, you may need to quantize an eight note melody with a
sixteenth note quantization. 3)Once you're sure your melody is
rhythmically correct and in place. The other music parts can fit
into place. It's important though that your initial melody be
correct. 4) Next add a bass and drum part. Again it will be
important to quantize these parts. The volume should be a bit
lower than the melody so the melody can sing out. 5) Next add a
background part such as voices or strings etc. A good idea is to
make a copy of this part on another track. Then pan each of
tracks left and right giving the background music some depth.
Some instruments don't sound as good as others on MIDI. Good
instuments to use are piano, nylon guitar, bass, drums,vibes,
strings. Instuments that don't sound as good are sax and brass.
There are many more ways to achieve great sounding effects in
MIDI but it would take a book to write them all down. Remember
to keep it simple. Don't crowd your arrangement!
About the author:
John Rickey is an experienced MIDI arranger. He graduated from
University of Toronto with a degree in music and has worked from
studio recordings to Movies with his arranging. You can contact
him at kingskid@netrover.com or visit his MIDI Design Site at
http//www.scugog-net.com/room108/midi/container.html
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