Recording album information

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SeeingRed

New member
All I need to know is if I wanted to record an album from home, what will I need? How much will it cost? Can you make your voice sound better with certain programmes? And Im using a few beats from un released songs from other artists, can I change this beats to make them sound original?

Thanks for the help
 
You'd best start perusing the Newbies part of this forum.
There are so many variables including, but not limited to: the type of music you want to record, what equipment you have already, your budget, etc.
 
SeeingRed said:
All I need to know is if I wanted to record an album from home, what will I need? How much will it cost? Can you make your voice sound better with certain programmes? And Im using a few beats from un released songs from other artists, can I change this beats to make them sound original?

Thanks for the help
Click to expand...


All you need is a recording studio and an engineer. Beats can be cut up and shuffled to sound different. I imagine the cost to be around $125,000 or so. You can fine Steve Albini's phone number online. Pretty simple question, really.
 
My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/04...mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470385421
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Another good one is: Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Gui...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at www.tapeop.com

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics and have good tips:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/168409-tips-techniques.html

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig: http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info: http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books: http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) and NOT quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and user-tested suggestions that work: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)
Another good article: Choosing an audio interface - http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep08/articles/audiointerfaces.htm


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Sony ACID Express (free 10-track sequencer): http://www.acidplanet.com/downloads/xpress/
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com/smm

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $50 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)
 
SeeingRed said:
All I need to know is if I wanted to record an album from home, what will I need? How much will it cost? Can you make your voice sound better with certain programmes? And Im using a few beats from un released songs from other artists, can I change this beats to make them sound original?

Thanks for the help
Click to expand...

The part in bold? Don't do that. Copyright laws exist for a reason.

Without knowing what it is you're looking to record, it's awfully hard to answer your question. Vocals, obviously, but are you also recording instruments? Electronic or acoustic? Also, what's the room like you're working in?

There are plugins out there that can make your voice sound different, but making it sound "better" is something you need to get down while tracking - the right performance, the right mic, in the right acoustic space.

Long story short, you can record on a shoestring budget and make a "record" if you're not overly concerned with "pro" sound - I do instrumental guitar music, and my first recordings were done with an old computer mic and a demo of Sonic Foundry Acid 2.0, which was new back then. However, if you want a sleek, pro production, you're going to want to spend a LOT of money. I pale compared to a lot of guys on this board, but between mics, interfaces, monitors, and software, I'm definitely already up to a couple grand, and I haven't even finished my album yet. :laughings:
 
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