Creating a home studio(newbie)

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LTN_Productions

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Hi everyone. I'm new here. Before I start with my questions. Lemme give you some background.

I've been into music since I was probably 11. I played a lil bit of guitar and bass. My bro has a drum set and I'd mess on that sometimes. Then I got into DJing. Like doing battles and scratching.

I want to get into making beats and doing some freestyle hip hop stuff. Like J5, Atmoshpere, etc. Music in that genre.

My equipment list consists of:

Technics 1200s
Vestax PMC05II
Mackie CFX12 mixer
External CD recorder
Boss drum machine(not sure what one, but I'll find out in a week, I'm out of state right now)

I'm just curious what kind of inexpensive(under $1000) pieces of equipment I should look into getting.

I'm considering a condenser mic from MXL. I was looking at the MXL990. Its cheap, but all the reviews I read from people who owned it liked it. So I'll give it a try. I was also looking at the AKAI MPC1000. Does it do more than beats? Like rhythems or whatever? I'm not too familiar with how drum machines work.

Does anyone recommend a recording program that isn't too expensive to put onto a computer?

Any suggestions? Thanks for your time.
 
Sorry, should have posted this in the newbie section. Didn't see it.
 
The akai is a sampler....it will store whatever YOU put into it...It acts like a drum machine in a way, so if you have individual drum hits you've sampled, you load them up in there then punch them out and make a pattern.....but you can put anything in it, and it has some great creative ways to manipulate samples and sequence melody's, beats, rythmic patters, basslines or whatever....great piece of gear and you wont be dissappointed if you get it and take the time to work it.

Another option you could look into as far as what youre needing in your set-up would be a keyboard/synth.

If you will be using your computer at all to record and sequence sound at all, get a new sound card.

Also, invest in some good monitors (speakers) that will give you a good representaion of the sound to create good balanced mixes, as well as sound good to inspire you a bit while punching out tunes....good luck wit it-


555
 
PS....Ditch the Boss drum machine and use the money to invest in something better....unless of course, you really like it, but I think they sound butt-
 
Does the AKAI come with any sounds to use? Or do you buy CDs or something to upload to your computer that would have a list of samples or whatever?

And what would I use to record things on to the computer? What kind of program?

And what would a keyboard/synth do?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm new to all this, so I'm just trying to learn things here and there. I'm always trying to read whatever I can to learn. I need some sort of dictionary of what is what, haha. Thanks for your help though, very appreciated. Thank you again.

P.S. the boss drum machine is something I already own, just some lil thing my mom bought me to mess with. Something to practice on I guess.
 
Oh yeah...

Are those digital 4 track records any good? Or should I just use a program on the computer?
 
What is a keyboard/synth do or good for you ask?...pretty self explanatory there really, but there is some other things to it besides the obvious....go to a music store and play around with one and you will understand. You can have everything from bass sounds to drum hita and piano sounds etc etc. then record all these and track them out however u like.

Programs to record on the computer:

Pro tools, Logic Audio, Cubase, Sonar, Cakewalk

these are sequencers...in a nut shell, you basically record on these programs and track out your songs...you might have 20 different tracks running (bass, drums, vocals, piano etc.) and these are all on differing tracks...this then ables you to mix and manipulate these and so on.....its just like a 4 track hardware box, only you have unloimited tracks (just about) and you literally see the music in wave form on your computer monitor....Ill tell you now, computer audio is THE way to go, so look into

its pretty hard to put this so basically for you through typing...I know your starting off from aquare one and ur gonna need to ask some questions, so feel free to do so cuz thats how you'll learn, just also take the time to research information on ur own....your on the internet, theres tons of stuff to look up, so do it, and get atleast a general knowledge of things


I believe some of tha akai's come with sound, but I dont think they all do...but yes, there ate tons of sample disks and cd's u can buy to load up sounds from, as well as directly recording your own into it.

hope i somewhat answered what u were asking
 
Cool...you're a big help, big thank you to ya.

I'm just confused on the keyboard thing? I don't play piano, but thats now that you use them for in this case right? Do you use it to play your samples on too? I've never messed with one.

The thing that bugs me the most is that I'm in Wyoming right now for school(but only have a week left) and I head back to Seattle where i'm from. So i'm gonna hit up the music stores to mess with equipment there and see how some of it works, nothing is available here where I'm at.

Computer recording sounds like the way to go. I'm pretty sure I think I know what to do when recording, just run my outs from the main mixer to the computer and hit record when I got my stuff ready.

Thanks for your help again. I'm doing some research here and there reading on stuff. Its just the keyboard/synth thing that kinda confused me. Thank you again.
 
check it out...Keyboards are what alot of cats use these days to make tracks and even entire albums, and there's alot to it really that you can do...You can take a single keyboard (like a triton for ex.) and in that keyboard it will have all kinds of drum programs with single drum hits, and all kinds of perscussion...these hits are mapped out over ur entire keyboard...then you can record and sequence drum beat patterns inside that keyboard (if it has an internal "sequencer") and keep adding on top of it layering a drum beat with more drums, keyboard, bass or whatever....this is only for boards that have an internal sequencer though, not all of them do just mainly the boards that they sometimes tag "workstations".

A keyboard also might have a built in sampler as well...this means you can directly sample into that keyboard and play back the sounds through the keyboard...then saving them to disk so u can load up at a future date etc etc.

You can also use your keyboard as a "controller" or MIDI controller....Midi is data which basically sends a signal to and from the keyboard telling it what to play...it is not sound...it stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface
Again, MIDI is not sound. just the data of what notes are being playted.

You can record in a program like Cubase on your computer and have a Bass sound for example, recording it in MIDI inside Cubase....when you record the notes inside Cubase it will map out all your hits with your timing duration velocity (volume) etc....It will then show those notes visually represented on ur computer screen as bars (or something, just depends) and you can move these around, change the note that was played, make it longer, change the volume of it, fix the timing and move it perfectly on the beat etc etc.....anything!
Then you can go back and all that data that is recorded talks back to the keyboard and tell it what to play and how to play it....you can change the sound on your keyboard then and it doestn matter...the data simply tells the keyboard what to play and how to play it....so you can change ur original bass sound to a flute if you want....hope ur following.

Also, there are virtual synths out there which can be played through ur keyboard...these are computer prgrams that generate sounds...no hardware nothing....you load up the program, click around with your mouse and pick a sound to use, and then play it by hitting notes on your keyboard...very cool stuff and same thing as if u were playing a sound off your keyboard that was internal, only it is really coming from the virtual synth

there are also software samplers which are cool as well, but my hands cramping from typing so much :)
I might of left alot out as far as specifics but hopefully that gives u more idea about keyboards and what u can use them for....they can be the backbone of a producers set-up really (as far as hip-hop or electronic music)
But ALOT of people in hip-hop still use an akai hardware sampler, including J5 im sure
 
wow...I'm gonna have to read that a few more times. But I think I'm starting to get the idea. I figured the board can be used to play a sample. I'm just wondering how you would lay it out to play a whole beat. I guess thats what the sampler would do, i.e. if I got that AKAI MPC1000.

I'm not gonna bug ya anymore. I'll be home soon to check out the local Guitar Center, they have all that stuff. So I'll ask my questions there and get some hands on help. Thank you though for all your help. I appreciated it very much, thank you again.
 
I used to have a mpc1000 and I loved it because my first investment was a roland fantom s keyboard. I did not like it at all except for the sounds inside, but even they are not suffecient enough to make beats for years. I got my mpc1000 jacked by some shady cats and I thought of using fruity loops to make beats. I figured out how to connect this cheap yamaha keyboard I had gotten to learn how to play piano, up to my computer. and the combination is just what I always wanted. FL Studio4 will send any sample u highlight to ur keys and u can play the melodies with keys, instead of pads like on the mpc1000, which I personally prefer because I am starting to get good at recognizing notes on the keyboard. I personally find using the 16 boxes in FL Studio easier to make my drums although with NATIVE INSTRUMENTS'S KONTAKT u can assign several sounds to any keys on ur keyboard and that way u can bang out drum hits with ur fingers like u would on a mpc..this sometimes can get u differnt results since ur playing it live and not step by step. But after u record, FL Studio4 allows u to fix anything u recorded off time and slide anything over, with the mpc u have to undo and record over again. I loved my mpc1000 though, but I just love sitting behind my computer desk and making beats on a big computer screen. It all comes down to personal preference but since I have owned a professional keyboard workstation, and an mpc,and now im using what I am, I believe I can go in any direction. Alot of people talk ish about FL Studio4, mainly people who use mpc's but im not going to be biased about it. Im just telling u how my experience with making beats has been and like I said I loved my mpc because it did everything I was dreaming of doing with the fantom s, but now I feel much more freedom and inspiration with my setup..although it took me about a year and a very frightening jacking lol, to get to this point, but I thank God for everything and I am just now starting to think about what I would like to do, instead of just playing by ear. I want to produce what comes from the heart. Most of the best produced music initially starts in the heart by singing with meaningful words. and not by just what keys u are familiar with so u play with the same style over and over and over like I feel I have been doing. Everyone who has heard the 25- 30 beats Ive made so far has liked them and given kind words...but that has never given me too much of a good feeling because I know inside that I have not been producing what I want, what I feel inside, if u know what I mean, and I think most of u do. I am going to start coming from the heart as soon as I can do so and I hope I can get a hold of my true potential soon because I loove making beats, it has been wonderful these past 6 months (6 months wasted with the fantom s!) but I can only imagine how much of a better place I will be living in when I come to find what I am searching for....I hope I have shed some light for u and I hope u find what U are searching for 2,..Peace man
 
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