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A long time ago it was suggested that one should not record anything into the first measure but to dedicate it to CC#, program change and so on. I've done it this way so far. Is this still the way to do it or are today's DAWs and computers enough fast to let one include everything from the beginning? It would simplify the work anyway.

I'm in the "Bar 2" category.

I leave the first couple of beats in Bar 1 alone for MIDI notes. Pick up notes into bar 2 are OK.

Just what I'm used to!

Buzzy

I routinely put four bars of "blank" space before the start of any sequence.
Not so much for MIDI data to "catch up", but to give VI's and effects (especially CPU-heavy ones) a chance to "get going". Case in point - Drumagog 5, which I use to replace crappy drum tracks. Drumagog uses look-ahead, but as
soon as it sees any audio, the sample you have loaded will "trigger". So I give Drumagog those four bars to do its thing and then the sequence will actually start.

Several instances of Amplitube 3 can cause a "thump" of audio when playback is first started, too. Sometimes an instance of T-racks3 will emit a white noise burst upon start of playback as well. Gotta give all that crap a chance
to happen and then "settle down" before the music starts.

David Polich wrote:I routinely put four bars of "blank" space before the start of any sequence. Not so much for MIDI data to "catch up", but to give VI's and effects (especially CPU-heavy ones) a chance to "get going". .

We do exactly the same thing here.

Aha, four bars. Haven't thought about that before but that actually sounds more even. It should be easier to keep track of were you are in a song compared to adding only one measure. Or maybe one could add three measures if you're about to write a walz etc.

buzzsmith wrote:I'm in the "Bar 2" category.

I leave the first couple of beats in Bar 1 alone for MIDI notes. Pick up notes into bar 2 are OK.

Just what I'm used to!

Buzzy

+1

The first bar of every MIDI track for me is a Reset All Parameters, All Notes Off, and zeroing of Pitch Bend and Afterpressure.

I stopped using SysEx years ago as it is too specific to a tergeted product and I like my MIDI to be neutral. This also means my MIDI is useless in QuickTime for a quick preview, but I don't care. I also don't use Patch Changes anymore.

In the second bar, I introduce any necessary events such as CC's for Sample Modeling and other plugs that might need non-default values for an expression parameter or the like.

I NEVER EVER EVER assign effect levels via MIDI. I save effects to audio processing after rendering dry audio tracks from the MIDI. If I am using hardware, then I turn off effects on the hardware -- similarly with Kontakt and other VI sources.

In general, I give a count-in for every project, lasting at least two bars and usually a bit longer.

I may switch to a standard four bar count-in though, as I have experienced some of the "audio catch-up" problems that Dave mentions, with certain tools. My current two-to-three-bar count-in is based more on MIDI catch-up than audio catch-up, but I have noticed inconsistent results on the first few bars so should go for a longer count-in.

Note that tempo matters as audio catch-up is more time-based than strictly affected by the number of bars. So I sometimes base my count-in length on the tempo.

One nice thing about starting at bar 5 is that you maintain visual 4-bar phrasing identity even when zooming out twice. At normal zoom, you can see every bar, at first zoom-out you see every two bars (1,3,5,etc), at second zoom-out you see every 4 bars (1,5,9,etc). This is really useful while you're editing later in post. Of course, I often forget this and start recording at bar 3, but I really should.

I suggest NEVER start recording on bar 2, though. Often times musicians want 2 bars for nothing at the start, and you'll never be able to zoom out, even once, without visually losing your phrasing.

As for CC# stuff? you can do that right on the beginning of the first measure. HOWEVER, if you turn on MIDI event chasing, you might not even need to put in CC data at all, as I'm pretty sure it will find the first instance of that data, and use that as the initial value. These days, I try to use CC data as little as possible: only for expression, sustain, pitch, monotouch, and mod wheel. I do all volume and panning automation on VI tracks, it's just a lot cleaner.

YES. Use bar zero for data. Sometimes my first bar is 1/4 and sometimes it's 7/4 depending on edits I have to make to picture due to directorial demands. It's crucial to have that open bar.

I don't do sound for picture , only pop tunes, and I always set the sequence start to
Bar -2 (minus 2) smpte 00:00:00:00 and insert CCs, program changes, etc. on beat 2 of Bar -2 allowing an actual 'stick click' sound to be recorded for a countoff beginning bar -1.

my 2¢ Schweats

I always start most sequences at measure -1, so I have two full bars lead in. I also locate to 1-1-000 see what the elapsed time is at that spot, then turn it into a negative number and at that as a realtime offset so my realtime display is accurate as i really try to keep an eye on songs that get too long and stay under 4 minutes tops. That's just me!

My template opens with 2 CT tempo points: one at 120 BPM at bar 0 (so Bar 1 is always 0:00:00 and it always tells me the elapsed time at any given point) and another at 120 at bar one (this one always changes to whatever the tempo of the piece will be).
If there are pickups I adjust measure one's time signature as needed.

All the initial CCs are always in measure 0.

I do a combination of Shweats & James; start at -2 measures and adjust to negative SMPTE and real time so that measure 1 is absolute 0 in all time formats. I have one peculiarity left over from the slow processor days. That is to stagger all my MIDI info; sysex at the very beginning then any other data serially 100 ticks apart. This is all old habit but of course the nice thing is that now we can always add measures and make time adjustments after the fact.

Just make sure the recording actually starts before the drummer hits his first cymbal at 0|0|447 or something like that. Yikes

ooops! ... I meant 0|4|447

You see how easy it is to screw this up?
I'm not going to abandon pick up measures. If anything I might add one.

Yeah, at least 4 bars empty for me, if not more. For the most part I work on film, and have each sequence be the full length of the reel. So I'll often have literally hundreds of measures empty before music start. This way I can accommodate changes easily like starting the music earlier, or extending, or repeating, without having to resort to major math. I set the sequence to the general tempo of the cue, and if I need to fine-tune start times in relation to meter and tempo, I'll insert meter changes or tempo changes as needed into the academy leader at the top of the reel, so that the music and picture start on the beat I want them to.