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How is a MIDI Classics Sequence Made? |
In short, with a lot of hard work!
I start by selecting a piece/pieces. I transcribe most of them straight from Urtext facsimiles of classical guitar composers with Cakewalk Pro Audio. If I’m doing a group of pieces such as a complete work, I’ll make a file template for comments, work number, etc. I number each measure to keep track of position.
Then I mouse it in. Sometimes I use Smartscore for initial entry. (It’s much improved over MIDIScan, so that it’s often useful with these barely legible scores, but I must always do a lot of editing. Add this to the time to scan and convert the score, and it’s hard to tell if it saves time. SmartScore works well with clean modern scores.)
When I have a rough draft, I listen to it, print it out, and compare it note for note, measure by measure. I correct any mistakes, both my own and the printer’s, comparing with multiple editions, if possible.
I correct enharmonic spellings and add any harmonics, ornaments, slurs, arpeggiated chords (harpo), staccato, then metric accents, dynamics, holds, retards and accels. Last I add repeats. Lately, I make both a file with repeats and without.
For songs, I OCR the lyrics, edit them, and add them to the vocal lines, adjusting the hyphenation to get things lined up.
I polish virtuoso pieces and ones I especially like with more phrasing, rubato and accents.
Sometimes I create separate tracks for each string (see the Giuliani 120 Studies), or for each voice (Scarlatti).
I save copies as Standard MIDI files, write user documentation and a press release, and add the product descriptions to my database.
Finally, I package up the files using a file compression program for delivery via mail or email. I now sell the full catalog and study collections on CD-ROM. Since the full catalog amounts to over 30 megabytes of data, this is much appreciated medium.
Some people have said they could do the same thing. Indeed, you can! There is no magic involved. However, unless you're working for a very low wage, why bother? My collections sell for under 10 cents a song, and I doubt anyone can sequence more than 5 or ten a day. They include some of the best known repertoire for the guitar by its finest composers.