total beginner -- electronic music plus sax solo

[Giganova]

hiya,

I am a newbie so please excuse my dumb question ..
Here's my idea: i wanna create my own ELECTRONIC music
(drum & bass, jungle, 'lounge music' ...) and put own my TENOR SAX
solo on top of it. Should sound a bit like "Dimitri from Paris", "Hotel Contes",
"Thievery Corporation" or "Kruder & Dorfmeister" ...
(guess I have to aim high to achive anything ;-)

Just started to get some gear:
- Yamaha MD8 8-track minidisk recorder (couldn't afford a decent hard disk recorder)
- Roland EM-1 synthesizer
- Marantz professional dual well CD recorder (for mastering)
- Gemini professional amp & speakers (for monitoring)
- Sennheiser headphones (for mixing)
- Senneheiser mic for vocals
- clip-on mic for tenor sax
- computer (laptop!) with ACID and FruitLoop/FruitTracks with CD-burner

I will also get mic-preamps, and effects processor and a second synth soon.

The idea is that I create various 'loops' with me synths, record and
mix them on my 8-track recorder, put my tenor sax solos on another
track, mix it down and edit the stuff on my computer (add some effects,
scratch, vocal loops, whatever ...).

What is your opinion on that setup?
Will I be able to create that kind of electronic music I like????
Please help me cuz I don't want to spend a lot of buxx on the
wrong setup or months figuring out that that's the wrong way to
do it ...

Another question: how do I hook up my laptop to the mixer
so I can edit the stuff with ACID or SoundForge? Right now
I am mastering everything on CD and copy the tracks from CD
to my computer.

Thanks a lot!!

 

[Roel]

I'm gonna listen to it when I get home from work. We need sax players here. Alot of 'em. We gots a plan to conquer the world. We'll keeps ya informed.

Check out Lt. Bob's tunes too! He's goooood.

 

[SPINSTERWUN]

.....Another question: how do I hook up my laptop to the mixer
.....

mixer OUT to laptop IN. Probably, RCA to 1/8" stereo male patch cable.

 

[Roel]

I'm gonna listen to it when I get home from work

Obviously, I wasn't all that wide awaken this morning.

- Gemini professional amp & speakers (for monitoring)
- Sennheiser headphones (for mixing)

hmmmmmmm.... Headphones for mixing? That's no good. You need closed headphones to record your sax and voice, but mixing in them is no good...

- Senneheiser mic for vocals
- clip-on mic for tenor sax
Which clip on? You already got that? The best thing here would be to buy a nice (big diaphragm) condensor for both saxes and voice. And a voice channel. Both sax and vocals can use some compression at times, and a good micpre is always nice.

One extra note, the quality of the convertors on your laptop is not gonna do your music any good...

 

[Giganova]

ok you are right: headphones for the recording and the studio monitors for mixing.
That makes sense

One thing I never understood:
why would I want to use a mic preamp for the sax solos and vocals and
COMPRESS the signal later?

As for the clip on mic, I use an "SD modular mic" which clips on the bell of the sax.
This gives me large freedom to move while I am playing and recording myself.
It has an "LMD 94" dynamical capsule specifically designed for the high air pressure
of a sax. Sounds great!

You are right that there is a significant quality loss of I create loops on my laptop
(with ACID or FruityLoops) based on my wav recordings if I convert them again.
However, what choice do I have if I want to add some effects and more tracks?
Do you suggest I should mix everything on my multitrack recorder, master from
there and simply forget about my laptop?

I consider getting a decent synth. Do you have any recommendations for a
relatively small budget? I am thinking about getting an MS2000 ($749 for the
keyboard version or $499 for the rack unit) or an Oberheim OM12 ($799).
Any suggestions which synth might be best for electronic music (drum & bass;
acid jazz or 'lounge music')?

thanks a lot!!

 

[Roel]

Maybe look into a decent audio card for your laptop (there are some things available these days... usb thingies etc...).

This will allow you to record on your laptop directly with better quality than your minidisk. (I worked with one of those 4 tracks, not a big fan of those.) A nice software package will allow much more editing etc too... And you can burn your cd's directly from there, or take that new laptop-audio thingies output and go from there to the cdrecorder. Better quality everywhere in your chain!

The micpre takes the signal from your mic, and amplifies it to line signal. Whenever you use a mic, the next thing in the signalchain should always be a micpre. (There are micpre's for every xlr input in your mixer....) So after that, there is the compressor, that takes some dynamics out of your signal. That's a bad thing. But not necessarily, you need to take some out because the dynamic range of your synth sounds is way less than that of a voice or sax, so if you don't want your voice/sax to drown in there at times, use a compressor.

I don't know the mic you mentionned. But still, a nice big diaphragm condensor, or a MD421 or... Alot of choices here... Sigh...

 

[Lt. Bob]

Saxophones will rule the WORLD!!!!

BWAAAaa--hahaha---hahaha!!!!!!

 

[Giganova]

thanks a lot for you great advice, Roel!
Guess I should browse for some new gear *sigh* ...