Transcripton Software For Music

I put Song Surgeon to the test using the tune, “One Finger Snap” by Herbie Hancock, as performed by Kenny Barron from Kenny’s 1994 Wanton Spirit CD. I saved the tune as a wav file from the CD using the Song Surgeon tool options. I started playing the wav file using the tool, identified the segment I wanted to transcribe, then selected the first 20 seconds of the solo. I then saved this solo segment at 50% of the original tempo and copied that segment to a CD. I was then able to play the CD with the slowed segment in my portable CD player atop of the piano, pulled out some score paper and a pencil, and began transcribing the solo. I am pleased to say I was able to transcribe this section accurately in a few minutes.

As a Jazz pianist and musician, I found Song Surgeon to be very good for transcribing solos and voicings. A song can be slowed down to any speed without changing the pitch. The tool allows you to select any segment of the song and then adjust it's speed and pitch. You can then play the new segment at the slower speed, and easily hear the notes the soloist is playing and write down the notes on score paper if desired. Once you mastered that segment or passage, you can move on to the next segment.

I like the fact that the pitch remains the same despite the speed. You can also decrease the speed of the segment even further, or increase the speed to its original tempo.

You can select any section of the song for any length, then save it as a loop. This is great for very tricky or fast sections.

I am anxious to apply it to other solos I’ve wanted to learn by musicians like Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Bill Evans and Bud Powell.

At the beginning of the year, six of my playing friends and I decided to form a group. We range on both sides of “intermediate” in our ability to play, but we enjoy music and each other’s company.

I found that Song Surgeon is a valuable tool in helping all seven of us to “get on the same page”. Very quickly I learned that the “loop” feature has some really valuable benefits.

First, it allows one to isolate the “hard” part, slow it down, and save it as its own file so that you can practice that part over and over. But more importantly, for our new group, it allows me to save as an MP3 file, a separate loop for each instrument’s break, at the reduced speed. I then can email these MP3 files to each member of the group for them to be able to practice their own parts.

The looping feature allows all of us to be able to learn the parts more accurately and to then be able to put them together when we get together.

This is a phenomenal product, and for me, allows me to slow down a song, and play along with it, as if I was involved in a jam. I then can work on “coming in” on my part, or work on the lead, or work on the back-up.

What a great tool!