MULTITRACKS
LEARN MORE SONGS | Kristian Ponsford
Some people are born with a great ear for
learning songs, while others have to work extra
hard to get to where they can quickly learn and
perform a song. Whether you're serving on
a worship team, you're following a calling to
become a leader, or you just have some extra
time at home and want to learn how to play
songs you love, there is a discipline required
when learning new material. Learning this
discipline has its challenges that are unique to
everyone, but as this article will show, there are
skills that you can develop and tools that can
help you get there faster than you ever thought
possible.
Through our discussions with worship
leaders over the years, we’ve heard common
challenges that lead us to develop this guide as
a resource to help you approach learning songs
in an effective manner.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEMS
TIME. There is never enough of it is there? The
harsh truth is that there is no way around the
fact that you will have to dedicate undistracted
time to learn songs and become a better
musician. One helpful question to ask is: "Am
I making the most of my time?"
When is your dedicated time to sit down
and learn songs during the week? Do you
have a routine with your craft? You should!
Pull up your calendar on your phone and try
creating a weekly occurring event for an hour
per week where you are devoting yourself to
your craft and learning new music. Having
something scheduled will make sure that your
time sharpening your craft doesn't get pushed
aside by whatever comes up. It isn't just a
commitment, though, our creative brains are
wired to thrive on schedules. Just like our bodies
know when we need to sleep when to wake up
and when to eat, we can train our bodies to
know when it's time to be creative. You will be
more effective and efficient learning songs on a
schedule than off of one.
THE MIX. Can you even hear the parts? You may
have heard of something called "the loudness
war." Since the beginning of recorded music,
consumers have perceived louder as better,
which has driven audio engineers and artists to
mix their recorded music as loud as possible.
Over the past 100 years of recorded sound,
waveforms have changed a lot:
This becomes a problem for us at home
listening to songs trying to learn them. The
techniques these engineers use to make
mixes feel louder are mostly forms of audio
compression and audio distortion, which is
always a balancing act with clarity. There is only
so much sonic “space” available for parts to
be heard by the listener. If we make something
louder, you would logically think that there is
less space for something else. This is correct
thinking, but some creative engineers thought
up a way around this called "compression."
Compression reduces the dynamic range
of the instrument, so it becomes easier to fit
in a tiny space without losing the perceived
loudness. It's the audio equivalent of shoving
as many marshmallows as you can into your
mouth and trying to say, "Chubby Bunny." You
would be surprised to know how many guitar
layers are actually in the songs you love. This
isn't to say just because you can't pick out a
part doesn't mean it's not there and wouldn’t
be a real compliment on Sunday morning.
You’d be amazed how many parts may be
in a MultiTrack recording of a song that get
overshadowed by the loudest parts in the mix.
Some songs may have 3 guitar parts and 3
keyboard parts and they’re alternating or “felt”
but not always discernable on your first listen
or at all. Just because something was buried
in the mix doesn’t mean you can’t pull it out
to add another compliment the main hook in a
way that is helpful to the song. If there more in
the mix than we can discern, then how do we
dive into those parts?
HOW TO LISTEN MORE DEEPLY
Our brains are amazing. One of the things that
makes us so creative as humans is are our
ability to fill in the gaps of things that are not
there or are obscured. Here's a fun example
where our brains see an upside-down triangle
that is only suggested by other circles and
lines. Our minds can do this with audio, too.
You can sharpen your ability to hear an
instrument part that may feel buried or hidden
by understanding where that instrument sits
sonically. Using a visual can contextualize this
for us and help us reference as we are listening.
MultiTracks.com provides an option called
RehearsalMix which gives you individual access
to every part with it’s own mix. You can preview
more than 14,000 songs with this sort of depth
and discover all the intricate parts that can
often be buried in “the mix.”
46 July 2020
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