How to Make Computer Music With VST Plugins and VSTi Instruments
By Greg K Hoffman
VST plugins are beginning to gather a lot more interest as music buffs/computer buffs put these two interests together. What was once thought impossible by many astute computer operators is now beginning to appear as not being all that difficult.
VST plugins in its simple terminology means Virtual Studio Technology by Steinberg. Imagine being able to have your very own virtual studio. The VST is actually the interface that allows the use of software consisting of action synthesizers and effects the plugins with audio editors and recording systems.
Software is the catalyst between the VST and the simulation of a traditional recording studio. If you wee to compare the VST plugins with the actual switches and knobs on the actual hardware you would see the similarities. It would then not appear quite so foreign to you if you are familiar with the hard version of the studio equipment. The VST plugins are hosted within a workstation that is a digital audio type.
If you think that there are only a few plugins to choose from, you are mistaken. You are going to be quite surprised to learn there are thousands of various types to choose from. I bet you are thinking about your pocket book right now, but the nice thing is there are may that are freeware, and of course, there are commercial ones available as well.
Being as VST is so popular it's good to know that there are many audio applications that support them. If you are going to become involved in VST plugins then you will need a VST host. This is just simply a software or hardware application that permit's the plugins to be loaded and controlled during use. If you shop around you will find some excellent VST host providers.
One of the many cost advantages of using plugins is the fact they really help to cut down your hard based equipment costs. Plus think of the space you can save, not having to store tons of equipment.
You can get some great VST plugins that are like a package deal. For example there is a package available that includes shuffling, panning, panoramas width along with comb filters and many other inclusions as well.
Its important for you to learn that plugins are not software that stand alone. They will usually come with DLL files. This stands for dynamic link library. As we mentioned you can find lots of free software on the internet. It is not difficult to use. You simply follow the instructions for the download. Many of these will walk you through the stages of how to get the best benefits from them.
If you are totally new to the creation of music with your computer then you may want to do some research before you start. It doesn't mean that you have to do months of learning. In fact, if you start visiting some of the music blogs you will be intrigued at not only how easy it is, but what you can do and create with things like VST plugins.
As featured In Computer Music Magazine, VSTPlatinum provides a goldmine of over 1700 VST plugins and VSTi effects for home studios or professional recordings
Greg Hoffman is a former BMG sound engineer and the founder of VSTPlatinum.com - http://www.VSTPlatinum.com
Discover the easiest way to create cutting edge music in the next 5 minutes with the VSTPlatinum package
Turn your music vision into reality with over 4000 sound effects, loops, drum samples and synths...
VSTPlatinum.com - Making Music May Be Easier Than You Think!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Greg_K_Hoffman
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
13 May 2009
Looking For Free Itunes Codes
Looking For Free Itunes Codes
By Donald Lodge
Who doesn't enjoy free products and services. Downloading free music using free ITunes codes is something most music lovers dream of doing. Itunes is one of the most popular websites for downloading music but it will cost you about a dollar a song. That can get awful expensive. You can also download games, audio books and IPod games but these will cost you even more. While the site has a lot to offer it can get real expensive real fast if you like to do a lot of downloading. So do you have any other options and if so what are they.
You have probably heard of sites that give away free ITunes codes but there is usually a catch involved so you need to be careful. As far as finding sites that give away tons of free ITunes codes there is really no such thing. Some companies have ITune promotions where you can get a free song if you enter the code found under the cap on a bottle of soda but you still have to buy the product so you really don't come out ahead all that much. One other option is that you can try to find people who don't care about the ITune codes and will give them away. There are sites and forums that are set up where people can trade different codes on a multitude of products and services. Try a search on google by typing in "itune codes + forum" without the quotes and you will find people trading codes like it was some form of an underground economy. Be careful on these sites. You can get cheated so be sure and familiarize yourself with the site before taking any action.
Some people in an attempt to get free music resort to down loading songs from the various file sharing site that have sprung up across the internet. While these are for the most part free the are rife with viruses and spyware and the quality of the downloads leaves much to be desired. Thinking you are getting a steal by down loading songs, movies and books for free might come back to bite you when your computer crashes or your personal information on your hard drive has been compromised.
With all that being said if you are a true music or movie lover and want to download quality content you might have to acept the fact that you are going to have to pay for it. Be wary of sites that offer free ITune codes. There are reputable sites that will for a small monthly subscription fee allow you download an unlimited number of items from their collection. You can rest assured that you will get a quality download free from viruses and spy ware.
Companies and others are always looking for ways to attract new customers. Know where to look and you can find free or almost free products and services all over the net.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donald_Lodge
By Donald Lodge
Who doesn't enjoy free products and services. Downloading free music using free ITunes codes is something most music lovers dream of doing. Itunes is one of the most popular websites for downloading music but it will cost you about a dollar a song. That can get awful expensive. You can also download games, audio books and IPod games but these will cost you even more. While the site has a lot to offer it can get real expensive real fast if you like to do a lot of downloading. So do you have any other options and if so what are they.
You have probably heard of sites that give away free ITunes codes but there is usually a catch involved so you need to be careful. As far as finding sites that give away tons of free ITunes codes there is really no such thing. Some companies have ITune promotions where you can get a free song if you enter the code found under the cap on a bottle of soda but you still have to buy the product so you really don't come out ahead all that much. One other option is that you can try to find people who don't care about the ITune codes and will give them away. There are sites and forums that are set up where people can trade different codes on a multitude of products and services. Try a search on google by typing in "itune codes + forum" without the quotes and you will find people trading codes like it was some form of an underground economy. Be careful on these sites. You can get cheated so be sure and familiarize yourself with the site before taking any action.
Some people in an attempt to get free music resort to down loading songs from the various file sharing site that have sprung up across the internet. While these are for the most part free the are rife with viruses and spyware and the quality of the downloads leaves much to be desired. Thinking you are getting a steal by down loading songs, movies and books for free might come back to bite you when your computer crashes or your personal information on your hard drive has been compromised.
With all that being said if you are a true music or movie lover and want to download quality content you might have to acept the fact that you are going to have to pay for it. Be wary of sites that offer free ITune codes. There are reputable sites that will for a small monthly subscription fee allow you download an unlimited number of items from their collection. You can rest assured that you will get a quality download free from viruses and spy ware.
Companies and others are always looking for ways to attract new customers. Know where to look and you can find free or almost free products and services all over the net.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donald_Lodge
13 April 2009
8 Tips For Learning the Art of Sight-Reading Written Music
8 Tips For Learning the Art of Sight-Reading Written Music
By Richard Killey
Sight-reading music is a common practice among piano players. This is when you play a piece of music for the first time, even though it may be unfamiliar to you. Though it is not common to play a song perfectly the first time through, here are 8 tips to make sight-reading music easier for you.
Tip # 1. Key Signature. Pay close attention to the key signature of the piece you are about to play. Try to remember the appropriate sharps and flats in that key signature so you will know to play those whenever they occur throughout the song.
Tip # 2. Time Signature. This is also important to look at before you start sight-reading the piece. You will need to know what kind of note gets one beat. You will also need to remember how many beats are in each measure.
Tip # 3. Changes in Key and Time Signatures. Check through your music for any changes to the key signature or time signature. This will help prepare you for a transition that can happen in the middle of a song when you otherwise did not know about it.
Tip # 4. Starting and Ending Notes. It helps if you are familiar with the starting and ending note or chord of a song before you start playing. These are good reference points to guide you during your sight-reading.
Tip # 5. Note the Rhythm. Check your left hand chords to see what rhythm is used throughout the piece. As you look through the song, you usually can get an idea of how it will go. This will ease you through when trying to play the correct rhythm during sight-reading.
Tip # 6. Play the Melody First. Also look through the right hand melody line. It helps to play just the melody first if possible. This will help give you an idea of the sound of the song and then you can put it all together and you will be able to identify the unique melodic line.
Tip # 7. Check for Other Markings. Look through the entire piece and check for any other markings covered in Music Terminology. Some examples include the loudness or softness of the piece, the speed of the music, and how long you should actually hold each note that is played.
Tip # 8. Relax and Focus. Finally, before you play it is important to take a deep breath and relax yourself. Focus on what you are about to play. Try to play the song all the way through for your first sight-reading. This gives you a general idea of what the song will sound like. Later you can break it down and work on each measure or group of measures as you see fit. Remember. We are playing music for the love of it, not as a chore.
Maybe you are asking yourself why you should learn to sight-read music. Why not just learn the song a little bit at a time? Sight-reading forces you to move forward at a faster pace until you finish the song, ultimately helping you learn to play music faster. You can avoid bad habits of starting and stopping too often and delaying your progress on a specific piece of music. Sight-reading is an important skill to learn if you wish to become a good piano player.
For more tips about learning to play piano, including a free mini-course, visit the Learning To Play Piano Today site.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Killey
By Richard Killey
Sight-reading music is a common practice among piano players. This is when you play a piece of music for the first time, even though it may be unfamiliar to you. Though it is not common to play a song perfectly the first time through, here are 8 tips to make sight-reading music easier for you.
Tip # 1. Key Signature. Pay close attention to the key signature of the piece you are about to play. Try to remember the appropriate sharps and flats in that key signature so you will know to play those whenever they occur throughout the song.
Tip # 2. Time Signature. This is also important to look at before you start sight-reading the piece. You will need to know what kind of note gets one beat. You will also need to remember how many beats are in each measure.
Tip # 3. Changes in Key and Time Signatures. Check through your music for any changes to the key signature or time signature. This will help prepare you for a transition that can happen in the middle of a song when you otherwise did not know about it.
Tip # 4. Starting and Ending Notes. It helps if you are familiar with the starting and ending note or chord of a song before you start playing. These are good reference points to guide you during your sight-reading.
Tip # 5. Note the Rhythm. Check your left hand chords to see what rhythm is used throughout the piece. As you look through the song, you usually can get an idea of how it will go. This will ease you through when trying to play the correct rhythm during sight-reading.
Tip # 6. Play the Melody First. Also look through the right hand melody line. It helps to play just the melody first if possible. This will help give you an idea of the sound of the song and then you can put it all together and you will be able to identify the unique melodic line.
Tip # 7. Check for Other Markings. Look through the entire piece and check for any other markings covered in Music Terminology. Some examples include the loudness or softness of the piece, the speed of the music, and how long you should actually hold each note that is played.
Tip # 8. Relax and Focus. Finally, before you play it is important to take a deep breath and relax yourself. Focus on what you are about to play. Try to play the song all the way through for your first sight-reading. This gives you a general idea of what the song will sound like. Later you can break it down and work on each measure or group of measures as you see fit. Remember. We are playing music for the love of it, not as a chore.
Maybe you are asking yourself why you should learn to sight-read music. Why not just learn the song a little bit at a time? Sight-reading forces you to move forward at a faster pace until you finish the song, ultimately helping you learn to play music faster. You can avoid bad habits of starting and stopping too often and delaying your progress on a specific piece of music. Sight-reading is an important skill to learn if you wish to become a good piano player.
For more tips about learning to play piano, including a free mini-course, visit the Learning To Play Piano Today site.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Killey
12 April 2009
Top 50 Music Quotations
Top 50 Music Quotations
By Danielle Hollister
Discover the phenomenonal complexity of music and reflect on the way it can positively influence your life with this sound collection of riveting quotes...
"Music, the greatest good that mortals know, And all of heaven we have below."
-- Joseph Addison
"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."
--Maya Angelou
"Music is either good or bad, and it's got to be learned. You got to have balance."
-- Louis Armstrong
"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
-- Berthold Auerbach
"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul."
--Johann Sebastian Bach
"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life."
-- Ludwig van Beethoven
"Music - The one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend."
-- Ludwig van Beethoven
"Music can change the world. "
-- Ludwig Van Beethoven
"Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable."
-- Leonard Bernstein
"Music has to breathe and sweat. You have to play it live. "
-- James Brown
"Music is well said to be the speech of angels."
-- Thomas Carlyle
"All music comes from God."
-- Johnny Cash
"If you learn music, you'll learn most all there is to know. "
-- Edgar Cayce
"Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically. "
-- Ray Charles
"Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is. "
-- Miles Davis
"There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music."
-- George Eliot
"You are the music while the music lasts."
--T. S. Eliot
"We need magic, and bliss, and power, myth, and celebration and religion in our lives, and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it. "
-- Jerry Garcia
"Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife."
-- Kahlil Gibran
"When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had and never will have."
-- Edgar Watson Howe
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossile to be silent."
-- Victor Hugo
"The history of a people is found in its songs."
-- George Jellinek
"Music is the vernacular of the human soul."
-- Geoffrey Latham
"It requires wisdom to understand wisdom; the music is nothing if the audience is deaf."
-- Walter J. Lippmann
"Just as certain selections of music will nourish your physical body and your emotional layer, so other musical works will bring greater health to your mind."
-- Hal A. Lingerman
"Music is the harmonious voice of creation; an echo of the invisible world."
-- Giuseppe Mazzini
"Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don't take it too seriously."
-- Henry Miller
"I started making music because I could."
-- Alanis Morissette
"Music helps you find the truths you must bring into the rest of your life. "
-- Alanis Morissette
"Music is spiritual. The music business is not. "
-- Van Morrison
"Like everything else in nature, music is a becoming, and it becomes its full self, when its sounds and laws are used by intelligent man for the production of harmony, and so made the vehicle of emotion and thought."
-- Theodore Mungers
"Without music life would be a mistake."
-- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
"In music the passions enjoy themselves."
-- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."
-- Charlie Parker
"Music should be something that makes you gotta move, inside or outside. "
-- Elvis Presley
"It's the music that kept us all intact, kept us from going crazy. "
-- Lou Reed
"The music business was not safe, but it was FUN. It was like falling in love with a woman you know is bad for you, but you love every minute with her, anyway."
-- Lionel Richie
"Music should never be harmless."
-- Robbie Robertson
"Give me a laundry list and I'll set it to music."
-- Gioacchino Antonio Rossini
"All music is important if it comes from the heart. "
-- Carlos Santana
"Music is the key to the female heart."
-- Johann G. Seume
"The best music... is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with. "
-- Bruce Springsteen
"All I try to do is write music that feels meaningful to me, that has commitment and passion behind it."
-- Bruce Springsteen
"In music one must think with the heart and feel with the brain."
--George Szell
"When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest."
-- Henry David Thoreau
"For heights and depths no words can reach, music is the soul's own speech."
--Unknown
"Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us."
--Unknown
"I believe in the power of music. To me, it isn't just a fad. This is a positive thing."
-- Eddie Vedder
"Music at its essence is what gives us memories. "
-- Stevie Wonder
"There's a basic rule which runs through all kinds of music, kind of an unwritten rule. I don't know what it is. But I've got it."
-- Ron Wood
Resource Box - © Danielle Hollister (2004) is the Publisher of BellaOnline Quotations Zine - A free newsletter for quote lovers featuring more than 10,000 quotations in dozens of categories like - love, friendship, children, inspiration, success, wisdom, family, life, and many more. Read it online at - http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8364.asp
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Danielle_Hollister
By Danielle Hollister
Discover the phenomenonal complexity of music and reflect on the way it can positively influence your life with this sound collection of riveting quotes...
"Music, the greatest good that mortals know, And all of heaven we have below."
-- Joseph Addison
"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."
--Maya Angelou
"Music is either good or bad, and it's got to be learned. You got to have balance."
-- Louis Armstrong
"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
-- Berthold Auerbach
"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul."
--Johann Sebastian Bach
"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life."
-- Ludwig van Beethoven
"Music - The one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend."
-- Ludwig van Beethoven
"Music can change the world. "
-- Ludwig Van Beethoven
"Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable."
-- Leonard Bernstein
"Music has to breathe and sweat. You have to play it live. "
-- James Brown
"Music is well said to be the speech of angels."
-- Thomas Carlyle
"All music comes from God."
-- Johnny Cash
"If you learn music, you'll learn most all there is to know. "
-- Edgar Cayce
"Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically. "
-- Ray Charles
"Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is. "
-- Miles Davis
"There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music."
-- George Eliot
"You are the music while the music lasts."
--T. S. Eliot
"We need magic, and bliss, and power, myth, and celebration and religion in our lives, and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it. "
-- Jerry Garcia
"Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife."
-- Kahlil Gibran
"When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had and never will have."
-- Edgar Watson Howe
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossile to be silent."
-- Victor Hugo
"The history of a people is found in its songs."
-- George Jellinek
"Music is the vernacular of the human soul."
-- Geoffrey Latham
"It requires wisdom to understand wisdom; the music is nothing if the audience is deaf."
-- Walter J. Lippmann
"Just as certain selections of music will nourish your physical body and your emotional layer, so other musical works will bring greater health to your mind."
-- Hal A. Lingerman
"Music is the harmonious voice of creation; an echo of the invisible world."
-- Giuseppe Mazzini
"Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don't take it too seriously."
-- Henry Miller
"I started making music because I could."
-- Alanis Morissette
"Music helps you find the truths you must bring into the rest of your life. "
-- Alanis Morissette
"Music is spiritual. The music business is not. "
-- Van Morrison
"Like everything else in nature, music is a becoming, and it becomes its full self, when its sounds and laws are used by intelligent man for the production of harmony, and so made the vehicle of emotion and thought."
-- Theodore Mungers
"Without music life would be a mistake."
-- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
"In music the passions enjoy themselves."
-- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."
-- Charlie Parker
"Music should be something that makes you gotta move, inside or outside. "
-- Elvis Presley
"It's the music that kept us all intact, kept us from going crazy. "
-- Lou Reed
"The music business was not safe, but it was FUN. It was like falling in love with a woman you know is bad for you, but you love every minute with her, anyway."
-- Lionel Richie
"Music should never be harmless."
-- Robbie Robertson
"Give me a laundry list and I'll set it to music."
-- Gioacchino Antonio Rossini
"All music is important if it comes from the heart. "
-- Carlos Santana
"Music is the key to the female heart."
-- Johann G. Seume
"The best music... is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with. "
-- Bruce Springsteen
"All I try to do is write music that feels meaningful to me, that has commitment and passion behind it."
-- Bruce Springsteen
"In music one must think with the heart and feel with the brain."
--George Szell
"When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest."
-- Henry David Thoreau
"For heights and depths no words can reach, music is the soul's own speech."
--Unknown
"Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us."
--Unknown
"I believe in the power of music. To me, it isn't just a fad. This is a positive thing."
-- Eddie Vedder
"Music at its essence is what gives us memories. "
-- Stevie Wonder
"There's a basic rule which runs through all kinds of music, kind of an unwritten rule. I don't know what it is. But I've got it."
-- Ron Wood
Resource Box - © Danielle Hollister (2004) is the Publisher of BellaOnline Quotations Zine - A free newsletter for quote lovers featuring more than 10,000 quotations in dozens of categories like - love, friendship, children, inspiration, success, wisdom, family, life, and many more. Read it online at - http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8364.asp
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Danielle_Hollister
08 April 2009
Top Tips & Tricks For Recording Your Vocals
Top Tips & Tricks For Recording Your Vocals
By Jimmy CL Newson
This is for all you do-it-yourself-ers out there. Recording vocals is the trickiest part of recording a CD, and because it is the last step in the recording process it pays to get it right. So, before you start crooning your soon-to-be smash joint, you will want to make sure that everything in your studio is set up correctly. Following are a few tips that will help you do it right the first time.
#1. Get your recording ready for your voice. This simply means that before you add your voice to the recording... have everything else in place...your instrumentation is completed and mixed to perfection. I know you're eager to hear yourself on that money-maker but if you fail to do this... you are in for dismal failure at worst, confusion and remixes at best. So, take my advise and don't put the cart (your voice) before the horse (the instrumentation) if you want to create a masterpiece.
#2. Prepare an enclosed space to record your voice. After you have recorded and mixed your instrumentation...it is time to prepare your studio for recording vocals. Think old- fashioned-phone-booth-with-sound-deadening-insulation and you will get the picture, although the space doesn't need to be quite that condensed. In other words, you want a space that is enclosed and muffled in such a way that doesn't cause the voice to bounce off the walls from the resonance. A smaller room does this better than a large room.
#3. Use the best microphone that you can afford as the quality of your microphone... (and the way you use it) will ultimately determine the sound quality for your vocal recording. While the microphone doesn't have to be expensive, you should avoid low-cost bargain-basement models. Although professional studios tend to use capacitor microphones, a good back-electret or a dynamic vocal microphone can produce excellent results.
#4. Experiment with the placement of the microphone. Some singers will be okay with 6 inches from the mouth while others may need to be closer to the microphone. The microphone should be set in place to pick up all sides of the voice without picking up all the other sounds in the room. Also, the more enclosed and deadened the sound (as mentioned before), the easier it will be to capture the voice.
#5. Use a pop filter - not a foam mic cover. The pop filter will eliminate many of the hissing sounds created by s's and pop sounds made by b's and p's.
#6. Prevent "red zone" peaking. When a voice goes into the red zone it has gone past the maximum allowable volume. To keep this from happening you will need to keep the voice condensed in a specific area. This is why compressors were created. However, the singer can also help with this by pulling back from the mic slightly when singing louder or leaning into the mic for softer, more intimate phrases. Using the pop filter will keep you from getting too close to the mic and this is a good thing for beginners.
#7. Your voice and effects. Don't go overboard with EQ and reverb while recording. As a matter of fact, you should record the vocal as dry as possible. As with instrumentation you may also want to consider noise gates, which stops the sound from resonating before it is recorded. This is helpful if the voice naturally resonates by having a cut off point where the resonance will stop, making everything clear instead of sounding like it echoes. However, as with the other vocal effects, be careful when applying noise gates as you don't want to create an unnatural sound. It is best to use effects and noise gates after the voice is recorded as it can then be treated like any other instrument, meaning you can normalize the sound waves, manipulating the volume and gain.
#8. After the recording is finished you can manipulate the sound, adding reverb, flanges, autotune, etc. The degree of manipulation depends on the type of voice you have and the effect that you want to achieve. Since the recording is finished you can experiment here, first analyzing the type of voice you are working with before adding effects such as reverb in the mix. For example, if the voice has a strong resonance, reverb will make it sound like an echo. Adding resonance to a clearer voice, however, will add a little spark to the mix.
As you can see... recording vocals doesn't have to be hard and complex. Just think of it as putting the icing on the cake. Give yourself room to experiment... and allow yourself the freedom to be different. By taking the time to understand the process... and following the tips outlined here... you will be sure to get the exact sound you are looking for every time.
Jimmy "CL" Newson
Music Independence Summit Connection http://musicindependenceonline.com
I have over 17 years experience dealing in all aspects of the music industry from audio and video production to marketing and promotions. I am currently working on projects involving internet television, internet radio and live music performances across the United States. My primary focus in on the independent music community. For more information, please visit our website. If you are involved in the independent community or are an independent artists, check us out.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jimmy_CL_Newson
By Jimmy CL Newson
This is for all you do-it-yourself-ers out there. Recording vocals is the trickiest part of recording a CD, and because it is the last step in the recording process it pays to get it right. So, before you start crooning your soon-to-be smash joint, you will want to make sure that everything in your studio is set up correctly. Following are a few tips that will help you do it right the first time.
#1. Get your recording ready for your voice. This simply means that before you add your voice to the recording... have everything else in place...your instrumentation is completed and mixed to perfection. I know you're eager to hear yourself on that money-maker but if you fail to do this... you are in for dismal failure at worst, confusion and remixes at best. So, take my advise and don't put the cart (your voice) before the horse (the instrumentation) if you want to create a masterpiece.
#2. Prepare an enclosed space to record your voice. After you have recorded and mixed your instrumentation...it is time to prepare your studio for recording vocals. Think old- fashioned-phone-booth-with-sound-deadening-insulation and you will get the picture, although the space doesn't need to be quite that condensed. In other words, you want a space that is enclosed and muffled in such a way that doesn't cause the voice to bounce off the walls from the resonance. A smaller room does this better than a large room.
#3. Use the best microphone that you can afford as the quality of your microphone... (and the way you use it) will ultimately determine the sound quality for your vocal recording. While the microphone doesn't have to be expensive, you should avoid low-cost bargain-basement models. Although professional studios tend to use capacitor microphones, a good back-electret or a dynamic vocal microphone can produce excellent results.
#4. Experiment with the placement of the microphone. Some singers will be okay with 6 inches from the mouth while others may need to be closer to the microphone. The microphone should be set in place to pick up all sides of the voice without picking up all the other sounds in the room. Also, the more enclosed and deadened the sound (as mentioned before), the easier it will be to capture the voice.
#5. Use a pop filter - not a foam mic cover. The pop filter will eliminate many of the hissing sounds created by s's and pop sounds made by b's and p's.
#6. Prevent "red zone" peaking. When a voice goes into the red zone it has gone past the maximum allowable volume. To keep this from happening you will need to keep the voice condensed in a specific area. This is why compressors were created. However, the singer can also help with this by pulling back from the mic slightly when singing louder or leaning into the mic for softer, more intimate phrases. Using the pop filter will keep you from getting too close to the mic and this is a good thing for beginners.
#7. Your voice and effects. Don't go overboard with EQ and reverb while recording. As a matter of fact, you should record the vocal as dry as possible. As with instrumentation you may also want to consider noise gates, which stops the sound from resonating before it is recorded. This is helpful if the voice naturally resonates by having a cut off point where the resonance will stop, making everything clear instead of sounding like it echoes. However, as with the other vocal effects, be careful when applying noise gates as you don't want to create an unnatural sound. It is best to use effects and noise gates after the voice is recorded as it can then be treated like any other instrument, meaning you can normalize the sound waves, manipulating the volume and gain.
#8. After the recording is finished you can manipulate the sound, adding reverb, flanges, autotune, etc. The degree of manipulation depends on the type of voice you have and the effect that you want to achieve. Since the recording is finished you can experiment here, first analyzing the type of voice you are working with before adding effects such as reverb in the mix. For example, if the voice has a strong resonance, reverb will make it sound like an echo. Adding resonance to a clearer voice, however, will add a little spark to the mix.
As you can see... recording vocals doesn't have to be hard and complex. Just think of it as putting the icing on the cake. Give yourself room to experiment... and allow yourself the freedom to be different. By taking the time to understand the process... and following the tips outlined here... you will be sure to get the exact sound you are looking for every time.
Jimmy "CL" Newson
Music Independence Summit Connection http://musicindependenceonline.com
I have over 17 years experience dealing in all aspects of the music industry from audio and video production to marketing and promotions. I am currently working on projects involving internet television, internet radio and live music performances across the United States. My primary focus in on the independent music community. For more information, please visit our website. If you are involved in the independent community or are an independent artists, check us out.
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