80 !!Chapter 5
synthesis, the major contribution to the music industry has been the flexi-
bility that computer-sequencing programs have provided. Numerous edits
and experimentation can easily be accomplished. Before computers, this
process would have been time consuming and costly.
One of the problems that arise as a result of the computer’s flexibility
is that the agencies sometimes take advantage of composers by asking for
numerous edited versions of a composition. Editing does not simply
require cutting and pasting. For a composition to sound cohesive musi-
cally and technically, most changes require rewriting and restructuring.
Even if only one measure has to be adjusted, it is time consuming for sev-
eral reasons. Because of the many effects that can be applied during pro-
gramming, editing may create technical problems. For example, if a
sustain pedal is open on the last note of the measure where an edit is going
to take place, after the new section is spliced to that measure, the sustain
pedal would still be open, causing a hodgepodge of sound. The program-
mer has to determine the problem and solve it by adjusting the length of
time the sustain pedal remains open. Similar problems occur with reverbs
and other effects. These adjustments can be time consuming without the
benefit of additional financial compensation. Unfortunately, this problem
cannot be solved because of the competition to be awarded jobs. There will
always be composers who are willing to perform extra work without addi-
tional remuneration.
The use of effects (whether real sound effects or abstract sounds cre-
ated with synthesizers or samples) has become a major compositional
technique since the advent of synthesizers. Before the common use of syn-
thesizers, specialists, called Foley artists, created sound effects; in addition
to the creation of effects by Foley artists, many sound effects have been
recorded onto CDs and then matched to a specific action and transferred
to film. Today, it is rare to have a Foley artist work on a commercial—
composers are expected to add the sound effects. Foley artists are still used
in motion pictures. Foley stages at motion picture studios are designed
to have Foley artists create live effects, such as footsteps, clothes rubbing
together, and so on. Foleying helps to add the ambient sounds of a scene
that were not recorded by the live microphones on the set.
Using synthesized sound effects has helped to create a form of compo-
sition known as sound design. (In films, sound design refers to sound
effects specialists, not music.) Sound design is generally defined as a com-
position that does not have a melody, contains numerous synthesized
and/or real effects, and, more often than not, has a complex rhythm track.
Some commercials include only effects and no music. Although there is
no music, this form of sound design can create a specific rhythm but not
in the traditional sense; the cumulative effect is a rhythmic pace. A dance
genre calledindustrialis based on this premise. Sound design can be one of
the most creative tools for a composer. Incorporating sound design offers
composers an opportunity to work without creative restrictions. Sound