Music Visualization: What You Need to Know!

As an indie musician, you’ve got a lot of choices in recording equipment, as well as various pieces of software to help refine your tracks.  One such piece of equipment that’s often overlooked is a good visualizer.

Whether you’re using a hardware-based analysis system, or just running your tracks through an iPad studio, music visualization can help you in several ways!

 

Recording Equipment Investments: What Visualization Does For You

1 – Fine-tune your performances.

Visualization is great as a training and evaluation tool.  Running a track through a visualizer can quickly identify pitch or rhythmic problems that might be overlooked.

Similarly, if you’re experimenting with free jazz semitones or other “avant garde” tricks outside the standard scales, a visualizer helps you to know whether you nailed that quarter-tone, or if it’s more of a fifth-tone instead.

2 – Get an overview.

A recording sent through visualization software can be turned into musical notation, or placed on the sort of grids common to sequencers and trackers.  Like a conductor’s master score for a symphony, you can see all of your songs at once.

This can help you spot areas that need more production.  A track with mostly alto and bass parts, for example, is going to tend to sound “spacey.”  Visualizing it could help you see the best places to add some treble for balance.

3 – Make it part of your art.

Ever since creative beatniks started squirting food color on overhead projectors in the 60s, weird light shows have been a constant part of live music.  Even the most simple piece of visualization software can be used to provide interesting effects for your live shows, or to add material for your videos.

Having visualizations of your music lying around is perfect material to add into virtually any video presentation.

Get Visual!

Music may be largely auditory, but visuals can help every step of the way.  If you add a visualizer to your list of recording equipment or software, you’ll add an extra layer of polish and appeal!

How do you use a visualizer?  Share your tips below!

 

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