Making your own music

[tom1946]

Hiya,

I'm thinking I'd like to try and make some music tracks using my PC. I know it's a big subject and I know you can buy software that needs no instruments but we have here, 6 & 12 string guitars, electric guitar, bass, mandolin, keyboards and other more basic stuff and I'd like to use it to record on the PC.
Sooooo....

What do I realistically need to get started? What interfaces for the instruments? Cheap (or free) basic, easy to follow software with effects etc'?

Any help and advice gratefully received.

thanks.

[Skol303]

Hi Tom. The Recording forum here on Basschat (below) is your best port of call for all things music-making:

http://basschat.co.uk/forum/10-recording/

In essence what you'll need is...

1) An audio interface for connecting your instruments directly into computer. The Focusrite Saffire 6 is a good option:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B002R9ILOY

2) Perhaps a general purpose condenser mic for recording acoustic instruments. This one is cheap and cheerful:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000CZ0RLK

3) A digital audio workstation (DAW) - software - for arranging your recordings and adding MIDI tracks for drums and suchlike. If you use a Mac you'll probably already have GarageBand installed which is a great place to start. If not have a look at Reaper, which offers great value for money (and an unlimited free demo for you to test it out):

http://www.reaper.fm/

4) A pair of 'studio' headphones. We have a recent thread about that here:

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/212370-headphones-for-mixing/page__pid__2143655#entry2143655

5) A MIDI controller keyboard is useful (but not essential). Lots of options to choose from - this one is a good starter:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Oxygen25.html

6) Patience... by the bucketload

Hope that helps. We have a fairly lively music-making community on here with monthly 'challenges' and other stuff going on, so get stuck in and share your ideas!

Paul

[operative451]

Software wise you might want to give this a go: http://ubuntustudio.org/

Full-on open source OS based around the creative end of computing. Depending on your PC the virtual patch bay thingie (jack) can be a bit of a faff to get set up but once you do its pretty useful! There's also audacity which is free and pretty straightforward to use: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Depending on how hifi you want your results, you don't need a huge amount of kit - for the IED stuff we're using an elderly PC running cakewalk on winXP, with an older but expensive when it was new soundcard for input, and a POD upfront as the pre-amp. We're learning as we go, the first few tracks were a bit rough but its getting smoother as we go along, and our latest (OIrish folk) was almost completely acoustic and sounds not bad at all...

[tom1946]

Thanks for the input, I didn't realise about the recording forum :doh: I'll go away and see where the links take me.

Thanks again.

[shizznit]

The important thing is to set yourself an affordable budget and stick to it in the early stages of setting up for home recording. Studio equipment is an abyss for your finances and its easy to get carried away. Start with basic set up so that you can learn the how to use the software and learn how to record your instruments. It takes just as long to be proficient as a producer/engineer as it does to be a good musician and songwriter.

[Dr M]

Just to get a feel for the processes involved, you could do worse than to just pick up a cheap USB instrument interface and have a play around with various DAWs (plenty of free ones out there.)

You're not going to produce professional quality mixes, but to be honest, while you're starting out you're not going to do that anyway. Just like learning an instrument, build up your gear as you get experience and work out what it is you actually need.

On the subject of USB interfaces, I was about to recommend looking at Line 6, then I realised their cheapest is now £80! When I bought a Toneport GX it was only £35.

[Mornats]

I did a mini guide here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176553-mini-guide-to-starter-gear-for-recording-cheaply/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176553-mini-guide-to-starter-gear-for-recording-cheaply/[/url]

Some links may be a little out of date. Skol mentioned a 25 key midi keyboard but when I first started looking, I was advised to jump to a 49 key. It was good advice as I'm just starting to grow out of it now! I'm looking at a 61 key... so a 49er will definitely last longer. But it all depends on whether you're trying to record several octaves at once. I never thought I would be but ended doing just that.

Also, Mike Senior (author of the highly recommended Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio book) lists a whole load of free, and affordable VST plugins on his site: [url="http://cambridge-mt.com/ms-intro.htm"]http://cambridge-mt.com/ms-intro.htm[/url]. Click through each of the book sections at the top and he'll recommend EQ, compressor, limiter plugins and loads more. He's a big fan of Reaper as a DAW too (as am I).

Also check out this thread for setting up live recording stuff on the cheap: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176980-recording-equipment-on-budget/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176980-recording-equipment-on-budget/[/url]

Good luck and hope to see an entry in the monthly composition challenge at some point!