Useful System Setups
The basic home studio should be what ever gets you to write music so that it is a permanent record. If that is paper, then this course is not for you. You can make do with a drum machine and a cassette recorder, but you need to become a bit of a gear head to do it well and efficiently. If the goal is to make demos to showcase and get something published, then go a little crazy and have fun with the equipment. A good computer is a good place to start. You can organize your whole life with one, but for music it is the basis of so much of what we have been talking about.
Next, figure out how your going to record your sound? Is that going to be straight analog with microphones, mixer, and tape deck. Do you want to get the analog signals into the computer? Are you strictly MIDI music oriented and don't need analog equipment? Are you going with outboard sound processing or onboard processing for ambience, reverb, and special effects? There is a box out there on the market for each of these concerns.
List out the chunks of a studio that apply, such as the PA system, the room environment to record live sounds, the gear needed and how to house it, the computer - make it a quiet one, the software, and the final product - tape, CD, or lead sheet or score.
Now set up a budget. What can I buy now and what will have to wait. Get a priority list going. Start with the computer and software to do sequencing and/or notation. Get a good MIDI keyboard, one that you love the sound of and will be the basic input to the sequencing software you choose. Go see equipment demos and visit other MIDI based musicians. Get into it deep. This will help minimize starting over or replacing disappointing equipment.
Get a drum machine or rack mount drum tone generator. Rhythm is basic to all modern music and too hard to duplicate, if you are trying to focus on song writing. It saves tons of time getting going. Many of the "grande" type synthesizers will have a lot of drum patches built in.
Get a good PA system or near field speaker system that sounds good to your ears. I started out with a set of old Bose 901 speakers turned backwards (Well, they are already backwards, I mean the group of little speakers pointing at you) mounted about four feet away on corner triangular shelves. I loved the feel of bass notes blowing my hair back in 4/4 time. They can really move a lot of air. They eventually fell apart, because of the light foam suspension system in the speakers out gassing and turning to dust, not the excursion I put the cones through. I never had a set of small studio speakers that sounded as good since. A 32 Hz organ pedal tone, that makes your teeth chatter, was easy for those guys. Now days, I don't hear so well anyway. Basic near fields with built in amps are great.
Major Recording Studios
Check the local scene in your area for the professional studios. If you can get a tour, do that. It is inspiring. If you have the money, you can always use their services to do your work or mix and match. Do the easy stuff at home, and leave the complex recording tricks to the professions, such as vocals, studios musicians, or live drummers or maybe Howitzer shots, if that's the effect your going for. You will need to coordinate equipment, if you record at home and expect the studio to use your stuff. Keep in mind, with some experience with home recording an a fat budget, you can do almost anything the studios can except records an live orchestra. The cost of the mics alone will kill you and who has 10,000 square feet to record them in?
Reference Material
There are a myriad of magazines that are fun to read, but most are just there to get you to look at the ads. If you want to get serious, read the "Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Manual". It tells it like it really is and is sold everywhere. Each manufacturer of equipment realizes their stuff is difficult to master. Go to demos, seminars, and local SIGS (special interest group meetings). If your a Mac computer freak, or not, they have great SIGS on multi-media and MIDI set ups. they are also great with video making clubs and user groups. Be careful or you will go G5 and never come back.
Practical Approach
If your a song writer or composer, you will probably want to have written scores and lead sheets. Get a notation program. I suggest "Finale". It is not easy to learn, but it will become the basis of your paper products. You'll learn it as you go. You can't argue with its output. It is beautiful. It can do special fonts like guitar chord diagrams, figuring charts for Medieval oboes - what ever you can imagine. It can print out tabular guitar format and can pump out transposed parts for horns, etc.
Get a full blown sequencer program. The "come-on" software is not going to satisfy you. Once again, the learning curve is high, but well within the average persons abilities. Once you start putting these things together, it is like a video game. It's fun.
Composers are self contained. They don't need much more than a piano and paper. Song writers and Rock 'n Roll musicians are like chopper bike builders, you can't get enough of anything. Get a band. It doesn't need to be Aerosmith, but start a group or join any group from church bands to civic bands, but keep busy doing music. Learn different instruments. All of the ones you come into contact with. Your brain will not break, and your inspiration to write will expand. The joy of music will be enhanced and you will last a lot longer at this craft.
Most of all - spend a lot of money, feel guilty, and then make it all worthwhile by generating music, preferably recorded on a CD, that makes people say, "That's killer. I love that stuff. Give me five copies." You will never regret it. Oh yeh, have fun.
© 2003 John Wolf - Wolf Tracks Music