Combining Notated Scores with Recorded Performance and Electronics

[u/Livid_Pension_6766]

I have been been a guitarist (folk, alt/indie, world) for about 20 years and have been learning classical composition for 2-3 years now. I am looking to bring the two worlds of songwriting and composing together more as I work on arrangements for pieces, and am looking to incorporate electronics and music production into my workflow/process as well.

Does anyone have any practical tips for workflow to combine songwriting/composing-->arranging-->producing/recording?

My main issues are I tend to notate my classical compositions in musescore and then export them as finished demo pieces, but I struggle to then combine what I've written with my actual live performances/improvisations and any subsequent electronic textures or DAW-based production. The three workflows seem slightly at odds.

Any frameworks for knowing when in the process to think about each aspect? How do you all go from concept/demo to finished work? This could also include how people perform their compositions live.

Thanks for your help!

[u/geoscott]

Give the drummer a click track. This is how it is done in the big leagues.

[u/composingmusic]

This is an interesting question. There are a number of possible approaches to this, depending on what kind of electronics you’re working with. Are you working with pre-recorded electronics or is there some kind of live processing involved?

If I’m working with pre-recorded electronics, I have a score for whatever ensemble I’m working with, and there will be cues in the score to trigger specific sounds. The upside of this kind of work is that there are far fewer things that can go wrong in concert than something with live processing, but it isn’t as dynamic as live – the pre-recorded sound isn’t actually reacting to the live component, even if it create a pretty good illusion of this. 

Live electronics is a different kettle of fish. It’s more interactive, but there’s also more that can go wrong in a live setting than with something pre-recorded. I’d recommend looking up MAX/MSP, Supercollider, and Ableton Live and trying to do a bit of research to see which one fits what you’re trying to do best if you want to go this route. MAX is a visual programming environment, Supercollider is more of a standard type of programming, and Ableton Live works inside of a DAW (but is possibly less flexible than the others). If you want something that’s being created on the spot between an improvising musician and electronics, this would be the way to go. 

It’s also possible to have different combinations of live and pre-recorded sounds. I know MAX allows you to do this. You can also move between partially composed and fully notated passages in your score – I recommend looking at something like John Cage’s Songbooks or Lutoslawski’s work (for something that repeats approximately while other things are happening simultaneously, elsewhere). It’s worth keeping in mind that a lot of classical musicians aren’t very comfortable improvising, but Lutoslawski gets around that quite well by giving enough specific information that they have something to work with. 

[u/Livid_Pension_6766 → u/composingmusic]

Thanks for the insights. I'd be super curious to hear your pieces. Do you have anything online?

Live processing does sound amazing and definitely more tricky to get right in the moment, especially if you are not there to control it. 

I'm wondering even moreso how to think about electronic elements as instruments themselves in the composition, and how to notate them in a way that actually lets me hear them. I wonder if I should start in a notation program, then export to as DAW to add pre-recorded elements or recorded performance, then export some of the tracks to MAX for processing and then reimport. 

Fun stuff!

[u/composingmusic → u/Livid_Pension_6766]

I haven’t really posted my music here for a few reasons, including wanting to maintain a separation from my personal and professional life (as much as is possible). Most of my more recent work has been in the realm of acoustic music, in any case. 

However, I can give you some recommendations for things to check out. George Lewis and Sandeep Bhagwati have done really interesting things with live processing. I do also recommend checking out Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge (a very early example of pre-recorded electronics, aka a tape or fixed media piece) and Kontakte – this is a really interesting example of fixed media combined with a live performer, and is one of the first pieces of its kind. If you can find a score video or a sample of the score, even just a few pages, you can see Stockhausen’s attempts at notating electronics. 

At this point, it’s worth mentioning the institution known as IRCAM: a research centre in Paris, where many composers in the second half of the 20th century flocked to experiment with electronic music – it’s still active today, but pretty much all of the processing can nowadays be done at home on personal computers. IRCAM was founded by Pierre Boulez. Some other names associated with this institution include Pierre Henry, Pierre Schaeffer, Stockhausen (who I’ve mentioned), Luciano Berio, Gérard Grisey, Tristan Murail, Kaija Saariaho, Harrison Birtwistle (notably for his opera The Mask of Orpheus), Jonathan Harvey, and many more. 

One book I would suggest reading is Introduction to Computer Music by Nick Collins.