Friday, August 14, 2009

How to break into the music for film biz

I have learned over the years after all the tours selling, music at gigs, getting college radio airplay and the endless practice and not to forget the many drummers who have come and gone. I was a drummer when I started my music career, I often wonder why the drummers are so temperamental and the one job that many bands find them self's in need of, next is the bass player what is it with the rhythm section? Just food for thought.

There is a way to make a living doing solo music and get paid. In this blog I want to tell you one way and how to go about it, after years of trial and error I have found a odd way to break into the music for film biz so hears the secret I do not care to hide my new find, but share it openly so, I hope this helps.

Question, if you wanted a song of yours in a film what would you do? How would you go about it?
I used to use my songwriters market book and deal with publishers and film co. and had no answer backs and the dreaded great stuff, but not what were looking for, so out of a whim I tried something different, from this simple thought came a simple formula that has already landed me some jobs so hear is what I did.

1. Go to Craig's list (I kid you not) look under the posting for creative, gigs etc you will see them.

2. You must get your music out there on the screen and the first few times you will be paid little or most likely nothing, but not for long, the film industry is always hungry for good music for film.

3. Look for mostly Indy film co. Posting looking for extras, or any film job, what you do is email them and say, Hello I am so and so and I saw your post for extras I am a musician that would like to offer some of my original music when you get to the post production part of your film give a Web link to your songs and say hay add me in your Rolodex I am hear when you need some free music, say free at first.

4.Out of 10 people I emailed I got 2 responses and one that will be using a song of mine in a little INDY film, hay you must start somewhere. Keep this up and Craig's list is a great place, remember the film process is a long one and if the film is looking for a make up artist or general help and extras, the director has given a lot of thought to the post production part where your music will be played and perhaps featured in the open or close credits, that's the brass ring if your song is in the open or close credits that is what you want.

5. Commercial music, and web music your mind would be blown on this one. Not jingle's, but that pays well. Production company's that do commercial accounts spend big dollars on music  if it is a well known song, but someone else is singing it, it's all about saving money. Moby made millions as did Dirty Vegas from Car commercials, in fact Dirty Vegas launched their career and award winning debut CD due to that catchy car commercial song clip,

OK now to demystify what film music is and what we tend to think of it as.

Look at example one in post production a film will always have a music producer that handles the music you hear through out the film, like Hans Zimmer he does it all, and it is standard film music contemporary classical with samplers, synths, brass and timpani as we have come to love. Much music in the film style on the net is smooth and has that atoms-ambient sound; these songs are great but are used as filler music for the most.
Any song in any style, Rock, Pop, country, Rap, you name it, and if it is catching your song would be the feature credit roll you want. do not think it has to be ambient music esp. in a INDY film or a action film with a low budget your song maybe just what they are looking for.
This new info I learned has turned my career 180 degrees in a direction I never really thought much about.
I am now doing videos, learning more post production (audio to film) stuff and love it, I am even starting to edit videos in pro software like Sony Vegas and adding my own music , so when you write a song, think how would this set in the credit roll, listen to credit roll music and start to study what’s really being used in film, you may already have many songs a director is just waiting to use, start small, start free, start now and do local commercial and web music and get paid big now. My songs being considered as I write are
1.The Hunted
2.Arther's Haven
3.Worlds apart
4.Oh India
listen and see, aside from the hunted, the rest are just songs I wrote ....to hear these songs and others my link button that says boost will take you there.

Best of luck any questions or help drop me a line

Thursday, July 16, 2009

recording a vocal track and other recording tip's

Recording a vocal track can be one of the biggest challenges for the home record-est, WHY?
The mic you choose and the pre amp. I have covered mics and pre amps, now the pro studio sound sounds better on a vocal track. I will refer to a vocal as the known word VOX from now on, let’s look at why the studio sounds better and what you can do to get a more pro sound on your vocal so listen up this is an important blog-lesson.

You really can record a great vox if you have one of the big 3 mics I mentioned yesterday and I said my fav is the Audio Technica AT202 and the preamp the DPM 2 channel pre amp. This is the key to set up a mic properly.

1. have a pop filter, the goose neck one that clamps on to the mic stand, this is a must, a must did you get that; this will eliminate almost all pops and is a must.

2. You must have an in line compressor this is essential. Depending on your software or multi track you must have a compressor set to a soft knee compression, meaning a low setting as not to add coloration to the signal as heavy compression will do. The ratio is simply 2:1 and many units say soft knee or have a pre set for the vox channel. The compressor must be pre fader and not post or it will do no good, the mic signal must go past the compressor before it is recorded. This is the important step pro studios use to give a smooth vox recording with no spikes, high levels and no lows it keeps the level constant and so natural. Never by pass this pre fader compression or you will have spikes, lows highs etc, so do this at the set up. OK

3.I gave 3 mics that can give pro quality; the studios have 2-4,000+ mics like a Neumann U87 or an AKG 414c, or a ribbon mic. An engineer will have several mics and many pre amps and yes it is true a certain vocalist will sound better with a certain combo of a given pre amp and mic, a good studio pre amp is 4-8, ooo I kid you not and that is how they get that pristine sound, we do not have those toys, but we can work around it and record a great vox track with what we have and if set up correctly.

Many new and old pre amps are tube driven or tube emulated I feel you should stay in the analog realm as long as you can and at the mix down use digital and edit with Pro tools as all studios do.
IF...I repeat if you can afford a little more on a Mic and pre amp you will get better sound this is a fact. Presonus and AKG have mics around 200 to 300 that are out of this world, but I would still use the 150.00 DPM dual preamp it is great. The AT4040 around 250-300.00 was used to record a U2 CD so not a 2,000 mic, need I say more, It's all how you use what you got and continue to try new things to get the sound you are looking for.

With 100.00 AT 2020 and a dpm preamp you can make a radio ready, cd at a pro level. Always record the vox track dry, always, if your system offers it you can feed some re-verb to the singer to enhance the emotion and give a better performance.

4. Record everything DRY no effects this is done at the mix down trust me. One way to give a vox a nice re-verb sound and still make out every word is to, once the vox is recorded copy and paste to another track, use the re-verb or whatever to the copy, pan left or right around 45 degrees and lower the level, put the lead vox with a small amount of re-verb like a studio A or studio B or a small Vocal Plate or better if you have it my fav NY Plate excellent results. The effects on any digital multi track will simply not due aside from the pre fader vox track. Put the wave form in the PC, it is always best if you have multi track software to record each track one at a time so you can add limiters, compression and effects and later mastering effects.

5. Set up a basic mix. do the rhythm track first, this is not a must but the standard in pro audio I have broken that rule many times, but in the start go with the rule as it is effectual. The rhythm track is Drums, or Drum machine, sample drums whatever, next bass guitar, than any rhythm guitar, this is worked on to set the groove and get the level correct, next move on to keyboards and guitars or horns.
Than 3erd do the leads and pads and all fillers. And finally the lead vox track and than the Back up vox and Harmony’s. I have waves plug in that has a great harmony program; all I can say is wow.

6.The normal problems some musicians have during the recording. During the rhythm tracks a click track should be played in the head set to keep time. I have recorded many, many people who simply can not record to a click track for a starter get used to it, as it will help keep time on the rhythm tracks. Later once you are better or a pro you may not need a click track, honestly the best names in the biz still use them so do what works for you, also with a click track the other instruments have a point of reference and will make collaborating  esp. over the web much easier,

7. The guitar player must not do the following...most guitarist are always fiddling with the guitar knobs not good, they must discipline them self after the sound check to leave all instruments at the level the sound check was done this is a biggy I have encountered many problems in this area, play the loudest passage and stay with that and do no changes to any instruments, you can fiddle with all your stomp boxes and knobs at a live gig not a recording, easier said than done, wait and see.

8. A common problem band's have when recording with baffles and sound isolation booths is it feels sterile and they can not seem to produce that live sound, what do you do, make sure all players can see each other or like U2 record as a full band, it requires more work for the sound man but can be done and seems to be the way many bands are recording to feed off each others energy, so record as a whole band and see.

Make sure to be loose, keep it fun take breaks and do your rocking best as you know you can do. Even if the lead scratch vox comes out a tad bad the singer can go and do an overdub of the vox, this is what most groups do with all the singers in the same area to sing and harmonize together.

8.the lead singer esp. in a live performance, and recording wants Cardioid's mic or a hyper Heypercardioid mic, what this mic does is record only the source in front of the mic and cancels out the stuff all over and to the sides, for a overdub on back vox you will want an omni mic meaning its going to record at all directions think of a round circle it pics it all up, these are the mics used for live recording to pic up the crowd and 2 are used or more as room ambient mics while recording live to pick all the sound up. A figure of 8 is used between toms, cymbals and two singers standing left to right, etc.
 it picks up the left and right and is a great mic for applications for this case. always use condenser pencil mics on drums you can get the at2020 smaller condenser for 50.00 bucks, set 2 Mac’s way up top over the Left and right of the cymbals this is a must I have heard many groups use dynamic Mac’s and well no shimmer and sizzle on the cymbals no matter how much Eq used so get 50.00 overhead condenser Mac’s. A dynamic Mic like a Sm58 is used for live concerts and does not need a 48 volt phantom supply or pre amp a condenser is a fragile mic and requires a pre amp and phantom voltage.
What I like about the at2020 and the BI and m-audio nova these have super high SPL sound pressure levels and are great to mic lit. anything at all, and if your recording a live show use one of these on vox and back vox and not a dynamic OK.

Now to the solo musician that plays synths, samples, Vsti's dxi"s etc the good news not much is needed the mix is simple and the eq is little required ambient music uses almost no compression and tweaking all in all from a recording Engineer stand point that is an easy project. If you add a vox track follow the rules listed above and all will be well.

 I will touch on outboard Digital multi track recorders. Many now have 40 to 80 GB hard drives, drum machines synth chips and pretty good effects. I was doing a mastering Job for a rock band that had a real good digital multi track, the problem it was so digitized and sterile and well a bad mix I turned the job down. Digital is good and bad, if you go 100% digital add some analog emulators like T-Racks or nomad Blue tubes to give some analog warmth it helps, also I would not record a full band with these multi tracks They are to limited, they are great for guitarist and songwriters and all, but doing a finished pro level CD will not happen unless you spend big bucks sorry. I love the units, they have their place, but not for analog instruments, they are fine for ambient and musical CD's but not rock music, that is my opinion and truly compared To even Magix Music maker deluxe or samplitude studio pro 79.00 it is no match at all trust me.

 Use your PC, get some software and hear the difference for your self I turned down dozens of mastering jobs that were recorded on 500-800 dollar digital recorders, now if you know what your doing and are an expert as I am, I am sure I could have made a much better mix, many units are under 300.00 do not trust them hears why.

Most outboard units have a sample rate of 16 bits and 44.1 KHZ true that is CD quality, but one needs a unit that can record at 24 bit and 97 KHZ this matters, I heard a unit that was 18 bit and 48KHZ and it was not bad at all but I could hear the difference, so most software will record in 24 bit or 32 floating bit and 48 KHZ like magix that is OK and many good recordings can be done.

Last, what is the end result of your recording?
1. To sell at gigs almost any 16 by 48KHZ will do but the cost of duplication is over a grand for a half way good product

2. Is it bound for a song publisher, meaning selling your songs, if so, a table top recorder is fine as a publisher wants a demo not a final master

3. A recording to get gigs, anything will do like a CD at 16 bit at 44.1 and remember shop a demo to clubs or churches make it a live recording and so they get what they hear this is important and if you give a CD with all kinds of effects and overdubs you will not sound like that live so do a live recording at a gig or a practice this is music norm, so follow that rule or you will kill your career giving a false recording of a studio cd and not a live cd, it must reflect what you sound like live.  The person listening to the recording wants to know what you sound like playing live.    
          
4. Are you shopping to an A&R man at a record CO, I did A&R and we want a finished master and packaged retail ready CD and that's that.

5. Posting MP3's on the net like,
http://www.soundclick.com/d'abaldo
or just http://www.soundclick.com
many place to post and sale your music.
Of late I only sell mp3's and that's it, also I teach and produce. But hay it’s a living and I love it. You will not get rich selling Mp3's, but any amount helps and many, many sites are out there even sites to submit songs to play on Internet radio, go for it. A note on posting an MP3's the old standard was mp3 pro that used a CBR encoding and it looses a lot of the fidelity when converted a wave file to a MP3 if you have a converter that will allow it do the VBR constant bit rate, sound much better many places only allow low-fi mp3's meaning 128 baud a high fi is 320 and that is CBR ,at VBR a lower bit rate can and is high fi and you can get away with it, make sure to post when you can hi fi mp3's at the highest VBR rate available or good Ole Mp3 pro at 320 hi-fi esp. if you are selling songs.

Well till next time this is  Danny Louis Abaldo saying happy recording, you can do it.


Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Useing your PC or mac in music Recording

OK, first, in the old days we used almost all hardware recording devices, many still do, anyone can get a multi track digital recorder for under 400.00 great stuff is out there , but the main tool in recording and mastering these days is by via the PC.

You do not need a lot to make a pro recording on any PC. I remember when I had a Dell PC pent 2 with 500MHZ and only 512K for memory, at the time I used Magix Music maker deluxe, and a whole new world opened to me, I produced several CD's just with Magix, see the cheap and great products they offer at
http://www.magix.com
79.00 can get you there new Samplitude studio deluxe a 100% pro recording unit with amazing goodies for all. UPDATE they have discontinued the samplitude studio deluxe, why I do not know, it was great, they now sell for 100.00 the new magix music studio deluxe and it also is easy to use and sounds excellent. If you have 300.00 or so, I would but Acid Pro, many movies studio composers are now using acid pro as one can lay down tracks fast and the specs are great, also radio stations and T.V. stations music directors are using acid pro.Acid pro has many great Loop CD's for sale one of my favorites is Mike Fleet woods drum samples, it can not be beat for rock and pop.

I later upgraded to a dell pent 3 2.5 GHZ and 2 GB memory stick and wow what a difference. I purchased acid pro 6 and Samplitude pro 7 and all of waves plug ins. Samplitude was made and used in pro studios for mastering and audio recording. Waves need no introduction 4,000 bucks, but you can get the same stuff on OEM software sites and it is legal so check them out one good one I use is at.
http://software-oem.net/ I no longer recommend this site or most OEM sites, all out of
Russia and many are frauds.
The prices are mind blowing and can save you up to 80% off the retail price and yes the courts said it is legal so hay, why not, do you have 4,000 lying around?

Magix has software downloaded for as low as 59.00 I think every budding musician should have that as well as samplitude studio and acid pro version 6 or version 4 all cheap see the price list.

Now the sound card, I have tried many, many sound cards over the years, you want one that has ASIO drivers as ASIO allows you to automate your mix and effects and is essential. You can get a sound card for around 100.00 a pro one like e-mu 4040 great card also many others look around and see. You will need a card with 2 INS and 2 outs and a midi in and out. Prices fall as I write this. They are easy to install.

Next get a midi controller, there are many .I use and you should have what is called a midi keyboard controller some start at 100.00 nothing fancy and many units are now USB powered as well as mics, mixers. You need a controller, the mouse way of recording sucks but can be done.

For 100.00 get a pair of Monitor speakers, called near field monitors these are placed near you at 45 degree angle. A decent set of headphones, my headset cost 40.00, also look on Craig’s List many, many good deals. My monitors called Truths were 40.00 my M-audio condenser mic was 40.00 lists 100.00 my pre amp 30.00 it list 150.00 so look and buy used or barter.

I got my 88 key controller Roland keyboard USB for 60.00 so look, now all together that is not a lot of money and as you learn how to use the stuff soon you will produce pro results just like a pro studio and save a bundle. The price for this stuff alone will pay for it's self in contrast to what a studio would charge.

Learning takes time and you will learn new things and every song will sound better than the last one.
The mastering process is a must and most programs have pre sets, so use them as a staring point.
Example Magix music maker deluxe and samplitude studio deluxe have mastering pre sets in the Multi band compression plug in, use them I still do at times and you can get that loud radio ready sound with ease.

Mastering considered the black art is not as hard as you think, esp. if you’re using all digital, synths drums, pads all digital. Did you know a Vsti and a synth do not require any EQ?
If you are recording guitar, bass, vocals it takes more learning, but use the pre sets and hear the dramatic difference.

Many Boss digital recorders have built in drum machines many amp simulators and some mastering tools built is. I used a Boss and got great results far above demo quality, but once the final mix is done use the sound cards 2 In's and load the wave form into your recording software and there you will master and get your CD and Mp3"s mastered and tweaked.

Samplitude has a great amp simulator, I use amplitude, buy OEM cheap and use a good pre amp your vocals will only sound as good as the preamp. I tried a good priced pre amp that I now use everyday and in my opinion it is the best with a price of 150.00 it is called M-Audio DMP3 2-Channel Mic Pre/Direct Box
a great cheap pre amp are these two- note they are under 40.00 the first one is one in and one out 29.00 the best ,the next is the same, just with 2 ins so the choice is yours
Behringer TUBE ULTRAGAIN MIC100 Preamp 29.00
Behringer MIC200 Tube ULTRAGAIN Preamp 39.00 both 5 star rating from many musicians.

So a good pre amp is a must the DMP is by far a mind blowing unit that produces a pro pre amp sound. Some small mixers have Xenyx pro mic pre amps and should not be over looked if your wanting a great little mixer with pro pre amps they are as follows and note most radio stations and T.V stations use these same mixers so why not you. I have one and use it everyday I have the USB one, but if your card has a 2 in 2 out your all set. And can get a cheaper mixer that is not USB, but standard Left-right inputs.

Behringer XENYX 802 Mixer this is the classic unit with highly up graded Pe amps 60.00 has 8 INS and 2 XLR's for mic line. If you need another mixer bigger get the top notch unit by the same CO.
Behringer XENYX 1202 79.00 gets you 4 XLR mic ins with 12 inputs and built in FX that are pretty darn good not a lot of money and big enough to record a combo or band the one I use and is out of this world is as follows.

Behringer XENYX 1204 129.00 4 XLR’s ins 12 channel 2 aux sends and is USB no effects but I have many effects, another one a Little more has the FX if you need that this board is great for a home studio, or a live gig and live recording of a full band for what this unit offers and its quiet sound you simply can not go wrong.

I mention Mac’s the best of the best is with no doubt the Audio tecnicka at 2020 the second best is the studio projects B1 an amazing mic and finally the M-audio Nova all 100.00 I am only listing the equipment that will get you pro results for little cash, remember I got an M-audio mic for 40.00 so look but the number one mic according to all the pro audio mags is by far the at2020 they even have a new one for 130.00 that is USB no 48 volt phantom power or pre amp needed. So that is a good starter list, now let’s look at how to keep your PC up and running after all the PC is your main brain and your recorder.

1. Disable all screen savers trust me this is a must.

2. Clean your PC inside and out, esp. the internal fan it collects a lot of dust and can cause your PC to run loud this is a must and an easy fix.

3. Make sure if you have an internal crap sound card and you do, all PC's have them, go to control panel double click the sound card like sound max and click disable and make sure your better sound card is enabled even a sound audigy is a great pro sound card so do that first.

4. Get a utility that will clean your unwanted stuff like the it is called the AFT cleaner it can free up over 1 GB of crap and will optimize your system go to this site and down load the unit and other good PC utilities at
http://www.geekstogo.com/ a needed site with many, many helps to keep your PC running smooth. Please visit this important site.

5. This site is a great place to learn everything from a-z and they offer a great book it is located at the top hit it and follow step by step also many articles and forums the best site bar none on recording esp. for the new record EST.
http://www.tweakheadz.com/

if that is the only site you go to visit daily and learn all the free stuff they offer a must so do so now and add to favorites.

6. Read all you can about PC's and Mack's there are to may to list do your home work.

7. If your PC freezes and they all do, start by rebooting the PC and 99% of the time that will do the job.

8. Have a good anti virus like Avast and mal ware (A squared free) a must also a great unit is (commando) INTERNET security and fire wall all free and these are all must

9. Save your work every 5 min I kid not, I lost hours of writing songs because I forgot to do a save , many recording software have an automatic save, so enable that.

10 A must a serge protector in case of an electric power surge. Get one with the on off switch.

11. Keep your HD formatted via accessories done once a week, run the anti virus and mal ware at least 3 times a week.

12. Add as much memory as your board can handle look up the board specs and see how much it can handle. Note my PC board says it takes 4 GB but it only reads and uses 3.2 GB so go figure, you should have a minimum of 1 GB and 2 is better if you are going to do video 4 GB is a must.

13 Clean your CD- DVD drive, many people do not and can cause problems any store has CD -DVD cleaners so use it and save un-needed hassle.

I am so glad I decided to learn the PC in and out, read all the A+ books, and the essential text book called Upgrading and repairing your PC by QUE publishing. These books and the many visits to Geeks to go will save you time, and keep your recording studio up and running.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The coming depression and how to keep making music



How to make a Pro recording for under 200.00

I worked in many pro recording studios, I was a second engineer for years until I learned the ropes on how to go about the whole recording process, that was years ago, for the last 15 years I have devoted my self to Project studios and home studies. I try to demystify all the jargon and bull the big studies think you need.

The advent in recent years in home studios has made it passable with Little cash to make a actual pro recording or a great pro demo. You may need a wake up call to how just a few hundred bucks and a lot of practice you could have a great home studio and charge clients to record, start your own Production Company or a Record Label, it is now all passable and the investment is much smaller than you think to get started. Gone are the days of paying hundreds or thousands to have your CD cut in a pro studio, with study, trial and error you can and should do it your self, and save thousands of dollars in the process. What you spend you will make back on your first recording, literally. So join me on this Little journey, most of which I took from my free E-Book how to make a pro recording At Home For pennies on the dollar.


I teach two different groups of aspiring recording artist, of late It has all been geared to the one with little or no recording experience.Many do not know what a Low-fi or Hi-fi cable are or what plug goes where.They may have some stuff on hand and to date the results still echo out loudly this is a demo. It never has to be this way, never. It takes years to master a craft, I do mastering engineering, yet after all these years I consider my self a student, mastering is called the unknown black art, but it need not be that way, I say mastering for all.

 In later blogs I will demystify the mastering process and explain what it is , what it is not, and how anyone with practice and good plug ins can do a good job mastering there own music. My little in house production
The reason a pro studio sounds, or can sound so good is what we will be talking about in this article.Ore-amps, microphones,mixers, and software the pros use and how and where to legally get the same stuff they use for pennies on the dolor. You relay can make a pro recording for under 200.00 and that is chump change, almost anyone can come up with that. So I hope this article is of great hope and a launching pad to the many more books, web sites and free links I will be sharing, step by step, hear a little, there a little.



Being an Indy artist is what that means non commercial and non mainstream, like the fluff and crap we hear on the radio.
So you want to be a independent artist? control your music from A to Z that is what it is all about.With the advent of pro PC recording software , mastering plug'ins sound cards that can produce 24 bit by 192 KHZ is indeed considered pro specs. So why with all the good software do you have do you feel your recordings are not up to par with pro studio and FM radio?


I mentioned before, software is not the problem a good 1 to 200.00 sound card with studio specs is not the problem, so what is the problem I will list 3 essentials on what, and how to take your recording to the next level.



1.Quality Mic pre-amps. This is the most important equipment a home recorder needs.There are good tube driven pre amps for under 50.00 some others more expensive that are digital solid state run 100 to 5,000 and more, so whats the lower middle grounds, most of us can not compete with a pro studio, but only by way of the pre-amps and high end large diaphragm condenser microphones, that's it, more on good quality mikes latter. The pre amp has always been the overlooked gear need in a home and project studio.You must first ask do you want a 100% digital solid state or a warm tube pre--amp.


The pro engineer has a wide array of mics and pre amps do to the fact a voice may sound better with a Neumann U87 and a high end tube pre-amp, or a AKG C414 may sound better on a certain voice with a solid state pre-amp, I did all this, still the pre amp comes first so get the best one you can get

My #1 choice that will produce a warm pro sound is the At 2020 100.00 a 5 star rating



from may engineer's also the Rhodes NT1 mic

Another good prices 100.00 pro level mic is


This a great, great mic also the AKG presona makes are outstanding, but the AT 2020 for 100 is the best Mic in the price range that will produce pro recordings.

As I mentioned on Pre amps I would choose first the following



The M-audio DMP3 around 160.00 a dual pre amp and sound 100% pro

Other lower end pre amps that sound good are


Behring makes cheap, but pro sounding gear and they have been the front runner in pro consumer stuff this pre amp is under 55.00 and works well with electric Guitar and vocal tracks


You can not go wrong with this unit, but a real pro pre amp sound for vocals can not be made if your shooting for a budget pro level home or project studio



there are many others, I tried the Presonus   and wow all models are great

 It really does not cost that much to put together a pro level sounding home studio, the most expensive or must have new gadget is not always the way things work, the sales man try to push the new stuff, new stuff is not always better.

 As many pro studios I worked in still use the same board, pre amps and mics from years  why? they work. The only thing pro studios have all adopted is the PC running Pro tools, if you want a job in a studio as a second engineer you must know your way around pro tools.You can get a Pro tools SE small nodule with pro tools software, what is good about pro tools is you can learn one little module and will be able to run a full blown pro tools set up.I like pro tools and have played around with it, but look in the small midi or pro tools area of a studio and what you are really seeing is a
on premise home studio.





so #1 pre amps


#2 Condenser mic

#3 The sound card, now again people have different likes and dislikes, some cards have a break out box, much preferred over dealing with hooking and UN hooking a nice card via the back



But wait, we want gear tried and proved that will make a pro recording and for not much money, so with no break out box the winner is as has been a while


The upgrade and famed MIA with the new Midi cable, the specs on this are the best, but this card was made for the songwriter and solo artist and is not big on multi channel so best card for solo recorder the price is around 130.00 to 200.00 shop around and make sure it is not the old Mia with out the needed Midi break out cable.




The best pro level card for multiple recording is the standard and still low budget yet pro champ

.

The M-audio 192 with Midi, note many cards do not include MIDI you will need it.The unit like




others can record 24Bit at 192 KHZ those specs are mastering studio specs.Most people do not use the 192 unless it is a critical recording of strings, orchestra, all acoustics It can be a blessing and a curse and can make some recordings sound lousy, so always shoot at minimum pro level use , that is 24bit and 97 KHZ, if you never heard the difference hold on to your hats, even the audegy SE a 40.00 sound card recognizes and records 24/97 and is a great card for one doing pro level demos that can latter be made in to mastered products, the problem with the SE is they are no longer available on the market as DELL bought them out.If you can get one on Craig list or e bay cheap do so  the only online store that has it new for 30.00 is tiger direct., weakness only one line in and one out. You will need from a sound card a minimum of 2 Analog in's and two outs +midi. Most have 32 bit DSP effects processing and do many recorders use 32 bit stationed or float in there software. Now lastly get a good mixer, I must say the onyx brand by Behringer are all wildly good, the smaller ones are used in Broadcasting and sound for small clubs and churches
Samplitude Pro 7 ,T-racks, Nomad mastering plug ins, waves gold bundle and many other stuff.
50.00 pre amps 40.00 look on postings and you can cut start up 25 to 70% I kid  you not, I have done it, look at OEM software and get ready to freak out I use it paid Penny's on dollar and have a PC studio worth well over 40,000 honestly. My total pay out around 1,000 not including monitors or mixers I use this mixer with outstanding results.

You want a fast PC min ,PNT 3 1Ghz ,I used a 1 Ghz on a tun's of music, running acid pro 6


Lets not forget a needed mixer.


it is a 4 mic XLR input all with mind blowing xenyx boutique pre amps, this are great preamps even with out an out board per-amp, but not as good as a dedicated pro level pre amp. the unit is 130+ look around  use in home studio, church , practice, gigs and is USB to PC if you desire that.Note you can not beat plugging your midi out to midi in on a sound card, but you can place your pre amp before the in on this unit and a small 50.00 compressor, as I said radio and TV stations use this as well as small clubs this is a pro level board for the home recorder.






So my summation is:

Pre-amp and more pre-amps a large diaphragm Condenser Mic like the B1 a great tool, a sound card under 200.00, you can get a good sound card under a 100.00 and has pro specs, but no Midi in and out and no pre-amp 48 volt phantom supply, I would not use any of the cards as my source for a pre amp as the Xenyx blows them out of the water. You can attach many mixers if you want one to USB 2.0 and its convenient and nice, but going to the sound card with the mixer In a far better sound altogether.

One can still make pro recordings with a 59.00- 69.00 Mix craft 5, easy to learn easy to loop great effects and mastering effects for under 80.00 it has a top of line sampler, many, many VSTI synths.

Recording try this all in one audio and midi sequencer it CAN NOT BE BEAT. also it is one of the funnest programs I ever tried I give the unit 5 stars mark my words you will be happy and amazed. a used 50.00 condenser like ones I explained I just got an m-audio Nova for 40.00 and it does the job Use a small mixer in the xenyx line they range from 39.00 and up and use the xenyx for your pre amp for now,A pro studio that is a starter but will take your music to the next level for a little over 200.00

As an audio teacher and not involved or payed by any of the business that I mention' their products. I try different stuff daily and unbiased give a honest review.

For a free copy of my e-book the poor mans guide to making a pro recording at home-for Pennies OnThe Dollar .It will be posted soon for free reading and download'
http://www.digitalgoatee1.zoomshare.com/

To hear my current music that I did in a low cost home studio listen to what can be done.

www.soundclick.com/daniellouis
www.sundclick.com/d'abaldo



Peace

until next time. also a great web site for new recordist filled with great info is

http://www.tweekheadslab.com/

Have a great and music filled week. Do not be shy ,email me and we will set up a time for some one on one instruction, mentoring etc it is a free consultation service I offer as I pay it forward.

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Thursday, April 2, 2009

Home Recording Tips 101

When I first started recording music I read large text books, read recording Magazines, and it was all trial and error. When I started there was no Internet. Today anyone can find a wealth of info on home and pre recording. You Tube has many great short videos for the beginner and pro.I have a burden to teach audio recording to the absolute beginner, why? When I started I had no one to take me under their wing and teach me. The books I read were over my head, the recording magazines and tutorials were not geared towards the musician that knew nothing. All this did not stop me from finding cheap ways to make demos as I write from 3 to 10 songs a week and always have. Music will always be an art of inspiration with a need for some basic equipment and software know how. In this blog I will attempt to bridge the gap, left. The large cavern that separates the novice from the pro.

It needs not be this way. You can learn Electronics, Math, aquatically educated, editing, mastering, and software till you drop. I feel a minimalist approach works better; you just want to record and maybe post your new music creations for the world to hear on the net. You want and need to take your music to the next level. That’s what you will find hear.Blog articles on the most basic subjects, let people laugh as you slowly learn the essentials with little or no math and science. How and why something works is of no need unless you want to become a pro Recording Engineer, or build a home Recording studio.

Music equipment and software prices have dropped so far anyone can afford to make pro sounding music at home. Gone are the days of you are only making demos. Now demos have their place. If you are a songwriter and want to get your song to other bands, or music publisher the most basic demo is all that is needed. A great song is still a great song no matter how it is recorded. A OK song recorded with pro gear can not make an OK song a Great song with audio tricks and effects.
I have many songs posted all over the net, my main site is on sound click, it is free and you can upload mp3's with no limit. I listen to many artist on sites and sometimes I am dumbfounded why the recording is so bad, full of noise and hiss and just poorly recorded. I make it my mission to try to give free advice to these musicians. I have a free audio recording Course for the 100% beginner. It is in an Interactive PDF level 1 and I mean free with a free newsletter and 2 hours of free phone mentoring. The free course is the same quality of the parts 2-3 that are a only 50.00 each. I have not seen a school for the new bee the new young musician. I am like the Hal Leonard books, they are the best for new recordist wanted a PDF school that is interactive with links to the free software needed for the course, plenty of how to videos and not 10 min samples.

Hear is where you can learn a lot about what I teach and you will learn a lot just from these blogs. My business is called Digital Goatee Productions I have been in the music business 30 years. I am a Producer, Recording Engineer. Mastering Engineer, Audio Teacher, musicians life coach, artist development and I still do my own music at home, cheap and sounds pro. You can learn to do the same. To hear my music go to
www.soundclick.com/d'abaldo
My music business site is
http://digitalgoateeproductions.weebly.com/

So take a look and hear my music, I posted in many, many styles and my audio portfolio will speak for its self.
This was my first blog and my introduction to you. The next blogs will be starting from scratch and teaching the absolute start of this, you’re wonderful Journey as I help you take your music to the next level.
Danny Louis Abaldo