Home studio demos

[DaNolman]

Hey all, please don't stomp me too badly. TOTAL newbie here, so be gentle

We want to start making demos at home before we take them into the studio to record. We kinda want to make rough drafts for the real production team to take to the finish line.

Wifey is the one who does the music and she asked me to get her an ipad with garageband. I figured, why not go all the way and get a mac computer so we can do it up right.

We don't know how to use protools or anything like that, so really, we're just trying to make demos that are better than the sample sounds found on our Yamaha DGX-300. Maybe even work our way up to cutting some simple piano and voice at some point.

My question is, are we just going to end up putting garage band on the mac computer? Or is there something more robust that we can do with the the computer that we can't do on the ipad?

Also, should we get a desktop as opposed to a laptop? Or, does that even matter in terms of computer power. If it's not that big of a difference, we travel quite a bit, so portability earns extra points.

TIA!

[guitarhacker]

So many options here.... first is PC or MAC.

People will swear by or at one or the other... both work well.

A good piano vocal or guitar vocal can sell the song.... if they are both top notch performances.

The good thing is that todays software based DAW's are easy to learn and give superb results for a minimal investment.

A laptop/desktop computer, DAW software, a decent audio/midi interface, and a nice condensor mic will get you started.

I like PC's and use Cakewalk software on a custom built desk top. I used a Dell laptop for +3 years.

It will take just a bit of time (varies depending on you) to get your recording chops up to speed. Then, it will be easy to produce broadcast quality music. Film & TV require it since they will NOT record it again....and more and more these days, the artists and their producers want it too. The days of the "demo" ended some time back. It has to sound professional all the way now, even if it's just a simple piano/vocal song plug.

[DaNolman]

Thanks guitarhacker. Great info. I'm a PC guy too so I'm much more comfortable with PC based software. I only mentioned the mac because wifey wants to get garageband to piece together the seeds of songs. She doesn't write as much as she wants, so she wanted to focus more on the creative side.

She's also got a PC laptop - HP Pavilion. Any Garageband-like software you can recommend for that so that she can get started?


PS - "People will swear by or at one or the other" lol so true

[mazz]

If you are going to be recording audio and you're set on Garageband, the Mac version (which comes free with the Macs, BTW) is probably the way to go. You could add something like the Apogee One and be up and running pretty quickly.

On the PC side (actually cross platform), you might consider Band In A Box. I've not used it but apparently you can type in the chords and tell it what style you want and it will generate an arrangement that you can use as a guide for the producers to work with. I believe you can also record a scratch vocal into it, but I'm not sure about that. You can probably tweak some of the parts after they've been generated. For ease of creating something that sounds like music, Band In A Box gets pretty high marks all the way around.

[DaNolman]

Hi mazz, thanks for the info. I'm assuming BIAB comes with drums, bass, guitar sounds and stuff. What you're talking about is pretty much exactly what I need it for. Saves on studio time, so the cost up front will be a great investment!

[Kolstad]

Thanks guitarhacker. Great info. I'm a PC guy too so I'm much more comfortable with PC based software. I only mentioned the mac because wifey wants to get garageband to piece together the seeds of songs. She doesn't write as much as she wants, so she wanted to focus more on the creative side.

She's also got a PC laptop - HP Pavilion. Any Garageband-like software you can recommend for that so that she can get started?


PS - "People will swear by or at one or the other" lol so true

If she just needs to do rough recordings, and not take it further, the freeware program Audacity might do http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Otherwise something like the 60$ Reaper could be a good option http://www.reaper.fm/index.php

[DaNolman]

I was just talking to a friend this weekend. Sounds like I should get a USB mic to do the vocals?

I have Mackie 1402. Should I run the mic through the board first? Man, I'm such a noob.

Producers and mixers are so awesome. I could never even BEGIN to pretend to be able to do what they do. But I can make a pretty mean spreadsheet

[cardell]

Hi & Welcome,

I was just talking to a friend this weekend. Sounds like I should get a USB mic to do the vocals?

Yes, I think that is a smart move. A simple, elegant setup...to start out with.

I have Mackie 1402. Should I run the mic through the board first? Man, I'm such a noob.

No. A USB mic suggests that it plugs directly into your comuter (no being sarcastic here...just thorough).
However, the desk is WELL worth keeping for later on when you get into phantom powered mics.

Producers and mixers are so awesome. I could never even BEGIN to pretend to be able to do what they do.

Yes you can. I've been recording my own songs for nearly 30 years in small and big studios and there has never been a better time for making great sounding tracks in your own home. The quick way to get started and sounding great, is to use loops. You simply make a great sounding track with your royalty free loops. Then write your song to go with your great sounding track...

See for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Simpleitire ... fdKU0IObmw

Stuart

[mojobone]

I can't really recommend USB mics for keeper vocals; you'll need a quality interface at some point, so go ahead and bite the bullet, is my advice. Consider that USB and non USB versions of the same mic are often as little as $25 apart in terms of price, then that they spent the difference on both a preamp and an analog to digital interface. Something's got to give somewhere, don't you think? Further, some USB mics are unsuitable for use with standard recording equipment, because they have only a USB output. If you buy a decent name brand mic and a quality interface, you can often get your money back in the used market; most USB mics are more suited to podcasting, imo. I'll second Mazz' opinion on Garageband; it's a great starter package, but be warned that running lots of simultaneous virtual instruments will require lots o' horsepower; at least a Macbook Pro or a beefy iMac, if not a full bore Mac Pro.

[DaNolman]

Thanks guys. Stuart, I'll check out the video when I'm on a faster connection. I'm using an air card and it makes me remember the days of dialup adn aol. aaahhhh the memories. When youtube was merely a dream.

Mojo - funny you should mention that. I was talking to a friend who does a podcast and she recommended the usb mic. I'll keep that in mind since we just may start making music that we want to sell and I always feel good making the best productions to give the customers their money's worth.

I was afraid I'd have to buy a honkin machine to get some good virtual tracks together. Seems lately, I've been biting a lot of bullets. I just don't see how the economy is doing so bad with the money I've been spending!