NOTION in a movie musical

[BenjaminLancaster]

I'm currently in preproduction on a short musical film. Here's what we were hoping to do, and maybe someone can tell me if this is possible/ a better way to accomplish this in NOTION.

We'd like to record our singers with a live piano accompaniment in the studio we're renting, then remove the piano and replace it with an orchestra in NOTION. Is there an easy way to have our virtual NOTION orchestra follow our singers on a prerecorded track? The reason we want to do this is to have more control over the final mix by exporting the instruments as individual wav files and syncing it all back up in a multi track editor.

Is this the way you all would do it?

Thanks in advance!
Ben

[Surfwhammy]

I'm currently in preproduction on a short musical film. Here's what we were hoping to do, and maybe someone can tell me if this is possible/ a better way to accomplish this in NOTION.

We'd like to record our singers with a live piano accompaniment in the studio we're renting, then remove the piano and replace it with an orchestra in NOTION. Is there an easy way to have our virtual NOTION orchestra follow our singers on a prerecorded track? The reason we want to do this is to have more control over the final mix by exporting the instruments as individual wav files and syncing it all back up in a multi track editor.

Is this the way you all would do it?

Thanks in advance!
Ben

NOTION 3 has a tempo thing (NTempo) and Performane Mode for live performing and conducting, but the strategy I recommend is to create an initially simple NOTION 3 score with a Kick Drum, Snare Drum, and Piano, where (a) you do music notation for the Kick Drum and Snare Drum which you will use for a "click" track at the recording studio and (b) you will do music notation for the Piano which will provide reference tuning tones . . .

[NOTE: The reason for recommending this particular strategy is that it appears that the final product is a mixed and mastered recording rather than orchestration for use in accompanying a live performance . . . ]

Be certain to set the reference pitch in NOTION 3 to 440-Hz ("Concert A"), since by default it is set to a different value, unless you are using one of the newer reference pitches, or whatever . . .

[NOTE: The piano reference tones aspect might be a bit difficult, since the only way to ensure that it is accurate is to have the piano at the recording studio tuned by a piano tuner specifically to the reference tones provided by the NOTION 3 score, but the other way to do it is to use the studio piano for reference tuning tones and then to adjust the NOTION 3 reference tuning pitch to match whatever the studio piano happens to be. However, yet another strategy is to have the piano player at the recording studio use a KORG Triiton Music Workstation (88-Keys) or something similar, which is set specifically to use 440-Hz as its reference tuning pitch, since by using a virtual piano with a grand piano preset in the recording studio, this avoids the problem of having the studio piano tuned by a piano tuner, since you can set the reference tuning pitch for most keyboard synthesizers . . . ]

It also depends on the way everything is recorded at the recording studio, since if the recording studio uses digital magnetic tape, this can introduce variations in tempo . . .

There are advantages to using a professional recording studio, but the reality is that NOTION 3 does everything at standard CD resolution (44.1-Hz at 16-bits), so while you can get higher resolution in a professional recording studio, once you move everything into the digital music production universe and do the orchestration with NOTION 3 and virtual instruments, then the reality is that the resolution is 44.1-Hz at 16-bits, which basically makes is somewhat frivolous to spend a lot of money at a professional recording studio . . .

Depending on what the professional recording studio charges for studio time and for doing the master tapes and digital files, you might discover that for the same amount of money you can get a new Mac Pro, Logic Pro (Apple) or Digital Performer 7.24 (MOTU), a MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid audio interface, and some reasonably good microphones, at which time you can use a room in a house, basement, or garage to record the singers, which depending on the acoustic characteristics of the room in the house, basement, or garage you can improve for example by putting a few rolls of fiberglass insulation in the corners, since rolls of fiberglass insulation absorb low frequencies and significantly reduce the "boominess" of rooms. Thick and porous curtains also work nicely for controlling reverberation and other aspects of the acoustic behavior of a room . . .

There are different strategies for doing this stuff, but I like the low-cost strategy or at least the strategy that maps to my getting the most benefit from whatever money I spend . . .

At present, I record everything here in the sound isolation studio, which is a room within a room within a room, where the innermost room literally "floats" on a thick layer of rubber mats made from ground truck tires, and the sound isolation studio is approximately 6' wide by 7' tall by 12' long, which is similar to the size of a walk-in closet or the back of a standard FedEx or UPS delivery truck, so another possibility is to have the singers stand in a closet filled with clothes, since clothes will work very nicely as sound absorbers for acoustic room treatment purposes, although you will want to remove anything in the closet that jingles, buzzes, or makes annoying noises, and I like the surreal aspect of having the singers sing in a closet filled with clothes, which is even more amusing from an Avant Garde or Art Moderne perspective if there are a lot of singers . . .

Nevertheless, NOTION 3 has specific features which are designed for doing what you want to do, so I think that the most important things in terms of making everything as easy and accurate as possible are (a) to use a "click" track, which is recorded as a separate track and is made available separately, in the recording studio and (b) to provide a "reference tuning pitch" track, which is recorded as a separate track and is made available separately, in the recording studio, since so long as you use a reference tuning pitch that NOTION 3 supports, you can adjust the NOTION 3 score to match the recorded singing, but you need to be able to access the "click" and "reference tuning pitch" tracks separately, since obviously you do not want them mixed with the singing . . .

NOTION 3 provides the ability to adjust the timing of a NOTION 3 score to fit a real performance, and this is done among other ways by tapping on a MIDI instrument to provide the adjusted timing information to the NOTION 3 score when NOTION 3 is operating in performance mode or whatever . . .

NOTION Live (Notion Music)

I do have not used the NOTION 3 performance and conducting mode stuff, and generally have no idea how to use it, but (a) it is there and (b) it is used in live concerts and Broadway plays, so (c) it definitely works, which is fabulous . . .

Lots of FUN!

P. S. You might find it helpful to get a bit of advice from the NOTION Live folks, since they are experts in doing this type of thing . . .

If you are planning to spend $10,000 on studio time for the singing and rendering steps, then my advice is that you can get a Mac Pro, MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid and MOTU 8pre audio interfaces, some very nice B.L.U.E. microphones, Logic Pro (Apple) or Digital Performer 7.24 (MOTU), some IK Multimedia VSTi virtual instruments, T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe, and some other VST effects plug-ins, one or more Behringer headphone amplifiers that have multiple channels for headphones for the singers, headphones for the singers, and then do it yourself in a room in a house, basement, garage, or whatever . . .

Bluebird Microphone (Blue Microphones)

If you are planning to spend $5,000 on studio time for the singing and rendering steps, then instead of getting a high-end Mac Pro, get an iMac . . .

P. P. S. IK Multimedia is having one of its "Group Buy" extravaganzas, which ends on February 29, 2012, and this is an excellent opportunity to get T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe for $200 (US) and a free bonus advanced T-RackS Single (either the Black 76 Leveling Amplifier or the White 2A Limiting Amplifier) . . .

T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe "Group Buy" Extravaganza (IK Multimedia)

[BenjaminLancaster]

Thanks a lot for the very detailed reply. It defiantly give me some things to think about. We're actually not spending as much on the studio as you might think. Friend of a friend type of thing. Not enough to equip my house kind of thing. It's an all digital environment with a keyboard, not piano, so tuning issues shouldn't be a big deal.

The reason I don't want to do a click track is the same reason I don't want to just record the song from NOTION: I want the orchestra to follow the singers and not the other way around. Maybe that's just not easily accomplished.

I know I can add the track of the singer to the score, but it looks like it doesn't function the same way as a multi-track editor. I'd love to hear from anyone who's done this before.

[pcartwright]

I think NTempo should still do what you want. Here are the steps:
1. Put your orchestration into Notion
2. Add a NTempo staff
3. Add the NTempo rhythm (quarter notes for 4/4, dotted quarters for 6/8 etc)
4. Record the tempo as you listen to the vocalist (vocalist track should be played in separate program/player)
5. Tweak the timing manually
6. Export orchestration to DAW and mix to your heart's content

I think there's a demo on how to use NTempo... I'll see if I can find a link.

NTempo can be used like a reverse click track.

[BenjaminLancaster]

Thanks pcartwright!

That's really helpful. I was hoping there was a way to do it all internally, but oh well.

[pcartwright]

Well, you can input an audio file to a Notion staff, but there's not really an audio wave viewer like you'd see in a DAW. This would at least keep the audio in the same program, but I don't think there's really a way for Notion to "auto detect" the tempo of a piece. I don't use this feature very often, so you may want to take a look at the manual and see if this option makes your work flow a little easier.

[BenjaminLancaster]

I knew that you could, but it seemed to be more there for short sound effects and things like that. I'll give it a try, though. Thanks!