HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

What? You say you don't have a PC recording studio? Let me ask you this. Do you have a computer? Was it made in the last 10 years? Does it have a sound card? If you answered yes to all 3 questions, you have a PC recording studio. Maybe you just didn't know it.

So now that you DO know, you can create awesome audio for, well, for whatever. Record your songs and release an album. Send out a podcast. Narrate an audio book. Do voiceover recording for any videos you might be making, or to start a voiceover business of your own. There are so many possibilities.

Now before anyone raises their hand to protest that you can't record really good audio using just a home computer unless you also spend a gazillion dollars on an audio interface, microphones, and special software, let me just say something first. You CAN record really good audio using just a home computer without having to spend a gazillion dollars on an audio interface, microphones, and special software. In fact, getting back to the title of this article, there are two important things about home recording you should know. First, good audio is more about knowledge than money, knowledge anyone can learn quite easily given the right lessons. Second, most people can create excellent sounding audio without spending more than about 30 dollars (for a USB mic if you don't already have one).

The Basics of Home Recording are Easy to Learn

Most home recording needs will center around voiceover recording for any of a number of reasons, such as podcasts, audio for video, audio books, etc. You will probably have noticed that a lot of amateur narrated audio such as you find in videos on YouTube is really quite bad. It's thin, echo-y, noisy, hard-to-understand, or any combination of the above. But that isn't because the people recording this audio just have cheap gear. They could make much better audio with just a little knowledge, mainly about how to avoid and/or reduce noise, where to put the mic, etc.

You Can Create Good Audio With Your Current Computer and Free Recording Software

There are some good audio recording programs available free of charge on the web. Probably the best known is called Audacity. When I say "free," I mean open source, not just a trial version. Audacity is amazingly powerful for the price (.00). I recommend you download it before someone figures out how good a deal it really is. Audacity is both a multi-track recording and sound editing software. It comes with lots of built-in effects like EQ, compression, reverb, and great editing capability. For many folks, especially the ones just recording vocal narration, this is the only home recording software they'll ever need.

So now you know where to get the hardware, but you are wondering where you can gain the knowledge I said was so easy to understand. There are many tutorials on the web, but Home Brew Audio is dedicated to teaching home recording skills so that anyone can understand them, using enjoyable and humorous video tutorial videos. Why not give them a visit if you have a few moments? I bet you'll be glad you did.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

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Since I was very little, I have had a weakness for music editing software. I downloaded my first free music editor software program when I was about 13. Back then, I knew nothing about music. It is true that I had played piano when I was younger, but at that point I did not play any musical instruments. There is just something so cool about music software editing. You could take a sound and do anything to it. You could cut it up, paste it back together, resample it - the works. When you are done, even if you have not written any of it yourself, you still end up with an original piece of music.

Over the years, however, I have gotten pretty serious about music editing software. You see, I have gotten pretty serious about music in general. Music software editing is not just a game for me anymore. Most of the time, I actually use my music editing software for recording and mixing my own works. What is so cool about music software is that it lets you do all the work of a studio at home. You can record, mix, edit, and process an original piece of music. All you need is the music editing software, a computer, and a microphone. You do not even need a mixing board! It is amazing what technology has done for the independent musician.

Of course, I still play with music editing software from time to time. It is impossible to resist the temptation. Sometimes, when I'm having a bad night and nothing comes together, I goof off all night. I take a small piece of music that I have recorded in the music editing software, slow it down, turn it backwards, filter it, mess with it, and turn it into something completely different. By the end, what was a normal guitar rift at the beginning has turned into something strange and alien, something exotic and out of this world. It is so much fun to do!

If you have never used music editing software before, I highly recommend using Cool Edit. It was my first music editing program and it is still my favorite. Although there is music editing software that is able to do more than Cool Edit - such as Sound Forge - none of it is as easy to use. You can even download a demo version of it that is almost fully functional!

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

Home studio recording gear has become affordable enough and these days you can produce your own hip-hop hit. However, you want to sound like a pro, not like someone who's been recording from the basement... The internet is full with such home-made "hits" in which background noises are all too conspicuous... You want something better. Well, I've got a few tips to help you achieve this goal.

Every hip-hop song is made up of "beat and "vocals". The background music is called "beat", the singing is referred to as "vocals". This item will concentrate on the vocals part. However, since you can't create hip-hop without beat (obviously...), you'll need to produce one before you start.

Now let's get to business.

First of all, you have to be fully familiar with your words, and make sure your singer knows them (if you are plan on getting one). Reading from a piece of paper isn't an option -- you need to know the words by heart. Rehearse until you rap them with confidence. Your confidence will come out in the recording, and that's exactly what you want.

Memorizing the words isn't all of it. You have to act them. Express the correct emotion and let your audience feel it. You want to swagger, plead, protest -- depends on the words you're saying. Again, confidence is key, so this is another thing you'll have to rehearse before you even get close the microphone.

Let's move on to the actual recording. You'll need an audio recording software and headphones (to play your beat without letting the music leak into the recording). It's recommended to record in a closed space, with as little echo and background noise as possible. Echo is much reduced by hanging a few carpets on the walls.

Your mouth should be kept 3-6 inches from the mic at all times.

A very important procedure is the sound check, adjusting your microphone's input gain. No, "testing, testing, 1,2,3" isn't the way to go about it. Sorry, but you'll have to perform the whole song, over and over again, each time adjusting the mic's input to make sure that you never strike the "red zone" on the meter. You need to make sure that you don't stray off the middle at all times. Yes, the software does have a tool -- called "compression"-- for this specific task, and it is indeed a good starting point. But doing it manually makes a world of difference. No pain no (accurate) gain, you know?

At long last, you can actually start recording. It may take up much of your time, as you'll need at least one flawless take. Note that you only record the main vocals at first, adlibs and effects will follow. Your vocals are ready! Using mixing and mastering tools, combine them with the beat and create your cool hip-hop hit.

Enjoy creating!

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

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Did you know that you could earn money by making beats? But this is only possible if the beats you make are professional, unique and sound really fantastic on any playing device. Here are a few tips to get you started.

1) Use Good Quality Products

In order to make professional beats, you must be using quality products. Even though you may be a newbie, you should learn how to use professional beat maker software. Popular software such as Sonic Producer and Dub Turbo are some great beat maker software programs.

2) Be Unique

Your beats should be unique, and they should sound appealing. Avoid creating a flat dull beat, and make sure there are a few layers to the beat, making it sound thumping and heavy.

3) Studio Recording

You may be easily making the beat on professional software program, however, you will still need a good studio recording in order to make the music sound perfect. Installing a home studio would cost around 00, and if you are serious on embarking a musical career, this may be a necessity.

4) Upload to YouTube

Once you are confirmed that the music is good enough, upload it on YouTube for the world to see. You may get some amazing response if the music is good.

5) Make A Website

If you want a good musical career, make a professional website. Upload your tracks there and sell them to readers. Professionalism is strongly needed here and your site visitors should feel that it is worth spending money on buying your tracks. Get some great traffic towards your site and keep the hot tracks coming in! Offer them a free preview, but a purchase to download.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

Recording in your home studio is wrought with decisions, like what software to use and which microphones to buy. One of the most important decisions you'll make is the number of bits to use for your recordings. Depending on your hardware, you likely have a choice between 16-bits, 24-bits, and 32-bits. Which is best?

The maximum difference possible between the softest and loudest sounds in a recording is known as the recording's "dynamic range." In recordings made on computers or hard-disk systems, dynamic range is determined by the number of bits used to capture the audio. The math is a little complicated, but in simple terms: 16 bits allows 96dB of dynamic range, and 24 bits allows 144dB. In other words, the loudest sound in a 16-bit recording can be 96dB louder than the quietest sound. To put this in context, a pin drop registers around 15dB, where a typical car horn is 100dB when you're right beside it.

The background noise in a good home studio is near 30dB. If you bring the quietest sound in your mix just above 30dB in order to hear it, then the loudest sound you can achieve with a 16-bit recording, and its 96dB range, is 126dB. This is approximately the volume of a drum hit at the moment of impact. So, depending on how much detail there is in your mix, it's entirely possible that you'll need the full dynamic range provided by 16-bit recordings.

24-bits, then, would seem like a wise minimum choice for bit rate. Even though the extra bits require more storage space, so your recordings will be 50% larger, the extra dynamic range could be required in some situations. And if some is good, then more is better, right? Why not go all the way to 32 bits, or higher?

The dynamic range of a 24 bit recording, 144dB, is outside the realm of "hearing" differences, and into "feeling" them. If the quietest sound you capture is a pin drop, then the loudest sound you can capture using 24 bits is 8 times louder than a jet engine. This isn't really sound so much as a shockwave, capable of damaging buildings!!

Most condenser microphones fall apart above 120dB. Dynamic mics can go higher, but begin to distort with inputs above 140dB. And while you could probably put the venerable SM57 inside a rocket engine at takeoff, here's the real kicker: There are no consumer speakers capable of emitting volumes beyond 135dB. In other words, there's not a listening system on the planet that can reproduce the full dynamic range of a 24-bit recording.

Recording in 32-bits, then, is simply a waste of space.

One further note on bits: The marketing material accompanying your recording system likely raves about its internal 32-bit or 64-bit signal processing. Internal processing happens after the signal has been captured, so the number of bits used here is unrelated to the dynamic range discussion above. Digital signal processing involves math, and the more bits a computer uses to store numbers, the more accurate the math is. (Remember learning how to multiply fractions with a calculator?) So there is a good case for using more bits to work with sound once you've captured it. And if you were limited to a single bit depth throughout the entire process, from recording to mixing to mastering, then you could strongly argue that starting with the highest bit depth possible is a good idea.

But that's not how it works. Regardless of the number of bits used to capture the input, your software will still do its math using 32- or 64-bit floating point numbers. In short, then, if your recordings have limited dynamic range, you can probably record in 16-bits and no one will be the wiser. But even if you want the extra headroom, there's no reason to ever capture sound using more than 24-bits.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

All musicians understand that writing backing beats is supposed to be easy and fun. Anyone looking to create beats for their hip hop band or DJ gigs will be to be trying to get the best quality possible, but the problems and expenses needed to make those professional sounding beats can seem unattainable and overwhelming. Luckily, that is no longer the case. Creating professional quality backing tracks has become exciting, simple, and allows you can compose amazing music rapidly and easily using online services.

In the past, musicians wanting to document and distribute their ideas meant going into a studio and that meant spending ridiculous amounts of money in order to record for a short period of time, someone else had control over mixing your music, and you had to wait for them to put it into a format that you could use. Later, home studios made things a little better, but musicians were still forced to download loads of software and build samples from scratch or spend untold hours searching for sounds to create your beats.

No longer stress, fellow musicians! That has all changed with the introduction of online services. Making beats online will help you accomplish your musical goals incredibly quickly and inexpensively. Just sign up for one of these services, choose the samples you want, and add them to the sequencer provided to create your beats. You do not have to search for sounds, download hard to use software, or guess at what your beat is going to sound like or when you can use it.

Online beat making services have enormous amounts of sounds from which to choose. The Changing tempos, introducing or removing sounds, panning and tweaking the elements of your beat is simple and works just like a live studio. All you have to do is compose and save your tracks to your computer! You can use them immediately and you are ready to add vocals, press a demo CD, or add them straight into your DJ set!

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

Most books or guides for the photographic novice start by using the complicated jargon, better suited to the technical colleges. Always remember that beginners photography is visual rather than technical,you don't need to know the formulas, metering,exposures,the manual adjustment of complicated cameras,shutter speed, focus lengths and how to develop your own film. Most people starting out, want to take pictures, not care about the inner workings of the camera, if you want to, by all means enroll in a class and learn all you want. It is though a creative process, inspiring and good for the soul, you can shoot the animals without hunting. Learn to appreciate the simple visual elements of our beautiful world. Beginners photography can get you involved in the environment, or to interact with others,the on location experiences develop your style, but the action takes place out of the house, unless you concentrate on studio portraits.

There is nothing quite like taking dozens of shots at the weekend,coming home and looking through the images and finding the one unusual,interesting frame that ignites your passion for photography. Cameras challenge you to make successful pictures of what you see around you. The digital camera is the wonder of automation, computing all the settings, it then, metaphorically stops the clock on a moment in time. Why can two people standing next to each other, not see the same interesting subject? The camera cannot search out the inspirational shot, observation and creative vision is something the human brain learns with experience.When in a familiar setting,perhaps talking to friends, the details in the background play no part in your thoughts,no brain records too many unwanted details, so train your eyes to search the frame for distractions, before pressing the trigger. Learn to master your camera and the lenses provided, because sure enough lens lust, will strike the unsuspecting photographer, for the must have new optical goodies.

The modern photographer can technically express themselves, the real difference in great photos are after the shooting,when processing the images on the computer, doing the final arrangement,fine tuning the images, taking them to the next level.The now easy to use image software, can take beginners photography up to the heights of the professionals.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

Picking a home recording software can feel like a daunting task but I will break down the key points to keep in mind when choosing your home recording software. Key things to keep in mind when deciding on what software to use is first, make sure you know exactly what you want to achieve. For example, do you want to make beats, use midi, create sounds with synthesizers, record instruments or all of the above. Once you know specifically what you want to do with the software you next need to consider software compatibility, This means if you buy software for your home recording studio and later want to transfer your project to another studio to work on, will your files be compatible with other software. Another bit of detail to consider is whether you want to use a PC or Mac computer. When it comes to this decision people will have there own opinions which is fine but realistically there is great software for a home music studio on both PC and Mac. If money is an issue and you are on a PC don't feel like you cant continue creating your home music studio just because you don't have a mac computer. Since there are certain software that only run on mac or only run on PC make sure the software you choose will run with whatever platform you choose.

Another important consideration you should make before deciding on a home recording software is the audio interface. These devices connect to your computer with USB or Firewire so make sure your computer has usb or firewire depending on the audio interface. The purpose of these converters is to convert the analogue signals (wave forms) of an input source like an instrument into zeros and ones that a computer can understand and vice versa to take the zero and ones that a computer understands and spit it out your speakers in wave forms.

Whatever you do do not get too hung up on the details of home recording software, because the software is not the key to a successful recording. Whether you use garage band, protools, cubase, reason, Cakewalk, etc. does not mean the difference between a good and bad recording. At the end of the day your skills as an artist is what will make you sound great. Just keep in mind the things to think about before buying and make a decision that fits your budget and get started on RECORDING. Once you get used to using any home recording software that knowledge will transfer to any other kind of home recording software, so just get yourself started!

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

Video is just flying, Google has bought YouTube, advertisers have found video, cameras are shooting higher and higher quality with lower and lower prices and now can be operated by just about one button. Easy videos, basic videos, clip movies, video made easy no matter how you want to say it is just getting easier.

Video hosting platforms are popping up all over the place, names such as MetaCafe, Revver, Vech, Viddler, Crackle, Daily Motion, and more. This doesn't even include the standards, YouTube, Yahoo Video, AOL Video, MySpace, the list goes on and on. Blogs just about everywhere are playing videos as are cellphones and all kinds of portable devices. And almost all sites are getting into monetization of their videos.

Camera for shooting basic video are flooding the market such as the normal consumer ones like Sony, Cannon and Panasonic and the newest one like the Flip, the iSight, that comes on every Mac, and every digital camera that gets turned into movie mode with the flick of a knob.

The video editing software is getting easier and easier to use. We have the old standbys, like Microsoft Movie Maker for the PC and iMovie for the Mac. Added to that and in the 0 range are Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Pinnacle Studio, Adobe Premier, and Roxio. On the Mac we have one of the most popular Final Cut, in Express and Pro. I use Final Cut all the time for my production, it is excellent and it almost like having CBS in your livingroom. Added to these are all kinds of compression, and formatting and a million other things you can do to shape your video.

Not only can we film using cameras, we can also capture video right off the computer screen. This is great for making training videos, promotional video or just funny videos. A couple of the most popular are CamtasiaStudio and Captivate for the PC, both of which have been around for quite a while. And on the Mac the newest, and just the most amazing piece of software is Screenflow. There are many others, almost to many to count.

I have been using Screenflow for a while now, and it is what I call a game changer. It only runs on the newest Macintosh computers but in my opinion it is almost worth buying a Mac for it. And it is only 0. It is that good, and it records two tracks of video at the same time, what is on the screen and what is from the onboard camera. Very simple to edit, it is just the very best.

Want to publicize your products or ideas, how about starting a series and run it on YouTube. Or even better get a free channel on UStream.TV and broadcast to the world. Whatever you do, remember it is global, and on the web we are all equal. I run How To videos on some of my products they appear all over the world for free. They all get views and all drive traffic to my sites.

So there is no excuse not to get started using video for your business, your blog, your ideas. So as we said above, easy videos, basic videos, clip movies, video made easy no matter how you want to call it, it is an explosion and a moment of change in the world of video.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

There are three things that it takes to make a good recording: 1) A good performance, 2) A good engineer, 3) And good equipment. Professional audio manufacturers sell products by convincing the consumer that all it takes is buying their equipment and one can make a professional recording. Some manufacturers even try and replace performance requirements with plug-in's and electronic or software instruments as part of the deception that these things just don't matter. Anyone who has tried to do a recording at home with a 0 dollar microphone preamp and analog to USB digital audio interface and an Shure SM57 will be able to hear the wide gap between the results at home and what is heard on your average home recording. So, is there a way to fix a poor home recording to sound like a professional recording?

The simple answer is, no. "Fixing" recordings often results in an even more compromised sound in the end. Good recordings come from the three elements mentioned at the beginning and in no other way. However, there are some practices that might help should one continue to think that they can "fool" the laws of acoustics and electronic circuit designs and still get the same results at home as you do in a professional studio.

One of the main things to stop doing when starting a home recording, stop looking at articles (especially YouTube videos) online that offer suggestions on what microphones to use, where to place them, etc. Most of the articles that I have found are from people who are not experienced sound engineers. Why? Because most professional sound engineers aren't going to go around teaching everyone how to do their job. Some might but only if they are paid to write the article or are selling a book. It's not good for business, and there really is a great deal that is to be learned in school and in years of experience that you can't put into a short article or YouTube video.

Trust your ears. Every guitar, every amp, every drum set, every vocalist, and every acoustic space sounds different. That means that there is no feasible way to teach how to record in every situation. And each situation or style will work better with some techniques and not others. This also means that you have to possess some kind of vision of how you want your music to sound. However, every sound engineer still has to use their most important tool, their ears, to create the best sound possible.

Learn the basics of sound. There is no right place to put a microphone. Knowing the basics of sound will help you know better what you need to fix in order to get the sound that you are looking for. The first three fundamental principles of sound that someone should learn are proximity effect, phase, and frequencies. These principles relate to each other, but a proper understanding of how these three work together will help to avoid most of the drawbacks found in home recordings. If you are going to try and play sound engineer, you should at least learn some of the things a sound engineer knows.

Just because Home Depot sells hammers doesn't mean I can build a house. The same is true with professional audio. Just because Guitar Center sells a microphone, doesn't mean you can record an entire album. While these tips probably won't completely bridge the gap between home and professional recordings, if one embraces this paradigm, one is able to get a more respectable and possibly a recording more acceptable for public consumption.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

At first Hip Hop software can seem expensive complex and out of reach of a lot of people unless you are willing to spend thousands on your own studio. But in truth with the exponential growth of technology, the internet and a few savvy programmers, some very professional pieces of kit are available.

Having this type of software in your own home on your own laptop or computer is becoming more and more popular yet so many people have not utilized it to its full potential.

• Believe it or not there is money to be made. If you take the time to listen to a lot of hip hop records you will slowly be able to work out how it was constructed, layered, written and composed. A lot of the music programs out there allow you to easily recreate some of your favorite licks without much effort.
• What I find even more interesting is the possibility to quickly and easily create your own material. Literally if you have an idea in your head of a cool drum beat, mixed with some heavy piano chords and a short guitar riff here and there you can create it in a few minutes. Then download it in MP3 format and do with it as you will. Combine this with a program that allows you to record lyrics over the top and you have yourself a single, i-tunes here you come! In fact there are a lot of rappers and hip hop artists who got started just like this, creating their own hooks and sending them off to enough record Companies until they got a positive response. Of course that's just one idea, maybe you just want to create some work to play at parties, clubs or contests.
• If truth be told they probably spent a lot of money on some hardware that didn't give them the same quality of results that can be achieved today.

If you are looking for Hip Hop Software online then start experimenting right now. Talk to a lot of musicians and you find they get their greatest inspiration and results come from just doing and being. They don't always look to perfect every track, more so they produce lots of material, lots of lyrics and then when something good sticks, this is when they go to work on it.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

Many people are discovering just how easy it is to make music online by use of music making software. Getting started is very simple, all you need to do is download your chosen product to your computer, install it and then you can start making some tracks. Music software is very simple to use and most people will have a good understanding of how their product works within a couple of hours of getting started. Almost all good products will offer video instructions and member forums to make sure you get the best out of your music software product. Many products also offer a free trail or a money back guarantee to allow users to ensure they are happy with their product.

In the past getting a start in the music industry was almost impossible for the average person. The cost of buying the your own equipment could end up being many thousands of dollars, and getting into a recording studio is never going to be a realistic option for most people. These barriers to getting started meant that in the past many talented people simply could not get a start in the industry, due to the large barriers to entry. Fortunately for anyone with music talent, things are much different these days, thanks to music software. For less than you can buy a music creation product that will be able to produce studio quality sound, from your home computer. This is amazing news for anyone with an interest in creating music and means that anyone with a computer and an internet connection has an opportunity to live their music creation dream, without having to spend any significant money getting started. Unlike in the past if you have the talent, now you have the chance to show it to the world.

Music software is also great as a form of entertainment. You do not need to be an aspiring music producer when you purchase a music software product. For the same expenditure as a video game you can get many weeks or months of entertainment from music software. Once you get started, you may be left wondering where the last few hours have gone. Playing around laying out some beats and melodys can really be a lot of fun, you can even impress your friends and family with your awesome, or maybe terrible creations. Whether for serious or recreational use, music mixing software has a lot to offer for music enthusiasts and has changed the music production scene for the better.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

This article is intended for people looking to get started with recording music on a home computer. It is the first part in a series of articles.

• If you're in a band and you're looking to make a great home demo.
• You're a singer/songwriter interested in the digital age.
• Or maybe you have an acoustic guitar and you want to throw down a track or two.
• A drummer with no guitar player, a bass player with no drummer? Sometimes folks, you don't need the whole band.
• Maybe you just want to try and sell jingles.

That's the first part of it gang ... PASSION to create YOUR music. If you're reading this, I can only assume we're both locked in there.

THE COMPUTER HARDWARE: You'll read a lot about this major player all over the internet. It is the heartbeat of your audio machine. You're Tower of Power per say. Monitor, keyboard and mouse included. Right about now, questions start to arise about the machine.

• How much ram?
• What's a Gigahertz?
• I'll need a huge hard drive right?
• PC or MAC?
• My computer is 5 years old, your nuts!
• Is the one I'm using to read this going work?

If you're just getting started, everyone will tell you that bigger is better ... don't be sold. Be smart and do some research. (Maybe this article is your start?)

Here are some REAL WORLD things to keep in mind, along with, some personal recommendations. Heck, I'll even tell you what I use personally. I don't see this as any magic secret.

HARD DRIVES: With mass USB storage now-a-days, you need a hard drive to "run and support your programs" not to keep everything on. Let's just say it crashes one day ... I'm sure most of the people reading this have "been there" with a computer before (or maybe two?)So, I'll spare the details. In a nutshell, your time, effort and passion have all been wasted. Tips & Recommendations:

• The best thing you can do is designate an "Audio Computer"
• Don't do your taxes on it.
• Don't create grandma's birthday card on it. (Graphic programs and audio programs don't get along ... AT ALL!)
• Internet is not required (and is forbidden on any audio machine I own)
• PC'ers ... go with a bare bones version of XP
• MAC'ers anything above system 7 should do just fine.

Having said all that ... an 80GB (and up) hard drive will suit your entry level audio needs just fine.

PROCESSOR & RAM: This one is easy and relies solidly on the individual's patience. If your comfortable multi tasking you may not need the fastest, jerk your head back in the chair system. This all comes down to you, the individual, and how your work (or intended to work) with your audio computer.

First things first, If your just getting started riding ponies, you're probably not signing up to ride the bull the next day. There is no need to go out and buy a so called, Audio Computer for 00.00. If you can, hey that's great. But, if you're just getting started and know zilch, by the time you grow into that system, you'll want (not need) another one.

Tips & Recommendations:

o SYSTEM A (If you want to work fluently)

Start with something like an E machine ... 1GB ram and say a 3.0 processor (stick with intel ... audio software uses it as the "norm") You can use others (AMD etc) but extra configurations may have to be tweaked ... and if your just getting started ... YOU WANT TO GET STARTED!

o SYSTEM B (If your budget is restricting ... who's isn't)

You can take it down a notch ... say 512 ram and a 2.0 processor (keep it intel) So, what is the sacrifice here? Audio files need time to "render". With the system above (SYSTEM A) ... an average render is 2-3 minutes. With SYSTEM B, it's about 7-10 minutes. Back when I first started recording ... 15 minutes was "state of the art". More "lock ups" transpire with lower ram amounts as well. E-bay has some great machines worth looking at too.

OTHER COMPUTER STUFF: Your going to want to make sure the system has a few USB ports (4) and a few fire wire ports (at least 1). I'm not going to get into the breakdown of these ports or explain how they work because ... who cares, you just need them to plug audio gear into and that is that ... why take it further? The box, or ad you read when looking for a computer, will tell you everything the system has to offer. It will also tell you how many of these two ports it will have.

Let's jump to all the fun stuff ... Oh! That's right, my system. Well, after reading what you did already, I chose a fairly decent rig (at the time) on a moderate budget.

Are you ready? I use (its times like these I wish these companies paid me)

A Gateway GR550 (don't think they make 'em anymore) don't get me wrong here, systems now-a-days will blow this computer off the map ... but it's about what you need, not what the industries push you need. The only thing I had to do was upgrade the ram an extra 512MB to make it a 1GB. This audio machine is one of the main beating hearts of my studio today.

INTERFACE Hey there's a crazy techie word ... but just in case you haven't noticed, you can't plug a guitar into your new machine. That's where the interface comes in. An interface is the link between your guitar/microphone and your computer.

YIKES! Tons on the market ... more decisions you'll have to make. USB or Fire wire? Let's just take the easy route again. USB is a cheaper connection as far as "audio signal" goes. What I have noticed over the years was more "clicking" and "popping" while recording and playing back with a USB interface. Get yourself a firewire (told you) Here are a few to review:

• Toneport (USB) great for younger starters
• Stealth (USB) great for younger guitar players

Hey, Moms and Dad's ... these make great Christmas gift's for your inspiring musical offspring!

Hey, Moms and Dad's ... these make great Christmas gift's for you!

• M-Audio 1816 (FW)
• MOTU (FW)

I bet you want to know what I use huh? ... I currently have an M-Audio Project Mix. I started my recording birth with a Delta 66. This used a PCI port and required a "card" be installed into your computer system. I'm a bit of a computer geek, and have no fears when it comes to opening them ... but if you do, PCI is not your route. Again, use the new technology for the same price.

Today it's Fire wire. I must say however, PCI was THE MOST RELIABLE way to record. Don't worry; Fire wire is a very, very close second, with USB coming in at third.

Well gang, this will conclude part one HARDWARE. Do some more research and get yourself a great starting audio rig. Part 2 we'll get into SOFTWARE. This part is so much fun; it may be two articles long.

Until next time.

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Everyone can sing. Not everyone can sing well. That does not stop people from wanting to sing. There is a world of difference between a trained and untrained singer. What most people don't understand is that the difference is training. Most people who do not sing professionally have never been trained on how to sing. They don't know how to get the most out of their voice. They struggle to sound like a professional but without the training. It is possible to sing better with training and practice.

1. Learn To Sing At Home.

Most people do not have the time or ability to change their schedule to fit in professional singing lessons. Singorama provides a training kit that can be used anytime to improve any persons singing skill and ability. Singorama can be done at home, and within individual's schedules. The "Learn to Sing" training kit uses an interactive audio course. This lets people increase their vocal range, vocal control and more. The training kit is focused on teaching the good singing techniques most people don't know.

2. Look And Sound Professional.

Singorama also reveals professional tricks of the trade such as how to hold a microphone, deal with stage fright and even how to choreograph a performance. The biggest trick of the trade is practice, practice and more practice. This involves practicing singing techniques, songs and even choreography. The Singorama "Learn to Sing" training kit provides an easy way to practice singing, and harmonizing. It also provides the Singorama - Mini Recording Studio software. This lets people hear and compare their voice, and improve it. Singorama Perfect Your Pitch Pro software is also provided. It will help people hit the right note. Knowing how to sing properly improves every performance, be it at home with friends or on the stage.

3. Be Good But Unique.

Every voice is different. Voices are not designed to be forced to sound like another voice. Unfortunately some voice training methods pushes people try to sound like others. Singorama prefers to improve individual singing abilities and maintain the uniqueness. The focus of the training is to improve and develop anyone's singing voice and technique. The goal is to make a unique voice better and more professional.

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Most folks reading the title question would probably answer, "sure, but it would sound so terrible that it wouldn't be worth it." Really? Read on intrepid budding recordists!

If you want to start recording audio, you can definitely do that from home. You probably already knew that. But did you know you probably already have a home recording studio? No, really! If you have a computer with a sound card, access to the internet, and a PC microphone (even one of those cheap plastic ones!), you are ready to rock! Or at least you will be as soon as you download the open source software called Audacity. Most of you will be able to start using your home recording studio without spending a dime. A few more of you may have to drop 4 or 5 bucks on the plastic PC mic.

With only the gear I just mentioned...a .00 mic plugged into the factory sound card of my computer, I recorded a song with guitars, lead vocal, and harmony vocals. All of the audio recorded for this song never left Audacity. This means that all of the editing and mixing was done with the tools already included in Audacity.

How did I do it?. First, I recorded my acoustic guitar with the mic really close to the sound hole. Then I sang along on a new track in Audacity while listening to the guitar. Just "regular" sound cards these days are good enough to let you do this, though you'll have to do a bit of editing to line everything up afterward. Next, I recorded harmony vocals on some more tracks I added to the guitar and voice tracks. After that, I adjusted some volumes, mixed them together (using only the tools in Audacity), and exported it as an mp3 file from Audacity. Done.

This will give you an idea of what can be done at the "zero-to-five-dollar" budget level. It isn't the most spectacular audio ever. But it isn't half bad. It's certainly good enough for what a lot of folks need, audio-wise.

If you're curious about how you can start using the recording studio you didn't know you already had, visit us at Home Brew Audio and hear the song I just mentioned.

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If you've ever wanted to know, how can I make dubstep, then this article will inform you about a new software program that is allowing people just like you to make their very own dubstep beats with ease. Actually, you can make dubstep and pretty much any other kind of electronic music that you want and the best part is you don't need to take a bunch of expensive music courses or spend a small fortune on high-end gear just to get your feet wet to see if you have what it takes.

What you sometimes find online when you are looking to make dubstep beats (or any music for that matter) is that if you want to make good sounding dubstep you need to have all kinds of music production knowledge, and expensive equipment to go with it! Well that is where this revolutionary beat making software solves your problems as it has a highly featured 10 pad beat maker, 4 octave keyboard, thousands of high quality sounds and more that you can choose from to make dubstep and any style of electronic music that you like.

Plus, you can easily import additional dubstep sound kits to add even more functionality to this already feature packed software! Most of all though, if you're new to making dubstep beats this top-notch beat maker software is perfect for beginners and people that are wanting to create the same quality dubstep music they hear their favorite DJ's play. You even get a set of video tutorials that will show you step by step how to get up and running fast!

Even if you are experienced with making dubstep beats and have a nicely equipped recording studio you can still use DubTurbo beat maker software as an extension to the amount of dubstep sounds you can produce. Crank out hardcore wobble bass, razor sharp synths and atmospheric effects in no time! To make dubstep you need a beat making progrwm that uses premium sound files. Since the sounds used in Dubturbo beat maker software have been professionally mastered in a recording studio your latest dubstep creation can sound just the same as you would hear your favorite DJ's make and once you finish your first dubstep beat you can easily burn it on to a CD or share it via the web!

So if you are new to making dubstep or any other type of electronic music, this cutting edge software is a great way to get started! Best of all the cost is very affordable and the software is packed with tons of features! I encourage you to click the link below and see how easy it is to start making your own dubstep beats using this awesome software: Make Dubstep Here

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DJ'ing has become very popular in the last few years especially since technology has allowed a non-technical person to become a Pro DJ in a few weeks when equipped with the right Digital Scratching Tools available on laptops. This article will teach a person to DJ and what equipment they will need after the purchase of a laptop to start mixing beats like a pro.

Purchase a laptop. Look for a good brand Laptop that you know will not crash during a gig. If you are looking for a PC, I would recommend closely looking at customer reviews, talk to electronic store sales people, and even ask your friends what laptops they may recommend. The great thing about a PC is that a consumer can get a phenomenal computer with all the bells and whistles for a very affordable price. The problems PC's face are viruses that infiltrate that operating systems and crash the hard drives erasure program, music, and important data.

Consider a Macbook. They are absolutely more money and don't offer all the bells and whistles the new PC's are coming out with, but they do offer stability, consistency, optimal performance, and are not nearly as susceptible to the viruses a PC can get.

Demo (trial) DJ Software before you buy it. You can get a bunch of free DJ programs to start with BUT these programs do not offer what the paid programs do. There are so many free programs that they are unnameable at this point but the ones that you should look into are Virtual DJ, Traktor, etc. These are programs that must be bought but offer things like, playlist controls, beat mixing features, sync mixing features, skins that look like real mixers, etc. The free programs will not do what you really need to do as a laptop DJ.

You can stop here if you just want to practice before getting into the equipment you'll need to start DJ'ing gigs. You can even DJ smaller partied with good laptop speakers any time you want. To become an advance DJ with good sound equipment, move on to the next section.

You have your laptop and DJ Software, now you need a mixer. You have to plug your laptop into a mixer of some sort. You will output the speakers from your mixer. Mixers are fairly inexpensive and can be bought at your local music store. A 4 channel mixer would be fine. Some DJ Software Programs offer an USB external sound card. These sound boxes allow for separation of the Left and Right Channels. If you do purchase a USB external sound box you would run a 1/4" cable out from the LEFT channel to channel 1 on the mixer. You would run a 1/4" cable out from the RIGHT channel on the box to Channel 2 on the mixer.

IF you DO NOT have an USB external sound card, then you will be using the "OUT" or "Headphone" jack and run an 1/8" out of the computer to 1/4" into Channel 1 on the mixer.

You have your laptop, DJ program, Mixer, now you need speakers.To keep you set-up simple but still powerful, invest in POWERED (Active) speakers. (Speaker that you need to plug in to get to work). If you get passive (non-powered speakers) you will need separate amplifiers connected to you mixer. Powered speakers are more expensive but will punch/kick your music better and your DJ set-up will be much simpler.

You have your laptop, DJ program, Mixer, now you need speakers. To keep you set-up simple but still powerful, invest in POWERED (Active) speakers. (Speaker that you need to plug in to get to work). If you get passive (non-powered speakers) you will need separate amplifiers connected to you mixer. Powered speakers are more expensive but will punch/kick your music better and your DJ set-up will be much simpler. You will need 2 XLR cables. The female end will get plugged out from the mixer and into the speakers (Left/Right outputs). Buy 2 Speaker stands if possible.

You have your laptop, DJ software, mixer (optional USB external sound card box), 1 1/'4 - 1/8" cable, powered speakers, 2 XLR cables, and speaker stands. You just need your favorite music and MIXES and you are ready to start practicing to become a pro DJ on a laptop.

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The cost of setting up a professional recording studio at home can vary from 0 to ,000. If you don't have an extra room to set up a studio then you will also need to rent a place, which will cost extra. The setup cost will depend on what kind of a studio you are going to build. Are you planning to set up a serious business, which can render services to varieties of customers and charge a high fee? Or is it just a simple a home-based studio to cater to the local bands for a minimum charge? Here are a few tips to help you get an estimate of how much it may cost to set up a recording studio.

Processing the room

First of all, you need to process your room in order to make the sound quality better. Remember, a normal room or your basement was not built for sound recording and therefore will need some work before it can be converted into a good recording studio. You can purchase good quality acoustic foam and stick them on walls by yourself. One case of foam will cost anything between and 0. You may need around 7 cases for a 10'X10' room. You can also take help of professionals and make the room soundproof. This is an additional cost that you can undertake if you want to render a high-quality, professional service. For a low budget studio, you can start much cheaper. There are many ways to improve room acoustics cheaply or for free. These ideas will be discussed in another article.

Hardware and software

Among the hardware equipment, you will need a computer, a soundboard, an interface, and a good microphone with a stand and microphone cable. The whole microphone set may cost you around 0 or less for a decent one. You can also get a MIDI keyboard, which will cost around 0 for a cheap starter keyboard. You will also need digital recording software, which may cost anything between 0 and 0. If you want something free, I recommend Audacity. Do a Google search, and you'll find it easily.

Musical equipment

It is advisable to keep a few pieces of musical equipment handy, in case your customers need to borrow something. This happens quite a bit. If you already have a guitar or any other instrument of your own, keep them in the studio. You may not need to invest in new musical instruments if you don't have much room in your budget for this. You can also consider investing into a few second hand instruments that are in good condition. Mostly, bands just want to have options in the studio. If you have some old beat up guitars, amps, and effects lying around, they are happy to tinker with them. This also increases the value of your studio, which helps you command a higher fee for your services.

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The question of choosing the best External Sound Card for a particular use or application gets asked a lot. I have put together this quick guide which highlights the main considerations when choosing the right audio interface for your PC or Mac for recording and/or podcasting.

The first question: What are you going to be using an external sound card / audio interface for?

• Podcasting
• Recording simple vocals for presentations
• Home recording vocals and instruments
• Recording an entire band or group

Benefits of an External Sound Card
An external sound card or audio interface, often called a "break out" box, has a major advantage over an internal PCI / PCI-Express card when it comes to recording and podcasting. The Analog to Digital (A/D) and Digital to Analog (D/A) conversion engine is located in the external box, therefore, all of the processing that goes on to change the analogue stream into a digital stream and vice versa is undertaken inside the box away from the electrical noise of your computer. The resulting digital signal is sent via cable to an input in your PC or Mac via a USB, Firewire or a dedicated card specifically designed to couple the box to your computer.

Other important advantages include, ease of installation and connectivity; advanced functionality such as pre-amps; Hi-Z inputs; in-built hardware effects; mobility; use with laptops, notebooks and desktops.

Considerations
How many analog inputs do you need? Are you podcasting using one or two microphones (2 inputs)? Do you need inputs for musical instruments such as a guitar and/or keyboards (4 - 8 Inputs)? Or perhaps you want to record your entire band and microphone up the drum kit (20+ simultaneous inputs)?

The more inputs you need, the more you will need to spend. From experience it is advisable to choose an external sound card with a few more inputs, just in case.

Pre-Amps
Pre-amps boost the very low signal input from microphones up to a level that mixers, sound cards, effects, etc can work with. Pre-amps are not optional if you are recording with microphones. You need a pre-amp channel for every microphone you are recording simultaneously. I recommend you get the same amount of pre-amps as you have analog inputs in your external sound card. It doesn't do you any good to have the inputs if you can't use them.

Connecting your external sound card to your PC or Mac

• PCI or PCI-Express (Via internal card to "Break out" box) - Desktop only - not easy to install
• USB 1.1 - Slowest connection speed- only good for one input at a time
• USB 2.0 - Faster, The standard - better for simultaneously recording up to 8 inputs, Mobile
• USB 3.0 - NEW, Faster still, awaiting audio peripherals to be released (One to keep an eye on)
• Firewire - Stable, fast, low latency, preferred solution by seasoned recordists

PC, Mac or both.
Make sure your chosen external sound card works on your machine - the specifications will tell you. There are externals sound cards that work just on PCs and just on Mac's and those that work fine on both.

MIDI
Many external sound cards come with MIDI in and out ports. If you need MIDI or think you may want to experiment with MIDI, I recommend that you purchase a sound card with MIDI already built-in. You'll want to make sure that the sound card uses a standard MIDI jack as some include ports that need adaptors. It is best to avoid adaptors.

MIDI can trigger synthesizers (which essentially shapes and moulds sound electronically to model various instruments) or samplers (which instantaneously play back short recordings of sound files). Because of this, MIDI is used all the time in music ranging from techno to metal to movie scores. With the right samples, it is easy to switch from working on an orchestral score to a rap beat in seconds.

Hi-Z Input
Increase the quality of your direct guitar recordings, by plugging your guitar into a high impedance input. Your standard sound card input was not designed to work with a guitar and therefore, some high frequencies can be lost. Hi-Z input is Included on many audio interfaces.

Monitoring
Do you need to monitor vocals / guitars through headphones, have separate monitoring for each member of the band? Most recording software will allow direct monitoring of the signal through the main outs (which is how you listen on playback through you studio monitors). This is usually satisfactory for a drummer but may not be nearly as useful for the rest of the band.

Do some research before buying an external audio interface to make sure that your monitoring needs are taken care of.

Software
Some sound cards come with recording software included. Make sure you factor this into your decision and into the price as well. Most recording programs bundled with sound cards are the "LE" version which means they generally are lacking some of the features of the given companies flagship model.

With that said, most people do not need the features included in the most high end recording software. You will probably be fine with whatever software that comes with your audio hardware (assuming it comes with any at all). If you find that the program that comes with your sound card is lacking in features, most companies will allow you to upgrade to more high end versions at a discounted price.

A selection of well known software companies that work well with an external sound card include Cakewalk, Cubase Alberton and Pro Tools.

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How to Create Your Own Professional Music Video from Home

Today, many who go web-surfing run into spoof music videos that get millions of views. Sadly, more than half of those people who got 1,000,000+ views missed an opportunity of earning ,000 or more from just that YouTube upload. Why is this so? I will let you know near the end of this article. Shall we get back to the topic?

For those who think it isn't possible to make a high quality music video from home like the ones you see on television, I am here to tell you that it IS possible to make even BETTER videos. You may not be able to create one as good on the first try, but again who is? It takes perfection; following these 5 steps:

Step 1: Music

Of course a music video isn't a music video without music. Find an instrumental that you want to create a song to and download it. A good program that I recommend for downloading instrumentals would be Frostwire. You can download it from frostwire.com. It is completely free to download and use. Or so it was the last time I checked. Be careful when downloading from Frostwire though. The first two or three files at the top are usually tricks, but you can easily tell them apart. The false ones usually match your search phrase word for word, letter for letter, and are lower case. Also check the file size to the right of each result. Instrumentals and songs are usually at an average file size of 1,000 Kb for each minute of a song. So if an instrumental you're looking for is about 3 minutes long, the file size should be around 3,000 Kb. The false ones at the top are usually at a small file size, around 10-30 kb.

I used to use Frostwire until I began creating my own music with music production software. If you want to make money from YouTube, I suggest you make your own instrumentals like I do. Anyone can learn to make a simple beat. Some good music production software I recommend to use for the PC would be Fruity Loops Studio. The latest version is FL Studio 9, but FL Studio 5, 6, 7, and 8 are just as good. If you want to pay for it, you can buy it at your local computer store or online at flstudio.com, but if you want it for free, I suggest you use Frostwire, since it can also download programs for free too. For the Mac users, your computer should already come with a music production software called GarageBand. In my opinion, GarageBand's instruments sound more professional than Fruity Loops. Both programs have user manuals available in the help menu and Garageband has a beginner tutorial. For any other tutorials, I suggest that you search YouTube for Fruity Loops Beginner Tutorials or Garageband beginner tutorials.

Other PC Music Production softwares include Reason, Sonar, and Nuendo. Another Mac music production software is Logic Pro. The music industry itself specializes mainly with a software called Protools. It's compatible with both PC and Mac, but is usually the software preferred for studio recording. If you decide to use Protools at all, I recommend that you buy it rather than downloading it for many reasons. Trust me on this one.

Step 2: Lyrics

Of course, music videos don't ALWAYS have lyrics, but if you do decide to, make sure you write lyrics to the instrumental and keep them for the studio recording, which we will get to later. (Lyrical tip: Keep your lyrics fairly clean and it may be more marketable! Make it hilarious or comical, and it may get more plays! Ex. Search "White and Nerdy" on YouTube)

Step 3: Home Studio (Session) Recording

The best software for studio session recording starters is Cool Edit Pro. Cool Edit Pro is only PC compatible though. I learned it on my own through experimentation, but for tutorials, I'm sure you can find them on YouTube. There is also a user manual in the help menu. You can also download Cool Edit Pro for free using Frostwire. For the Mac users, once again, congratulations! You can record yourself using Garageband! To do so after you have finished creating your instrumental on Garageband, at the top click Track> New Track> Real Instrument> Create. You will notice that on the left, a track for recording appears that is titled "No Effects". If you have a microphone plugged in, test it out by speaking into it. The green bar next to "No Effects" should rise every time you speak. If not, check your System Preferences for Sound and switch to Built-In Mic/Internal Microphone. Most Mac laptops have a built-in microphone. Most of them are found on the left speaker at the bottom right side, but only on laptops. For PC laptops, your microphone may be found in the top of the monitor in the middle, left, or right corner.

For more advanced users, session recordings can be done with Protools. You can buy microphones, but the cheap ones are usually not good recording microphones at all. If you have a built-in microphone, you're in luck; because believe it or not, it is better than most microphones under . Just make sure you adjust the volumes of each separate recording you do accordingly, regardless of which mic you use. You can make a bad mic sound much better than it does by altering the volumes.

P.S Tip: How to Autotune

Unfortunately, I only know how to do Autotune with the Fruity Loops users and the Garageband users. For the FL users, you have to download a plug-in called Antares and drag it into Fruity Loops. As for the Mac and Garageband users..... you guys are very lucky. GarageBand comes with a built-in Autotuning system. To use it, at the top click Track> New Track> Real Instrument> Create. If your Audio Region at the bottom is not visible, at the top, click Control> Show Editor, or just press Apple+E. Turn the "Enhance Tuning" in your Audio Region all the way up. Then look just below that switch, and check in the box "Limit to Key".

Step 4: Recording the video

To record the video, you're going to need a decent quality camera. But just because you have a decent quality camera alone doesn't mean that the video is going to be great. It's all about how you put it together. As far as quality goes, I recommend the Jazz Elite HD Portable Camera for starters. It's a 0 high definition camera, but you can get it for only 0 at electrotech.totalwarehouse.com. I haven't found a cheaper high definition video camera online yet, but if I do, I will let you know. Also, looking into getting a tripod would help for stabilization. You can find those at Wal-mart for pretty low prices.

Also, if you're trying to make money on YouTube, make sure to keep other company products' logos and titles out of the video as much as possible. YouTube can prevent money making from almost any logo being shown publicly in your video. This also includes logos on shirts, so just make sure that whatever clothing you choose to wear for the video, that the emblems or logos of your shirt's producers are not visible.

Step 5: Putting the video together

Hook up your camera to the computer and transport all of your video clips in a folder. For PC video production beginners, I recommend using Windows Movie Maker. It comes with every Windows computer. If you can't find it, just click Start (or the windows icon for Vista users) at the bottom left side of the screen. Go to Programs> Accesssories> Windows Movie Maker, or Programs> Accessories> Entertainment> Windows Movie Maker. If you can't find it in either of those places, go to My Computer, open up the Local Drive (usually C:), and go to the Program Files folder. Look for a folder called Windows Movie Maker and look for the startup icon. For Mac users, there is iMovie. The video clips can be dragged or imported into both of these programs to use. If your PC or Mac came with the Adobe Collection, you may also use Adobe Premiere Pro, which is compatible with both computers. Adobe After Effects is a more advanced software to use for special effects, but you can easily learn it through 10 short tutorials at videocopilot.net. A much more advanced video editor is Final Cut Pro for the Mac users, used by real industry movie makers.

There are video tutorials for all of these softwares on YouTube, but, in my opinion, Windows Movie Maker is ridiculously easy to use; but Adobe Premiere has more tools and effects that you can do to your video. Adobe Premiere also has green screen keying, which Movie Maker does not have. If you are looking to make music video production or music production a future career, I suggest you look into a college called Full Sail University. It is known as the "Harvard of Entertainment and Media Schools" and has one of the three best film programs in the world and the top 5 Recording Arts programs in the country. It is a high-paced school, and you can receive your Bachelor's in either program in 20 months. To look further into this school, visit the Full Sail website.

Make sure you render your video in a high quality setting too. "Rendering" just means saving the video in video format. The higher the quality, the longer it may take to finish saving the video, but it may be worth it. If you have the Jazz Elite HD Portable Camera, you may not have to worry about quality as much.

Extra Step: Earn Money Through YouTube

To earn money, simply reach over 200,000 views with your video. YouTube will send you instructions on how to set it up and will review your video to make sure that there are no copyright infringements.

But as for music videos in general, I've seen the best and I've seen the worst. The quality of the final product all comes down to how you use these tools to the best of your creative ability. Show laziness in production, and lazy is how the final product will appear to be. Happy music making!

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Do you feel that your career in Voice Over Recording will benefit from having the right equipment? You might benefit from having your own recording studio at home so that you can do your work at your own schedule and without depending on anyone else. You need to be able to select your Voice Over (VO) equipment well so that you can get the best work out of it.

Having your own equipment in your home studio will help you do the best possible work for background voice narration. You will need this for diverse purposes such as multimedia presentations and e-learning courses.

The equipment you purchase for Voice Over Recording should be the very best. It is important to use the latest digital technology in order to create output of the best quality. To begin with, the microphones you use should be excellent. Having the best input devices will ensure that the output is correspondingly good. You can select the best microphone by trying out the different ones available and asking another person to decide which one makes you sound the best. Assuming that all microphone will work equally well is a major mistake.

The studio in which you plan to do any recording should be completely soundproof. Many home studios do not have this facility and the results are then very clear to see. The money you spend on your recording equipment will be wasted if you do not have a sound proofed recording room because there are chances that unwanted sounds will feature on your sound track. Besides, there are some microphones that are more sensitive than others and you have to be particularly careful while using them because they will pick up every extra sound. If you cannot afford to buy a soundproof booth, you could just do your recording in the quietest room of your house. It is also possible to get soundproofing material at a reasonably low rate.

You also need the right software as well as audio processing hardware in order to make the necessary changes to your recordings. The correct software will help you create and edit a variety of audio files very easily. For instance, you probably need help to create stereo and multi-channel audio files and the software will make this a possibility. Most audio software works with any Windows operating system and can be used to improve the quality of output. Some software is obviously better than the others, so you have to read up on the various options available before you select any one. There are plenty of sites on the internet where you can check on the options available to you.

The correct equipment will help you do Voice Over Recording very easily and with great expertise. You will be able to build a good reputation on the basis of high quality work that you do. Make sure that you buy equipment that suits your budget since there are many options for you to make your choice from.

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Owning your recording studio at your home is an added advantage when you are a composer. But it is a challenge for getting the right kind of unit to sustain for a longer period of time and save money in the long run. Getting yourself an outdated system can not be worthwhile and reasonable. You cannot work for long with such system. This can cause you to spend more again and again. You should know what you want and get the compatible devices. Here you can find some of the basic tips on buying music gear that can guide you to assure the best results and save you from unnecessary expenditure.

First of all you need to decide what kind of studio you want. There is a pro studio ideal for recording full bands. This kind of studio can deliver CD master recordings. The other is a project studio, which generally supports recording electronic synths, samplers and maybe a few live players when needed. The quality level meets TV and film standards.

Another form of studio is the home MIDI electronica mainly software studio with at least one or two mics. It could also be a demo or a song writing studio with mics or even just a little hobby studio, or just want to make music studio. All the above mentioned options can be accomplished but there are certain things you also need to look into really carefully before buying music gear.

Avoid buying the same feature over and over again on different pieces of music gear. You may only end up otherwise having a number of preamps, samplers and recorders that you cannot use and they are just an additional expenditure.

Do not buy Cubase and Sonar and try to get them to work together. Or get Sound Forge and Sonar, as these applications will not work at all on a Mac. Therefore, it is advisable to be well versed with the music gear before purchasing them.

The recorder you choose be it a multi track, computer sequencer, or MPC 4000 and MV8800 are the most far reaching decision you can make. But, you have to consider that choice carefully. It is advisable to learn one form and master it, and then you can resort considering buying them.

There are stores that offer 30 days return policy on music gear. This can also be a great idea that makes it real easy for you. Get it for trial and when you find it is perfect for you then only you can opt to buy.

Many people face a lot of difficulties with the software they buy because they do not understand or misread the recommended requirements to run the software. Never buy software if you cannot meet the stated requirements.

When buying a music gear try to stick to the companies that are supremely focused on your computer platform, your operating system and in some cases your motherboard and your CPU. Some soundcard drivers may refuse to work well with some chipsets on some motherboards.

Do a thorough research before buying music gear. Ask questions from your dealer or you will end up spending extra for your digital mixer. Therefore, the price of a piece of gear, which is at a lower price, may mean spending another extra dollars to make it work.

Always buy the latest music gear to avoid future expenditure. Buy the cheaper or a secondary music gear now, and then it will be outdated in some years and you will have to buy the new one and this will cause unnecessary expenditure. It is best to wait a year or two after the release and then buy the finished, mature, stable products. Features may look good on paper but may not sound good in music. If you buy cheap music gear you may just end up buying again.

Besides the above mentioned tips of buying music gear, there are other variables you need to look into, like the cost of service, the upgrades, software and many more. Above all, the bottom line is the sound that should be your prime concern. Focus on the sound coming out of the speakers. Great sound never goes out of style.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

I have been asked this question numerous times: "What kind of gear do I need for my home studio?" So, I've decided to take some time and write a small article about what I think would be some great setups for a "start up" home studio.

First of all, understand that in the Audio world, most people are always confused from the start between what type of computer they should run their systems on, and what will work on their operating system, and what wont. You need to understand that it is important from the start to choose the system that works the best for you. It's really just a matter of preference. Some people will swear to you that PC is the way to go, and others are die hard Mac geeks. It's all a matter of preference.

Personally, I run my studio off of a Mac. But everything that I will discuss in this article will work for both Mac and PC.

With that said... You need to start your quest of building a home studio off at the heart of the project... that would be YOUR COMPUTER! The better your computer, the better your studio will run. The same way your heart works. The stronger your heart is, the faster and longer you can run.

The most important thing when looking to purchase a computer for a studio would be your processor speed, and your RAM. The higher these numbers, the better. Now you may be wondering... "What are some numbers? Can you give me some examples?" - The best answer I can give you is - THE LARGER THIS NUMBER - THE BETTER YOUR STUDIO WILL RUN. Processor speed, and RAM. Don't settle for less, get the highest you can possibly afford.

Hard drive space doesn't matter one bit. Which brings me to the next item on our grocery list of studio equipment. An External Hard Drive! I can't stress this point enough. Whatever DAW (digital audio workstation) you decide to run on your computer's hard drive, should be completely separated from where the AUDIO files will be saved. This will increase performance, durability, and most importantly - SAFETY! If your computer crashes, you don't have to worry about losing your session. Computers can be replaced, but that amazing Jimi Hendrix style solo you just recorded on your guitar CAN'T!

As far as types of external hard drives go... I would recommend Glyph. All my external drives are Glyph, and I've never run into a single problem. They can be connected via FIREWIRE cable rather than USB... which means better performance.

CHOOSING YOUR DAW

Next on the list... Choosing your DAW. I have always been a strong supporter of Digidesign's Pro Tools. I think it's the greatest bang for it's buck, the most professional, flexible, and up to date software there is. If you are going to purchase your first studio, why waste your time learning some software that will only limit you in the future... Use the best, and learn from the best. Pro Tools gets my vote.

Note: Illegal downloads of Pro Tools won't work! Pro Tools makes it mandatory to purchase HARDWARE along with the software. You will have to buy an audio interface in order to get it to work. Lucky for you, DigiDesign has some affordable solutions. (and when you buy them, they COME with the Pro Tools software)

You will find that there are 3 different types of Pro Tools. As a start up studio, you will need to just focus on two of them. Pro Tools M Powered, and Pro Tools LE. With the growing technology today, the difference between M Powered and LE hardly even exist. So the software is the same.

Here is a list of some audio interfaces: (You will have to choose one, do some research on each, and pick the one that will best fit what you need)

The Mbox Series

The 003 Family

Do some research between all those products, and decide which one you need.

SPEAKERS

Some great studio monitors are important in the chain. You need to make sure what you are listening to sounds good and clean so that you can get an accurate mix. I personally use M Audio's Studiophile series. They are powered, so you don't need to buy a separate amplifier for your speakers.

MICROPHONE

A great microphone is the most important part of the recording chain, but it really depends on what sort of music you are recording. A vocal microphone isn't usually the best solution to record an acoustic guitar, or vice versa. So you need to decide what you will be recording, then choose the right microphone. (NOTE: You can feel free to ask me any questions about microphones.)

MICROPHONE PREAMP

Even though the Mbox Family and the 003 comes with pre-amps already built into the system (just plug and play)... I would recommend on investing into a good preamp once you have some money put aside. I use Focusrite's octopre. The better quality your preamp, the better and more accurate sound you will get from your recordings. The preamps in the Digi products just aren't flexible enough for me.

THE REST

Don't forget headphones (Sennheiser's are one of my favorites.)

(If you plan on using more than one headphone at a time, you will need to invest in a headphone amp)

Don't forget to buy plenty of cables. (Monster is the way to go)

Everything else really depends on what you plan on doing. Are you a vocalist? (you will need some cool vocal plugins and reverbs) Are you a guitarist? A producer? (Midi keyboard controller)

So I've given you the basics... now what you need to do is take a good look at what YOU plan on building, what style of music you will be playing, and decide on more accurate details.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

HOME RECORDING STUDIO SOFTWARE:

What's an Encoder?

When you want to put video up on a web page, the video must be in a particular format. The procedure of getting the video in that format is called encoding. This article will examine the major video formats and encoders that are used to make those formats. The article will also look at live video encoding. Finally, we'll look at a couple of free services on the web that will do encoding both on-demand and live.

Flash Video

On of the more popular formats on the web today is Flash video. The file extension of .FLV is associated with Flash video. Most cameras, camcorders, and video editing suites don't output .FLV files natively. When making a choice to use an encoding software package consider what you get for the price. Adobe includes the Flash Video Encoder with CS3/CS4, it's essentially free. It does a good job, but you are limited with options when using that encoder. Consider some other commercial software encoders. Look at Sorenson Squeeze, On2Flix Pro, and for the real professional, try Rhozet Carbon Coder). All of these packages offer greater flexibility and control of your media. The above mentioned packages also support outputting many other formats like AVI, MOV, WMV, and others. There are also countless shareware, independent, and free services available to encode video. These products will be fine for low resolution, low bit rate videos, but will have many limitations. For commercial web sites, I wouldn't recommend using any of these simple products.

If you're looking for an easy to use encoding solution, that won't break the bank, try "Encoding Dot Com" I've spoken to the CTO of this company. He tells me this service uses different backend technologies to handle different types of encoding jobs. So depending on formats, you will have access to high end encoding technology. The service is easy to use. You can either upload your video to them, or they can come to you to get it. Either way, you get a quality product without having to shell out a lot of upfront capital.

H.264

H.264 is a codec, not exactly a format. It's basically MPEG-4. So you will find many different formats that have H.264 encoded. You will find H.264 wrapped around .MOV, F4V, and even MP4 files. H.264 is a compression method which usually yields higher quality video at lower bit rates. Most people today are associating H.264 with HD video. This is for good reason since I can get better looking video in a smaller file. H.264 does have it's disadvantages; it requires more computing power for encoding and de-coding and may not be as compatible as other formats. I wouldn't let that stop you from experimenting with it however.

Windows Media Video

WMV has been around awhile. Some argue it's a superior format over Flash. About a year or so ago, I would have agreed. WMV was more stable and could give you great picture quality. Microsoft supports the VC-1 Codec in WMV. VC-1 was the codec used in the HD-DVD format, thus you can expect great things out of WMV with VC-1 encoding. The biggest disadvantage of WMV over Flash is compatibility. You will be hard pressed to find a MAC or Linux box out of the gate which supports WMV video. Also, Flash allows you to make custom players to present your video in and WMV uses the Windows Media Player.

To combat these shortfalls, Microsoft has developed Silverlight. Silverlight is a platform independent product that allows you to create custom player applications. It also runs on MAC and Linux and will support playing of WMV files on those OS's. See http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight , Microsoft may soon support H.264 encoded video in a Silverlight environment.

MS-Expressions Encoder

Just for your piece of mind, the 2008 Olympics were delivered in Silverlight. See www.nbcolympics.com Many will agree that the 2008 Games went off without a hitch. You can see that even though Silverlight is a newer format, it is road tested by over 70Million streams!

Hardware Encoding

Software is good, hardware is GREAT! When you want the best possible encoding with the least amount of hassles, consider a hardware encoding device. These devices are critical when you are talking about live encoding.

See these companies:
Vbrick, Digital Rapids, Newtek, Viewcast, Ripcode

These all compete in about the same space. You should compare features and prices. I can tell you that Digital Rapids is very prominent in the space. They supply encoding hardware for some of largest names in media and have powered some of the biggest online events ever. The RipCode device is unique since it will do On-the-fly encoding. So your video can change bit-rates, deminsions, or formats as needed. You would only need to have 1 master file and let the RipCode device change it for you as needed.

Live Encoding

Digital Rapids Touch Stream Appliance

If you plan to deliver Live video to more than a few viewers at a time you need to consider using a CDN. Think about your Internet connection in your office or studio. If you have have a 3Mbps up stream and you encode at about 500Kbps, then you will only really be able to support about 6 simultaneous viewers. Not exactly record breaking! Most CDNs that support live streaming can support hundreds to thousands of simultaneous viewers. The 2009 Inauguration of President Obamma drew about 6-9Million viewers online. The networks broadcasting those streams used a CDN.

For Flash Live Encoding you can use the Flash Live Encoder from Adobe and a high end computer. This product is OK for most consumer applications. You are really limited to the horsepower of your computer. There is no Mac version available so you must be on a Windows machine. A better option for Flash Live Encoding is the On2Flix Live encoding software or the Sorenson Squeeze Live product. Both of these will offer higher quality video and more flexibility. You are still at the mercy of your computer. So I suggest you get the biggest, baddest computer you can when using a software live encoder. Throw as much CPU, RAM, and Video Memory at it as possible. Use a SATA or Firewire harddrive which runs at least at 7200RMP.

You also need to consider how you connect your camera source to the computer. Don't use a simple off the shelf Web Camera or an analog to USB device. These are OK for home movies, but for professional videos you should look at a Prosumer HD Video Camera or a high end encoding capture card like the Viewcast cards.

Ripcode Encoder
For a hardware live encoding solution, look at the Digital Rapids, Vbrick, or Newtek products. Digital Rapids has a cool new product called the TouchStream Appliance. It's a portable standalone hardware encoder perfect for field productions

Free Encoding
There are several services out there that will convert videos for free. Do a Google search for "Free Encoding" or "convert to FLV" or "convert to WMV". You can also download the Microsoft Video encoder and convert to WMV yourself. Most video editing packages will export to WMV, MOV, and MPG formats.

Free Live Encoding

To encode live there are only a few options for free.

• Flash Media Live Encoder
• Windows Media Encoder
• For Silverlight Encoding, try the replacement to the Windows Media Encoder is Expression

Try it yourself

If you'd like to put on a live webcast, try these free services. They allow you to create your own channel, store and play on demand and live video. They're really cool!

• Mogulus
• U-Stream

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?