Doobie Brothers Transcription Enquiry
We recently received an enquiry from someone looking for a transcription of a Doobie Brothers song. That enquiry was originally marked as SPAM and was automatically deleted before we could get the sender’s details. Continue reading
We’re Back ‘On The Air’
Due to a glitch with our hosting company, we were off-the-air for a couple of days. back we’re back now. If you sent a message to between Thursday 21 March 2013 and Sunday 24 March 2013, could you please resend?! We apologise for the inconvenience.
Testimonial from Christopher Thomas
About a year ago I sent David a pretty raw recording of some guitar parts to transcribe. Right away, he sends me a response and says he will listen and give me an estimate. Luckily, I had found a true professional.
Do you still offer Music Lessons?
David does still provide music lessons (guitar, bass and music theory) but, sadly, none of the limited number of places are available at the moment. If you’re looking for music lessons in the Cranbourne/Langwarrin/Carrum Downs/Skye/Frankston/Mt Eliza area, we recommend you contact our good friends at Sounds Like This. Sounds Like This offer vocal, instrumental and music theory lessons taught by a team with a real passion for music and teaching.
Testimonial from Paul Norris
I would like to thank Audio Graffiti for transforming my idea into a tangible reality. It was my vision to create a complete music book companion for my new instrumental guitar CD release entitled Warmth of the Night.
David was immediately up for the task, quickly and efficiently producing a test transcription of the first track on my CD with notation and tablatures. Following that first step he subsequently proved to be an excellent communicator, demonstrating his high level of diplomacy and patience with me, ‘the client,’ to complete the entire 14-song project.
Testimonial from Alastair Lee
For a muso who doesn’t have the time to do their own notation, I have found Audio Graffiti to be an invaluable help to me as a performer and song writer and their service is second to none. Audio Graffiti’s work is always done in a timely manner and isn’t too hard on the hip pocket and David is always a pleasure to deal with – I can’t recommend Audio Graffiti highly enough!
Alastair Lee
Geelong, Australia
www.alastairlee.com.au
Testimonial from Joe Donnelly
Our collaborative group found Audio Graffiti tremendous to work with! We developed the musical parts for our play (Lessons of Hope) incrementally over a two year period. Typically, music transcription services prefer to work with complete scores rather than revise earlier drafts as music parts evolve.
David Leeding was very accommodating towards our approach and the end product was tremendous. As we prepare to showcase our musical, we have shared the production materials with various directors, who have routinely commented that the level of specificity for the musical parts is impressive.
Testimonial from Dan Quinn
Audio Graffiti delivered many high quality and accurate tabs in a very timely manner. Audio Graffiti’s tabs were instrumental with helping me successfully auditioning for an established metal band and preparing for live shows. Moreover, Audio Graffiti has always maintained excellent communications during projects and always stood behind their product. I am happy to be a repeat costumer and definitely plan on using this company’s services in the future.
Dan Quinn
Fair Haven, NJ, USA
Testimonial from Trevor Song
I am an amateur piano player that likes to play a lot of contemporary music. I have utilized Dave’s service for the past 2 years. He is very smart, friendly, and highly reasonable.
Testimonial from Daniel Gerard St. Laurent
There aren’t enough positive words in the dictionary to describe how wonderful David’s work is, but here are a few…accurate, artistic, painstaking, prompt, brilliant.
Testimonial from Brenda L. Barnes
Audio-Graffiti demonstrated a high standard of excellence, professionalism, accuracy, and efficiency. The engraving was delivered early and as budgeted with minimal guidance. A fully-sufficient reliable contractor is an exceptional service to the music industry.
Brenda L. Barnes
Attorney
New York, New York, USA
Why is transcription an expensive service?
Transcription costs a lot simply because of the huge amount of time it takes. It is often a slow, tedious process, particularly if the transcribers primary goal is accuracy and high-quality, professional output. Most other professional transcribers will tell you the same thing.
A typical piano-vocal pop song often takes a full day to transcribe and engrave; a complex piano concerto or classical guitar piece may take as much as three days of work. Sure, if you want something that’s an approximation of the piece, it can be done in less time. But a precise transcription will take most transcribers a fair amount of time.
How long will my transcription take to do?
The time required to do a transcription varies depending on the length of the piece and the complexity. A piano-vocal transcription of an average four-minute pop song can take several hours, or a full day if it involves complex sections or jazz chords. A short guitar solo may take an hour. A full score for a band might take several days.
But it’s not as simple as that.
How accurate are your transcriptions?
We pride ourselves on producing transcriptions of the highest accuracy humanly possible. But how accurate a transcription is on a number of factors: Continue reading
Do you transcribe music that is already available in print?
We generally do not transcribe music that is available as a commercial publication (electronic or hard-copy). If the music you require is available commercially, you are better off buying from the licensed publisher, because it will (1) be much cheaper, (2) save you the bother of obtaining permission, and (3) you are likely to get it quicker!
Can you transcribe music from video?
Yes! But…
Whether we can use a video depends on the sound quality on that video.
The sound quality of YouTube videos is highly variable. Some video authors use an audio source that is in mono and highly compressed. Such videos can be harder to transcribe from.
Are your transcriptions better than free TAB?
Much of the free TAB you’ll find on the Internet is created by hobbyists transcribing music for their own use, or for anyone who is interested. As a result, the quality and accuracy of free text-based TAB varies considerably.
In our experience, free ASCII TAB can be a very useful starting point for learning a song. And It may be all you need to play along with your favourite songs.
But to be honest, it’s often hard to find ASCII TAB that is very accurate. We recently found nine pieces of TAB for the same song that were all different to each other, and which all contained errors! You get what you pay for.
Are your transcriptions as good as commercially printed sheet music?
You’d need to ask our customers to get an objective opinion, but we believe they are every bit as good as commercial publications, and sometimes better.
Music sold by commercial publishers is sometimes simplified to make it playable by the average hobbyist musician. And sometimes the publishers need to adapt a complex multi-instrument arrangement into a simple piano format. This is a very deliberate and understandable strategy to make the music accessible to a very wide range of customers. But as a result, a lot of detail gets thrown away.
What is the difference between “Sequencing” and “Rendering”?
MIDI sequencing and rendering are closely related.
- Sequencing is the process of determining what notes a MIDI sequence (or file) should play, including what dynamics and articulations are to be used on playback.
- Rendering is the process of taking sequenced MIDI data, and producing an audio file from it.
What is MIDI “Rendering”
MIDI rendering is the process of “converting” MIDI music into an audio format that can be played on any audio device, such as a CD or MP3 player, or mixed in with other audio sources.
Actually, it’s not really a “conversion”. A MIDI sequencer plays the music on a MIDI device (like synth or sampler), and the output from that device is captured as audio.
Why haven’t you responded to me? Where’s my music?
Email isn’t a perfect means of communication, and on rare occasions, an email can “go astray”. When our email goes astray, it’s nearly always because the recipient’s email program has put our message in the Junk Email folder. In other cases, the mail server has “greylisted” our email address. Perhaps it’s having the word “graffiti” in our name makes our email address look suspicious!
If you are expecting us to reply to an inquiry, or you are expecting to receive a product you have paid for, it’s quite possible we have replied! The reply just hasn’t got to you.
When will my job be started?
Audio Graffiti receives many requests for transcription, music copying and our other services. There’s almost always something on the go, and as a result, sometimes a queue develops.
So, when it comes to the answer of how quickly can we do your work, it is really a case of how many other jobs are on the waiting list, and how long each of those other jobs is likely to take.
My file is too big to send using email. How can I get it to you?
There are a number of free services around that allow you to upload very large files and then send us the link to those files. Do a Google search using the words send large files free. For example, SendSpace or TransferBigFiles.com are two such services.
Is it legal to have music transcribed if I don’t own/control the copyright?
Copyright laws, particularly those relating to music, can be complicated, and even some solicitors tremble at the very mention! The following does not constitute professional legal advise, but gives you our current understanding:
Copyright laws in most countries say that if you want a piece of music transcribed, and do not control the copyright yourself, then you are required to obtain the permission of the person(s) or body that does control the copyright
Are you a member of any music professional associations?
Yes! The director, David, is a full member of the Music Arrangers’ Guild of Australia, registered as a Copyist.