Home Studio Tips

A detailed tutorial on using Propellerheads Recycle.

This is a pretty nice video about slicing up audio in Recycle. It shows how to slow down the tempo to use in any BPM without losing any quality. Pretty cool, looking forward to using Recycle.

I have been using a ton of virtual instruments lately. I found some videos created by Computer Music which talk about the top virtual synthesizers. The video is a bit old so there may be some new ones that should be covered, but this is a great place to start.

• Zebra II
• Absynth
• z3ta+
• FM8
• Oddity
• Rapture
• Massive
• Sylenth 1
• Surge

If you can, download the demos of these virtual instruments, some of them really kick. I was happy to see that I had 6 of them that were on the list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UNn2AxxaEY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epyjrwSRA9E&feature=related

I get a ton of questions and comments on this site about the Boss BR-600. I found this tutorial on importing Wav or MP3 tracks using the BR-600 and your PC. This video sounds like it was created by Darth Vader.

This video covers BR-600 drum patterns and arrangements. Talking about how to assign sounds to the pads and creating your own drum patterns on the BR-600.

BR-600 video that I found on Youtube. Talks about the basics of the BR-600 and shares a few tricks that you may or may not already know about. The video shows a nice trick on how to build your own drums on the BR-600 sampling drums using your iPod. It doesn't show you exactly HOW to create the sounds but shows you that you CAN.

This video is for anyone who just wanna get some basic training on making a synth in native instruments reaktor 5.

Remember the days when you wanted to cut a demo, you had to find a guy to play drums? Not only did he have to play drums, but he had to be into the same obscure bands and genres of music as the rest of the band. He also had to be available 3 nights a week to rehearse and be available for gigs. Times this by three, one more time for the bass player, another time for the singer, and anyone else who was in the band. Now you also had to make sure that everyone got along, set up nights to practice, a place to practice, transportation, working equipment and the list goes on. Plus does everyone like the songs? Long story short, getting a band together is hard work.

Now days, making music is easy. With the invention of computers, MIDI, drum apps, plugins and virtual instruments you can do everything yourself. I lay the drum tracks down with loops or a drum app like drumkit from hell. I can play the guitar and bass myself. Keys, pianos and synth's are a breeze with MIDI. Now if I could only sing...oh wait, I can thanks to autotune and harmony engine.

No need for a bunch of other dudes and all the hassles, just do everything yourself.

This is a tutorial that explains how to Rewire Reason 3 with Pro Tools. I'm assuming once you get these settings correct you can use this same process for rewiring any recording software, not sure? I'll give it a try...

Just getting started with Reason, I'm finding that there is a ton of stuff to learn. I usually start with beats so here is an introduction tutorial on how to use Redrum in Reason.

This is a nice tutorial on how to use Reason to quickly create a full song in under 20 minutes. It assumes that you are a beginner with Reason.

I've done 4 cd's now on Pro Tools in my home studio. I've done quite a few genres that I have been interested in, with one exception...techno. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Daft Punk and other electronic music and I realized that I could do it myself, I just need a few tools. I have a midi keyboard and a midi interface not to mention tons of VST instruments and synths. I've been working my butt off getting my DAW configured and I think everything is ready to go.

The one problem is the learning curve. I understand how midi works and have no problem in that department. The area that is killing me is learning all of the software, instruments and plug ins. Before, everything was in Pro Tools and I just used a few plugins here and there and it was relatively easy. But now, every instrument and program seems so complex. For instance you've got Reason, Recycle, Reaktor, Fruity Loops, Cubase, Acid Loops, not to mention a million others that I may or may not need to use.

There is also the issue of working with loops, samples, drum programs, getting the BPM to match up, using elastic audio, interfacign between multiple programs, etc. I'm up for the challenge, but I expect it to be an uphil battle. I'm sure once all is said and done, I will have learned a ton. It's just like learning regular audio recording, seems so daunting at first but once you get into it, things start to click.

So, stay tuned...I'll post some of my Techno junk here once I actually get something done.

The best thing to do when you have to install new software onto your DAW is to use a test machine. For instance, if you've downloaded plugins from the internet or you have new software to load, etc. It's best to test it out on a machine you don't care about, rather than crash your DAW with bad software. I just use an old pc that I have in the basement. Make sure this PC is up to date with updates and has the latest antivirus software installed. This way you can see how the software will act, if it's worth installing, or if it is virus free. I can't tell you how many times I've downloaded free plugins from the web and they are infected with a virus. The old saying goes, rather be safe than sorry especially when it comes to your precious DAW!

Found this great list of RTAS Plugins for Pro Tools and the best part these are completely free! Check it out lots of great stuff here: http://musformation.com/free-rtas-plugins.html

The dudes over at Magix were kind enough to send me the new Magix Soundpool 16 DVD. This comes with a ton of audio recorded in WAV format that you can insert into your recordings.

It had a lot of different styles such as 60's soul, Ambient, Hip Hop, House, Rock, Alternative, Techno and even Movie Score.

In each of the different styles it had bass, brass, drums, effects, guitar, keys, pads, percussion, sequences, strings, synths, and even vocals.

I thought overall the sounds were great. They sound well recorded and authentic. I was pretty impressed with the collection and the diversity of the Magix Soundpool 16 DVD.

For me, I don't know how much usage I will get out of all of these sounds. For one, it seems a bit of a pain browsing to find the sounds I want. Everything is labled nicely but you still have to listen to find what you want. I think the only thing I would ever use is the drums and percussion. They had some pretty good beats on here and drums are pretty easy to work into a project.

Not sure what Magix is charging for the Soundpool 16 DVD? I think the other ones were in the ballpark of $30. For the money, you get quite a bit. I would recommend this to people who are just getting started in their recording careers that are looking for some pre-recorded sounds to insert into their recordings.

Musicrow updates Golden Ensembles to v2.21, and introduces a new addition
to Musicrow's reaktor ensembles pack: The Ebola.

Ebola is a powerful semi-modular virtual analog synthesizer with a
flexible architecture that enables you to create a wide variety of sounds
with the distinct Ebola flavor! From heavily distorted leads to Hollywood
style strings, sweet keys to strange and beautiful gargling sounds - Ebola
can do it all!
  Main Features:
- A library of 200 high quality sounds, divided into 7 sound banks
- Two multimode oscillators with Ring modulation, Sync, and Frequency
modulation
- Classic mode that enables you to shape your oscillator waveform by
morphing between many different waveforms
- Ultrasaw mode that uses up to 9 detuned saw-tooth waves, for the
creation of extremely thick leads and pads
- Wavetable synthesis mode helps you achieving evolving and interesting
pad sounds, organs and keyboards
- Sub-oscillator with Ultrasaw mode
- Noise generator with color shaping option
- Two multimode resonant filters that can be connected in parallel or
serial
- Three envelopes that can modulate almost any parameter of the
synthesizer
- Advanced distortion section for wave-shaping: Analog saturation, Hard
Clipping, Bit Crusher and more - Two advanced LFO's
- Extended effects section that contains 9 high quality effects: Delay,
Reverb, Chorus, Phaser, distortion, EQ, ring modulation and others
- Modulation matrix with countless modulation paths
- Envelope follower that enables you to use external audio to manipulate
almost any parameter of the synthesizer

Golden Ensembles 2 now contains 39 ensembles, synthesizers and effects for
NI Reaktor 5. 
Musicrow offers Golden Ensembles 2 for a discounted price of 95Euro during
February 2010.  read more »

This is another installment in the IT best practices sermons I've been writing lately.

Virus activity is a big thing that I've seen happen to lots of people lately. People don't realize what a virus looks like or how they get it.

How do I get a Virus?

The first way to get a virus is by visiting a website that may be infected. If you visit a website and you get something that pops up and says you are infected, it most likely is a virus. Recently, viruses have been appearing in the form of pop up windows that are meant to look like a message from your antivurs software. The pop up messages might indicate that your computer is infected asking you to click on something. Many people think that the fake message is legitimate and click on it. By clicking on the pop up message the computer is then infected.

If you see a pop up that says "You are infected, click here to scan" or something similar, do not click on it and close the window immediately. The best rule of thumb is: Do not click on anything that you don't trust. Pop up windows and email attachments from sources you don't recognize can be very dangerous.

You should be familiar with what antivirus software you have installed on your computer. If you see a window or pop up message from something other than your antivirus software stating you have a virus, close the message by clicking the X in the upper right corner. Do not click anywhere on the message.

The second way to get a virus is by opening an email attachment. If you get an email from someone with an attachment, especially if it is someone you don't know, you should not open it. Especially, if the attachment is an .exe or .bat file. If you get an attachment that you need to open, save it to your computer and scan it before you open it.

How can I protect my computer?  read more »