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novelic

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Hey, can anyone hook me up with some info for a fresh starter? For now, I'm basically wanting to record on my pc... I was thinkin' about gettin' cakewalk '04? But I wanted to ask someone that had experience... Any info would be great. I got some great speakers w/ subwoofer, and know I will need a mic & headphones... But I need to know what program could give me some quality music/sound... And which is easier to vocal over, etc.

Thanks
 
Biggest question is budget. How much do you want to spend?

Secondly, it needs to be made clear to you (and to many others) that it isn't the software that makes the music sound good, it is your signal chain: mic/preamp/soundcard/how you edit it/ mixing. The software just replaces lots of hardware in the real world, but Cakewalk 2004, Cubasis, etc etc, there really is not much difference, it is all about which is easier for you to use. And, ultimately, besides the signal chain, it all really depends on how good the player/song is.

Sorry, I know that doesn't help alot, but it sounds like you are just getting started, and before you spend a dime, do a lot of reading here and elsewhere. Be clear as to waht you are trying to achieve, and be sure you know how much you can afford to spend. I would say "Go for Protools", but then you would need $10K to get all the stuff to make it work well. Or I might suggest, Homestudio for a hundred bucks or so.
 
Thanks for responding so quickly!!! And Thanks for clearin' up some stuff for me, I see this was a good thing to do. I guess I could start out with somethin' like Homestudio, then move up. I really just want to get the hang of things, and go from there. I am definately willing to upgrade my hardware, soundcard, etc... So would Homestudio be a good start for a begginger like me? I've fooled around with stuff like the Fruityloops 4 demo, and it was okay... But I wasn't sure if that is somethin' I should go with.... I wanted somethin' more equal to music creation & vocals... I'm open to any information you can offer me.
cstockdale said:
Biggest question is budget. How much do you want to spend?

Secondly, it needs to be made clear to you (and to many others) that it isn't the software that makes the music sound good, it is your signal chain: mic/preamp/soundcard/how you edit it/ mixing. The software just replaces lots of hardware in the real world, but Cakewalk 2004, Cubasis, etc etc, there really is not much difference, it is all about which is easier for you to use. And, ultimately, besides the signal chain, it all really depends on how good the player/song is.

Sorry, I know that doesn't help alot, but it sounds like you are just getting started, and before you spend a dime, do a lot of reading here and elsewhere. Be clear as to waht you are trying to achieve, and be sure you know how much you can afford to spend. I would say "Go for Protools", but then you would need $10K to get all the stuff to make it work well. Or I might suggest, Homestudio for a hundred bucks or so.
Click to expand...
 
most packages offer free download trial versions that have certain limitations (maybe not saving, or random beeps in the tracks), but try a few out, and see which one feels the best to you, they are all different, and some will be easier to use than others. And the best advice I can give is RTFM (read the f**king manual), seriously, sit down with the manaul or on-line tutorials and do them.
 
cstockdale said:
most packages offer free download trial versions that have certain limitations (maybe not saving, or random beeps in the tracks), but try a few out, and see which one feels the best to you, they are all different, and some will be easier to use than others. And the best advice I can give is RTFM (read the f**king manual), seriously, sit down with the manaul or on-line tutorials and do them.
Click to expand...

Alright thanks. I'm not having much searchin' luck as far as finding somethin' that produces beats, music, etc... But I'll keep lookin' and will definately read the manual!
 
wait, do you want something that records music that you play on instruments you already have, or do you want something that creates music, or some combination of the two?

This is why I said "be clear about what you are trying to achieve", there is a world of difference between wanting to create a great album of laid back acoustic songs with some other instruments accompanying you as you sing, and wanting to do big beat a la The Chemical Brothers. The tools needed to achieve those things are very different.
 
cstockdale said:
wait, do you want something that records music that you play on instruments you already have, or do you want something that creates music, or some combination of the two?

This is why I said "be clear about what you are trying to achieve", there is a world of difference between wanting to create a great album of laid back acoustic songs with some other instruments accompanying you as you sing, and wanting to do big beat a la The Chemical Brothers. The tools needed to achieve those things are very different.
Click to expand...

First let me say, thanks for takin' the time to help. Second, I really want to go for somethin' that will create music... "big beat a la, The Chemical Brothers," type thing. I guess there after creatin' a song, I could find a program that could assist me in recordin'. But right now, I'm lookin' for somethin' that would create... w/ just more than drums, etc... Like I said, I toyed with the Fruityloops program for a while... But the eval. version, didn't leave much to the imagination... However, the full package seems to have a lot goin' for it. I see that cakewalk has a "music creator" also.
 
Reason is a good one, but you can't record into it, but you can use it to start with and then add additional software as necessary.

Ditto for Project 5 which is by Cakewalk.

Neither are particularly cheap, but you get what you pay for.
 
I suggest a keyboard that has sampler and sequencer capability, then a 4 track cassette recorder. Got it?
 
hmm

It's startin' to look like a recording studio would be easier... Hopefully I can work soemthin' out w/ a few programs. Money is really no issue, I just wanted somethin' easy to get started/learn w/.
 
go to www.cakewalk.com and download the trial version of Project 5, if money is no issue, running Sonar and Project 5 together will give you tons of flexibility, you will need a MIDI controller keyboard, however, but you can get inexpensive ones that do the job. However, you will also need a decent soundcard in your machine to keep latency low (delay between pressing a key on your keyboard and hearing the sound), anything more than 5-10ms in latency is essentially unworkable.

You are about to catch the horrible gear disease... I was once like you and I am in over $10K deep now.
 
cstockdale said:
go to www.cakewalk.com and download the trial version of Project 5, if money is no issue, running Sonar and Project 5 together will give you tons of flexibility, you will need a MIDI controller keyboard, however, but you can get inexpensive ones that do the job. However, you will also need a decent soundcard in your machine to keep latency low (delay between pressing a key on your keyboard and hearing the sound), anything more than 5-10ms in latency is essentially unworkable.

You are about to catch the horrible gear disease... I was once like you and I am in over $10K deep now.
Click to expand...

Woo, that's a lot of dough... I definately don't wanna be 10K negative... If what I research doesn't work out, I'll have to get myself into a studio.
 
novelic said:
Woo, that's a lot of dough... I definately don't wanna be 10K negative...
Click to expand...

You still haven't shared with us the amount of money you are willing to spend.
 
it is 10K because it started with an acoustic guitar, then an amp for it, then a mic, then PC dedicated to recording, then software, tehn a mixer, then more software, then PC upgrades, then more mics, external effects units, more guitars, amplifiers, guitar FX boxes, dual video monitors, nearfield studio audio monitors etc etc etc.
 
When people say they have spent 10K on the studio it is not much in reality.. your studio will grow over time... just working out roughtly what i've spent.. (all prices in Australia)

$1200 Takamine Classical Guitar (was a gift)
$400 Roland SC-550st
$400 Roland monitors
$400 Squire Telecaster
$400 Marshall Amp
$1000 Maton Steel String Guitar
$1900 Roland VS-840 (retired)
$400 Alesis SR-16 Drum Machine
$1000 Roland JV-1010 sound module
$300 Monteary Bass Guitar
$400 Rode NT-3 SD Condenser Mic
$500 Rode NT-2 LD Condenser Mic
$90 Beringher Dynamic Mic
$1500 Music Software
$1800 Sound Card (Edirol DA-2496 - 8 I/O)
$2000 Kawai Electric Piano
$250 Cables
Total $13940 (which works out to be about $10850 USD)

I think that is about eveything I've got, I might be missing a couple of things.

One thing I left out of that equation is my computer (OS and other peripherals which I bought over the years). I'd hate to think how much I've spent on that.

My wife got mad at me when I bought a $500 microphone.. I'm just glad she hasn't done the maths yet of the rest of the gear ;-)

Porter
 
If you want to mix music, ACID has a very nice software called
XPress that allows you to play with loops and also use it as a track recorder. It's free, perfect for trials and you can download new loops at sony.com. I use this with Sound Forge and found it very useful. I have very basic equipment and it works fine. Good luck, I found that you have to read the manual as the learning curve is pretty high. Have fun!!

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/download/Step2.asp?DID=155
 
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Bentup said:
If you want to mix music, ACID has a very nice software called
XPress that allows you to play with loops and also use it as a track recorder. It's free, perfect for trials and you can download new loops at sony.com. I use this with Sound Forge and found it very useful. I have very basic equipment and it works fine. Good luck, I found that you have to read the manual as the learning curve is pretty high. Have fun!!

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/download/Step2.asp?DID=155
Click to expand...

Thanks, I really appreciate the help! I think I may go for FL studio... The package seems to be decent enough to create music, & record...
 
I use FLStudio Producer, and it's pretty awesome! Strange program in a lot of ways, though. The basic features are easy to learn, and it's fun to tweak, but this is a DEEP program, and the more advanced stuff is not always easy to figure out. Documentation on the more advanced feature sets is pretty sparse too, but their forum is very useful for questions. You can't beat free lifetime upgrades, either!
 
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