Where to start?

[F&B]

I've considered making "music" or just experimenting with sound for a while now. I can play the acoustic guitar to a certain degree, and have some experience with samples, but it's years ago.

Where do I start? What would be the essential start equipment to buy if I want to record sounds, sample, compose, and record voice and guitar play?

Is there some sort of essential main book for this kind of thing?

[.bzr]

Just browse this board as much as you can, I learned most of things that I know by digging IHM.

Threads such as "I Hate Mixers", "Picture Of Your Setup" and things about handyrecorder will bring you some joy.

[Dohol]

Guitar is a good place to start for raw material (since you're familiar with it already)... A computer. Recording/editing software (Audacity is free and it's great )...a good microphone...contact mics (easy to make..I've made dozens and that's saying something..) a cheap handheld digital recorder (i use a Zoom H2) (they're wonderful for easy field recording)


Imagination.


Do not be afraid of embarrassing yourself. Just make something and post it (soundcloud is good for a host) and deal with no one listening to anything you make..but just keep playing and listening and reading and making recordings and don't give up..

Cheers!

[johnson]

Yep, Audacity and the Zoom.

Learn about plugins, too. There are many great free ones at http://www.smartelectronix.com/

Soon, you'll probably want a digital audio workstation. Download the demo versions of various ones and find out which one suits your needs. I prefer the modular environment of Audio Mulch, but something based more around sequencing, like FL Studio or Reaper, may be better depending on what you wish to do.

[F&B]

All right. Thanks. Getting Audicity now. Looking forward to it.

[orangettecoleman]

I second what everyone else said, a cheap behringer mixer (which you can get for about 50 bucks) and a usb soundcard (I use an edirol UA-1EX and a behringer UC202) will expand your possibilities a whole lot as well. you could get those, a few cheap pedals (danelectro and Behringer make some useful ones for next to nothing) and a soundhole pickup (or a cheap electric guitar) will have you well on your way. if you wanted to super cheap it, you could just get a mic with a 1/8 inch plug from radio shack and plug it right into your laptop, and record stuff into audacity and mess it up with free plugins...

[orangettecoleman]

the thing i always think about regarding gear is that all my favorite music was made in the 50s and 60s by guys who had not much more than 2 track magnetic tape and razor blades and maybe a little reverb tank... you can do an awful lot with the most limited tools

[e-Miel]

yes I think less is more. The mind is the most complex instrument off all.

[normalioifyp]

I started recording music in 2003 when someone sold me a bootleg copy of "techno ejay" and I spent a whole winter figuring out how to break it so I could make non-techno music. Truth is, you can start recording with whatever you have. I have a collection of nice microphones, but I know people who make noise songs with a 5 dollar computer headset mic.

I agree with everyone who's recommended audacity. It's powerful, but easy to learn, and gives you upfront experience working with the sound waves. When you apply an effect, you see what it does to the waveform. But once you decide to write more complex arrangements, or create something that demands considerable multitracking, I'd look into a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). I use Ardour for Linux, but when I was on Windows, I used cubase, sony acid, adobe audition, and a few others. I wouldn't worry too much about which DAW you use. If you know one, you know them all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_workstation

I also second the Zoom recorder. I have an h4 and I've used it the most of any audio equipment I own. It's a portable recorder and a 4 track and an effects processor and an audio interface and a set of condenser mics. Other companies make portable recorders. I used one put out by tascam for a while. Compare features and prices.

But by far, the most rewarding part of noise is making things yourself. Learn to solder.

[iniitu]

basics :
Zoom H4N
Reaper
UC-33 controller
cheap midi keyboard

[Moon]

I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend starting out with Audiosculpt.

Think about it! Someone new to making music dedicate their time to using a tool normally used by people who have gone through everything else. The steep learning curve would be worth it just to see what came out of it.

[Bonehole]

I'm also new here, and I've been reading this topic with interest. I have a couple of questions about what's been said.

Putting a set-up together takes time and money. I can only afford to buy maybe one or two bigger items say every six to twelve months.

So, if was going to invest in a DAW, actually what would people say does that do over what can be done in Audacity?

Bascially, why would I invest my money in a DAW? What would I get? They seem to me to do the same kind of thing.

My second question is about digital recorders. The Zoom H4n looks cool, but is expensive.

Could anyone please recommend a similar quality recorder, without all the whistles and bells, that's cheaper?

[orangettecoleman]

If you have linux and aren't using MIDI, Ardour is a great DAW (and free). Reaper is great for Windows (no midi also), as is Zynewave Podium (which has MIDI and is what I ended up buying). Both Reaper and Zynewave are really inexpensive. I still end up using Audacity all the time unless I need to sequence something in Midi, though...

[d.at]

I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend starting out with Audiosculpt.

Think about it! Someone new to making music dedicate their time to using a tool normally used by people who have gone through everything else. The steep learning curve would be worth it just to see what came out of it.

I've wanted to try this for a while. but can't really deal with 250 EURO with no way of messing with it beforehand.

[Moon]

If you're an honest person, getting a less legal version with the intent of only testing it shouldn't feel too bad, surely? If you turn into an awesome award-winning composer you'll have to have a legal version anyway

[d.at]

If you're an honest person, getting a less legal version with the intent of only testing it shouldn't feel too bad, surely? If you turn into an awesome award-winning composer you'll have to have a legal version anyway

I suppose. I'm genuinely curious and who knows, it might be worth 250 EURO. Can't imagine it's popular enough to be able to source an, ahem, trial version, though.

[iniitu]

Reaper is great for Windows (no midi also)

you can use midi with reaper, and indeed very cheap. very easy to use with VSTs as well.

[Crwx]

Psycle is a DAW that is virtually never recommended, but around which I've built my no-budget improv setup. Its modular architecture is really intuitive and flexible, it runs on a netbook and it's freeware; the tracker-style automation and sequencing* will not be to everyone's taste and the program is not without its quirks, but still worth a try. I just recommend going with the earlier 1.8.x version for the time being, 1.10 has some minor but irritating bugs.

*For that, I'm mostly stuck with an ancient pirated copy of FL Studio 4, but hope to replace it with LMMS or MuLab once I try them out properly.

[F&B]

basics :
Zoom H4N
Reaper
UC-33 controller
cheap midi keyboard

What does Reaper do that Audacity doesn't?

The UC33 controller doesn't seem to be avaliable locally. To make it easier for me, could you recommend some similar hardware?

I'm thinking of buying these two fellas:

http://www.4sound.dk/shop/kontrollere/akai/lpd8.html
http://www.4sound.dk/shop/usb-midi-keyb ... lpk25.html

?? That's damn cheap.... Would those be OK for starters, and then Audacity, or is something else required? What about a good cheap mic for recording acoustic guitar or similar into the PC? Anyone have a link?

And how about the PC sound card, when is this important?

[Moon]

I think you can use Audacity as a proper daw, but I only use it for single edits of audio files and analysis. Everything you do is linear, so it's great if you know what you want to do. Not so great if you like to compose inside the software and don't know your plugin parameters completely. Sucks to do ten edits only to have to undo and start over because the first thing you do was to cut the file a few samples too short.

Reaper seems to have everything you expect from a proper daw, mixer, live plugins, automation, non-destructive editing. It costs money, though, not sure why it's recommended above any of the mainstream paid daws as I've never used it. You should consider spending money on a daw before anything else.

I've been looking at some one the studio focused Linux distros and they look really interesting. Everything you need for free in one package, that's got to be worth the hassle of making it work with the hardware you have.

Those two controllers are nice, but are you sure you need them right away? With keys that small you could just as easily use your typing keyboard (as most daws will let you do) and manually edit the midi if you need to, which you probably will end up doing anyway. And if you have a smartphone you can use that as a controller.

Your sound card is important for anything you want to do with sound on your computer, outside of just storing the file on your hd. Generally, you aim at working with twice the quality of your projection, usually 44.1 16bit wav file, compressed to at least 192kbps mp3. Even if you can't hear what's so great about 96khz (I know double is 88.2, but usually 96 is a default) it's better to have more data than less when it comes to making a computer describe the real world. I have convinced myself I can hear the difference between 24bit and 16bit, so I work with 24bit, and 88.2khz because it has less strain on the poor complooter than 96khz when you have many many things going on.
So, sound card - important when you feel like your music is getting good enough to share with someone else on soundcloud (actually mixing for soundcloud is more than having good raw files but just look at some tutorials and you're fine).
All of this is still valid for crap recordings, you still want to edit it in an environment where you can perfect what you like about the crappy sound and be able to anticipate what it will sound like to someone else.

An emergency solution if your sound card is too bad you could always keep the files as dry as possible in the daw, bounce tracks, with silence so they're aligned the way you want them, and send them to someone else with direction for roughly what plugins and editing beyond mixing you want. I'd be happy to help if I have time, I like pretending to be a producer.

The H4N can actually be used as a soundcard, another thing I love about it.