Music gear is equipment that helps in music recording and producing. Whether used for personal recording, home recording studio, or in the professional studio. The purpose is the same, but the difference is the technology used, quality and the price.
Recording may consist of recordings related to television, stage shows and many such things. Compromising on quality of instruments can be fatal for business. But then, spending a lot of money on new instruments and equipment may not always be feasible. Therefore, buying used music gear is the best solution.
The advantage of buying second hand or used music gear is that it will be less expensive. But sometimes the problem occurs when the cheaper gear does not prove to be of good quality. It should be taken into account that the purpose of buying used musical equipments is to get inexpensive gear but with acceptable quality.
Therefore, without getting attracted just by price, the equipment should be checked properly. The usability and the dependability should be examined properly to ensure the quality.
Again, when we talk about the quality, it not only refers to the sound but also the strength of the equipment and the material used. Therefore, the examination also includes checking the condition of the material, the finishing, the workmanship and especially the technicalities. These things are important due to the fact that used equipment does not come with quality assurance or with guarantee.
There are many places where used music gear can be bought. There are stores that organize regular auctions. Then, there are online options too, where the choices are more and even the price is comparatively lower compared to the other stores. But the problem of buying from online stores is that there is no option for checking the equipment personally. The details about the music gear is provided in the sites and you will be able to physically check them only when you get the delivery, which is after the payment has already been made.
But there are a few stores that offer a 30 day return policy. That means that the music gear can be returned in 30 days of buying, if the quality or functioning is not satisfactory. This will give the opportunity to check and examine the music gear that is bought and it can even be rejected if any kind of technical problem is found .
Gone are the days of classical hardware studio. The modern software studio require high tech music gear. Therefore, while setting up a modern studio that is faster and of a higher quality, the purchasing process should include some brand new gear. Especially, some things like multi-track recorders, microphones, audio effects; amplifiers and mixers. These things have to be in good condition since they include more technical aspects.
Finally, before making up your mind to buy used music gear, it will be helpful to have good information about the company that will provide the best products. As there are many cases of fraud registered everyday, it is necessary to be cautious to ensure that the company is real and a reputed one.
By: Victor Epand
Archive for September, 2009
Tips For Home Music Production
September 30th, 2009With the advent of digital technology, musicians can mix their own music at home. A plethora of computer programs gives you the tools that you need to make professional sounding mixes from at your desk. Curious about how to best do your own home music production? Here’s some information that will help.
Tools For Home Music Production
In order to produce music at home, you’ll need to have a high quality computer. Older machines are fine for Internet use or word processing, but music mixing puts some significant demands on many systems. Make sure that your computer has plenty of available memory, so that it doesn’t slow down or crash in the middle of production.
You’ll also need to have the right software. Exactly what you require will depend on the type of production you want, and the use of the end product. There are a lot of options available, including some quality free programs available through the GPL. However, as with many other things, you may find you get what you pay for with free software. For many people, it’s a good springboard, but they’ll end up buying a high end professional product later. Experiment with various programs and see what works best for you.
A CD or DVD burner that can reliably produce quality, playable discs is important if you want to distribute your music in that form. If you’re planning to do distribution online, you may not need this. However, you’ll find that many people still prefer having a tangible disc that they can own.
Having good speakers is a must. If your computer speakers are tinny, too quiet, or full of distortions, you’ll find it impossible to get good playback, or to tell what’s wrong.
Of course, you’ll also need music files. This means either creating your music on the computer using a program suited to that, or recording what you play in digital form, using a recorder capable of this.
Making Your Music Sound Right
Listen carefully as you work on your files. If something sounds “off,” you’ll need to work to correct it. Listen to commercial recordings that you like, and analyze what’s going on in them to figure out the kind of mixes you like. Watch the levels carefully for clipping, and be sure that recording occurs at a constant, even level. If you have the right recording software, you’ll be able to monitor and support your levels from within. However, other software won’t allow you to adjust the input levels at all, and others will expect you to have a sound card that can do so.
EQ is a popular effect, to the point of being over used. It can be used to enhance a mix and make it more attractive over all. However, if the mix itself isn’t any good, no amount of EQ will hide that fact. Remember that when using EQ to equalize portions of your mix, the general advice is that you should cut, rather than boost. Most people will want to boost the weaker portions of the mix. However, that can lead to overboosting. Cutting the parts that are too strong is the better choice.
If you do boost, remember that boosting also increases the amount of noise, which can “dirty” your mix. Also, keep an eye on the output meter as you work. Boosting EQ increases the gain, which makes it easy to accidentally clip output, creating distortion. Listen to all tracks that you’ve worked on in relation to the other tracks to make sure that they match in feel.
Compression is useful is you want to even out variations in volume and control sound attack. Fast attacks accentuate the body of a given sound. Slow attacks increase definition. The areas that benefit the most from compression are the bass, vocals, and kick drums. However, some other areas might do well with it as well. Be sure to listen to all tracks with and without compression to figure out what will work the best.
Pay attention to settings on the compressor. They can significantly affect the results that come out in the end. Compression can also raise background noise, just like boosting EQ, and can accentuate “s” sounds in vocals. You may need to use what’s called a “de-esser” after using compression, if there’s too much sibilance.
By: Kevin Sinclair
How to be a Professional in the Music World
September 27th, 2009Music software – the new buzzword in the music world, which makes most of us experts in the field. Whether you are a professional, a student or simply pursuing a hobby in music, you are bound to feel enamored by the enormous potential of music software. It allows you to create your own album and songs with that extra zing and class. With music software, you can download, copy, edit, mix and match music to play it to perfection. This will make you so special in the eyes of your sweet heart. What else you can aspire for?
Internet has come as a boon for all music lovers who want to enjoy nice music at a fraction of otherwise exorbitant costs of CDs and albums. By downloading music software, you can create your own private album. In fact a large number of websites offer free music software, which is quite handy for beginners. So the old adage that ‘there are no free lunches in the world’ does not apply – at least not to the music world.
Music software allows even amateur music buffs like us to experiment and create our own music. You can add effects, waves, echoes and reverberations to the music. All this makes your music more peppy and adds a feeling of freshness to it.
Let us begin with the minimum requirements for making a start. You need a PC with 1 GB RAM (though lower end versions such as 256 MB RAM are also fine to begin with) and 80 GB hard disk (If you have less, never mind- you can add it later on). Your processor speed should ideally be 3.8GHz or more. This will allow you to work seamlessly across software and give you that extra power and speed to work on your music.
You also need to have an internet connection to download music software and other stuff. Broadband connectivity is great and is now affordable. With broadband, the speed of your download increases and you can ride the music mania.
Music software helps you in setting up and jazzing up instrument sounds, editing and converting music from one format to other such as WAV, MP3, WMA, OGG, CDA, VQF, AAC etc. You can add a good sound card which will have a great effect on quality and modulation. Music software also helps you in ripping music whereby you can copy audio files from CDs to your PCs and then work on it. As you learn the basic tricks, you may go in for other software such as MIDI converter, controller and sequencer, Jukebox, MOD trackers, software synthesizers, patch editors, multi-track recording software and samplers.
Computer aided composition music software also takes you to a different world altogether. It is an intelligent software which helps you in composing, creating arrangements, giving notations and structures to your music. It also gives that extra jazz to your music and makes it more professional.
Music software has made it possible for us to be on our own. No wonder you are seeing people getting more and more professional in the field and creating waves with their wonderful and aesthetic performances. You too can join the bandwagon. It is simple and does not cost much. Let us begin with a small exercise. Just browse the internet and download music and your favorite songs. Create an album and gift it to your dream date. Then sit back and enjoy the positive spin offs that your crooning brings!
By: Sarika Kabra
