Recording Music at Home
I do not have a lot of money, but I do have a lot of time. I also play the guitar fabulously and want to record many of my pieces and make them available to the listening public. Given this situation I have spent the last year and a half recording at home. This is a laborious project, not because of the music which flows out of me with ease, but the learning curve using the recording software. I would record some thing, then a couple months later discover something new about the software that would have made the original recording much better. Sometime I can make the correction in the computer. Other times simply re-recorded wrapped with in the new awareness and ability of the software.
As for the Software I used Magix Music Studio 10 Deluxe. Magix is based in Germany and has a product line ranging from burning CD’s to Audio and Midi recordings, film editing, a wide array of multi media. At their English Language Site they have links to photo, video, and music related products. It is a great site if you are into such things.
One thing is that the Music Studio Deluxe is now up to version 12, enhanced for Windows Vista. The cost is $79.99. Don’t let the price fool you. This is an extremely good program. You can have up to 64 tracks, multiple parts of recordings on each track address each little part of the program for cleaning, enhancing, recording, all with the eye of building a better sounding recording. EQ, gating, limiting, a sound board, it all adds up to one easy process, though it does have a learning curve to it. But the fun of figuring it all out was well worth the investment. And compared to the cost and abilities of other recording software this gives the best for the price.
I received my copyright from the Library of Congress, spent $80 on the software, a couple hundred bucks on the guitar and amp, and a lot of my own time. But for $300.00 I was able to record a couple CD’s on my own, and they came out sounding excellent. They also have a set of higher quality programs, their Samplitude series and Sequoia ($329 to $3,000) if you want to invest in those. I am sure there is a reason for the higher prices, but I like what I got.
AS FOR RECORDING AT HOME
I used a Chet Atkins Electric Classical guitar to play. I also have a Cube 30 amplifier by Roland, and I can’t recommend it enough. I can plug the guitar into it, it has an Out that you can send to the sound card on your computer, a group of great sound affects that can be turned on with a foot switch (another input) and it has an input for a microphone. Everything the solo musician needs in one amp.
Now when you record you do it without affects because Magix comes with most of them. It is a lot easier to alter a dry un affected signal than one that has been heavily altered. This software has a bunch of cools features. I can get up to 32 tracks for audio, plus all the midi you want to add on. There are drum programs, various other instruments, you can control their patterns and tempo and what key they are in. There is a dehisser, denoiser and declipping system built in. You can also add reverb, echo, gating and a bunch of other signal alterations. The best part is there is an Object Organizer where you can select a single track in a song or piece of music, and Magix brings up several different cleaners and Gain Control and affects. You turn on what you want and move a few graphic indicators to alter and improve each track as you want. Just a bit of hall and reverb can make a guitar or voice sound so much sweeter.
Mixdown includes a lot of information that goes on the CD for how it is to be played, track indicators for the CD reader, all sorts of things. It has a built in mp3 and a few other compressors but you only get a limited amount of these. This is easily solved by purchasing their add on for this, or find a free on on the internet. But heck, you get all this for such a good price, go ahead and pay them for it.
I have played my CD’s I burned from the software on my computer speakers, walked in to a Best Buy and cranked them up there (pretty cool until the manager asked what I was doing), DJ speakers at a dance club, several systems, and they sound clean, no hiss, beautiful rendering.
So if you have little cash but lots of desire, a computer and a guitar that can produce an electric signal, get this software. It does as much as programs which cost several hundred dollars and does it all sweetly.
One thing is that the Music Studio Deluxe is now up to version 12, enhanced for Windows Vista. The cost is $79.99. Don’t let the price fool you. This is an extremely good program. You can have up to 64 tracks, multiple parts of recordings on each track address each little part of the program for cleaning, enhancing, recording, all with the eye of building a better sounding recording. EQ, gating, limiting, a sound board, it all adds up to one easy process, though it does have a learning curve to it. But the fun of figuring it all out was well worth the investment. And compared to the cost and abilities of other recording software this gives the best for the price.
I received my copyright from the Library of Congress, spent $80 on the software, a couple hundred bucks on the guitar and amp, and a lot of my own time. But for $300.00 I was able to record a couple CD’s on my own, and they came out sounding excellent. They also have a set of higher quality programs, their Samplitude series and Sequoia ($329 to $3,000) if you want to invest in those. I am sure there is a reason for the higher prices, but I like what I got.
AS FOR RECORDING AT HOME
I used a Chet Atkins Electric Classical guitar to play. I also have a Cube 30 amplifier by Roland, and I can’t recommend it enough. I can plug the guitar into it, it has an Out that you can send to the sound card on your computer, a group of great sound affects that can be turned on with a foot switch (another input) and it has an input for a microphone. Everything the solo musician needs in one amp.
Now when you record you do it without affects because Magix comes with most of them. It is a lot easier to alter a dry un affected signal than one that has been heavily altered. This software has a bunch of cools features. I can get up to 32 tracks for audio, plus all the midi you want to add on. There are drum programs, various other instruments, you can control their patterns and tempo and what key they are in. There is a dehisser, denoiser and declipping system built in. You can also add reverb, echo, gating and a bunch of other signal alterations. The best part is there is an Object Organizer where you can select a single track in a song or piece of music, and Magix brings up several different cleaners and Gain Control and affects. You turn on what you want and move a few graphic indicators to alter and improve each track as you want. Just a bit of hall and reverb can make a guitar or voice sound so much sweeter.
Mixdown includes a lot of information that goes on the CD for how it is to be played, track indicators for the CD reader, all sorts of things. It has a built in mp3 and a few other compressors but you only get a limited amount of these. This is easily solved by purchasing their add on for this, or find a free on on the internet. But heck, you get all this for such a good price, go ahead and pay them for it.
I have played my CD’s I burned from the software on my computer speakers, walked in to a Best Buy and cranked them up there (pretty cool until the manager asked what I was doing), DJ speakers at a dance club, several systems, and they sound clean, no hiss, beautiful rendering.
So if you have little cash but lots of desire, a computer and a guitar that can produce an electric signal, get this software. It does as much as programs which cost several hundred dollars and does it all sweetly.
