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I want to get into producing
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| Majglow |
Yes, I love trance, and want to get into the producing aspect of it. I have studied music in much depth already and consider myself a talented musician. However, the digital aspect of producing baffles me. What kind of hardware, studio, setup, software, etc... do I need? I have a bunch of money to spend (thousands if needed), although I don't really know where to start. Also, how can I learn how to manipulate this technology? Sites? Resources?
I don't really want to bother w/ the cheap software stuff. So, what are your suggestions? |
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| brash |
My suggestions:
Make sure you have:
- a decently fast computer
- decent studio monitors
- a good soundcard (Audiophile 2496 is the standard good one -- you can get better, but the main improvements are going to be the number of inputs and outputs)
Now, on to software. Don't immediately assume the expensive software is the best. Try out a bunch of them. Read my response to this thread: http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...&threadid=85501 and read this thread to get an idea of all sorts of different sequencers/software studios: http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...&threadid=85537
Next, since you have the money, buy a hardware synth! If you buy it off eBay, you won't lose much if you resell it eventually (assuming it is a vintage synth -- they hold their value pretty well, if not go up in value). I picked up a Roland Juno 106 and it is tons of fun to just sit there and mess around. I've heard from many, many people after they buy a hardsynth that their creativity just shoots through the roof. Buy something with knobs.
You might want to pick up a Virus B or C (or KB or KC if you want the keyboard -- probably worth buying a synth with a keyboard, unless you pick up a MIDI keyboard somewhere). These are pretty popular nowadays. You also (or instead) might pick up a Roland Juno 106, Akai AX-60, Roland JP8000, Korg EA-1, or just browse synths on eBay in your price range and then look up the reviews over at http://www.harmony-central.com to see if it is worth it. There are a ton more awesome looking synths out there. Again, get at least one synth with knobs and stuff. Much more fun, and much more educational. Be careful... buying synths is addicting... :)
Reading material: buy the book Sound Synthesis and Sampling and read it. It is excellent material. At the least, read up on programming synths (you may also find stuff online about this). Play with your synths! A lot! Figure out how they work, figure out what different things do (like "attack," "pulse width modulation," and so on). Figuring it out on hardsynths is much easier than on softsynths (IMO), and you can use the knowledge once you start using softsynths.
http://www.samplecity.net has a bunch of reading material in their Tips and Tricks forum.
Read whatever literature you can on your software. It will make things much faster. I was lucky and the software I use (Buzz) has a great HTML manual that comes with it, but some software won't. Check out Amazon.com and the internet for tutorials/guides for the software you decide on.
And finally, have fun! |
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| Majglow |
Thanks for the info. I'll definatly check out that book.
I have a P4 1.8 gig PC w/ 512 MB DDR. and about 120 GB of hard drive space in a RAID format.
I also have a laptop which is about the same (a lot less HD space though).
Would that suffice? I've also heard a lot of good things about Macs when it comes to recording & sound in general.
Also, does anybody know a good online resource. I would rather know a bunch about the equipment before I actually buy. I know in general what a synth does, but not anywhere close to participate in an intelligent discussion. Also, I need to learn exactly how a midi keyboard would help. And, I've heard of samplers & sequencers, but don't really know what they are for.
Much reading & learning to do before I actually buy the hardware.
And, how much is actually don't on a computer as opposed to specialized hardware. I know this varies widely, but what are the most general cases? |
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| Etherium |
Sounds like your computer was made for music. That is a nice setup, you should be able to run quite a few software synths with it along with a bevy of effects (but you will always run out of power).
For right now, if I were you, I would find out which softsynths are generally regarded as the best for trance. IMHO, Z3TA+ is one of the best out there right now along with Albino and Pentagon among others.
Then, if money isn't an option for you, I would get a nice effects card, like the TC Powercore or UAD-1. What this does is frees up your processor and gives you quality reverb, delay, etc. effects that, while probably not on the level of a Lexicon verb, are quite good.
When people refer to a sequencer, they are primarily talking about a program that allows you to arrange your audio and midi data into a, well, a sequence. That sequence eventually can become a song, right! Sequencers have virtual mixers that allow you to control the volume, panning, effects sends, etc. of each track in the song (including tracks from any outboard synths that you have connected to your audiocard). Let's say you draw in (or enter with your keyboard) midi note data on one of your hardsynths, well, the sequencer will send this data from the sequencer through the midi interface to the synth, that synth then processes the commands and spits out the sound that is directed back through your soundcard and eventually to your speakers. But there are many more ways of setting things up as you will see. Sequencers do much more but you get the idea. The most popular sequencers are Cubase, Logic, Nuendo, and Sonar (among others). Other programs like FruityLoops and Storm are much more intuitive and allow more pick-up and play, to use a video game term, but do so at the cost of less flexibility (although you could conceivably make an entire song with Fruity that eventually makes it into the next billboard top 50 if you really know what you are doing). I am not qualiified to say any one of these are better than the other, but I myself have Cubase SL.
Lastly, I would recommend getting one or two hardware synths. For trance, the voting is in at places like Futureproducers.com and many people agree that the Novation Supernova II, the Roland JP8000 (or its rackmount brother), and the access virus b or c is the way to go. There are many more options of course but these synths are very, very popular within the trance genre. Like it was said above, hardware synths tend to boost creativity, at least in my opinion. And there is something about twisting real knobs that can't be substituted.
Finally, I would get a midi controller keyboard to control all of your software synths and the hardware synths you buy that don't have keys. A new one that I personally would love to have is the M-Audio RADIUM, it's a five octave controller with 8 sliders (which you can use to control parameters in your sequencer of softsynths) and 8 knobs. What a deal!
www.tweakheadz.net is a good place for newbie info, as is samplecity.net and futureproducers.com. Sorry, I would have many more links but I just reformatted and forgot to save my bookmarks.
Ok, well, I hope this helps. Keep asking questions and eventually you'll be a trance god. You'll find that producing is a lot of hit and miss, but with fewer misses if you ask good questions. It is also about experimenting, you'll more by experimenting than anything else, especially when it comes to sound design. And finally, to get great ideas for music, you have to listen to a bunch of it, and not casually listen but critically listen. Good luck. |
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| brash |
Etherium's post was good, just want to clarify something:
| quote: | Originally posted by Etherium
Finally, I would get a midi controller keyboard to control all of your software synths and the hardware synths you buy that don't have keys. A new one that I personally would love to have is the M-Audio RADIUM, it's a five octave controller with 8 sliders (which you can use to control parameters in your sequencer of softsynths) and 8 knobs. What a deal! |
You don't really need a MIDI keyboard if you have a hardsynth with a keyboard (unless that synth doesn't have MIDI... it would have to be really old not to). Still, a separate MIDI keyboard definitely won't be useless. I don't think the knobs and sliders on hardsynths are usually assignable if you use it as a MIDI controller, so you only have the keyboard (someone correct me if I am wrong).
Oh, and some synth links:
Hardware:
http://www.harmony-central.com
http://www.vintagesynth.com
http://www.synthmuseum.com
Software:
http://www.kvr-vst.com
Some other tutorial links from a post at samplecity.net (haven't looked at them yet):
http://tilt.largo.fl.us/faq/synthfaq.html
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStri...3547/analog.htm
http://www.studiocovers.com/
Good luck! |
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| Veverka |
| quote: | | Still, a separate MIDI keyboard definitely won't be useless. I don't think the knobs and sliders on hardsynths are usually assignable if you use it as a MIDI controller, so you only have the keyboard (someone correct me if I am wrong). |
Well, you're right, knobs on hardsynths are indeed not asignable, but the knobs on hardsynths always represent the most important functions, so you can still control your softsynth's cutoff with the knob on the hardsynth. When you buy a synth like a Virus KC, you can control almost every paramter of your softsynth :) |
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| Etherium |
| Personally, I use a midi controller keyboard because I have all rackmounted hardware, but if one has a hard synth with keys, it would really be a good idea to just use that hardware synth as the controller. One thing I like about the Radium is the 8 sliders and knobs, that's why I want it. It's almost like having a Control Freak midi control surface and a keyboard all in one.:gsmile: |
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