Dance help please!

[ChemicalBrother]

Ok kids, heres the deal, got a small favour to ask. Ive been into dance for as long as I can remember, and have collected a vast quantity of music over the years. Mixing has become a second nature, but I want to take it further. I want to start producing music of my own. I got loads of good ideas, things I wana sample etc, but have no ide what the basic equipment is that I need and what its gonna set me back.

If anyone could let me in on it that would be great. (Im cakewalk and cubase VST literate) thanks for ur time!

 

[elevate]

If you're familiar with Cakewalk and Cubase, that should really be enough to get you started. Aside from that, you need a good way to hear what you're doing, ie - monitors. Give us some more info to go off of, like, what gear/computer stuff do you already have?

 

[ChemicalBrother]

okies, well, I have access to nearly any music software on the market, from protools to cakewalk etc, but....as of yet, I am completely new to protools, my friends bringing it back from Uni for me. I don't have any midi instruments except for a terrible keyboard. Got a 600mhz PC, 312mb ram and a 30gb hard drive. 1210's and a numark mixer. Creative labs soundcard arriving in a month for bday and cambridge audio 5.1 system. no sperates except for an amplified.

Any clearer? hope that helps!

 

[elevate]

Ok, for starters, you don't need Pro Tools. If you're already comfortable with Cakewalk and Cubase, then you should probably stick with those - unless of course you want to learn Pro Tools. If I were you, I would nix the Soundblaster card and get an M-Audio Audiophile 2496. Do you already have the Cambridge speakers? If not, I'd nix those and find some cheap monitors. Those sub & satellite systems aren't going to give you an honest representation of what you're music is sounding like - lots of treble, lacking mids, no mid-bass, inaccurate bass. You can use the Cambridges to monitor, but you will probably run into difficulty getting your stuff to sound good on other systems due to the frequencies that aren't being represented on your speakers.
Does your keyboard have a MIDI out? If so, it'll probably work pretty good as a MIDI controller. Go search for some VST instruments that you can load into Cubase (or Fruity Loops - a program I recommend you check out). There's tons of free synths, samplers, and drum machines you can load and operate with your keyboard.

 

[ChemicalBrother]

The cambridges are part of the Dvd system, so their on the wall, and know exactly what you mean about poor frequency representation, as far as musics concerned, its loses some of its overall quality. Ive seen fruity loops before at college, but never really had time to get to grips with it. Is it for samples and stuff or is it just for producing drum loops etc? Pro tools is just a program a friend offered to me. Ive got all summer to waste so I'll probably get to grips with it at some point, but as far as the music thing goes, I'll stick to the stuff I know for now. Im also fairly affinitave with cooledt pro which may come in useful.

The keyboard has midi out, its some huge technics electric piano that my Mum bought, but its sounds are dire so I'll need to grab some from somewhere, any advice on where the best sites lie?

I really appreciate your time on this, thanks, its a great help, what music you into producing/listening to.

 

[barefoot]

If you're producing dance music you should seriously look at Acid Pro. It can do virtually everything any multitrack recording software can do, plus it's unmatched for working with loops.... and probably has the best time stretching algorithm on the market.

With my old version of Acid I used to pre stretch everything in Prosoniq TimeWorks because it sounded better (bit of a pain in the ass). No more. Acid Pro 3.0 time stretching now sounds even better than Prosoniq.

The only down side is that, while you can import and arrange midi files, you can't directly edit them in Acid.

barefoot

 

[DJTonyMOMO]

Now are you looking......................

Now are you looking to work with just Computer programs or are you looking into purchasing like Synths and samplers and so on. Get back to me

 

[barefoot]

The keyboard has midi out, its some huge technics electric piano that my Mum bought, but its sounds are dire so I'll need to grab some from somewhere, any advice on where the best sites lie?

As far as sound sources, that somewhat depends on the type of music you want to make. You can get software based sampler/sequencer/synths like Reaktor and Reason. I personally think these lend themselves to fairly straightforward 4x4 House, Techno and Trance styles, so this is a good way to go if that's what you want to produce. I'm more into Ambient, Breaks, and Drum&Bass, all with rolling slithering bass lines and groovy syncopated beats. I haven't had any luck with these types of programs.

The vast majority of sounds you'll find online are of poor quality. You say you have and extensive music collection. Well that's one of your primary sources right there. If it's vinyl, then a good soundcard becomes even more important since you have to record those analog sounds. CDs are very easy to sample. You just put the disc in your CD-ROM and rip to a .wav file with one of the many cheap or free apps out there. Acid can rip from CD (and maybe DVD?) directly and also has a great beatmapping utility.

Samples can get you very far but you'll pretty quickly discover, as I did, that you also need a synth - especially for bass and pads. Like I said, soft synths are fairly limited and none of them sound particularly great, save for maybe the soft Access Virus which requires Pro Tools, a Mac, and a Pro Tools dsp card.... so that's not a good choice for a PC user. Your mum's keyboard may work nicely as a midi controller, especially if it has a pitch wheel. Then all you need is a sound module like the Novation A-Station or the Korg MS2000R.

Anyhow, let us know what particular style(s) you're into and we can help guide you even further.

barefoot