For the young or aspiring music producer (especially if you're both), one of the hardest things to do is to branch out and experience new audio software and programs, DAWs (digital audio workstations) especially. This is partly because of how much each DAW differs from each other, in both layout and features, and because of the cost of acquiring permission to use all the DAWs that are out there (a one year subscription to Pro Tools can cost $1286 AUD, while Ableton can go for $1049 AUD). And whilst student discounts and free trials do count for something, it can still leave people unsure and more likely to stick to either the first DAW they tried, or a free service such as Audacity.
One thing that helps to counter this and persuades others to give a bit of money and try something new is online tutorials or reviews, which can show people the basics of a product so that they can decide whether or not to make the commitment.
As part of my work on the Covert Carbs game, I was asked to compose a series of backing tracks to were to be played during the levels of the game. When I first began this project, I tried many approaches as to how I would write this music, particularly focusing on the programs Ableton and Pro Tools, since these are the two that I am most familiar with. But, after struggling with the composition features of these programs (which you can read about here), I decided to branch out and trial Sibelius. Because I found reasonable success in using the program, I decided that would write a series of blog posts outlining the basic skills one would need to navigate their way around the software and write a basic piece of music, in hopes that others could be able to read it and be introduced to this program.
Watch this space for more updates!
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