recording on the 'puter (1 Viewer)

[pad]

i don't know if anyone has done this yet, but this is one thing i'd really like to know about, and im sure many other people would love to also. could anyone who has experience in it explain what equipment you need and how you might go about recording songs on a p.c. (i.e. how much memory and speed a computer should have, what kind of soundcards are necessary, what kind of programs are needed, any other programs that might be helpful in making songs like drum programs etc. someone mentioned some sort of digital convertor for the mics to get rid of the hiss that you get, all that kinda stuff) i know bits and bobs but if anyone knows the whole thing i think it would make a fabulous article for things.
any takers?

 

[dudley]

it's completely subjective, innit? there are loads of different ways of doing it.

i use my p300, with 160mb and soundblaster live card and it gets me by just fine. software is sonic foundry vegas (all the corpo singles used this) and it's a piece of piss to use.

what have you got already?

 

[mark]

there has been quite a few threads on that subject recently. dudley has a fair bit of experience recording with computers. can anyone remeber the previous thread titles?

 

[pad]

well i have a p.c. on which i play with cakewalk (lovely stuff) is sonic foundry good/easy/fun/nice things/inexpensive/free? i'm kinda hoping to buy a cheap laptop of some sort in the future, but that could be in the very far off future. whas the diddly with the soundcard and all that.

 

[dudley]

you should be able to find vegas online easily enough, i think it's way way better than cakewalk. my soundcard is pretty much a standard soundcard, one mic input. if you can get a mixer you'd be making a good start, though there are some great new multi input sound cards now. dunno too much about them

 

[pad]

when you say mixer, do you mean a mixing desk or one o them yokes dj's use. does anyone else know anything about them fancy soundcards dudley mentioned?

 

[Keeror]

Anne O'Malley has an 8-input external soundcard.

But Anne's gone...gone...<sniff>

 

[herv]

there are a couple of external soundcards on the market now. i use a laptop as well for music, but i'm actually quite happy with the internal card. also i've found that some external sound cards are quite cpu hungry. like this beauty:

http://www.soundblaster.com/products/extigy/

there is this chappy as well, i'm very tempted by it, although i have read dismaying things about its somewhat fiddly bundled software.

http://www.egosys.net/eng/product/products/wami_box/WMB.html

my trick is to record into a wave editor, make samples, and import them into a tracker.

hope this helps in some way. and pat, as regards a mixer, a dj one is specifically designed with djs in mind. and they can be quite noisy. stay away from them. if you're working with a computer a small 6-8 channel board would be worth while.


herv.

 

[Sprite Boy]

herv (08 Apr, 2002 07:29 p.m.):
there are a couple of external soundcards on the market now. i use a laptop as well for music, but i'm actually quite happy with the internal card. also i've found that some external sound cards are quite cpu hungry. like this beauty:

http://www.soundblaster.com/products/extigy/

there is this chappy as well, i'm very tempted by it, although i have read dismaying things about its somewhat fiddly bundled software.

http://www.egosys.net/eng/product/products/wami_box/WMB.html

my trick is to record into a wave editor, make samples, and import them into a tracker.

hope this helps in some way. and pat, as regards a mixer, a dj one is specifically designed with djs in mind. and they can be quite noisy. stay away from them. if you're working with a computer a small 6-8 channel board would be worth while.


herv.

If you are talking PC. I would highly recommend Fruity Loops 3. It will allows you do all you want! Samples, VST/Direct X PLugins, Midi, Virtual Synths, 16 channels of FX including EQ. 8 channels of FX are be added per channel. check out the specs here

http://www.fruityloops.com/English/frames.html

And the best thing about this is that if you record a track you can EQ it on the PC.

I would recommend a SB Live as a minimum requirement as a card, 128 megs, 700 mhz and lots of hard-disk space

It's not hard to find a copy of it on the neT.

 

[herv]

is that what you use sprighty?

i dunno, i could never hack the disgusting gui.

buzz tracker. all hail.

 

[Pantone247]

hey would anyone be interested in getting together doing an article about this for THiNGS.

I could scribble up the bits and pieces I've used on the Mac. maybe somebody could do similar for PC, Dudley you seem to have got it sorted on that front, maybe you could put something together?? maybe some folk who do the more electro crazy end of things could dfo something similar

actually if anyone is interested drop me a mail... I have an "idea"

[email protected]

actually

 

[herv]

i'd like to help in anyway i can aswell. yep, i'll mail you tomorrow about that.

 

[nine]

I'll throw my knowledge into the hat.I cannot believe nobody mentioned Reason by propellerheads.This thing can do it all.
It's got a synth,sampler,drum machine,sequencer and loads of
effects e.g distortion reverb etc.

If you are a good catholic you could pay for it.Else,go to WinMx and download it for nothin.It takes a bit of learning but there is plenty of documentation available for it.Also nobody mentioned Cubase!!Thats downloadable aswell (on the sly).I reckon these two things would do you pat.

 

[Sprite Boy]

herv (10 Apr, 2002 11:25 a.m.):
is that what you use sprighty?

i dunno, i could never hack the disgusting gui.

buzz tracker. all hail.

Herv,

I've been a trakker for over 8 years! All the way from the Amiga 500! The first time I used Fruity I was going I can;t get used to it, but I can't got back now. Do you have any or ur tracks available on the web?

 

[herv]

christ, this is turning into an idm list here...

eh, no i don't have any tracks up, but, we've just got hosting for our label site and i'll post some up then.
in the meantime its www.compactrisc.net

 

[herv]

nine (10 Apr, 2002 09:22 p.m.):
I'll throw my knowledge into the hat.I cannot believe nobody mentioned Reason by propellerheads.This thing can do it all.
It's got a synth,sampler,drum machine,sequencer and loads of
effects e.g distortion reverb etc.

If you are a good catholic you could pay for it.Else,go to WinMx and download it for nothin.It takes a bit of learning but there is plenty of documentation available for it.Also nobody mentioned Cubase!!Thats downloadable aswell (on the sly).I reckon these two things would do you pat.

if you're going to get your hands on reason, make sure you have a pretty fast computer though. it is really hungry. furthermore its a pain to import samples into, but its very professional sounding once you get it going.

and as for cubase... i personally cannot stand it. i think it is the most horrible program in the world. yuk.

 

[#10-7]

are you telling all this to pantone?
there's loads of interesting stuff here...

 

[herv]

yep, i just mailed him. i'll do a detailed thingy in the next week. provided i'm not fired from work, late again this morning.

 

[Sprite Boy]

herv (10 Apr, 2002 11:25 a.m.):
is that what you use sprighty?

i dunno, i could never hack the disgusting gui.

buzz tracker. all hail.

I just realised BUZZ TRACKER! You gotta be kidding dude

That's not a very professional tool now is it! And as for the disgusting GUI in Fruity loops? I guess that's why http://www.futuremusic.co.uk gave it a 10/10 review =)

The link above has tonnes of music tips n tricks and all that shite!

 

[herv]

no, i think buzz is pretty interesting to be honest, but i've never really used fruity loops. i think i have it, but i never uploaded it. have you used buzz? i think its an excellent program. the synths are fantastic, and its very cpu friendly.