A while back I created a video tutorial explaining, in full detail, how to rewire Reason in Cubase. If your not familiar with those two programs, they are both used for audio recording and creation.

Just recently, that video was featured on Winksound.com in their “Must Watch” series. Winksound.com is a community site where members upload videos and recommend YouTube videos for other users of the community.

Here is the episode featuring my tutorial, I use JanJmusic as a username on Youtube.

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You may have already heard about the new site where you can create and upload your own music and collaborate on it with others. The site is called indabamusic.com beta and I have been using it for over a month now.

Indabamusic.com has a lot of potential for musicians that want to collaborate with other musicians on the web. I have started two sessions myself and have found some really great musicians that have been lots of fun to work with.

How Indabamusic.com works

Bear in mind, at the time of this writing this article, Indabamusic.com is still in beta testing and has some small issues. Fortunately none of these issues hinder the ability to collaborate with others around the world.

When you sign up for your account at Indaba Music, you get a profile and a session page. Session pages are the heart of the site. What I did with the most recent track that I uploaded was; create a bass beat, a drum track, and a light synth (keyboard) part. Then another musician collaborated and added a guitar track as well as more drums and more syths, all within the session console.

What we ended up with, after just one days work, was a vocal ready track that sounds really awesome and could not have been created any other way. Now that is cool.

Will online music collaboration last?

I think it will! Using indabamusic.com has been a lot of fun over the last month and if I wasn’t working on a new live set with my local band mates, I would certainly have more sessions going on over there right now.

If your a musician and like to create music, then you might enjoy collaborating with others at indabamusic.com

What do you think of indabamusic.com and online music collaboration?

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Propellerhead’s Reason software is a very powerful digital music creation software. You can create drum tracks, synth tracks, guitar tracks, bass tracks, and anything else that can be synthesized.

Reason is so powerful that it can sometimes be quite difficult to learn at first. One thing that I found to be difficult at first was to create bass beats and bass tracks, but once I learned a few “tricks”, I was able to create great bass lines without all the guessing.

Create bass beats with the Thor Polysonic Sythesizer

I recommend using Reason’s Thor Polysonic Synthesizer over Reason’s SubTracktor Polyphonic Synth, mainly because of the preloaded sounds that come loaded with Reason itself. The Preloaded sounds with Thor, I feel, are more interesting and diverse then the sounds that come with SubTracktor.

There are 4 main ways, that I have found, to adjust the deepness and length of the bass sounds in Reason, but before we dive into those 4 “tricks”, you will need to set up a Matrix sequencer and a Thor synthesizer. Here are the steps if needed.

1. Open Reason and first create a new Thor synthesizer. Then create a Matrix Pattern Sequencer
2. Next on the Thor synthesizer, click “show programmer” and select “browse patch”



3. Under Thor Patches, browse to the bass folder and select any patch you would like. Simple.thor and Round Bass.thor are two that I use often.

Experiment, experiment, experiment!

Wow, that was a lot to take in! Don’t worry if some of this tutorial didn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially if you are new too reason and soft synths in general, just experiment with these 4 options and you should be able to learn along the way.

Also, this tutorial applies to all of the synthesizers that come with Reason, so don’t feel like you have to use the Thor Synthesizer, the others will react exactly the same way to these techniques. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below and I will do my best to see if I can help.

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In the past, setting up a home studio to record music was a complex and expensive process. Now, with new computerware and audioware being released all of the time, the competition has broadened and resulted in a wide selection of options and prices.

This article with focus on the necessities that you will need to record music at home and I will attempt to keep it as simple and straightforward as possible, so you will be able to make the most informed decision on the hardware you will need for your studio.

What kind of hardware will I need?

1. A PC or Mac
2. USB or Firewire Audio Recording Interface
3. Microphone
4. Headphones or Monitors

It is a common misconception that you will need a very fast PC or Mac to record your tracks on, this is only true if you recording a large amount of tracks at one time. Most interfaces have 2-8 pre-amps (a price range of $100 to $1500) and will only require a modest computer.

Recommended PCMac Specs

1. 1.6G or faster processor
2. 1 gigabyte of ram (2 is highly recommended)
3. 50+ gigabytes of free hard drive space (the more the better)
4. Open USB or Firewire port (determined by your audio interface)

Next you will need a Audio Recording Interface to bring your music from your microphone or instrument to your computer. The real benefit of using a Audio Recording pre-amp over a traditional sound card for a PC or Mac is the increased output of your microphone or instrument. By boosting their input, you will yield much higher quality results.

Now normally I would recommend a Firewire Audio Interface, but after doing the budget check on prices, I just can’t recommend the higher priced Firewire interfaces over their USB cousins. Firewire may have a general reputation for being slightly more reliable and faster then USB, but will cost at least $100 more then a comparable USB unit.

Now when it comes to microphones, many believe that you need a $500 microphone to sound decent. I frankly do not have a lot of experience working with high-end microphones, but I do have a lot experience using really cheap microphones.

I say, if your on a budget go ahead and buy a cheap microphone. A budget microphone will only cost you between $50 – $100, but hey, if it works, it works. I find writing about microphones to be a bit mundane, so I am going to move on for now.

Should I use Headphones or Monitors?

Now I find headphones and monitors to be a much more exciting topic. When first starting out, there is no shame in using a quality pair of headphones to monitor your tracks. I do however, highly recommend moving to Monitors later on though.

Headphones will run between, $100 and $150 dollars, while monitors will run between, $300 and $400 dollars. Quite the price difference indeed. Like I said, headphones will work just fine. I use mine almost as much as I use my monitors.

If you are interested in monitors you will want to read about The Best Cheap Home Studio Monitors for the money. So there you go, that covers the basics of what you need to get started with your own recording studio. If you already have a computer, you can be recording and listening to your music in high quality for less then $300 dollars.

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Propellerhead’s Reason software is a virtual studio rack that comes equipped with a drum machine, 3 synthesizers, a few sampling machines and a whole lot of effects. Basically it’s awesome. The one drawback to Reason though is it’s lack of ability to record non-synthesized audio into it. A example would be I can’t plug my guitar in to my recoding pre-amp and record directly into Reason. Thankfully this is where Reasons Rewire technology comes in.

With Rewire you can “connect” you multi-tracking program(such as Cubase or Adobe Audition) with Reason. This way you can take full advantage of Reason, but still add non-synthesized music as well with out having to do a bunch of exporting and slicing.

I mainly use Cubase SX at the moment and can still remember back when I had no Idea how to use Rewire what-so-ever. I especially remember how difficult it was to find out how exactly to Rewire Cubase with Reason so I decided to make a video tutorial for all of you. This way you wouldn’t have to go through all the pain I did. I plan on releasing many more tutorials like this so if you have any questions or suggestions drop me a line and I’ll see what I can come up with to help you out.

Technorati Tags: reason, rewire, cubase, sx, video tutorial, tutorial, multi-tracking, synthesized, adobe audition

Using the word steps might be pushing it a bit. I would actually like to think of these as more of guidelines or tips to writing a good song. There is no right or wrong when it comes to songwriting so you can’t fail either way.

First find a mood - Try and imagine the mood you are trying to set. This will have a effect on tempo, instrument choice, and many other factors so it doesn’t hurt to have a vision to start off with.
Determine a basic structure – Example: intro-verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus-outro. You don’t have to go by that at all it’s just a basic structure to start with. Mix it up and blur the lines.
Insert Drums- Use your multi tracking program and either record a drum track or make a digital drum track that fits your basic structure. Some examples of multi tracking programs would be Cubase, Protools, or Adobe Audition. The drums don’t have to be complete at this point, we’ll add to them later.
Insert lead instrument - Guitar, bass, piano, saxophone, tuba, whatever you want. This will carry the mood and add the most excitement to your song.
Insert instrument 2 - This would be more typically a bass, bass synth, or a simple piano. This second instrument adds more color to the song.
Redo the drums – Go back and either re-record or add too your drum track now. This will make it a lot tighter with you instruments you just added.
Add a dronesynth part – This is a optional step as not all forms of music are going to want a drone or synth part to be added. I feel it can be a nice addition to any song though.
Insert vocals - Write and record a vocal track. If this sounds challenging read some books and read around online for tips on how to record a great vocal track.
Digital Patchwork – If it’s necessary, use a multitrack program such as Cubase to E.Q. your tracks and add any extra effects you had in mind. Once you have all of your tracks recorded and ready to go you can do a “mixdown” of those tracks which will basically combine them all into one track.

And your done! Sell it, burn it, or put it on Myspace. It’s all up to you. Let me know if you have any questions on this article by posting a comment below.

Click here for my article on how to build your own home studio.

Technorati Tags: cubase, write vocals, guitar, bass, writing, songs

So you got a band and you got some tunes huh? Well now what? Before you think about trying to get a record deal, you should consider managing your own distribution online. The online sales of music over the last few years has skyrocketed to levels unperceived before.

According to the statistics, 48% of US teens did not buy a single CD in 2007. More people are downloading their music through various mediums, including sources such as ITunes. That is just one example of how music sales in general are changing form and a indication that online sales are on the rise.

I am going to cover some do-it-yourself methods for selling music online and some 3rd party options as well to help you get a better idea of what you can do with your music online.

3rd Party Sales

There are a more then a few websites online right now that allow you to upload individual songs or an upload entire CD to be distributed through there site. The key, I would say, is to go for a lot of them.

Most people that shop online, about 90% of them, are looking for exactly what they want. The other 10, roughly, is looking for just something in general to buy. That means exposure is key for a unknown artist because thats the only way to dig into that other 90% of online shoppers. Here are a few good sites that I recommend.

Do-It-Yourself Store

Now if you know how to create your own webpage, you can sell your music directly from your own site with just a bank account and PayPal. You don’t need to buy a domain name or pay for a hosting account either, although I do recommend it for a whole host of reasons, but we won’t get into for now.

With that aside, you can get a free hosting account and page from many websites online right now. I recommend X10Hosting.com for there ease of use and great features but there are many more on the web to check out as well. Once you have your free hosting account and your page built, all you need is a PayPal account. Its easy to set up as long as you have a bank account. Paypal has a really great option under Merchant Services where you can make payment buttons right on there site.

After you make your button just insert the code into you order page and you are all good to go. Now anybody with a major credit card can buy your music online and they don’t even need a account with PayPal. If this sounds a little over the top for you I recommend going back to the third party options for a solution. More info on Paypal can be found here.

Conclusion

Well that should cover the basics on what you can do with your music in terms of online sales (for now). Remember, there is no get-rich-quick scheme to selling music online so make sure you have some quality content to distribute before jumping into the deep end of the pool. So if you got some tunes throw them out there. It can’t hurt and you might just be surprised by the results.

What are your methods and ideas about selling music online? Leave a comment below on what your experiences have been.

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Well for today, I thought I might just tackle the ever evolving question of what is a home studio now? No matter what whether a studio is 6000sq feet or 250sq feet it still has the same purpose, to make music.

Putting a studio together is like creating a chain. You start with a instrument such as a piano or a vocal chord and you hope to end up with completed recording. Along the way you have many instruments and equipment that are part of that chain and if one of those chains is weak it will reflect on the entire chain.

Not to worry though, with a little inspiration and improvisation you can be on your way to Recording your next album.

Multitrack Recorders

The first item to think about is your multitrack recorder sound interface. Your multitrack recorder would be the heart of your studio if it had one.

The most important inputs on your multitracker are your pre-amps. Pre-amps are inputs that take your instrument, like a guitar or microphone, up to line-level. You want your instruments to be up to line level in order to get a loud enough and low distortion recording of them. The quality of your pre-amps are a big thing to consider when putting together your studio.

Basically there are two main options for a reasonable home studio. One being a stand-alone multitracker and the other a computer based setup.

Stand-alone

There are many self containing units out there that will do all of your recoding with one device. Think of them as a multitracker, mixer, and pcmac in one. They require no PCMac and will get the job done.

I personally am not a fan of stand-alone recorders based on the costperformance in comparison to a Pc, but I think it is fair to show them anyway.Here is a example from Fostex to give you a idea of what they are about Fostex MR-8 HD/CD. Prices for units like the Fostex Mr-8 can range from about 400-1500 dollars.

PCMac Based

Using a computer to hard disk your tracks, I’ll admit, is more complicated then the stand-alone approach, but with that complexity you gain power. The computer based system is a rapidly expanding market and changes very fast, but with the right knowledge you can keep right with it.

Sound cardPre-amp interface

The sound interface is what allows sound to go in and out of your computer. Most are external boxes that connect via usb or firewire. Some do mount into a standard Pci slot thought. Most interfaces come with 2-4 pre-amps for instruments and mics.

If you are just going to add guitar and piano you can get by with 2 pre-amps but if you are going to do more complex things like acoustic instrument and drums, 4 or more would be the way to go. A great example would be the Mackie Onyx 400-f. You can view it here Mackie Onyx 400F. There are many others like it so I recommend looking into other models as well. Prices for units like the Onyx 400-f range from about 200-1000 dollars.

MonitorsHeadphones

Next we are looking at how we are going to hear our music as we create it. How we hear our music is a very important part of the studio process obviously. How are we supposed to make our music sound better then our $10 headphones or speakers if thats all we hear it from?

This is usually done with a pair of studio quality headphones or monitors. Headphones are the cheapest way to go but can not replace a nice pair of studio monitors. I recommend checking out Grado Labs. They are a nice small company that makes some really great headphones for pro studios. A nice pair of studio headphones should cost somewhere between 100-400 dollars (I use a pair of Grado SR-80′s).

Now if you are going for monitors you will be very happy with the results. Monitors add the dynamic room feel to your listening experience that just can’t be recreated with headphones. Near-field studio monitors are made to have a flat response so you get a very good average idea of what your recordings sound like.

This is the opposite of regular hi-fi stereos that enhance your sounds and change its dynamics. Event is a great company that has been making monitors for some years now so feel free to take a look at what they have to offer.

Your PCMac

You may already have a computer that is perfectly capable of making some great recordings on right now. More important then the computer itself is the software you have on it. The minimum specs I would recommend for your computer are

• 1 to 2 gigs of Ram
• 1.6 ghz or better CPU
• 500 Gb Hard drive

Really that is about all you need. The rest is pretty irrelevant to recording.

Multitracking Software

You will also need a multitracking program for your studio to record your sounds. There are many different programs out there, some for only the mac and some only PC, but all do similar things. I recommend downloading some demos and trying out a few of them before deciding on which one is for you. I have tried nearly every program out there and still do not have a favorite yet. Here is a short list of some sites to check out.

• Steinbergs Cubase
• Adobe Audition
• Digidesigns Protools
• Mackie’s Tracktion 3
• Sonar 7 by Cakewalk

Well I think that will be enough to get the ball rolling and open some doors to some exiting areas. Remember there is no perfect studio and the real creativity should come out in the music, not the hardware it’s made on. I will try to elaborate on these topics and more in the future so stay tuned and keep checking back for more.

Related Articles

• Visual Walkthrough of a Home Studio
• The Best Headphones for Under $100
• Write a Song in 9 Steps
  
• How and Where to Sell Your Music Online

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