Intro to making/recording music with your computer or DAW - Overclock.net

metaverse · 01-23-09

Hey OCN peoples,

As a give back to the OCN community i'd like to share with you guys my knowledge about D.A.W.'s ... Digital Audio Workstations and how to make your own music on a budget.

Most of us here absolutely LOVE music and the way it makes us feel when we listen to it... Well I just want you to know that it feels just as good (if not MORE) when you are able to create a song , mix it well enough that it sounds pleasing , burn it to a CD and Bump it in your car!!!

And after a little time you'll feel confident enough to play it for some of your friends and my god the clouds will open when you see them smiling ... its a feeling like non other

And this can all be done for under a few hundred dollars. Also considering the fact that you are all knowledgable with computers and software as it is, it will not take very long before you're able to crank out your first track.

Ok so on with it ...

::: ::: :::

A digital audio workstation (DAW) is an electronic system designed to record, edit and play back digital audio. A key feature of DAWs is the ability to freely manipulate pre-recorded sounds[samples] as well as create and record your own sounds.

The term "DAW" simply refers to a general combination of audio multitrack software and semi to high-quality audio hardware ...

Think of multi tracking like stacking layers on a cheese burger. You've got your bread , your mustard, cheese,lettuce,tomato, ect ...

Well with audio recording you are essentially doing the same thing ...

You are adding layers to an audio dish of YOUR liking. You have drums , guitar(s)acoustic and electric , synthesizers, horns, BASS[my favorite], percussion, vocals , atmospherics, ect ... All mixed to YOUR taste. Some people like more salt and less meat ... more cheese [low end] and more spice [high end]. You are an audio chef and you will learn how to feed your own head

ps. apply whatever analogy fits best for you - be it a sculptor, painter, rig builder

, ect ...

pps. There are alternatives to the companies and products i've listed , I just figured i'd start with what i've used personally as opposed to listing off all possibilities.

::: ::: :::

So every audio chef needs his tools right?

For us in the home recording bedroom/basement STUDIO[sounds sexy] our main tool is our:

#1. Computer (DER, no kidding

)

- Although your gaming rig will more than likely be able to keep up to speed [as long as you built it with parts from the past 4 years] no problem and run multiple tracks/instances of VST effects and VST instruments (more later) we audio recording enthusiasts are much more concerned with:

- DSP sound cards + FSB and cache than we are GPU's.

- We will benefit MUCH MORE from Quad Core than from Dual Core.

- We are almost as in love with RAM as SERIOUS gamers are

- We should also be running Hard drives that are not only FAST with lots of cache but also Quiet. Think Velociraptors or RAID. Nothing less than 7200rpm unless you're using a laptop , than you have an excuse.

- We are much more enticed by the Antec p182 than we are the Antec 900 because of its dense walls and lack of noise making fans in comparison to the 900.

- We are much more concerned with quiet cpu coolers than how much heat they can dissapate (although if you're OC'ing of course you want balance)

- We are in love with Seasonic PSU's and dont really care if they're over 500w or if they are modular or not although modular is always a bonus from a builders and OC'ers stand point

- We also love to play video games most of us are gamers at heart but we also love to play with sound

- And lastly keep in mind that QUIET is less of a concern if you are not doing any external recording with Mic's... but if you are heed the words above.

NEXT

#2. The SOUND Card (And i'm not talking about an internal audigy soundblaster.)

- HOWEVER the folks at creative did make a smart move once upon a time and bought out a great professional audio company called E-MU. Top notch gear and well respected for many years. Creative came along and decided to then call it "Creative Professional" ... Cheesy bastards ... anyhow ... the folks from E-MU still design the gear and call it "e-mu" but creative runs the show under the "creative professional" branding.

There are a couple of main things to consider when purchasing a sound card ...

- 1st is budget. You can start off with a great audio card that will do majority of what you're going to need for under 500 USD , easy.

- 2nd is driver compatibility. ASIO drivers are the ones being focued on the most so make sure your card is ASIO compatible although there are cards + programs that can also run WDM but this is by no means where you want your focus to be. Look for ASIO compatible

- 3rd is Connection. Can you/do you want to run a PCI card or Can you/do you want to run a Firewire or USB 2.0 card ?? My advice is either go with a PCI card that has a "breakout box" or go with Firewire.

- A pci card with a breakout box will plug into the PCI slot but have a box connected to it [usually] via ethernet or a firewire cable. The purpose for the breakout box is so that the recording box with the microphone/midi inputs and outputs isn't effected by internal sounds of the computer creating noise in your recording. Also , the breakout box has greater board area for a DSP [Digital signal processing] Chip. Which brings us to another aspect of the card you want to be concerned with ...

- Analog to Digital and Digital to Analog converters. These are the converters that , well , do what they say they do

And they're only really to be worried about if you plan on recording external instruments like guitars/synthesizers and microphones. If you're not doing that than dont pay too much attention ...

BUT if you do plan on doing such things ... Lets say for instance you have an old analog synthesizer like a Moog or something [mmmm... moog] and you want to record it in your computer. Well its running off of an analog 1/4" TRS jack. Looks just like headphone jack for your ipod [1/8"] but bigger. This analog jack goes into the 1/4" input on the breakout box from the synth and the converters do their job and send the data to the DSP chip which then sends it through the computer and plays the sound. Generally speaking E-MU's tend to have great converters for the price[emu1820m]however at this beginning stage its kind of like comparing cpu core steppings so I wouldn't worry about it too much yet. First you game - then you tweak

- Lastly MIDI inputs/outputs...
Oh midi [Musical Instrument Digital Interface]. Its kind of a strange concept to wrap your head around at first and most people do a REALLY craptacular job at explaining it in laymans terms so I'm going to try to as easily as I can using the basic 7 white key piano notes which are A,B,C,D,E,F and G. Then they start over again as you continue up or down the keyboard to your left or your right in the same sequence over and over - Think Doh-Ray-Me-Sa-Fa-La-Ti-Doh... Doh is at the beginning and the End , just like the A key would be. The white keys are a sequence of 7. If you go up to the next A and start again you have entered the next "octave" which is lighter sounding or darker sounding. Same thing with the black keys.... Ok back to midi ...

So lets say you have a stand alone keyboard like a Casio[junk] or a Korg[nice]. They are not piano's but they have piano keys. When you hit one of these piano keys on the keyboard it sends a signal to a computer chip to sound off the Sound selected in the keyboards memory. That language being spoken from the key hit to the computer chip is MIDI.

MIDI is AMAZING to say the least - and as a computer musician it will be your absolute BEST FRIEND so pay attention. It is a contortion of sorts and worshipped by computer musicians. This brings me to the relm of:

#3. DAW Software

- So software ... its a pretty vague thing nowadays so I'll describe a couple of different type of software us computer musicians use.

First there are two GENERAL types of software for making/recording music with a computer. Sequencers and Trackers. Or a combination ...

- Sequencers are for arranging your recorded/created musical parts in a, you guessed it, SEQUENCE. ( *cues drums* = "bom Bom BOM" ) ... remember the cheese burger analogy ... this digital plate is what you put your burger on. It holds it in place. It also allows you to arrange and manipulate all your audio tracks in whatever way you want. It utilizes common functions like cut and paste and more complex ones like increasing/decreasing Beats Per Minute and time stretching for squishing or enlongating samples.

SOME sequencers like Cubase and Ableton live [both are cherry] also allow you record external instruments like Vocals, guitars, ect ... While other sequencers like FL Studio [formerly fruity loops] only allow you to record Virtual Instruments.

Virtual Instruments - Remember our friend MIDI ?? Remember the keyboard that triggered the sounds stored within the Casio/Korg?? Well you will end up purchasing a MIDI controller that will connect to you computers sound card either via MIDI cable, USB 2.0 or possibly even firewire. You will hit a key on your midi controller (most likely in the form of a keyboard or a series of midi drum pads instead of keyboard keys) and it will trigger sounds stored in your computer. These sounds will either be soundsets of a Virtual Instrument , which installs just like any other program and usually come like drum virtual instruments or synthesizers or guitars , ect ect. Also there is another best friend you absolutely HAVE TO MEET. He's the absolute most versatile virtual instrument of them and all he's called a SAMPLER.

Virtual Samplers are just that ... They take a pre recorded sound clip like a riff from one of your favorite songs that you've processed using a program like soundforge [think photoshop for audio] and it will then assign that sound clip to be triggered by your midi controller. All you have to do is select the sound and type in the Key [A,B,C,D,E,F or G] and the octave number like A1 or E3 that you would like to trigger it. Everytime you press the key you hear that riff you LOVE!!! Oh its beautiful ...

My Virtual Sampler of choice is Kontakt 3 made by a company called Native Intruments - who in my opinion is OVERALL THE BEST COMPANY when it comes to virtual audio software - HANDS DOWN. They've got it all , virtual synthesizers, samplers, drum sequencers , pianos, horns and string instruments and even a physical interface for electric guitar called Guitar Rig. It allows you to plug your electric guitar into a pedal that then interfaces with your computer and has 1000's of Amp and speaker combinations to give you different sounds. From stuff like Jimi Hendrix sounds to Metallica sounds = AMAZING stuff.

Ok I went on a tangent there ... getting back on track. There are sequencers and there are Trackers.

- Trackers a bit different than sequencers and I dont really have much experience with them at all ... BUT ... If they are mastered they can be one of the most effecient tools for creating music i've ever seen. Instead of playing out a riff on the keyboard or a drum pattern and simply recording it you would see a series of grids. And in these grids[measures] you would enter notes like A3 G6 ect and then the tempo , you would also enter key commands like 7# or +P that would trigger effects to occur at whichever point during the measure you would choose. To give you an idea of measures, most chorus' in pop songs last for about 8-16 measures.

The best tracker is RENOISE hands down. There is a free demo available for download from their site which also supplies a forum with a very strong following and very good community support.

#4. Monitors/Headphones

- What good is making music if it doesn't sound ACCURATE. You need a decent set of studio monitors and I dont mean your logitech speakers [although keep them for reference]. You can grab a decent set of studio monitors for around 100 USD each. So thats 200 a pair. You might be thinking that you speakers work just fine and they might , however that doesn't mean they are acoustically accurate. For the hobbyist this isn't something to focus upon TOO much however if you get serious think about investing a couple hundred bucks on a pair of EVENT monitors.

For headphones , they can be accurate however they induce ear fatigue much faster. Yep I said it, ear fatigue ... Since your ears will be enclosed by the headphones or sealed off with sound isolation headphones they will tire much faster leading to minor pain and headaches. It almost feels like a pressure build up of some sort... A good pair of headphones for monitoring purposes will run you 100 USD + , think more along the lines of 200 USD plus.

My general advice on headphones and monitors is to have 2 or 3 things you can listen to. Keep your logitechs , buy an ok set of monitors that have a response of 48 as opposed to CD standard of 41.1 and have an ok set of headphones. Listen to your song in all 3 and keep in mind that most people listening to your music aren't going to be listening to your music with their own pair of studio monitors so its more important for it to sound CLEAN AND CLEAR on your logitechs , since they are of consumer grade quality. However having the other pair of speakers to reference with will help you out tremendously.

::: ::: :::

So ... I think that about raps it up ... I'll come back and edit this at some point however before I go i'll give you guys some great websites to check out for more info.

www.sweetwater.com = great prices on gear with price matching. They have it all from software to hardware.

www.audiomidi.com = same thing.

www.kvraudio.com = one of THE BEST online support communities for audio creation/learning as well as open source and FREE virtual instruments and effects.

www.nativeinstruments.com = the best overall audio software company in my opinion. Tons of stuff to check out with audio clips of instruments ect ...

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST

http://www.ocremix.org/ = Remixed Video game music community

Lots of helpful information on how to get up and going with a completely "in the box" setup meaning no hardware needed.

goodluck everyone

~ eric

Clox · 01-23-09

Thanks for your input, I am currently setup for personal recording on a very basic level. I plug my bass into a Zoom 505 bass pedal which connects to the line in of my on board PC sound card. I use the built in windows sound recorder and am able to get the riffs out of my head easily enough and record them to disk. I have some recording software but no clue how to use it for multiple tracks since I haven't even attempted to RTFM yet. I have PC Drummer installed to jam with and you can create custom beats with the program, nothing at all professional but it works well for jamming and recording ideas and as well it is very user friendly. You definitely put some time into this post and there is some great information so I must give you a big thumbs up! If you are interested I posted a link to one of the riffs I was jamming out here that was recorded very roughly via my PC: http://www.overclock.net/off-topic/2...ml#post5356868
I subbed for future reference and I appreciate the input, I am trying to think outside of the box in this respect and this is a great start! As well, + for you!

metaverse · 01-23-09

Hey clox,

I remember reading one time that its better to have something easy and simple that you can get your inspired thoughts out on quickly than something massive and technical that takes a while to get up and running ...

I actually have a handheld voice recorder that i'll sometimes hum melodies into or leave on a table as a drum out a rhythm with my hands just to get the idea down. As long as it works - lo-fi is perfect for the job.

Although eventually you want to turn around and spice things up too

Thank you for your kind words about my post ... it took me a few hours to condense my 6 years worth of knowledge into a post so i'm glad someone liked it

About your riffs, that link puts me on page 9 of 19 and I didn't see your post in there ... what page is it on ??

metaverse · 02-02-09

the sub in the trunk goes BUMP BUMP BUMP

ryanggfx · 02-02-09

Very informative for anyone looking to go into music production.

May I suggest adding a section about operating systems and their support?

metaverse · 02-05-09

Thats a really good idea ... I'm open to it ... However i've never ventured outside of windows as it is the most widely used operating system for audio plug-ins, VST(i)'s , ect ...

Apple OS' support Logic (sick program and imo only reason to go to mac for audio)
and i've been warned against going linux for audio for many reasons , mainly its lack of options and pain in the ass driver installs for the audio programs.

chemicalfan · 02-09-09

Pretty comprehensive read there, some very good points! Although on the monitors section, you don't mention how important your room is (i.e. very important!). Also, Event are just one company - Alesis, KRK, and Yamaha all make very good monitors for the price. And headphones are pretty unnecessary unless recording vocals - even the best headphones won't have a flat response.

You don't mention the free VSTs out there! There are literally thousands, check out www.kvraudio.com, you can build a whole studio for nowt! While you'll probably have to pay for the sequencer (the big players are Ableton, Cubase, Logic (Mac only now, I think?), Cakewalk, and to a lesser extent FL Studio and Tracktion), all your effects, processing tools, synths and samplers can be downloaded free of charge.

And, under the sound card section, you don't mention the word ASIO once - if your sound card isn't ASIO compatible, it's not up to the job, period.

*Not picking holes, just adding extra info*

metaverse · 02-11-09

fair enough

thanks for the contribution

I'd like to add that you obviously didn't read my entire thread because KVR and the free VST(i)'s , plug-ins , ect are mentioned at the bottom with the links and also I didn't mention room modifications because this is an INTRO not an end all be all thread. You dont need an acoustically tuned room to make music on your computer.

chemicalfan · 02-12-09

Doh! Sorry man, I did stop reading at the dots.
Good point about the room - if you don't plan on doing your own mixdowns, it doesn't really matter what speakers you use.

metaverse · 02-13-09

No worries man , thanks again for the contribution

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Intro to making/recording music with your computer or DAW

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