interested in making music / laying down vocals

[ground beef]

good evening.

it's always been a dream of mine to make music.

the only problem is i'm a beginner in all aspects of recording.

i guess my first question is: where do i begin?

i was thinking of going to soundclick.com to find beats that i like that i can lease or purchase (not sure how all of that works) and then using a microphone to lay down my lyrics.

when i "purchase" or "lease" do i receive an mp3 of said beat and use a program to mix the vocals in?

i know there's a lot more to it than that but i'd like to have some sort of a stepping stone to see where i can begin...

if there is anybody that is willing to help me out i'd greatly appreciate it. i know we all have to start somewhere... and i figure this would be a good place to gather insight and knowledge.

and maybe collaborate!

thanks much,
ground beef

[definitesupreme]

if you ever need to cop a beat fam.

right here. myspace.com/defsup

hahaha

look into these programs to get you started:

Adobe Audition (or Cool Edit Pro)
Sony Acid

What you do is insert your beat into one track and record your vocals on another track. Use a program such as Adobe Audition.

(For your reference: A "TRACK" in this case is a seperate layer of audio. Put one track with your vocals over a track with just the beat... and what you have when you render it into an mp3 is the seamless finished product (Your vocals over a beat).

[mentalattica]

^Agreed.

Not to confuse you but mixdown to a wav instead of a mp3 and convert it to a mp3 for internet purposes. When your going to burn a song to disc always burn 44100 Sample Rate 16bit wav files, which is also refered to as red book standard (if you ever come across the term red book).

I know a lot of people who recorded their songs 24bit, and get mad because when they burn them they don't play. Hope I didn't get too far ahead of you.

[bknot1]

ok since your new to making music..im goin to tell you this simple and easy way to start..

READ some book that we recommend in the BOOK thread on here.. now before you go out spending hundreds of $$ of programs and hardware you dont know anything about try usin the Free recordings program - Audacity and learn what you will be doin..

JMO.. never record on MP3s unless its the only file you can get..when you purchase a beat/track from someone they should send your the .wav file of the beat/track or the beat/track tracked out in individual .wav files for you..so you can mix your vocals to the beat better... when they send you a mp3 it will be hard to make you vocals sit well in the mix ..unless you can mix and edit and compress really damn well..

just things to think about when purchasing beats/tracks ..

lookin to here your work..when you done..

and welcome to the site..stay active and network..stay up..peace

[ground beef]

Originally Posted by definitesupreme

if you ever need to cop a beat fam.

right here. myspace.com/defsup

hahaha

look into these programs to get you started:

Adobe Audition (or Cool Edit Pro)
Sony Acid

What you do is insert your beat into one track and record your vocals on another track. Use a program such as Adobe Audition.

(For your reference: A "TRACK" in this case is a seperate layer of audio. Put one track with your vocals over a track with just the beat... and what you have when you render it into an mp3 is the seamless finished product (Your vocals over a beat).

thanks. appreciate the help already!

[ground beef]

Originally Posted by mentalattica

^Agreed.

Not to confuse you but mixdown to a wav instead of a mp3 and convert it to a mp3 for internet purposes. When your going to burn a song to disc always burn 44100 Sample Rate 16bit wav files, which is also refered to as red book standard (if you ever come across the term red book).

I know a lot of people who recorded their songs 24bit, and get mad because when they burn them they don't play. Hope I didn't get too far ahead of you.

got it. start as a wav, and then convert to mp3.

thanks for the terminology, i'm sure that will be useful later on as well.

and no, didn't get too far ahead... thank you!

[ground beef]

Originally Posted by bknot1

ok since your new to making music..im goin to tell you this simple and easy way to start..

READ some book that we recommend in the BOOK thread on here.. now before you go out spending hundreds of $$ of programs and hardware you dont know anything about try usin the Free recordings program - Audacity and learn what you will be doin..

JMO.. never record on MP3s unless its the only file you can get..when you purchase a beat/track from someone they should send your the .wav file of the beat/track or the beat/track tracked out in individual .wav files for you..so you can mix your vocals to the beat better... when they send you a mp3 it will be hard to make you vocals sit well in the mix ..unless you can mix and edit and compress really damn well..

just things to think about when purchasing beats/tracks ..

lookin to here your work..when you done..

and welcome to the site..stay active and network..stay up..peace

thanks... if i find something i like i will ask for the .wav file then... if i "lease" the beat what is the difference from purchasing it?

when i finish recording i will definitely let you guys know.

by the way, should i pick up a shure sm57 mic? i've heard good things about it. any recommendations for a preamp?

[bknot1]

basic meanings that you find on the sellers sites

NON- Exclusive(leasing)- you can use the beat..but understand that the beat can be licensed to others artist as well

Exclusive- can be the right to use(only you) or outright sold to you

[ground beef]

Originally Posted by bknot1

basic meanings that you find on the sellers sites

NON- Exclusive(leasing)- you can use the beat..but understand that the beat can be licensed to others artist as well

Exclusive- can be the right to use(only you) or outright sold to you

makes sense, thanks. will let you guys know if i have any other "newbie" questions.

appreciate all the help.

-ground beef

[bknot1]

we are here to answer what we can for you..//