Reply to: Music producing software?

[Cliphead]

Have just bought one of these, what a cool little bit of kit - its absolutely teeny but sounds really great!! They do a few guitar ones too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plug-Bass-Po.../dp/B001GH4H3W

Bought it mainly for practice in front of the telly but reviews said people were using them as pre-amps for recording into software with good results so going to give it a whirl.

That looks very interesting. It uses amp modelling so it won't sound like your own amp but could be useful for recording.

[Durbs]

How do you want to record your bass? Mic'd amp, DI'd?

Have just bought one of these, what a cool little bit of kit - its absolutely teeny but sounds really great!! They do a few guitar ones too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plug-Bass-Po.../dp/B001GH4H3W

Bought it mainly for practice in front of the telly but reviews said people were using them as pre-amps for recording into software with good results so going to give it a whirl.

[doodab]

You might want to check out cockos reaper, free to try and very cheap:

http://www.cockos.com/reaper/

(note: I am a cubase user myself but I've heard many good reports about it)

Also have a look at www.soundonsound.com, there is a ton of helpful advice on there.

[NickFitz]

GarageBand.

[Cliphead]

Don't know really, i use a very old Roland Cube amp that i very much like the sound of so replicating that as closely as possible would be ideal - so i guess mic'd?

All my previous recording stuff has been software only so don't know much at all about how to get a decent sound from a 'real' instrument. Have been to recording studios a few times with the old band but i was just playing the bass, haven't a clue what they did to make it sound good!

Might pick myself up a mic and see what happens.

It shouldn't be hard to get a decent sound but much depends on the type of mic. You could both mic the cabinet and DI and record to two seperate channels to get the full dynamic range. A mic on it's own might not get the full bottom end of the frequency spectrum so adding the DI'd signal into the mix would round out the sound a bit more.

You'd need to experiment with mic placement etc. Always a good idea when recording bass is to add a little compression to smooth out the levels especially if you're using a slapping technique. Without that some notes will seem louder or softer than others, compression will sort that out.

I bought a couple of these RV8's recently and they do a great job for the price;

Linky

With condensor mics you'll need 48v phantom power and a pre-amp so you can't just plugs these into a standard soundcard.

EDIT: Always record the signal flat - no EQ or effects, you can add those later.

[Durbs]

How do you want to record your bass? Mic'd amp, DI'd? Recording electric guitar I prefer to mic up the amp although the Marshal has a DI output that's supposed to provide the same sound you get from the speaker but I like the slight room ambience and better low end I get from the mic.

Don't know really, i use a very old Roland Cube amp that i very much like the sound of so replicating that as closely as possible would be ideal - so i guess mic'd?

All my previous recording stuff has been software only so don't know much at all about how to get a decent sound from a 'real' instrument. Have been to recording studios a few times with the old band but i was just playing the bass, haven't a clue what they did to make it sound good!

Might pick myself up a mic and see what happens.

[Cliphead]

Do you use the 'Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 box' for that?

I want to record my bass - is the external hardware and its effects noticeably better than using say the line-in on a half decent soundcard along with software effects?

I do use it for that, much cleaner audio and low latency monitoring which is important. I don't use any effects externally only VST's once in Sonar and to be honest I've never tried the bundled effects. The pre-amps in the box are excellent and do justice to the condenser's I've got permanently plugged in.

Front panel metering is useful as I can't always see what's happening with any on screen mixer. The mixing / routing software with the Saffire is superb too.

How do you want to record your bass? Mic'd amp, DI'd? Recording electric guitar I prefer to mic up the amp although the Marshal has a DI output that's supposed to provide the same sound you get from the speaker but I like the slight room ambience and better low end I get from the mic.

[Durbs]

I might simply record live guitar and vocals

Do you use the 'Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 box' for that?

I want to record my bass - is the external hardware and its effects noticeably better than using say the line-in on a half decent soundcard along with software effects?

[Durbs]

got anything you can share?

I'll dig 'em out later and see if they've aged well.

[voodooflux]

+1 for FL Studio (i used to use it years ago when it was Fruityloops v2 and produced one of the demo tracks that was shipped with it). Its a very slick app and simple to pick up yet very capable when you get under the hood.

Also a good recommendation for Computer Music mag (used to have a page from that framed over trap 2 at home where they reviewed my album!). As voodooflux says, they include some good stuff on the cover disc.

I once had a letter published in Computer Music - not nearly as much kudos as your contribution though

Wouldn't mind a listen to some of your stuff - got anything you can share?

[Cliphead]

That's the one!! I'll start with Songsmith and then go from there* when I get frustrated by it's limitations <flicks hair>

And since no-ones going to hear, no-ones going to laugh!

Thanks Cliphead!



(FL Studio probably. I don't play an instrument and I'm a crap singer - the only thing that is holding me back is my crippling curse of self-awareness! )

Let me know when you get Songsmith, I have a couple of extra songpacks you can have that'll give you more orchestral and synth sounds.

[cojak]

Where to start?

I use Sonar Producer as the main application for recording with countless VST plugins and instruments. Outboard I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 box with a couple of condenser mics attached, a CME UF70 keyboard (which has a controller pad), a Yamaha MIDI guitar and a Roland VS2400CD which I sometimes use to record audio and sometimes just use as a controller.

Most sequencing software works the same way, record external audio to a track and / or record MIDI data via a keyboard or controller.

For instance I might try some ideas with the keyboard so that gets a MIDI track recorded. I then assign a VST instrument to that so I get a high quality sampled sound like a Steinway piano (it could be anything I have samples for). I then render that track as audio and add effects like reverb etc.

I might simply record live guitar and vocals then add via MIDI bass, drums, strings and so on gradually building up the layers till I have a finished piece.

I also occasionally use Sibelius which is a score writer, add the dots to the stave as you would writing music with pen and paper. I then export the MIDI file, open up in Sonar and repeat the above.

Unless you want to play with loops which are just little slices of pre-recorded music that you can stitch together the above processes will be similar regardless of the software you choose to run.

Not cheap but you could run with Reason which I use occasionally, easy to use and has lots of great quality sounds but no VST support.

Or get a cheap mic and play with this;

Songsmith

Choose a style and sing, it creates an accompaniment for you. Cheesy but fun

That's the one!! I'll start with Songsmith and then go from there* when I get frustrated by it's limitations <flicks hair>

And since no-ones going to hear, no-ones going to laugh!

Thanks Cliphead!



(FL Studio probably. I don't play an instrument and I'm a crap singer - the only thing that is holding me back is my crippling curse of self-awareness! )

[Cliphead]

Where to start?

I use Sonar Producer as the main application for recording with countless VST plugins and instruments. Outboard I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 box with a couple of condenser mics attached, a CME UF70 keyboard (which has a controller pad), a Yamaha MIDI guitar and a Roland VS2400CD which I sometimes use to record audio and sometimes just use as a controller.

Most sequencing software works the same way, record external audio to a track and / or record MIDI data via a keyboard or controller.

For instance I might try some ideas with the keyboard so that gets a MIDI track recorded. I then assign a VST instrument to that so I get a high quality sampled sound like a Steinway piano (it could be anything I have samples for). I then render that track as audio and add effects like reverb etc.

I might simply record live guitar and vocals then add via MIDI bass, drums, strings and so on gradually building up the layers till I have a finished piece.

I also occasionally use Sibelius which is a score writer, add the dots to the stave as you would writing music with pen and paper. I then export the MIDI file, open up in Sonar and repeat the above.

Unless you want to play with loops which are just little slices of pre-recorded music that you can stitch together the above processes will be similar regardless of the software you choose to run.

Not cheap but you could run with Reason which I use occasionally, easy to use and has lots of great quality sounds but no VST support.

Or get a cheap mic and play with this;

Songsmith

Choose a style and sing, it creates an accompaniment for you. Cheesy but fun

[cojak]

Ta chaps!

I'll take a look in CashConverters at the weekend...

[Durbs]

FL Studio

Might be worth picking up a copy of Computer Music magazine as they have a full suite of free music production software on the cover disk.

+1 for FL Studio (i used to use it years ago when it was Fruityloops v2 and produced one of the demo tracks that was shipped with it). Its a very slick app and simple to pick up yet very capable when you get under the hood.

Also a good recommendation for Computer Music mag (used to have a page from that framed over trap 2 at home where they reviewed my album!). As voodooflux says, they include some good stuff on the cover disc.