Image taken on 2007-04-01 17:07:03 by Mark Sardella.
Understanding Home Producing
Producing Music can be extremely fun and an exciting activity. There is nothing like being able to express yourself and put down your musical ideas and turning them into an album which you can call your own. Unfortunately there is one major problem which is the learning curve that comes with being able to produce your music at you own home. This tends to be a tedious task because most musicians would rather be putting in their time and energy making music instead of all the time it normally takes to go through the learning curve.
This is why we developed ProduceMusicToday to help you get a handle on the basics of producing music and show you what is involved in the process so we can eliminate the learning curve for the most part. In the program students will discover all the basic foundation of a home recording studio and get some ideas about getting the right gear at the right price. Students will then explore the multi-tracking process and learn the nitty-gritty that is involved in mixing the tracks that you put together. Then we will move on to explore mastering (which is a big task all in its self) and show the most effective ways of getting the music you create out to your listeners.
The Principles Of A Music Producing Studio
One thing that people misunderstand is that whether you have a high end multi-million dollar studio or a little studio in your spare bedroom, all producing studios contain the same basic components. This is one of the major areas that many people get lost and which typically our students ask the most questions. When looking at setting up a producing studio people tend to think this is going to cost an arm and a leg. Along with this the next thought comes that there is to much involved and is going to be way to complicated. The truth is that it can be as expensive as one could afford, but when know the right gear/places it can be very cost efficient. With all the information and new technology out there you can begin actually very cheap. Yes this is true and is being kept from you from the music industry. ProduceMusicToday is what I created because I was in the same situation that you were in. It offers everything that you need to know for producing music, recording music, getting the right gear, mixing, mastering, and (what was most important to me) making money while doing it. After learning these process now you are a music producer.
Becoming A Music Producer
In todays world music producers are responsible for all stages of production, they normally have quite a bit of music and performance experience or their own. When producing music they need to be able to properly explain their ideas to the artist or musicians that they are working with. It is also their responsibility to know what works and what doesn’t, so having live performance experience is indispensable.
Today everyone says their a music producer. Everyone says that they can produce music. Everyone thinks that they can compete with or are better than the competition. There many factors involved in the equation of being successful at recording and producing music. This is why so many fail to make it no matter what their skill level is around. This is why I felt like I had to learn the ins and outs of producing music. It took me years of trail and error, trying over and over again before I learned how to build a solid foundation. At ProduceMusicToday I show my students step-by-step how to build that foundation (while doing it affordable), mix, master,record, and make money online to pay for their equipment. ProduceMusicToday
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Image taken on 2008-05-09 14:23:47 by masaaki miyara.
Your parents may never forgive you for your career choice but being a Disc Jockey is a great way to make a living. If you have a passion for music and can build a great rapport with the crowd DJ’ing might just be your calling. Think about all the advantages you will be enjoying if you choose to take it up as a regular job.
Advantage No. 1: You will still be able to maintain and manage a Full-time job. Most DJ’s play at night, since the hottest spot for action, the clubs are busier during nighttime. As a result you can work wherever you like during the day and then finally head off to the club at end the day on a musical note.
Advantage No. 2: The job pays handsomely, and for almost no effort on your part. If you are a music enthusiast playing good tracks and making them sound better should be a cakewalk for you.
Advantage No. 3: Total freedom in your work zone and an equal amount of space to help spread your creative wings. DJ’ing ensures a quick and easy flow of money. Gigs are popular and thus most DJ’s make money hand on fist. With the cash flow taken care of you can easily try out new things to suit your own creative taste.
Advantage No. 4: Whether you are playing at a club or at a wedding you will be getting oodles of those complimentary drinks and food items constantly, so party on Bro.
If DJ’ing sounds like your cup of tea here are a few pointers. Begin by broadening your musical horizon. As a DJ you will be expected to play a lot of music, many of which may not suit your personal taste. To equip yourself for this challenge get your hand on all the music you possibly can.
As you probably know not all music works on the dance floor. Decide what is to be your forte, is it Trance that you specialize in? Or is it Hip-Hop? Are you eager to experiment with funk? Or rap?
For anyone looking to be a DJ, good music recording software is a must. A number of top DJ’s also have his or her own recording studios but this is obviously not an option for everybody. If you do have access to a recording studio however, do make good use of it.
Now, the rest of your requirements will depend on whether you are looking to be placed in a disco or a club or whether you choose to be mobile. Mobile DJs play for various events such as high school reunions, parties, socials, proms, weddings, private parties etc. They usually carry their sound recordings in some preferred medium, such as MP3, midi file etc. on compact discs or vinyl records or in MP3 compatible devices such as an iPod. To playback the recorded music mobile DJ’s require at least 2 playback devices so as to ensure continuous playback.
On the other hand if you are a permanent DJ at a club or a disco you will have your own console with a turntable, and will thus not have to carry your own playback devices.
So what are you waiting for, if music be the food of love go ahead and play on. And this time watch the crowd sway to your tune!
Shooting and beat making.
One of the main contributing factors to a movie’s success is its soundtrack. Music is an essential element in most plays and dramas. Shakespeare made efficient use of music in his famous plays. Movie makers realize that a lot of the movie’s business at the box office depends upon the music recording. There are many ways to incorporate songs in a movie. Musicals are one genre which is exclusively based on songs and lyrics. However, even if it is an action movie, filmmakers find ways to include some soundtracks into it.
In fact, Bollywood films are renowned for the excessive song and dance sequences they have. Hollywood movies too use orchestral or synthesizer score or even a new hit song to add to the interest element. Sometimes a movie’s popularity is increased by its musical score. Celine Dion’s “My heart will go on” for Titanic stayed on in public memory long after the movie left the cinema halls. The soundtrack of Love Story is one of the most enduring ever, and who doesn’t download music from Sound of Music and Mary Poppins. Many a times, blockbusters become classics because of their excellent scores. Hence, composers and song writers are in great demand in Hollywood.
There are different types of motion picture music. One is the underscore category like the score for Steven Spielberg’s E. T. Another is the category of original recording like “Hungry Heart” for the movie Perfect Storm. Finally there is the song that is written especially for a movie like “Over the rainbow” for the hugely popular Wizard of Oz. Each of these types is used frequently in movies and requires different recordings, contracts and royalties.
Songs are used in movies to show all kinds of emotions. A romantic setting is enhanced by an appropriate love song. Similarly music has been used to make people laugh and cry. In fact the story itself can be narrated through cleverly inserted songs. Moreover, with a great background score, emotions and dialogs acquire more significance. If a producer wants to use an existing soundtrack for his movie, he can do so by negotiating with the music producer. Often, a pre-existing, hit song can help create the mood required in the movie. The soundtracks of many movies come out and go on to become huge hits in their own right. These days with digital music recording, adding new songs to movies is becoming easier.
My Fair Lady was a complete musical whose main claim to fame was the witty use of lyrics to show every mood. Similarly, Chicago and Moulin Rouge used songs and extravagant dances to create the required atmosphere. Even if the movie does not use songs every other minute, it will show action with a background score playing regularly. Who can forget the scenes of Psycho with the spine tingling music in the background? The audio mastering was such here that the score heightens the audience’s fear and any time one hears the music he quickly associates it with Psycho. Such is the power of appropriate music in cinema!
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Do you want to create your own computer based home music recording studio? If so then you’ll need a quality program for recording and mixing music. You will be using one of the following seven programs a lot so you will definitely want to make a wise decision and choose the software that best fits your computer, your audio interface, and your needs.
First of all I want to focus on those with Mac computers (and yes whether you have a Mac or a PC will play a huge part in your decision of which music recording software to buy. )
If you own a Mac and do not yet have an audio interface then a Digidesign Pro Tools set up is probably what you’ll opt for. You can get an audio interface of varying sizes (from as few as 2 inputs to many more) and prices. If you plan on just recording yourself then you’ll probably want to get a one of the fewer input systems (an MBox. ) If you plan on recording a full band then of course you’ll want to get a high input (and higher price) option.
For the full-on “professional” version of ProTools you’ll spend about $15,000. If that’s in your price range and a truly professional studio is what you are interested in building, then this may be the right choice for you but it’s really not necessary for most. You can get a great sound without that big setup.
If you own an MOTU audio interface already then you may want to get MOTU’s Digital Performer which is Mac only software and of course works very well with their audio interfaces. You’ll likely have a very stable system if you choose this option.
If you do not yet own an audio interface you may wish to consider buying an MOTU audio interface and Digital Performer (they do not come together like with Pro Tools, you’ll have to buy Digital Performer separately. ) This is alternative to buying the limited version of Pro Tools that comes with their cheaper audio interfaces.
Another option for Mac users is Apple’s Logic. It’s designed to work with Mac computers and is a very strong program for working with audio as well as for working with MIDI. You will need to either already have an audio interface or buy one to work with it.
How about for PC users? Well first of all, Digital Performer and Logic are off the table as they are Mac only programs. But what about Pro Tools? It does work with PCs but it does not yet work with Windows Vista. Also it generally works better with Macs. If you’re on a PC I’d recommend going in a different direction.
Just as with the Mac there are a couple of music production programs that are PC only. These include Cakewalk’s SONAR which is a great choice if you are into working with MIDI (it also does great with audio as well) and Sony’s Acid. Acid is for creating loop based music such as Rap/Hip-Hop and techno. It’s not really suited to other styles of music so you should only consider it if you are into creating loop based music.
There are also programs which work great on PC & Mac: Steinberg’s Nuendo and Cubase. Nuendo is Steinberg’s high end system and it currently costs $1800 in stores. It’s great for those who want to work with surround sound and those who work on music with video (it has a video component. ) It’s a very high quality piece of software but you should make note that it isn’t particularly suited for working with MIDI, if you are big MIDI lover then you should probably get Cubase instead. Cubase is actually about three times less expensive than Nuendo, so that’s good news for you!
I believe each of these seven programs are available for free in demo form so that you can try them out without buying them. This is probably a good idea because each program has it’s own peculiar quirks and you’ll want to choose the program that “fits” you.
But please be aware that it’s normal for there to be a bit of a learning curve with software such as this. So don’t give up right away. You may even want to read the manual!