Recently, while Craig Mercer, Mark Desloges, and I were on tour in China, the issue of communication was ever-prevalent in our minds. As Scientists Of Sound, Craig and I call ourselves a looping madness duo and we perform intense and grooveheavy electronic music with a computer, synths, a guitar, and vocals. We also have a synchronized visual show that runs on a separate computer which is linked to the audio computer via MIDI.
With Mark as our FOH technician, we were constantly charged with the challenge of getting the show up-andrunning with the local crew - who spoke only Chinese. This wonderful (and mind-boggling) experience got me thinking a lot about the many layers of communication involved in digital music creation, both in the studio and on the stage. One of those layers, synchronization, is something that's central to a multi-device set-up for performance.
Timing is everything. Establishing the pace during our set-up times in China was integral to getting the job done. For instance, I'd want to be ready to start sending video as soon as the crew had finished running me the video cable from the media server. If we weren't working at the same pace, I at least needed to communicate (probably in charades) where I was in the set-up process. "I'll be ready to send video in five minutes." Do you want your computer, FX unit, and dram machine to all reference the same time/tempo source, running in sync? Or do you want your devices to run on their own tempos, but still have references to the song position? Either way, read the manuals for your devices and know what kind of MIDI sync it will send and/or understand.
There are two you should know about: MIDI Clock and MIDI Time Code. The former will tightly synchronize your devices by sending a series of very fast "ticks." There are a standard 3840 ticks in one bar, and the speed of these "ticks" is tempo dependent. So, if you choose 100 BPM on your master (the device you've set to send MIDI Clock), then your slave (the device you've set to receive MIDI Clock) will also play at the exact same 100 BPM. MIDI Clock can also send information about the position in the song.
The latter is the MIDI equivalent to the SMPTE protocol - the standard for synchronizing audio and video tape machines with digital devices. It specifies only a time position in seconds and frames without any tempo information, This would allow you to jump around in your arrangement (even song-to-song if they're all in one arrangement) while having separate control over the tempo of your devices.
Even if you prefer "wild tracking" your devices with no synchronization at all, it's important to take the next step and work on getting yourself synced up with your gear. When making music with multiple devices, try to think of the whole ensemble as one musical instrument. The different parts of this instrument make different kinds of sounds and require different touches to bring the right thing out at the right time. Too often we think that a button or knob cares not how it's handled, faut this is false! Much depends on the force, momentum, and precision of your touch - from the physical hardware itself and the software it speaks to, to the feeling you give your audience and the way you yourself react to the instrument. Each piece of your instrument reacts at a different speed and a different way - computers with delicate controls with minor latency, a distortion pedal with a heavy switch and no latency, etc.
You should know this "feel" in youi whole body. Your approach to your instrument should start in your spine - your centre - and organically travel to the tips of your fingers and ground out through your feet. It'll take time and effort to master, but only then will your mind and body be truly in sync with your gear, and your music as a result.
This world is dependent upon communication, so it stands to reason that the music we make - and the people and things we make it with - also rely on communication. Learning to communicate wholly with your equipment and your audience should be your end goal, so that your music can flow as uninhibited as possible. As cold and lifeless as MIDI may seem at first, it's the language of love among your digital gear!
[Author Affiliation]
Aaron Collier le a Canadian electronic musician, pianist, and teacher. Aaron currently resides with his husband in Toronto and Halifax where be plays with the electro duo Scientists Of Sound and teaches digital audio courses at Splice Training. www.aaronealllep.ea
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