Posted in: Music Making by Jay Taylor on September 6th, 2009 | 2 Comments
A basic guide to recording music on a budget.
It could actually be within your reach. As a musician I believe that anyone can make songs with a little know-how and that all important inspiration.
GEAR
Despite the multi-million dollar recording studios that the pros use, you can create a good quality studio for a surprisingly small outlay. Many people swear by hugely expensive power pcs and incredulously priced Macs.
With a basic PC (at least a 2gb processor and 1gb ram) you have the basics for your recording studio.
A soundcard and/or audio interface is paramount and the even cheap ones (around $100) can provide you with a decent enough sound quality to start your recording tasks. As long as you have inputs for XLR (with phantom power) and 1/4inch instrument inputs, you’re ready to go.
Although room sound treatment is a bonus, it’s not essential as long as you have an isolated room, away from traffic noise, the tv and moaning spouses/siblings/housemates.
A decent studio microphone is necessary and a good quality condenser microphone needn’t cost you more than $160. The SE2200a has always been a quality microphone, but even $50 condensers can easily suffice.
SOFTWARE
Many DAW softwares are priced in the hundreds of dollars and from experience can be a baffling ordeal, particularly for the beginner. However programs like acoustica mixcraft provide a fully-functioning audio and midi workstation with easy to use controls and surprising power. The key to utilising the software is the quality of virtual instruments and effects that you use.
There are huge databases of free plugins available for download that include quality reverbs, eqs, midi synths, compressors, midi choirs and orchestras. Anything you could ever need!
INSTRUMENTS
Obviously acoustic instruments can never realistically be replaced by midi, or can they.
Midi has a decent reputation for replicating orchestral strings, piano, choirs, drums although brass and guitars always seem a little off the mark.
If you can’t afford to shell out for an expensive electric drum kit ( and acoustic drums are a pain to record), there are a plethora of drum libraries out there, both single shot ( so you can create your own beats) and loops. You can find thousands of free samples on the internet and you need not fork out for expensive libraries.
ImanAzlan September 22nd, 2009 at 11:30 am
Great work dude. I always wondered which should come first. lol.
Hello September 26th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Soundfonts are better than midi and you don’t have to get a special soundcard to use them. Lmms will use them no matter what soundcard you have. You obviously have to have one that will let you hear the music though.