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Jerry Gerber

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Posts posted by Jerry Gerber

    Astrophotographic Music Video You Tube Channel

    in Songs

    Posted

    53 minutes ago, DeeringAmps said:

    Subscribed and left my likes and comments over at YT. Hope all the rest of you will do likewise. Jerry I would shamelessly promote a bit more that you are the composer and the photographer. 
    Always amazed by your work!

    t

    Thanks Tom!  Glad you appreciate the videos...

    Jerry

    • Like 1

    1st movement from Symphony #9

    in Songs

    Posted

    1 hour ago, bjornpdx said:

    This is just outstanding Jerry.

    I was looking at the score sheet (31 parts!) with all the different clefs for different instruments (12/8 time too) which is a whole other level from what I'm used to. Do you keep notes on  articulations you've used? Velocities, modulation wheel settings, CCs, other MIDI stuff? Makes me wonder if writing a MIDI orchestral piece is way harder than writing for a traditional orchestra.

    _Bjorn

    Thanks Bjorn! I've never used CW articulations.  I spend most of my editing time in the event list, the controllers view and the tempo window.  I use an awful lot of velocity changes, attack and release changes and numerous cc's to change articulations in the VSL orchestral cube, the library I use.  Also a lot of tempo changes and I also use volume envelopes when I render the MIDI file to audio.  I agree that writing for live players is much easier, particularly when you have excellent players, because they can make (sometimes) even a crappy composition sound good.

    I've long said that MIDI makes a lot possible, but not necessarily easy or simple. 

     

    The Speed of Light, an Astrophoto Music Video

    in Songs

    Posted · Edited by Jerry Gerber

    1 hour ago, bjornpdx said:

    I would have thought those were NASA images, not from a guy in his back yard! Very well done,  as is the music.
    -Bjorn

     

    Thanks Bjorn!  Advances in camera sensor technology and astronomical telescope mounts have been astounding in the past decade, which allows amateurs like me to take images as good or better than a large observatory could in the 1960s.   Similar to the way music and recording technology has evolved.

    Jerry

    Update: Two Astro Music Videos Now in High Resolution

    in Songs

    Posted · Edited by Jerry Gerber

    I've posted these a few months ago but now I've used .wav audio and .tiff images rather than .mp3 and .jpg. Th images look a bit better and the audio is a lot better. 

    Enjoy!

    CREATION

    DEEP SPACE

    When I'm outside at night at 2am imaging deep space objects I realize how small and insignificant we humans are and if our species doesn't learn to live in peace with one another and take proper care of our planet, the universe is just going to say "F***k you, get lost", and we'll become extinct as so  many millions of other species have..  We need nature, nature doesn't need us. 

    The music for Creation is the slow movement from my oboe concerto, from the album From Cosmic Dust (2022) https://www.jerrygerber.com/fromcosmicdust.htm

    The music for Deep Space  is a track called The Galaxies from my album Number Eleven: The Path (2011) https://www.jerrygerber.com/thepath.htm

    The astrophotographs were taken in my backyard in San Francisco, and in various dark sky locations around northern California. 

    If I listed all the equipment I used to do this it would be ridiculously long, so I'll just say it's a lot of stuff!  But if you're curious, ask me and I will tell you.

    Jerry

    • Like 1

    Puns Anyone? Got 'em? Post 'em.

    in The Coffee House

    Posted · Edited by Jerry Gerber

    While visiting Scotland a few weeks ago I went to the Scottish National Museum and saw the guillotine that was used to behead Queen Mary.  A lot of Scots didn't like Queen Mary.   On the day of her beheading, she was given her last meal and when she requested coffee, they served her a a large decapiccino.

    I went to the doctor's last week and he said I should get the new RSV shot.  But he warned me not to get it right before I have to urinate, otherwise I'll have to RSVP.

    I've been having recurring dreams that I  purchased both Antarctica and the Arctic.  My doctor doesn't know what's wrong with me but when I told my stockbroker he knew right away that I suffer from bi-polar.

    Jerry

    www.jerrygerber.com

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    • Like 1
    • Haha 3

    4th movement from my 11th symphony

    in Songs

    Posted

    On 10/19/2023 at 8:48 AM, Bajan Blue said:

    Hi Jerry

    I loved this - I think one of your best (and you set a very high Standard)

    I really got into this after the change ups just after 3 minutes

    Really Excellent

    Nigel

     

    Thanks Nigel for listening, much appreciated!

    Jerry

    Quartet for Virtual Strings

    in Songs

    Posted

    On 10/4/2023 at 12:38 PM, Jimbo 88 said:

    Jerry!  So Good!

    I only had time to listen to the 1st movement.  I don't say this lightly, there are some amazing moments. 

    What notation software are you using here?

    It's really cool to hear your compositions over the years and hear how the technology is almost catching up to your abilities.

     

    Sibelius is the notation software I've been using for decades...

    Creation: A New Astro Music Video by Jerry Gerber

    in Songs

    Posted

    7 hours ago, noynekker said:

    Another great Sunday night listen ! Perfect against the sunset. Well conceived piece Jerry . . . now, I'm wondering if the lead instrument is clarinet or oboe ? just a very lush thick sound. Really enjoyed this, has an overall feeling of optimism for my ear.

    The lead instrument is a Vienna Symphonic Library oboe.  Thanks noynekker, glad you enjoyed the video..

    Jerry

    The Art of MIDI Orchestration, by Jerry Gerber

    in Production Techniques

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Peter C said:

    Jerry, a really well written concise deconstruction of these issues.

    You make a very valid point: the moment there is an attempt to capture an orchestra's acoustic sound in any given space, it becomes digital. Extra people become involved. Just the placement of mic positions and the choices of mics can of course dramatically alter how a 'real' orchestra sounds. Then there are production decisions about levels and so on.. the choice of equipment it all goes through. The net result can often sound more unrealistic (to my ears) than a well-constructed virtual orchestra.

    As usual this year I am watching the Proms and I'm always struck by how the woodwinds, in particular piccolos, can sound too prominent and destroy entirely what a composer originally intended. Don't get me started about how soloists - piano, violin, horn, whatever - are deliberately brought up in the mix, giving an entirely false impression of what it actually sounds like in a concert hall.  What was a breath of fresh air for me was a couple of years ago I watched an orchestral concert from I think it was Austria. A piano concerto was a delight to listen to because the producer had very obviously decided the piano was actually part of the orchestra and was not over-amplified. (Take note please BBC)

    So when I bought my first virtual orchestra, back in 2005, the first thing I did was write a couple of orchestral style pieces. I quickly realised it was only possible to mimic a real orchestra and my first production decisions were not to use woodwinds (sorry woody players). That decision was probably the result of me listening to too many broadcasts and getting too used to those mixes. 

    As something of a traditionalist (you'd never have guessed would you), how do I feel about virtual orchestras? As long as it makes a pleasing sound, whatever instrument combinations are used, I'm happy. We are making decisions now with all these wonderful things available which composers centuries ago were making, albeit at a simpler level: how many string players, do we try this new-fangled brass thing.........

    Many thanks for making me think.

    Thanks Peter, I'm glad you enjoyed reading the article..

    The Art of MIDI Orchestration, by Jerry Gerber

    in Production Techniques

    Posted

    On 8/2/2023 at 6:24 AM, Glenn Stanton said:

    thanks for this! do you have a HW controller device to manage adjusting the CC or using a mouse? or some combination? in my mind, have a MIDI controller with a number of knobs set to CC # would make initial changes "easier" and then zoom in and adjust for more detail.

    No, I make all of my CC edits, insertions and deletions in the Event List and also in the Controllers View.  Over the years I've gotten very fast doing it this way (motor memory and repetition!)  Also CW has the dialogue box to insert multiple CCs and multiple tempos, I use those often too..

    The Art of MIDI Orchestration, by Jerry Gerber

    in Production Techniques

    Posted · Edited by Jerry Gerber

    1 hour ago, Glenn Stanton said:

    i liked it. one consideration - maybe also speak to how some of the instruments have articulations (and/or key switches) which may assist in the creation of more realistic / fuller performances (trills, legatos, staccatos, slides, etc etc) (i noted in your event list in the article: Virtual Orchestra Composition and Production by Guest Author Jerry Gerber (soundbytesmag.net) https://soundbytesmag.net/virtualorchestracompositionandproductionwithjerrygerber/ -- you had patch changes / notes about the articulations ? )

    Hi Glenn,

    Cakewalk has an articulation screen that I never have used, it doesn't make sense based on the way I work.   I didn't comment on key switches because I use them rarely, only when working with one of the vocal sample libraries I have.   As far as the way use articulations, I have a dedicated computer for my VSL library, it can hold a huge amount of samples in RAM so whenever I need a new articulation i just call it up using cc22 and cc33.  When I want to change, for example, a crescendo to a decrescendo, I use cc44.   Control changes work well for me, so I use them extensively.   Or when I want to go from a col legno to a normal pizz, I call up that articulation using CCs.   In the article in SoundBytes that you mentioned that image of the CW event list displays what I am talking about. 

    The more detail you put into your sequence, the better the music will sound.  Velocity changes, articulation changes, attack and release times, tempos, cc11 and cc7--the more of these MIDI commands you use, the more expressive, intentional and nuanced the music will sound. 

    Remember, too, there's no one right approach to working with music technology.  For me the most important thing are results, .   For every technique I use to create my recordings, another composer may use a different technique to achieve the same thing.  That speaks to the incredible flexibility of software.

    Thanks for commenting Glenn!

    Jerry

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