After Much Research I have Found What I believe To Be The Best Home Studio Software Money Can buy, Meaning Cheap

As said reader this post is all about the condenser mic and the mic, instrument pre amp. I can not over emphasize the absolute importance in a mic pre amp, it will make the difference between a consumer level recording, semi pro, or pro sound. I chose as the best pre amp 150.00 the DMP3, this is the best hands down, another for 40.00 that will blow minds do not over look this as a starter pre amp if your tight on money, like most of us are, this kicks and is excellent for electric instruments also, you can make a semi pro to pro recording with this 40.00 pre amp.

I mention at the near end of this post what I have read and heard many top recording engineers say, the mic pre amp, is the most important device in the pro mic recording chain, it is over looked and it should not be, a 100.00 mic can sound like a 1,000 mic with a great mic pre amp.

Mic pre amps, there are many, all have different sounds, and as a engineer what we do is mix certain mics with certain pre amps to get a certain sound. The pre amp is one of you main purchases. I do not like USB mics at all, but the AT2020 has a great USB mic and no preamp needed, it is wild what one can do now days, its price is worth every penny if you want a great pro USB mic , the AT 2020 for the price, at any price is the best of the best for a USB mic.

M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI Digital Audio Card

http://www.guitarcenter.com/M-Audio-Audiophile-2496-PCI-Digital-Audio-Card-101145522-i1154070.gc 

The At2020 for 100.00 is a top choice one of my favorites and for good reason its tops and for 100.00 dollars, expect to pay, 100.00 for a 24 bit sound card, 100.00 for a semi to pro condenser mic, and 100.00 to 150.00 for a great pre amp. In my next post I will cover home studio monitor speakers, the different types, uses, and my round up of the best you can get for pennies on the dollar.

Audio-Technica AT 2020 100.0 the best

This Blog Is Back Up And I am At Work To Add A lot Of New Stuff

I have been very, very busy, recording new music, working my ministry blog, starting a ministry school online, authoring 4 new e-books, working on 2 e-books that will be for sale on Amazon soon. Shooting and writing Independent film works, wow what a year, 24/7.

I put out a great small e-book with a new link on adobe, it reads better and it is easier to download, it is still on Scribed, but adobe I just found and wow, way better to read, big, big screen to read.

I had big plans at one time for this blog, my books my music, but due to the economy melt down in 2008 I lost my studio in Everett, Wa, outside of Seattle, and moved to a small desert town in So, Cal USA a town of 900.
This has given me time to do my writing, recording, teaching authoring interactive PDF courses, you name it.

So sorry to all who have been trying to get new stuff from my free e-book linked to this blog, well all that is now going to change, so keep coming back as I will have lots of new stuff to share.

I leave you with a song off my new CD I am working on, called.
A Vow Of NO Silence.

If your not into Christian Rock, or Christian music, sorry I used to record all kinds of music, due to my faith, I am only doing Christian music, and Christian Independent films, and film music for Indy films.
This does not change the fact, recording arts, are recording arts, and marketing is marketing, so I have learned a lot this past year and I will pass it on in this blog.
Tell me if you dig this new song. and CD Cover.

What makes a Great Song? not over production

I have written over 2,000 songs, 1,000 are recorded, 500 music only and another 500+ just lyrics, I have taught others what It takes to make a great song, what is the test of a good, or great song.

First to tell if a song has potential you must hear it in it's simplistic from. I have heard and advised many on how to write better songs and consulted, critiqued many, many songs.I have learned over the years as An Indy Record Label owner ,A&R exec., a songwriter myself, what a good or great song will sound like. 

A great song with only one vocalist and one instrument,say piano or acoustic guitar.Many take sub par songs that are called filler songs, meaning songs needed to have a full CD, while the CD may have one or two good songs on it.What many try to do, producers,managers,engineers, is take a sub par song, not a hit song, and record it with a big production, effects and the like.

A song that is over produced Will not make a OK song a good song and certainly not a great song no matter how much fancy production is used.So what makes a great song?

 A great hook is essential, not over rhyming as this is the sign of a novice, unless its rap music.A good melody and chorus  after hearing it, one wants to hear it again and again.Lyrics should be one of the main concerns, if your a great lyricist, but not even an OK composer, this is where collaborations come in, know your weakness, and build on your strengths.

When submitting a song to a song publisher they want the voice clear, the lyrics to be heard and the simple accompaniment of the song, not a polished produced full song, those songs go to the A&R department, or agents, they want a finished product, so know your target audience and what you plan to do with that great song.The lyrics should flow effortlessly, they should read with a natural rhythm and have a strong hook that stands out.

As a pro song writer I start with the hook, this is not easy and takes practice, a strong hook and great chorus is what will drive the song, I take my great hook, and write the verses around that.

Let me give you an example of what I mean about a great lyric that flows well with out any instrument.The song I wrote and recorded back in the 80's while I was in a music ministry called Mantle, the songs title is 'The Winds Of England'

The Winds Of England by Danny Louis abaldo

Verse1 A long time ago from the shores of England
Came missionaries,mighty in the lord
They came in power,they came in holiness
Proclaiming the gospel of the scarlet cord
Through the Wesley's,by the word of God
Came to us the winds of change

Chor Don't let the winds die down, grace still abounds,
We'll make a might sound like the winds of England.
Let it burn in our hearts,fan a new start,
We'll do our part with the winds of England.

Ver2 The winds of Africa, the winds of Asia,
Bring the winds once more to America.
We need revival like the days of old,
Though the stories been told , we need to hear it again.

Chor repeat Don't let the winds die down, grace still abounds,
We'll make a might sound , like the winds of England.
Let it burn in our hearts,fan a new start,
We'll do our part with the winds of England.
Yes, we'll do our part with the winds of England.

You may not be into, or like Christian music, but I do.
This example is one of the best I could post to let you read it aloud and see how a great lyric flows with no music.Now some modern songs and experimental songs may have no flow, no rhyme or reason, as you read modern music lyrics they seem not to flow, but this is where the proper music composition comes in and whats called singing the words with proper Phrasing.

Read some of David Bowie's music, or U2, anyone you like, and when reading the lyrics, BEFORE hearing the song you may say to your self wow, this does not flow or make sense, after the song is heard and the seemingly out of sorts lyrics are heard in the song it blows your mind, that those lyrics make such a great song

My second point is that many times people  write the music first than the lyrics and this is where vocal phrasing comes in, meaning certain words extended, other words run on and than are short and than a long word sang out again and repetitions of this, so there are many things that make a great song, the first example was a lyric with no music it flows has a good hook and is pleasant to read, the other great songs may be almost unpleasant to read alone, but the whole of the song is great, so if you write music it works like the flow of lyrics, it should have a strong music hook maybe several, and the melody should be so memorable you find that you are thinking about the melody or humming it, as it is catchy.It is a song writers dream to hear some one whistling or humming a tune they wrote, as this tells you Job well done, you achieved your goal.

If you have never gone to one of the music capitals and shopped your song, it can be a hard and discouraging thing, as an A&R exec., or music publisher will put your CD on and listen to 30 seconds of your song if your lucky, that's just the way it works, so word of advice ,if your song has a long music intro and no hook your done, re record the great intro or shorten it dramatically and get right in to your hook a good strong lead. Could you imagine being the first A&R exec, that listened to PINK FLOYD, I mean talk about long intros, all outstanding by the way, as well as Super tramps 'Crime of The Century' one of the greatest and first Rock Albums of the 70's that used a lot of classical music in their unique style, no one has come close to original composition and mixed POP- rock and 100% different from any one in the 70's and may I say even to this day.

 So make your mark, follow your heart, If your stuff is non commercial as a lot of my music is not, thats why I am an Independent INDY music artist,But a word to the INDY artist, just because it's an INDY production, or CD does not mean it should not be well written, thought provoking lyrics. 

 So, what ever style you do, start with the basics, once those are mastered like in English composition, break all the rules to the content of your heart, a song is a form of art and even producing and engineering, so who is to define what art is,I will  be creative, be different and make sonic Pisces of art.

 You can hear my different styles of music by going to the bottom of the blog and follow the links to my stuff, see what I am saying how some INDY music can be way out there, but still great to listen to, hope you take a listen.
www.soundclick.com/d'abaldo

Mp3 conversion tips A to Z

In the PC revolution, we musician's make full use of the now popular Mp3 format for making songs available on line for free to see what people like or to sale , there are many places to sell you CD in Mp3 format Sound click.com, amazon, many, many others CD baby the list is endless, and your own website.

You songs should have been recorded at 24 bits and 97Khz .24 bit is most important as 48Khz is acceptable but the 24 bit a must, in a pro studio they use 24 bit /96KHZ and many cheap sound cards have these specs.

Yes you will after the mastering stage dither down to 16bit 44.1Khz as all Cd's are recorded, dithered down to this CD standard.

A wave format will always have a better sound, just listen in a good car stereo and compare a burned CD in wave form and than in mp3 you should hear the difference.

Wave to Mp3 conversion is a simple thing, but some things you should know are as follows:

If you have a plug in by waves called the L2 you will see the dithering process gives many choices and many wave forms and  such. This plug in is my number one tool in the  mastering process.

Most do not have these expensive waves plug ins ,they are not cheap and a good bundle can cost from 2,000 to 4,000.

Note that before you convert to mp3 you will dither the wave, compress it and once dithered you can not just go back and convert the mp3 to wave form and re -tweak it.
 In the wave form it will sound like all your tweaking, and mastering took, but once converted back to the original Mp3 no changes will have taken, again this is due to dithering and once dithered that's it, so always have copies of your songs in wave form in case you want to change the song.

Now you want to always have a Hi-Fi mp3 setting the max is 320 Baud, but some places like amazon only allow a Hi-fi of around 290 or so, a standard low-fi is 128 Baud I have on my free sound click page all low-fi and it sounds, well... like low fi and a tad crappy, you must have a paid music page to upload Hi-Fi, the alternative is to sign up at Boost independent music.com, you get a page and can post Hi-fi, it is an odd site they charge people .69 cents for a download and you only get 1/2 of that, not much.I use the Boost site just to have a good page to post my music in Hi-fi and man what a difference a baud Hi-fi mp3 sounds in relation to standard 128 baud, a 160 and above is much better.

Now some, not all mp3 converter plug ins software give you the option to choose between to kinds of conversion

1.CBR Constant bit rate
2.VBR variable bit rate

If you can, convert your songs in the VBR and this is why, you will notice first off in VBR it does not go up to 320Baud this is because in a wide sense , but the only way I can make it simple is. VBR is more like a limiter it does not change the mp3 sound and CBR does, it is constant and is more like a compressor and so it squashes the single as a compressor does, and one can use a compressor as an effect due to The drastic change a compressor can make to the over all sound, but a limiter does not alter the sound at all just controls the peaks, I use a limiter far more than a compressor, I use a soft knee compressor at a ratio of say 2:1 just enough to not let the loud passages of a vocal stand out and keeps the vox track even.

Louder is not always better, in the industry the new thing is louder is better, sometimes, but not always, a compressor can pump up the volume in great measure, but can also squeeze your sound till it can sound unnatural. so louder is not always better, but I do use compressors in the mastering stage to bring up the over all CD so all songs are the same loudness so one does not need to turn up or down the volume, this is not PRO standard the CD should have the same loudness factored in so no one has to turn it up or down, unless they want to hear your great song louder.

In acoustic music, easy listening,jazz and others loudness is second seat to using a limiter to keep all the subtle music timbres to be enjoyed.

So variable bit rate makes a better sounding Mp3 than Constant bit rate, MP3 Pro is a out dated standard and had its day, much has changed.

 1.keep several copies of your songs in Wave format at 24 bit .

2.conversion to mp3, if no choice the software just converts it, all will give you at least the window to set the baud rating so go as High as you can .note the higher the rate say 320 will be a file at least two times larger than a mp3 in 128 low-fi, so if that is an issue remember, just as a 24 bit 96Khz wave form will be much larger than a wave form in standard CD quality digital of 16/44.1Khz.

3.Once your song is in Mp3 you can not change it later as it has been dithered some software does not even tell you about dithering, it will just convert you wave form to mp3, when this happens it is being dithered down sampled esp. from 24 bit to 16.

4.A good mix and a great master using a hi-fi conversion even CBR if no choice will sound a lot better on your mp3 player.

5.Mp3 is a squashing of your audio, so experiment, choose wisely and listen to the mp3 player on your monitors, small PC monitors and head phones in a Mp3 player, if something is wrong you have a saved waveform to re do it, and by the way do not forget to save the wave form as a back up before you even mix down, master, or do anything so all, changes can at a latter time be changed.

6.Mp3 Id3 tags.Make sure all mp3 songs have these tags, they are stored in the mp3 and are a must, what are they and what is the purpose.In short, when editing the ID3 tag window, you will see a screen pop up that has a form to fill out.Name of song,artist,copyright,and other info.This is important and a must if you are selling your songs.With out a ID3 tag your song will say unknown artist as it plays in a mp3 player.You want your name and song title going across the screen it is a way for a universal tag to be read and all info will appear.The bonus to this for an Indy artist or anyone that wrote the song and converted it to MP3,  the date of creation is stamped on your work and no one can steal a song that has a mp3 ID3 tag, so make sure you do not over look the tag. The tag is your ID.You get full credit, so do it.

Any questions feel free to ask, I offer free a email based school, mentoring, consultation you ask the questions you need answers for and you will get a detailed email with links and info. I do not sell anything, all my mp3 Cd's are free to down load at www.soundclick.com/dabaldo

also

These are free to down load in low-fi my Hi-fi songs are posted on boost I have the boost logo on some of the blog's just click that and you will hear my new CD the War Machine, also at the bottom of the blog you will see links, click my new CD The war machine, this will take you to the boost site and you can listen to all the songs for free, but the site does not allow you to download them for free, that's them not me,but they are free on sound click. I posted on boost so my students could hear the difference in a Low-fi and hi-Fi sound, compare and you will see.

Until next time, happy recording
Danny Louis Abaldo

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.

www.boostindipendantmusic.com/artist/DanielLouis

Best of luck any questions or help drop me a line

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.

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.