Computer Music & Home Studios

I've just moved back to the area and I'm looking for anybody interested in making music on the computer, or home recording to exchange ideas.

Hi DM Im originally from Thurso but in Aberdeen now. Im thinking of the same but haven't started yet. Anyway, what music package/program do you use or what do you recommend?

Hi there I am a musician in Canada and I just read your post. I use an aardvark direct pro 24/96 to record to my computer (700mghz celeron processor) I use Cakewalks sonar and as the multitrack recording platform. this setup works great. If you have any questions email me at runruh@escape.ca and I will try to answere.

I have had great results using this setup.



cheers R

[para]

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MMMMM why are the smilies not working for me??????

aww directmaster are you the guy pioneering the happyhardcore re-revolution?

[lol]

So what sort of tunes are you making anyway.... if its dance, propellerheads reason is the way to go.... or if you want more power get your self a copy of emagics logic sequencer and get loads of plugins and virtual instuments.

of the sound card front, terratec do an exelent card for about £130

I use Cubase mostly with vst instruments just now.....lost my reason cd :~(

Need to save some money and get sorted out for recording!

our band was wonderin if any one cud help us make our recordings sound better?
we recorded them on a four track in a garage an the came out not bad but was wonderin if there was any software a cud download 2 make them sound a bit more profesional?
if you want 2 download the songs to see if there is anything we can do with them check out our site www.sux.shorturl.com theres also more info about the recordings which mite help?
Cheers

:eyes

:D Please read the EDGE OF THE WORLD heading on this forum, all music interests are being saught for feedback and support for a possible reveval of Caithness's biggest gig event.

:o)

I'd support Edge of the World coming back - at least in its original (free) wrapping.

As far as making music with a computer is concerned - it dosen't sound tooo good with strings over it - it makes a much better sound if you hit it with something :D

Seriously though, I've got lost of recordings to CD and would take advice on how best to sell them to a small audience.

Hi

if you guys are doing dance tracks u should get them up on

www.mp3.com

u can get a free membership (which means your songs take a little longer to get authorised) but when they are up people can play them streaming audio or download and check them out (you can controll that option so they cant d/load)

u can put up artwork.....gigs..the lot

if you's do, update this thread with your link ur mp3.com page and get some local feedback....

u will be surprised who listens to your toons and mails you, people from all over the planet.

p.s. toons have to be ALL original....trust me....lol

I set up a home studio here in Orkney based on a self-build high performance PC (doesn't have to be but does help if it is). I bought all my PC parts from www.microdirect.co.uk

The PC build cost around £500 all told, and has performed excellently so far.
I then got myself a Terratec DMX6 24/96 sound card which fits neatly into any spare CD-Rom bay on the front of the PC. Set me back around £179 online. Together with this I bought a Eurorack MX 2004A mixing desk for vocals and guitar, though the Terratec allows you to directly plug your instrument or microphone directly into the front of the soundcard, and a desk isn't strictly required really. I then bought and set up sound monitoring through a relatively cheap (but excellent) Pioneer A-209 Amplifier, into a pair of Mission M73 speakers. My microphone is an AKG C1000S which produces excellent results, but any half-decent microphone retailing £60 - £100 would do.

Midi instruments (which are numerous, and most of which are virtual and reside on my PC's hard disk) were triggered using a £100 (velocity sensitive) keyboard which plugs into the 'Midi In' port on the DMX6 card. The various triggered samples are handled by an integrated virtual sampler called an EXS24, and the studio software package running on the PC is called Logic Audio 5, which is the PC based entry level home recording software produced by the E-Magic Corporation (who incidentally have recently been bought by Steinberg I believe, which has raised certain issues about how much this software will be updated/upgraded and supported in the future, as it directly competes with some of Steinberg's own products).

I've added to my sample library continuously: You can do this by downloading samples from the internet (there are literally thousands upon thousands of them if you are willing to trawl through all the sites and listen to all the samples) or you can buy them commercially online. What you'll usually get from an online company is a cd packed with quality samples. Take drums as an example: I splashed out £200 on drum samples alone, and you'd be quite amazed at the quality and flexibility you get for your money. The songs I have produced sound very professional (if anything else!). Incidentally, I didn't buy an expensive guitar processor unit. I use my little pocket Korg pandora PX4 through the mixing desk and in full stereo with excellent results. There is also a VST plug-in called Steinberg Amplitube which models every great amplifier sound set-up of the last 40 years and is an amazing piece of software. It retails at around £250 last time I looked.

All in all, for an outlay of perhaps £2000, you can have a near-professional quality studio of 24 tracks or more, sitting in your home. As an older musician, I've been blown away by the quality it produces, and how relatively easy (once you've read the wedge-sized manual!) it is to put together high quality songs. You can layer vocals Queen-style and add a whole host of excellent effects. Whilst not necessarily endorsing solely what I own here, I can certainly vouch for the huge advances that have been made in recent years. I probably have a studio set-up now that is the equal of any professional set-up from 20-25 years ago, and you could fit it all into a washing machine sized box!