Home "studio" setup and maybe really silly questions from a newbie!

M

muzzaa

New member
Hi to all that come across this thread.

So I have been properly into my music and mixing other peoples tunes for most of my life but now I feel its time for the next step(s).

I have a really decent laptop along with Studio One, Ableton 9 and Cubase. I have used ableton before so I am about to start using it produce on a serious shoe string of a budget lol so my questions are:

Are my 75w per speaker? Wharfdale diamond 9's gonna do the job until I get my Mackie CR4s? - roughly 2months

Does anybody have a link where I can get some samples from? I don't mind paying but I don't wanna pay through the nose right now as I'm not even sure I'm going to stick to producing, really really want to though as I know I can write the very basics of a track so I just need to focus on this side of the music world.

I am so sorry if ive confused anyone with shit grammar or anything like that :) Muzza
 
Skip the Wharfdale and Mackie and try out some monitors in a physical store. For samples if you have vinyl, research turntables, needles and cartridges. YouTube should be a last resort for samples as unlike vinyl, sound quality will vary.
 
Thank you very much for the reply. I already have the Wharfdale speakers as part of my home entertainment system so i was thinking of just hooking up to those for the time being... I know they are designed to enhance sound, so the end product may sound slightly different to what i hear through my DAW? i have 1210s and a room of vinyl. i have thought about using those as sampling tools but i was really on about pre loaded sample pack libraries from the likes of Vengeance etc... bit of a cheat way to get started i suppose but why else would they make them.
 
How new or old are your 1210s? You should be ready to go with those and if you want to do producing you will need monitors, not audiophile speakers. Sample packs are a form of cheating if you do not understand sound design. Best thing to do as you must take the time to do so is to try creating without packs.
 
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i do not understand sound design in the slightest but im ready to learn and yes i realise sample packs are a form of cheating and i will never be releasing anything that i maybe ever make so i guess i just wanna be able to bounce to my own "made" music. What did you mean by "make the time"?
 
From what I've understood, the Diamond series is fairly extensive and there are a lot of models, but at least a few years back some of them were fairly readily recommended by experienced engineers over low-end "studio monitors" - so maybe not all that bad, but as said - there are a lot of them from a fairly long period of time, so what they were back then doesn't necessarily represent what they are today.

Also - I don't think "sample packs are a form of cheating", or at least it's too much of an umbrella statement as such. Sure, if you take a "deep house construction kit" and just use those loops to make deep house as is, that's fucking lazy. But I don't see using samples as the raw material to make them your own "cheating", and this is coming from someone who doesn't really use presets, ever. In other words, there are lots and lots of ways to use samples and definitely not all of them are cheating. You don't have to synthesize or record every drum hit to be considered original.
 
Excellent thank you for your reply. Im gonna go ahead and plug into my home audio system and see what happens, how it sounds etc... As for the sample packs, I would never just use loops and pass a track of as my own, I am mainly after drum and percussion hits to make a beat for a track, the rest i will be trying out different synths etc. I will be posting up here once finished for some feedback.
 
There's a difference between buying a "sample pack" and ripping off a vinyl record. The sample pack gives you permission to use, redistribute, and sell the songs you make using it.

Ripping from a famous vinyl may be sneaky and under the radar, but the artist never gave you permission and still has legal copyright over that work (until you obtain in writing the permission to use it). Most of the time, these famous artists are too famous to get in contact with so it's not...the smartest thing.

but ya, a "sample pack" is usually just a pack of like drum sounds, like snares and kick, etc. and you get permission to use when you buy it.
Sometimes they have full blown loops and breaks, and ya they're the lame lazy way, ...but you can use those artistically under an originally crafted beat (with some low pass filter on them, etc.).
 
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