Music Recording Software » Music Files

How to Prepare Your Computer for Recording Music at Home

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:27:26 +0000

Here are tips to improve the reliability of your computer for use as a recording studio for your music.

Working with Audio can place a high demand on your computer’s capabilities – from the CPU to storage and memory.Below are some tips that will increase the performance of your computer and make it less prone to crashes when you are recording or editing your music.

Preparation:

Before you install recording software check the following.CPU speed and memory-

Most modern computers that are only a couple of years old will have a processor that is equal to or exceeding the minimum CPU speed your editing software requires but it is still worth checking – particularly if you have machine that is earlier than this (be aware that processor speed, along with memory will determine how many tracks of audio you can record and the number of effects you can have running simultaneously.

The same goes for required RAM (most good recording programs state a minimum of 512 megabytes) More is better- a gigabyte or higher (in fact increasing the memory of your computer can compensate for a slower processor to some degree and is probably the cheapest way to add more speed to your machine).

Storage space –

In most cases you will have enough storage on your operating system hard drive to install the software and related effects – what I’m referring to is a second drive dedicated to storing your songs and all the files they are created from.

This is a must, because having both your software and songs on the same drive will place a high demand both on your drive and CPU as it tries to find, read and write and execute a program all at the same time from one location.

Also note that music files are large so you’ll need a lot of space – one five minute recording can easily be 250 megabytes or more – multiply that by eight for a song consisting of eight different instruments, (each on an individual track) such as drums, bass, guitar, keyboard and vocals and you begin to get the idea that a 40 gigabyte drive will fill up fairly quickly so go for something bigger (say 150 gigs or larger).

Choose a reliable brand and get an external drive to keep your files backed up.

While we are on the subject of hard drives – if you are planning on using an external drive and writing directly to it, choose a unit that has a cooling fan.

Enclosed drives can generate and trap a lot of heat and if you are doing a long session without much ventilation you can cook your drive and cause it to fail prematurely. (internal drives are less prone to this because they usually receive cooling from the power supply fan and you can mount them in such a way that there is an air gap between each of them for circulation).

Removal or disabling of other programs.

The absolute best computer based recording studios in terms of speed and stability are those that are dedicated units – in other words they are set up to specifically record and edit music.

This means they are not connected to the internet (except for updates and registering the software), they don’t have anti virus running, screen savers or other widgets running in the background that use up memory and CPU.

The result is that dedicated computers are far more reliable and tend to have significantly less problems.Windows is particularly notorious for having many programs running in the background and can cause havoc with your audio work. Mac is less so.Consult an expert when disabling background programs – some are vital for the operation of your computer and should be left alone – others are ok to shut down (you just need to know what can and cannot be touched).

If you are financially able, and serious about recording – try to get yourself a computer just for audio work and keep your current machine for the internet and any other work you might be doing.If you can’t do this and are stuck with just one machine – do the following.

Upgrade the RAM if you need to.

Uninstall any programs you don’t use and do a thorough clean up.

Disable background processes that are not essential to the running of your machine (This applies to Windows only) – again if in doubt get expert help.

Close your internet connection and disable automatic updates and anti virus etc while you are recording (you can re-enable them later when you are done).

Use a plain background as wallpaper.

Defragment your hard drive and (make sure your operating system has no errors first and is up to date) before installing your recording software and any drivers you might be using for your sound card or external inputs.

You are now good to go – install your recording gear and enjoy less problems on a more stable computer.

By: Mark Spivey

processor speed for recording

Music Download: a Boon or a Bane?

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:42:04 +0000

It was once considered to be the killer of the world’s music enterprise. But now it has become the forerunner of the industry that once hated it. The transition was as fast as you can play a single MP3 on your music player. But before you can play it, you have to download it first.

A few years back, the music industry had its slump, what with this so called “illegal sharing and distribution of copyright”. Many times they have sued companies that develop file sharing engines (or peer-to-peer sharing) like Kazaa and Limewire, among others. Yet they lose time and again. It’s either that the law is loose on music downloading or the authorities are not ready to incriminate the millions of people who download music over the internet. The truth is you can’t blame file sharing softwares because as the adage goes, “it is only a means to an end.” While they blatantly do their business-which is to let people share whatever file they want to share-they don’t actually promote illegal activities that would violate any law. It is still up to the users.

Let’s put it this way. If bank robbers used a sports car like Porsche as a getaway vehicle after robbing a bank, would the authorities blame the carmaker because the car is so fast they failed to catch the criminals?

With the case of music downloads, it is slightly different. Because even if they can catch people who download stuff from the internet, they just could not persecute them. These are the same people who go to record stores to buy CDs and DVDs, the same persons who buy front row concert tickets to watch their favorite artists live. For them, downloading is not a crime, but an evolution of music. It took the music industry some years to realize that digital music is indeed the future of the music industry. And while there are still file sharing softwares out there-not to mention some web sites where you can directly download music files for free- record companies made a bold move to keep up with the modern times. Now they have their own music portals where people can get free music samplers or pay a reasonable amount for newly released singles from different albums from their favorite artists. They even partner with some music player manufacturers like Ipod.

Music downloading soared to greater heights, bringing the music industry back to the top. There are even artists like Coldplay who release their music in digital format weeks before their albums come out.

This is how the music industry “rolls” these days. No more blaming, no more suing-just good music all year round. It doesn’t matter whether people buy CDs or download MP3s. In the end, everyone benefits-the people, the artists and the record companies. The good thing is that downloads now form part of the total sales of any music record. After all, music is there to be heard and shared.

By: Atomsri Sukpo

Music Download: a Boon or a Bane?

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:07:51 +0000

ce considered to be the killer of the world’s music enterprise. But now it has become the forerunner of the industry that once hated it. The transition was as fast as you can play a single MP3 on your music player. But before you can play it, you have to download it first.

A few years back, the music industry had its slump, what with this so called “illegal sharing and distribution of copyright”. Many times they have sued companies that develop file sharing engines (or peer-to-peer sharing) like Kazaa and Limewire, among others. Yet they lose time and again. It’s either that the law is loose on music downloading or the authorities are not ready to incriminate the millions of people who download music over the internet. The truth is you can’t blame file sharing softwares because as the adage goes, “it is only a means to an end.” While they blatantly do their businesswhich is to let people share whatever file they want to sharethey don’t actually promote illegal activities that would violate any law. It is still up to the users.

Let’s put it this way. If bank robbers used a sports car like Porsche as a getaway vehicle after robbing a bank, would the authorities blame the carmaker because the car is so fast they failed to catch the criminals?

With the case of music downloads, it is slightly different. Because even if they can catch people who download stuff from the internet, they just could not persecute them. These are the same people who go to record stores to buy CDs and DVDs, the same persons who buy front row concert tickets to watch their favorite artists live. For them, downloading is not a crime, but an evolution of music. It took the music industry some years to realize that digital music is indeed the future of the music industry. And while there are still file sharing softwares out therenot to mention some web sites where you can directly download music files for free record companies made a bold move to keep up with the modern times. Now they have their own music portals where people can get free music samplers or pay a reasonable amount for newly released singles from different albums from their favorite artists. They even partner with some music player manufacturers like Ipod.

Music downloading soared to greater heights, bringing the music industry back to the top. There are even artists like Coldplay who release their music in digital format weeks before their albums come out.

This is how the music industry “rolls” these days. No more blaming, no more suingjust good music all year round. It doesn’t matter whether people buy CDs or download MP3s. In the end, everyone benefitsthe people, the artists and the record companies. The good thing is that downloads now form part of the total sales of any music record. After all, music is there to be heard and shared.

By: Atomsri Sukpo

Tips For Home Music Production

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:01:10 +0000

With 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