Transcription Factor

When I was in 5th grade my mom bought me a little Casio keyboard. It was 1984 and the theme to Beverly Hills Cop was all over the radio. It's a catchy little synthesized tune that reminded everyone of how cool Eddie Murphy was. Remember when he was cool? Anyway.... within minutes I was playing this song (appropriately titled Axel F 'cause Eddie's name in the movie was Axel Foley) on my new Casio. I got some oohs and ahhs from my mom and uncle. I wasn't sure what they were crowing about, since I was just doing what came naturally to me. Without sounding like a dick, I can honestly say that I've met very few people who can hear the things that I hear in music. AND SO... since this is a talent I genuinely enjoy practicing, I thought I might start a weekly feature where I transcribe an interesting portion of a song.

This week, it's a piece of a Take 6 song called "So Much 2 Say". Take 6 is an incredible a cappella group that sings mostly gospel music. Their harmonies are rich and intricate, and they have an incredible range. I once clocked the bass singer hitting an A-flat below low C. This is absurd! And it was recorded before the new computer technologies that can pitch shift with no accompanying change in tempo.

Which brings me to a piece of software that I use when transcribing. It's called Transcribe! and is fucking awesome. It can change a song's tempo with no pitch shifting in real time... and it sounds brilliant too. None of that choppy sample-doubling some other apps use. It also can display a waveform superimposed over a keyboard, to help you determine what note is being played, although I don't use that very much because there are so many frequencies in a given sample set (even with just 6 voices) that the waveform is usually big jumbled mess. In any case, I highly recommend it if you do any transcribing; and I should also mention that the super-slow song samples I offer from now on are direct exports from Transcribe!. As a short disclaimer I'll just say that I transcribed this music by myself, and as such it may or may not be accurate or correct.... but it probably is =)

So Much 2 Say
Original Track - iTunes • •
Super Slow - MP3 @ 50% • MP3 @ 35%

Filed in: Audio • Music • Transcription