My 19 year old daughter is a musician.Very good in my opinion. She writes and sings her own songs. She want to create a little studio in her bedroom. Shes got a 800 athlon comp with a standard sound blaster card. So far she uses a mic adapted to her sound card with almost pro results.Im really ignorant in this area can any one give me any hardware tips to help her out. Btw, Im not wealthy, so real expensive addons are not possible.
Music Hardware ?
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AND_YOU_ARE
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A sound blaster audigy platinum sound card come with a front bay to add a keyboard or other electronic devices, it also comes with dj and mixing software. I have played around with the software and it is nice. Sony Sound Forge is a great sound editing and recording package, but up there in price.
Honestly, forget soundblasters.
M-Audio had a nice 1 in 1 out soundcard that would be ideal for her. I am a DJ and also know about studio's and recording. It's called the M-Audio 2496 i think, simple card runs under 100$ US I was going to pick one up a while ago. To trained ear like me, i can tell the difference between a soundblaster and a decent card by far.
You will also want to get some sort of a mic pre-amp. I was reading about a good deal on some kinda pre-amp a while ago in my magazine. A cheaper alternative would be a behringer mic pre-amp, and their half decent and VERY cheap.
You would also need a half decent mic, one of my favourite mic's is a shure SM-58 which is very good for alot of applications, but im not 100% sure if it would do well for piano, but some people use them for piano. Should be aqquirable for 80$ USD
Now you need some software for recording, some things that come to mind for simple recording are Adobe Audition (multilayaring capabilities, good program) and Sony soundforge (no multilayering)
If she writes music on computer, I am not sure of the programs you would need to do this. If you want I can dig up some links as well
M-Audio had a nice 1 in 1 out soundcard that would be ideal for her. I am a DJ and also know about studio's and recording. It's called the M-Audio 2496 i think, simple card runs under 100$ US I was going to pick one up a while ago. To trained ear like me, i can tell the difference between a soundblaster and a decent card by far.
You will also want to get some sort of a mic pre-amp. I was reading about a good deal on some kinda pre-amp a while ago in my magazine. A cheaper alternative would be a behringer mic pre-amp, and their half decent and VERY cheap.
You would also need a half decent mic, one of my favourite mic's is a shure SM-58 which is very good for alot of applications, but im not 100% sure if it would do well for piano, but some people use them for piano. Should be aqquirable for 80$ USD
Now you need some software for recording, some things that come to mind for simple recording are Adobe Audition (multilayaring capabilities, good program) and Sony soundforge (no multilayering)
If she writes music on computer, I am not sure of the programs you would need to do this. If you want I can dig up some links as well
Okay for the full post
Shure SM-58 - A very clear mic espisally for the price. I have 3 or 4 of these now and I love them. They even have a 10$ rebate now. Your daughter maybee using a better mic now though
http://www.shure.com/microphones/models/sm58.asp
The LC is the same the same as the normals, but either has an on \ off button or is basicly an "oem" without a cord ect. Send the good guys at agi for an email since they usually have the cheapest prices (never seen their prices beat more than 2% ever before)
http://agiprodj.com/detail.php?id=354
Mic Preamps - The ones i was reading all the good stuff about in my mag were the Focusrite ones. I was particalurrally intrested in the twinpak, which is a dual mic preamp. You need only a single, and they sell those as well
http://www.focusrite.com/products/platinum/indexplat.html
The Voicemaster pro is expensive and I have heard nothing but good things about it. It's 575 (or around their) so it maybee a bit over your budget.
The behringer Ultravoice digital is worth a look as well as some of their other mic pre's. It has digital so running to the M-Audio card you will be losless. Behringer is terribly unreliable in the DJ field, but make some decent products in the pro audio, that sometimes break, but are dirt cheap and not much compares. The great thing is the price of 120$ USD
http://www.behringer.com/02_products/group_index.cfm?mid=2&ID=100&lang=ENG
Here's the m-audio card, exactly what you need
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html
Never used one myself, read up alot on it. It will be 10x better than any soundblaster and is simple and quality. 1 stero in, 1 stero out, with MIDI for your keyboard and the SPDIF in and out.
Shure SM-58 - A very clear mic espisally for the price. I have 3 or 4 of these now and I love them. They even have a 10$ rebate now. Your daughter maybee using a better mic now though
http://www.shure.com/microphones/models/sm58.asp
The LC is the same the same as the normals, but either has an on \ off button or is basicly an "oem" without a cord ect. Send the good guys at agi for an email since they usually have the cheapest prices (never seen their prices beat more than 2% ever before)
http://agiprodj.com/detail.php?id=354
Mic Preamps - The ones i was reading all the good stuff about in my mag were the Focusrite ones. I was particalurrally intrested in the twinpak, which is a dual mic preamp. You need only a single, and they sell those as well
http://www.focusrite.com/products/platinum/indexplat.html
The Voicemaster pro is expensive and I have heard nothing but good things about it. It's 575 (or around their) so it maybee a bit over your budget.
The behringer Ultravoice digital is worth a look as well as some of their other mic pre's. It has digital so running to the M-Audio card you will be losless. Behringer is terribly unreliable in the DJ field, but make some decent products in the pro audio, that sometimes break, but are dirt cheap and not much compares. The great thing is the price of 120$ USD
http://www.behringer.com/02_products/group_index.cfm?mid=2&ID=100&lang=ENG
Here's the m-audio card, exactly what you need
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html
Never used one myself, read up alot on it. It will be 10x better than any soundblaster and is simple and quality. 1 stero in, 1 stero out, with MIDI for your keyboard and the SPDIF in and out.
Thanks for the replys. AND_YOU_ARE , You mentioned a front bay hook up. Are you talking about a midi port installed in a drive bay?
DJ-CHRIS, thanks for all the links. Right now she has a high end radio shack mic ( ha ha ). She recorded a demo in Nashville over the last eight months and got inspired to work on her stuff in her own room before she goes back to a real studio.
DJ-CHRIS, thanks for all the links. Right now she has a high end radio shack mic ( ha ha ). She recorded a demo in Nashville over the last eight months and got inspired to work on her stuff in her own room before she goes back to a real studio.
Interesting thread. I've been getting ready to do some music writing, recording and editing also. Have accumulated some gear including a good keyboard, but not have things hooked up to pc yet, until I finish some other chores and projects. But will subscribe to this thread for updates, and share info when I have more.
I reviewed a fair amount of music software products for home desktop pc before buying a mid-level pkg or two. Also have Digi-design's trial version of Pro-Tools, but not knowledgeable enough to use it yet. Just poked thru it's windows & some menus etc a while back.
Have some ideas about theta sounds, and developing an aspect of music theory with pc display models. Envision detailed but efficient sorting of sounds, colors, emotions, words, images that are optimally compatible or synergistic. Build this into a music writing/creating design and management program. Later if successful, could migrate to add video.
I've seen at least one interesting dissertation on music theory that analyzed some examples of classical music, displayed that analysis in live, graphed, dynamic colors (reproducible, not random) and identified elements that seemed to correspond to specific moods. But it's very complex in some ways and way too basic and cumbersome to be of much use yet. Intuition could develop such concepts into new composing/writing tools with break-thru potential, far beyond what Digi-design seems to have commercially available for general consumption todate.
I suppose I should explore this on a music-pc website/forum rather than here. However I came here for a different reason intially, and happened to see this thread.
I reviewed a fair amount of music software products for home desktop pc before buying a mid-level pkg or two. Also have Digi-design's trial version of Pro-Tools, but not knowledgeable enough to use it yet. Just poked thru it's windows & some menus etc a while back.
Have some ideas about theta sounds, and developing an aspect of music theory with pc display models. Envision detailed but efficient sorting of sounds, colors, emotions, words, images that are optimally compatible or synergistic. Build this into a music writing/creating design and management program. Later if successful, could migrate to add video.
I've seen at least one interesting dissertation on music theory that analyzed some examples of classical music, displayed that analysis in live, graphed, dynamic colors (reproducible, not random) and identified elements that seemed to correspond to specific moods. But it's very complex in some ways and way too basic and cumbersome to be of much use yet. Intuition could develop such concepts into new composing/writing tools with break-thru potential, far beyond what Digi-design seems to have commercially available for general consumption todate.
I suppose I should explore this on a music-pc website/forum rather than here. However I came here for a different reason intially, and happened to see this thread.
I think my daughter uses a program called n-track. Very user friendly. I downloaded a freeware program called audacity and it works good if you learn how to allign your tracks--You have to click some menu buttons to allign or the music doesnt line up.Also Rjam mentioned pro-tools. On their site is a fully functional free version for windows 98-me. My daughter found it too confusing.I wonder if there is a midi box /mixer that will connect instruments to the comp with settings available.
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well.....my suggestion would be spring for a digitech GNX4 Guitar Workstation *drools*...*drools more* it's more than just a guitar pedal...you've got usb hook up..you can plug your speakers, mic's other guitar pedals (though you don't need other pedals for this thing), keyboards..anything electronic..you can plug into. it records on the pedal itself and then you just upload it to your computer and can mix even more with your software programs if you want....it's a dream machine for mixin'...soooooooo many presets can be set it's unbelievable......i know a couple poeple who have em...man....awesome....they also come in stages too....the one i said is the sweetest..but also damages the wallett....just go to a guitar/instrument store and they can tell you all about em.
Does she just want to do instrumental stuff? Or does she want to do electronic stuff as well?
I write music on my PC using all software... might wanna check it out (pimpage!): www.soundclick.com/AdamM/
I write music on my PC using all software... might wanna check it out (pimpage!): www.soundclick.com/AdamM/
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