How Can One Person Do This?
Diana plays all the instrumental sounds you hear on the CDs. She uses a MIDI keyboard connected to a computer to control Virtual Studio Instruments (VSTs) and edits and records her work in Cubase SX and Cubase 4. It is real music written, played, sung, recorded, produced and recorded by a real musician.
How It This Done?
Diana starts recording each piece by sketching out an arrangement (usually at the piano). She uses Cubase SX multi-track digital audio recording software on a Macintosh G5 Dual to record her playing. She starts most tunes with a drum or click track to establish pulse and sometimes sketches out a rough drum pattern for the arrangement. Drum fills and other accessory percussion are fleshed out more later in the process. Diana then records a basic piano or rhythm track and maps out the tune's sections and form in Cubase using markers. Typically she adds a bass track and then a scratch melody or lead line. Gradually the piece takes shape as she plays in the parts on her Yamaha P120 keyboard and adds instrumental voices using VST "Virtual Instruments" plug-ins in Cubase or synthesized and sampled instruments from her Kurzweil K2000R and Kurzweil K2600R.
Technical Details
Diana uses a Macintosh Dual G5 running Cubase SX and Cubase 4 recording software, a MOTU 896HD Firewire hard disk recorder, VST (Virtual Studio Technology) Plugins, Stylus RMX, FXpansion's BFD2 Drum Kits, Native Instruments Kontakt, Miroslav Philharmonic VST, Spectrasonics Trilogy Bass VST, Atmosphere, Battery 3, AVOX Vocal VSTs, Ivory VST, Garritan Jazz & Big Band VST, Waves Production Mastering Plugins (Diamond Bundle), a Kurzweil K2000R, a Kurzweil K2600R, a Yamaha P120 MIDI keyboard, aKorg PadKontrol MIDI controller and an M-AUDIO MidAir 37 Wireless USB MIDI Controller.
