We Record Life

A Roundup Of The Five Best Audio Recording Tools

Whether you’re a hobbyist tinkering with a guitar, an amateur DJ about to perform at a packed club, or a professional recording engineer with a thriving studio practice, you will need recording software of some sorts. Professional-grade recording software doesn’t come cheap with prices usually starting at $350+. Given the high initial investment, you want to ensure that you get the best bang for your buck.

In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the five best audio recording programs on the market. We’ll consider the cheapest (free) Audacity, and go all the way up to Pro Tools, which is used by most professionals.

If you’re confused about what you can do with recording software, consider taking this Ableton Live crash course to get an introduction to these tools.

1. Audacity

Price: Free

Audacity is sometimes called the “poor man’s audio recorder’ – a description that does a great service to this fine open-source software. Free though it may be, Audacity still packs plenty of features into a surprisingly small and lightweight installation. Granted, you won’t see Timbaland firing it up in his recording studio, but that doesn’t mean it can’t find a place in your home recording mix.

Audacity’s learning curve is as gentle as a rolling hill in the English countryside. You can get started without so much as clicking the ‘help’ button. It’s perfect for all sorts of casual recordings – podcasts, song ideas, etc. With some work, it can even make impressive-sounding amateur mixes. While it comes nowhere near the features offered by the big boys on this list, the fact that it is cheap, easy and surprisingly fast should keep amateurs interested.

Features

Clean, easy to use interface.

Supports dozens of simultaneous tracks.

Can import WAV, AIFF, AU, Flac and Ogg Vorbis files.

Extensive open-source plugin library.

Stable; crashes are as rare as rain in a desert.

Use Audacity If:

You don’t have a few hundred dollars to spare; you want something effective, easy and fast; you want to record audio casually – amateur guitarists and podcasters welcome.

Audacity is more powerful than you think. Learn how to unleash its power in this Audacity crash course.

2. Apple Logic Pro

Price: $199

As an Apple-made software, there are two things you can assume about Logic Pro:

You won’t require a PhD to understand the UI

It will integrate perfectly with OS X

Logic Pro has something of a storied history. It was originally made by the guys who also made the first MIDI sequencer, Notator, in the early 80s. It was eventually acquired by Apple in 2002, meaning the software has been in continuous development for nearly 30 years.

Today, Logic Pro is one of the best-selling DAWs in the world. It’s younger cousin – GarageBand – comes free with iLife and retails for $4.99 on the iTunes store.

Features

Flex Time enables users to ‘stretch’ and modify audio.

Powerful Amp Designer for combining hundreds of cabinets and effect pedals in a custom designed amp.

Create a virtual arrangement of effects pedals with the Pedalboard.

Trademark Apple skeuomorphic design for ease of use.

Create unique reverb effects with the Space Designer.

Use Logic Pro If:

You care about design and ease of use; you work exclusively on Apple products; you want something that is powerful enough to run with the big boys, easy enough for a complete newbie, and cheap enough to not put you in the poorhouse.

3. Ableton Live

Price: $449 for Standard version

The digital music recording industry can be broadly divided into two timeframes: before Ableton Live and after Ableton Live. When it was launched in 2001, the DAW market was dominated by the old guard – Cubase, Nuendo, and Logic Pro. These tools worked in a linear fashion – you recorded first, edited later.

Ableton Live changed all that. The entire software is organized around the session view where you can record, sketch and collect audio in real-time – just as you would perform live. And when you’re done, you can edit, arrange, and modify the audio in the arrangement view, which is reminiscent of the more traditional arrangement window of sequencing programs.

Ableton Live was also the first software to introduce a “warp engine”. This feature enables the user to synchronize different tracks to the same BPM (beats per minute). As you can imagine, DJs found this extremely useful, which is why Live is such a big hit among the remixing crowd.

Features

Support for unlimited audio and MIDI tracks.

Powerful toolkit for building custom synths and effects. It’s like having your own team of audio engineers on command.

Powerful audio slicing for use in the Sampler or Drum Rack.

Best-in-class warp engine for stretching/compressing audio tracks to match a beat.

Huge built-in library of effects, amps and synthesizers.

Use Ableton Live If:

You want a powerful, feature-rich digital audio workstation that works especially well in live settings; you are an amateur or professional DJ; your audio work involves a lot of mixing and you don’t mind a steep learning curve.

4. Propellerhead Reason

Price: $449

Propellerhead Reason has long been a contender to the ‘best recording software’ crown, but it wasn’t until version 5.0, released in 2010, that it made its claim loud and clear. Before version 5.0, Reason was a MIDI-only application. The fifth version added a ton of features now standard in professional DAWs – a drum designer (Kong), powerful sequencing features, and a highly effective mixer. Within two years, Sweden based Propellerhead added a powerful ‘Rack Extension’ feature that allowed users to plug in third-party effects and plugins.

As a result of all these changes, Reason 7 today is a much more comprehensive recording software than its predecessors. Its packed with all the features you’ve come to expect from a professional DAW – unlimited audio tracks, powerful mixing console, hundreds of instruments – and boasts a long (and growing) library of third party plugins. When it comes to choosing a recording software, there are few better decisions you can make than going with Reason.

Features

Gorgeous, easy to use UI that’s only matched by Logic Pro in intuitiveness.

Robust and stable on every platform.

Rack Extensions are very effective – and great to look at.

Version 7.0 finally supports MIDI out.

Comes with 2 built-in samplers and 3 synthesizers.

Large effects library.

SSL-style mixer still the best in its class.

Use Reason If:

You want a no-nonsense, feature-rich recording software; you value ease of use and stability.

5. Avid Pro Tools

Price: $599 for Pro Tools 11 Upgrade

Pro Tools is one of the oldest digital audio workstations on the market. Robust, powerful, and efficient, Pro Tools is the DAW of choice for professional sound engineers. With the much-awaited version 11 finally hitting the stores in June, the software has finally been ported to 64-bit code, further improving its performance and stability.

Pro Tools can be intimidating for newbies. The UI is a world apart from the friendly textures and skeumorphic design of Apple Logic Pro. If you don’t have some experience working with actual recording studio hardware, you’ll find Pro Tools a tough nut to crack. This course on mastering Avid Pro Tools 10 will make the transition considerably smoother.

At the same time, few DAWs can match Pro Tools range of performance oriented features. Although its primary users remain professional engineers, it’s equally capable in a home environment.

Features

Version 11 is now based on 64-bit code. Coupled with an all new Avid Audio Engine, this means more power and efficient processing for your tracks.

Dedicated input buffers ensure you get the lowest possible latency – a must if you intend to record from external acoustic sources.

Built-in Avid Video Engine helps you edit videos within Pro Tools itself.

Improved automation; tracks can be processed as you record them, saving hours in editing/processing time.

Improved UI with more user-friendly design.

Use Avid Pro Tools If:

Audio Technica AT2005 USB Review

How do you navigate all through the many USB microphones on the market today? While it’s a complex task to find the best Mics, the Audio Technica 20 SERIES AT2005USB Cardioid Dynamic Microphone is a reliable brand with awesome features, that’s suitable for podcasting and internet broadcasting. The audio technica at2005usb is designed to help you go from the stage to the studio, and beyond. You can expect two outputs from this rugged handheld microphone. The device will give you USB output which is needed for digital recording, and an XLR output which can connect with the input of a standard microphone for use in live performances.

This Cardioid Dynamic Microphone is designed to plug into your laptop or desktop computer’s system USB port, and will function seamlessly with all your favorite recording software. The Audio-Technica AT2005 comes with excellent quality analog-to-digital converter, designed to give you the best sound output, with much needed level control for monitoring.

The embedded cardioid polar pattern feature, reduces pickup of unwanted sounds from the rear and the sides. This USB microphone is perfect for podcasting, live performance, voice-over use, and home studio recording.

Noteworthy Features of the Audio-Technica at2005

It emits good XLR analog output and USB digital output. While this handheld dynamic microphone can connect to your computer through the USB port for best digital recording, and the XLR output can be used for true live performance.

The frequency response from this device is best suited for most recording use, and on stage use.

The included built-in headphone jack, can help you directly monitor from your microphone. You’re also able to adjust the headphone volume with the easy to use control buttons, embedded within the USB microphone.

The embedded High-quality AD converter has 16 Bit, along with 44.1/48 kHz sampling rate.

This 2013 best USB microphone is built to be compatible with Windows and Mac computer systems.

You can depend on the low mass diaphragm that the USB Mic comes with, because it helps provide excellent frequency response.

This device comes with a Tripod desk stand with unique folding legs, which is needed for secure and easy portable tabletop use. You can attach easily the Tripod to a threaded stand clamp or a conventional microphone stand.

The needed USB and XLR cables are also included. As you observe this USB microphone, you’ll notice it has durable metal construction that easily helps enable long lasting best performance all the time.

You’re able to use the embedded On/off switch functions for both analog and USB operation.

The AT2005 USB microphone is the preferred professional audio recorder, but also has features that can help the true beginner going in the right direction. This Audio-Technica AT2005 USB microphone comes with a frequency range of 50Hz to 15kHz, thus helping your voice sound extremely natural.

This best USB Mic has 16-bit resolution rate, and good sampling rate of 48kHz. The included cardioid pickup pattern feature helps keep background noise isolated, thereby making your voice sound truly natural and admirable. You need to be aware that your Ts and Ss are clearly emitted, when using the Audio Technica AT2005 USB Mic.

This best USB Mic does not come with any pop filter, but it’s compatible with most standard filters you can buy for a nominal fee. This device has a plug and play feature, which means your computer will instantly recognize the unique USB microphone without any need to install any additional software.

Audio-Technica has excellent support for this device. On their website, you can find FAQs pages that can easily be navigated. You’re able to initiate support services through email or phone. This USB Mic comes with dimensions of 9.5 x 9.5 x 2.8 inches, and weighs about one lb. The Audio Technica AT2005 USB microphone comes with a one year limited warranty.

All In One Recording Packs

Steinberg, MXL, MOGAMI, and Yamaha have announced the release of two new recording packs that offer musicians, engineers and producers all of the brands in one box: the Cubase Recording Pack and the UR22 Recording Pack. Here's their press release: The Cubase Recording Pack comes with Cubase 7* and the UR22 audio interface from Steinberg, along with an MXL1022 condenser microphone, MXL-57 shock mount and a Mogami 10' XLR-XLR cable. The Cubase Recording Pack also includes a pair of Yamaha RH5MA headphones – the final component in this quality instant recording studio solution.

The second bundle, the hardware-oriented UR22 Recording Pack, features the UR22, an MXL1022 condenser microphone, an MXL-57 shock mount and a Mogami 10' XLR-XLR cable. The UR22 Recording Pack is aimed at first time audio interface users who seek a high quality solution featuring trustworthy brands.

One of the most popular Digital Audio Workstations in the world, Cubase 7 features the new MixConsole, enhanced workflow options and a new Channel Strip that offers epic pro-console sound. The rock-solid UR22 USB 2.0 audio interface includes two D-PRE preamps and 192 kHz support, providing professional-grade sound in a portable package.

The MXL1022 large diaphragm condenser microphone captures vocals and instruments in crisp detail. It features an FET preamp with balanced output and wide frequency response to pick up a broad range of sound, from vocals to a wide variety of instruments. The microphone is internally wired with world-class Mogami cable for precise recordings and, when placed into the MXL-57 shock mount, ensures professional performance.

The 10' XLR-XLR Cable from Mogami, the largest selling cable brand for major recording facilities, delivers the purest recordings. Each cable is made from Mogami's 2552 microphone cable with signature Mogami 100 percent spiral coverage for extremely low noise. The cable is finished off with high quality gold-contact XLR connectors.

How To Record Audio and MIDI in Steinberg Cubasis

  If you ever doubted that developers were taking iOS seriously as a music production platform, Steinberg's pared-back version of its flagship DAW ought to convince you that, yes, you can actually do it all on your iPad.

Sure, this iOS incarnation could be seen as relatively limited compared to the desktop version, but that would be missing the point. Loaded with a feature list that continues to grow with each regular update, Cubasis is certainly one of the most comprehensive DAWs available for iOS.

It's an ideal compositional sketchpad that can also serve as a perfect mobile recording studio, and Cubasis users can bring their projects into the latest desktop versions of Cubase to continue their work or finalise the mix. Or not – you could simply finish off a mix right on the iPad.

Here we show you how to get started with recording both MIDI and audio tracks within the app.

Step 1: Here we have a simple drum loop that plays for two bars and a synth track instantiated. Let's do something with them. We've loaded a Micrologue sound and tweaked it to taste, but a factory patch will do fine. Tap the X in its top-right corner to close the synth's interface. Let's try recording a bar. First, tap the Loop button up by Cubasis' Play arrow.

Step 2: You should now see a sort of greyed-out section between the L and R markers in the project's ruler. This is the section that Cubasis will play looped. Let's tap, hold and drag the R marker over to the beginning of Bar 3 so that our entire drum loop is included in the looped section.

Step 3: Tap the Play arrow in the main transport area up top. You will hear the drum part looping. Try playing around on the keyboard until you come up with a suitable bass riff to go along with the drums. When you have something you like, stop the playback and tap the back button in the transport to return the cursor to the start.

Step 4: Before you record on a track, you must arm it for recording. Cubasis will do this automatically when you select a track. However, you can arm unselected tracks too. See the little dotted red circle in your MIDI track? It means the track is "armed" for recording; tracks that aren't will be unaffected when we hit Record.

Step 5: Tap the Metronome button up top. Before you record, tap the Tools button to bring up the Toolbar. Tap the Rec Mode button and then touch Count. This activates your one-bar precount. Hit the transport bar's Record button (the one with the red dot). After the count-in (precount), you can play in your riff, and when you're done, hit Record again to end recording.

Step 6: If you make a mistake, you can Undo. MIDI tracks can even be undone when the project has been closed and re-opened. Close the keyboard. If your timing is off, tap the 1/16 button to the right of Quantize in the tool bar. Select an appropriate grid value for your performance (we've gone for 1/8) and tap the Quantize button.

Step 7: Now let's record a bit of audio. Tap the + Audio button in the track area to bring up a new audio track. Use the Audio input section of the track inspector to choose mono or stereo recording and select the input to which you will be connecting an instrument or mic. Remember to use headphones if the latter, otherwise the sound of the speakers will be picked up by the mic too.

Step 8: We're going to record an electric guitar. To monitor your instrument through Cubasis, you'll need to tap the speaker button on your audio track (next to the record arm button). This will only work with an interface or headphones. Tap Insert Effects in the Inspector and then tap the topmost slot. Choose Amp Sim from the pop-up.

Aphex Releases New USB Microphone

Recording Studio Sweet Spot: Sound Spa Productions – Edison, NJ

New Jersey is the cradle of audio engineering.

Formerly known as Menlo Park, the New Jersey township of Edison, NJ changed its name in 1954 to honor the inventor Thomas A. Edison, who set up his groundbreaking research laboratory there in 1876. By the time of his passing 55 years later, Edison had earned a record 1,093 patents for creations including the phonograph, a stock ticker, the motion-picture camera, the incandescent lightbulb, a mechanical vote counter, the alkaline storage battery including one for an electric car, and the first commercial electric light.

Edison had maximum personal fondness for his phonograph. He was pleasantly surprised in 1877 when his very first attempt at the tin foil phono worked, a moment that led to him eventually founding one of the earliest record labels ever, with the National Phonograph Company. On Edison cylinders and discs, NPC released selections in instrumental, vocal, spoken word, spoken comedy, foreign language and ethnic, religious, opera and concert recordings.

This is where recorded music, as we now know it, comes from.

Acutely tuned to this is Stephen DeAcutis, Founder of the Edison, NJ-based recording facility Sound Spa Productions. A mixing, tracking, and production studio in operation since 1990, it counts John Mayer, Corey Glover (Living Color), Joe Lynn Turner, and even the late great Laura Brannigan as its clients.

No doubt, the Neve 5088 32 channel frame console with Martin Sound Flying Faders 2 is a draw, as are MCI and Studer tape machines, and expressive analog outboard including a Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, Cranesong Ibis EQ, and Audio Technologies Tube Link tube compressor. Two live rooms, one sufficiently sizable for cutting drums, add appeal.

But another draw is DeAcutis, whose passion for his craft is tangible at first contact. He’s a true pro who’s proud of his room, but you can tell he’d prefer that his studio do the talking. 

Facility Name: Sound Spa Productions

Website: www.soundspa.net

Location: Edison NJ — Home of The invention of recorded sound

Neighborhood Advantages: Close to malls trains and starbux/Dunkin D’s and  lots of wilderness

Date of Birth: 1990

Facility Focus: Mixing, Production, Tracking

Mission Statement: To capture as honest a representation of the artists vision whether it be from a performance or mixing standpoint.

Clients/Credits: John Mayer, Corey Glover(Living Color) Laura Brannigan, Mike Ciro (Alejandro Sanz},Bobby Bandiero(Bonlovi), Joe Lynn Turner, Demi Lavato, Gad Elbaz, Glen Burtnik, Bebe Buell, Nir Z (drummer for Chris Cornell)

Key Personnel: Stephen DeAcutis — Founder; Nejat Bakin, Lenny Grasso, Steve Sadler — techs

MCI 16-24 2” tape and Studer A-80 half-inch mixdown machines 36 channels I/O of Apogee/Crane Song AD-DA Nuendo and Pro Tools

Sounds.....in.....(3d)...space...

First there was mono. Then came stereo, three-channel "stereo", quad, and now, the cinema-inspired five-channel "surround". Trouble is, none of these systems really address how to recreate a real audio event in a listener's ear-brain system. Except for one. Or two. The most realistic way to recreate a real acoustic event for a listener is to record it binaurallyusing a dummy-head microphone system, and listen back over headphones. This can produce an eerily realistic, you-are-there experience – incredibly effective for a production like, say, Stephen King's The Mist. Two ears. Two channels. But what if we want to clearly and unambiguously sense the spatial character of sounds at one listening location, for reproduction over speakers say? Let me introduce you to a system called Ambisonics. Even though it's been around for over 40 years, it's not well known. What if I told you there was a system that needed only four channels to fully encode a 3d sound field? What if I said recordings could be played back over four or forty speakers? Maybe the ease of sound manipulation would impress you – being able to rotate, tilt, and zoom a soundscape using simple audio mixing? And what if there were 3d acoustic sensors (a.k.a., microphones) that could capture such full-surround audio? That's Ambisonics. How Ambisonics represents a 3d sound field using fewer channels than the so-called surround used for movies is as ingenious as it is simple. The four signals are labelled W, X, Y, and Z. Speaking from a microphone/sensor point of view, W is the omnidirectional pickup, receiving sounds from all directions equally well. The X, Y, and Z pickups all have what are known as "figure-8" sensitivity patterns, one for each orthogonal axis. The W sensor produces a positive signal when impinged upon by a positive pressure part of an acoustic wave from any direction. The X, Y, & Z pickups, however, respond positively for pressure from the front, left, and upwards, and negatively to pressure from the rear, right, and downwards. Simple adding and subtracting of various combinations of these four signals can produce a peak response pointing in any direction – not quite phased-array, but in the family. And that's why the number of speakers doesn't really matter. My own system uses six speakers arranged in a hexagon. I could just as easily have five, or eight – it's trivial to create the appropriate WXYZ mix for any speaker position. True, it's only a 2d array, where the Z signal is ignored. One day, I'll set up a crazy 3d system.

Watch A DIY Synthesizer Get Built From Scratch

Building a synthesizer is a lot of work. It seems pretty safe to assume, but if you had any doubts, just watch this one come together from scratch like the behemoth of circuit boards it is.

RODE Updates iOS Recording App 

Using the Quartet with Auria

Auria ($49) is a multitrack recording software for the iPad. It allows you to record up to 24 simultaneous tracks on the iPad, and monitor up to 48 tracks. Again, this is on a frickin’ iPad! (Aside: this is the computational power I can’t wait to see when the iPad has the new A7 chip.) I’ve barely had time to do much on it, but getting the Quartet to work with it is was very easy. When I plugged the device into my iPad and launched Auria, it auto-detected the Quartet. Since the input settings I had set on my Mac were still loaded into the Quartet, I just had to tell the tracks in Auria to use the proper Quartets inputs and I was good to go.

How I use the Quartet

Every now and then, I get together with some friends to jam and I want to record our sessions. It’s nothing fancy, just a mememto of the evening. I wanted it to sound better than just tossing a microphone in the middle of the room and hoping for the best. Instead, I now use the Quartet with Logic. I mike my amp, and use an ABY box (a pedal that lets me send the output to two amps simultaneously) to also get a clean signal into Logic. Other musicians either go direct into the Quartet, or use additional ABY boxes. I’m a gigantic fan of clean signals, especially for bass and vocals. I’m 90 percent happy with my amp sound, but I like to also grab a clean signal for either double tracking an effect, or just just replacing my track with a software amp.

I do something similar when I’m recording my amp. Even if I’m the only one recording, I like to set up a couple of mikes on my amp, but also use the ABY box to get a clean signal.

How To Use The iPad For Music Control

You know the possibilities are significant, but how do you explore them? iPad, Ableton Live, MIDI, OSC, Wi-Fi, MIDI … how can you connect your iPad to other tools for music control?

We brought in an expert, Nicolas Bougaïeff, Creative Director at Liine, to explain the different routes, including not only wireless, but wired solutions, too. Liine is the maker of Lemur and popular Ableton Live control apps (LiveControl 2 being the most recent). Nicolas naturally builds on that expertise, but the lessons here apply to a range of iOS apps. This tutorial should answer some questions for beginners and fairly advanced users alike. -PK

The iPad is an amazing tool to make music and controller apps can be very powerful. Lemur, for example, enables you to control other apps running on the same iPad, apps running on another iPad, software running on a laptop such as Ableton Live, or even hardware such as synthesizers and drum machines.

But connecting apps together can be confusing. This article provides a reference to the various options for iOS connectivity, including a focus on controlling Ableton Live. Lemur will be the main example used during the article, but the information contained here is certainly relevant to any iPad control app.

What Is the Difference Between MIDI and OSC?

MIDI is a protocol invented in the early 1980s for connecting music gear. It’s not the best, or the fastest, but it is the standard. MIDI is supported by just about every piece of music hardware and software manufactured in the past 30 years, and that now includes iPads and iPhones. Starting with iOS 5, Apple has made the CoreMIDI library available, which enables MIDI transmission over network (i.e. Network MIDI) and hardware adapters (various options described later in this article). MIDI support is now a more or less standard feature in professional iOS music apps.

OSC is a protocol invented in the late 1990s that offers many improvements:

Higher bandwidth (more information flowing faster)

Transmission over ethernet. Ed.: technically, MIDI can run on any transport, Ethernet included, but OSC is built from the ground up as a networking protocol.)

High-resolution data types (rather than 7/14 bit supported by MIDI)

Open-ended URL-type addressing scheme (rather than port/channel MIDI system)

While OSC is very powerful, MIDI remains the most widely-supported standard. Some apps support MIDI, some apps support OSC and some apps, such as Lemur, support both.

[Note to LiveControl 2 users: LiveControl 2 relies exclusively on MIDI messages, so all MIDI connection options supported by Lemur are available to you.]

Cables and Wi-Fi Networks

Connections between your iPad apps and other physical devices (laptop, synthesizer) can be made either over a Wi-Fi network or with a cable. MIDI apps can be easily used either over a Wi-Fi network or with hardware cables. OSC apps can only easily be used over Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi connections, while usually stable, can occasionally suffer from interference, drop-outs, or jitter. This is more likely to happen when you play in a new venue where you have little control over the networks present in the room. This is obviously an important risk to take into account when planning a public, live performance. CoreMIDI-compatible apps over hardware cables give you a 100%-guaranteed connection and the lowest possible latency between the iPad and laptop, as responsive as hardware MIDI controllers.

Ed.: Your wifi card can also die on you, which happened to me recently on my MacBook Pro, so having a backup connection strategy can be appealing!

You might also want to read this recent Synthtopia write-up of performance tests being done by a Wi-Fi MIDI adapter maker:

Can Wireless MIDI Be As Fast As Wired MIDI?

Advice You Would Give Your 16 Year Old Self About A Career In Recording

In 1983 my recording system was not much more than a couple of guitars, my Tascam cassette-based 4 track, a pair of Realistic speakers, a Sony Hi-Fi amp and some effects.

30 years on I have more than I could ever imagine to record with and my journey has been an amazing one, having worked with some of the most talented people in the world and travelled to some amazing studios too. When I posted this picture on my Facebook page one person asked “Did you know at this age you would be helping 1000s of musicians around the world to get better in their production?” The simple answer is no, but what I did say is “Not at all, I think it’s remembering what it felt like starting out that inspired me to run the blog. Never forget where you came from.”

So if it were possible for me to give the 16 year old Russ advice now, here is what I would say.

The Gear Doesn’t Make You More or Less Talented I begged my Dad to lend me around £1000 (in 1983) to get me to buy the 244. I can honestly say some of my best and most rewarding times were with that 244, even now I have a HDX equipped studio. So my first advice would be this, your gift is not restricted by the gear you own, or improved by it either. So don’t lose sleep if you don’t have the best and certainly don’t get into debt or steal trying to own the stuff.

You Will Buy Gear You Forget About You know that piece of gear you are dreaming of owning, often the chase is better than the actual owning of it. You will forget you even owned stuff that you are lusting after now, even worse you will waste money buying and selling gear in search of the Holy Grail… it doesn’t exist.

Be The Best You Can Be If you are smart then you are going to spend time reading manuals, watching videos (we didn’t have video in 1983) showing you how to use the gear or cool tips and tricks. Not a single second will be wasted learning how to use stuff. If you are really smart then you will be the best you can be - most of my recording career happened because I read the manual and other people didn’t. Inspiration and education go hand in hand.

Invest In People If you want to invest in anything then make friends, be a good friend, and reliable. Little did I know when I was starting out that many of the people who came into my life imparted to me things I still rely on today - I count many of them friends. This is a tough business and there are going to be times when you are going to need the advice, support and talent of friends. Don’t use people for what they can do for you but show generosity, it’s contagious.

Hard Work Is Rewarded I see a lot of people talk about how lucky some people are, be they top artists, engineers or producers. It’s not luck, I’m yet to meet an artist, engineer or producer who hasn’t sacrificed a great deal to get what they are. Luck is an excuse often used by those who don’t want to put in the hours, as if there are some stars guiding them on their journey and they got the wrong set of stars. If you take responsibility for your journey and work hard you have more chance of being ‘lucky’, you have less chance if you keep blaming luck for your lack of progress.

Hands On Native Instruments Komplete 9 Ultimate

here to start talking about the incredible Native Instruments Komplete 9 Ultimate? With 65 instruments and effects, over 16,000 sounds, and over 370 gigabytes of samples and content, Komplete 9 Ultimate truly offers an embarrassment of riches for anyone looking for a comprehensive package of virtual instruments and sonic capability. Guitar, bass, drums, keys, synths, it’s all there. Then there are the studio effects — EQs, compressors, reverbs, NI’s signature “creative” effects for making entirely new sounds, and more. Komplete 9 Ultimate is so big that it is delivered on its own hard drive! Komplete 9 Ultimate is compatible with Mac and PC, and supports VST, Audio Units, and AAX Native formats, and standalone operation.

Among the big news in Komplete 9 Ultimate is Battery 4, a complete redesign of the popular drum sampler; Abbey Road Vintage Drummer with authentic early-mid 1900s drums and sounds; Scarbee Rickenbacker Bass; 12 new studio effects (EQs, compressors, reverbs, and more); Driver, a distortion filter for creative sound design; Monark, a fat-sounding, modeled analog synth that everyone will recognize; Skanner XT for a wide range of synthetic textures and sounds; Giant, the world’s biggest upright piano; the 14GB Action Strings; the 4-piece Session Horns section; Damage, a creative percussion module; and more. All of these new additions sound phenomenal and only serve to expand on Komplete’s already awesomely versatile sonic palette. All the old favorites are also included: Kontakt, Guitar Rig, Massive, Absynth, Reaktor, FM8, and so much more. Let’s put it this way: if you can’t find or make the sound you want in Komplete 9 Ultimate, don’t blame Komplete!

Aphex Offers 500 Series Rack With USB Interface

500 series racks are becoming one of the most popular hardware formats for the modern studio, with the obvious nod to the nostalgia of a vintage studio era. However Aphex have brought a new and interesting innovative twist to the 500 series rack by offering it as a USB interface. In their words;

The USB 500 Rack bridges the gap between the traditionally analog 500 Series workflows and modern DAW workflows by providing a solution for the customer to use 500 Series modules directly with their DAW.  Use your favorite mic preamps as inputs directly to your DAW or use your favorite analog compressors & EQs as hardware inserts in your DAW.  All while monitoring though the pristine monitor section of the USB 500 Rack, that includes Mono and Dim functions along with two high performance, independent headphone amplifiers.

For even more flexibility, modules can be chained in the analog domain for channel strip operation or linked for stereo compression.

The USB 500 Rack also provides balanced XLR connections for use as a standard analog 500 series rack.

Features

6 x 8 Computer Audio Interface @ up to 96k.

Input to computer from 4 modules and stereo S/PDIF

Output from computer to 4 modules, stereo analog and stereo S/PDIF

Functions as a standard 500 Series rack

Modules can be configured in series

Empty slots can be used as line inputs to the computer (or hardwire bypass of an installed module)

Two headphone outputs (HeadPod 4 technology)

Volume, Mono and Dim for stereo analog output

MIDI I/O

Apogee ONE, Duet & Quartet Now Shipping With Lightening Cable

Apogee Electronics is pleased to announce their ONE, Duet and Quartet audio interfaces are now shipping worldwide with iPad/iPhone Lightning, 30-pin and Mac USB cables, providing direct connectivity to iPad, iPhone and Mac including the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. 

ONE, Duet and Quartet professional features for iPad and iPhone:

Professional sound quality with Apogee's premium AD/DA conversion and preamps

Direct connection to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad certified by Apple MFi program

Charges iOS device when connected

Maestro control and low-latency mixing software for iOS 

Apogee is the first to launch professional audio interfaces with direct iOS connectivity allowing users to connect microphones, electric instruments and speakers for creating studio-quality music on their iPad, iPhone or Mac.  With a universe of powerful and affordable music creation apps for iPad, an audio interface is necessary for professional quality recording on this platform.  

Today, professional musicians, songwriters, audio engineers and producers have come to rely on these professional products and features to record some of the biggest name artists in the world on both iPad and Mac.

How To Use 32 Bit Plug-In's In Logic Pro

Logic Pro X introduces a bunch of great new features and enhancements, including a full 64-bit only architecture to take advantage of all the benefits that 64-bit brings to audio production. In this tutorial, I will show you how to use 32-bit plug-ins inside of Logic Pro X using two existing utilities on the market.

Crossing the 32-bit Bridge

With all the great new features included in Logic Pro X, there is one notable feature that has been dropped in this new version; the 32-bit Audio Unit Bridge for running 32-bit plug-ins when using Logic Pro in 64-bit mode. While this was a utility Apple provided in Logic Pro 9, it was also a sign of where Logic Pro was headed; 64-bit only.

While there are many benefits of using a 64-bit architecture for audio production, there are still many developers who have yet to support 64-bit in their audio plug-ins. While Apple did not provide a workaround in Logic Pro X by including the 32-bit Audio Unit Bridge as with Logic Pro 9, there are actually third-party plug-ins that can accomplish the same thing.

1. jBridgeM from J’s Stuff

jBridgeM is a bridging tool that will create 64-bit compatible files for your 32-bit plug-ins, and vice versa. Once you install and run jBridgeM, you will have a directory created that will contain the files that are, in this case, 64-bit compatible. jBridgeM will run in the background much like the 32-bit Audio Unit Bridge, allowing the bridged plug-ins to run inside of the 64-bit Logic Pro X environment.

Select the type of plug-ins to be bridged. In this scenario, we want tobridge 32-bit plug-insfor use in Logic Pro X.

Select the type of VST host you will be using. Logic Pro X is 64-bit only, so selectI’ll be using a 64bit VST host.

The only downside—which you may have picked up on by the dialog wording inside of jBridgeM—is that it only supports VSTs and not Audio Units, which Logic Pro X uses exclusively. In order to use the newly created 64-bit plug-ins, we would need some sort of Audio Unit plug-in that can load other plug-ins, allowing you to use a VST plug-in inside of the Audio Unit only Logic Pro X; and that is exactly what Metaplugin from DDMF can do.

2. Metaplugin from DDMF

Metaplugin is a plug-in that can host other plug-ins; in this case our 64-bit VSTs that we just created using jBridgeM and want to use inside of Logic Pro X, which doesn’t support VSTs natively. With Metaplugin, you can use VSTs inside of Logic Pro X and still have all of the available functionality that you have when using native Audio Units.

32-bit plug-ins Inside Logic Pro X

It’s a bit of a rabbit hole, but by taking the original 32-bit VST, wrapping it in 64-bit compatibility using jBridgeM, then finally wrapping that in Audio Unit compatibility for use inside of Logic Pro X using Metaplugin, the end result is an originally 32-bit VST plug-in now running stably inside of Logic Pro X, wrapped in 64-bit Audio Unit compatibility.

Conclusion

If 32-bit compatibility is a consideration for you upgrading to Logic Pro X, or if, like me, you did upgrade and immediately lost hundreds of dollars in software because of developers not supporting 64-bit, rest assured that there are solutions.

Producing An Album With A Band

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to record a demo or a full-length album with your band? This article is just what you’re looking for. It’s the story of my experiences writing and recording an album back in Los Angeles. Every experience is unique and personal. So take what I say as just one way to reach your goal. Your experience doesn’t have to be the same as mine, but hopefully I’ll inspire you write and record your own album.

1. A Unique Experience

Two facts make my experience unusual. First, I grew up listening to hard rock, progressive music, and metal. When I moved to LA, I knew I was going to have a band that would play something heavy, really progressive, and not mainstream at all. Something like Between the Buried and Me, Tesseract, Animals as Leaders, and Protest the Hero, to give you an idea of the genre.

This made a huge difference in the whole writing/recording process, because whenever you hear a recording from the bands I mentioned, you immediately realize how accurate and precise they are. If you’re going to put out an album like that, you have to make sure that every note is aligned to the click track, and perfectly pitched. Your drums should sound compressed enough to keep you heart beating, your guitar tone has to be credible, fat, and real—even if you don’t have a $2,000 mic or a full rack of gear to record it all.

If you’re going to sound like a perfect machine, you need to write the track that way. Everything has to be perfect, on the grid. There’s no room for mistakes or improvisational attitudes.

The second fact is that while I was writing the songs, I was also enrolled at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, learning a bunch of new guitar tools, harmonic devices, and cool little licks that I wanted to have in my songs. That has pros and cons:

Pro: I constantly wanted to experiment with something new I just learned. So whenever I finished a song, I already had ideas to start a new one.

Con: As soon as I finished a song, I was already unsatisfied with what I wrote. It sounded outdated and unexciting because I just learned another ten cool chords and scales I wanted to insert into the song.

2. My Writing Process

I’d love to talk about my writing process, starting with what I’d say are the key points for most bands and songwriters:

Not everyone in a band writes. Sure, all of the members contribute to the final product, but not everyone has the creativity or skills to write a whole song.

A new song doesn’t appear whenever you want. Honestly, I found myself being inspired in the most inconvenient moments, like late at night, or when I had to go out, and I didn’t have time to make a rough recording of my ideas, or even write them on a piece of paper.

My writing process with my band always started with a musical idea that popped into my mind. Maybe I was doing an exercise and a cool sound caught my attention, or maybe I was just walking down the street and a sweet scale melody came to my mind. Everything always started off with inspiration.

But I also believe in the maxim: “Music is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration.” That’s the way it worked for me and the band. Once we had the idea, we’d write it in a program like Guitar Pro, Tuxguitar, or something that allows you to listen to it and have it down, so we don’t forget it. Then I’d take my guitar, play the part, and start composing.

Yes, it’s really that simple. I would say that for most of the things you write, it’s better to have it in your head first, or it will probably sound really unnatural. Although sometimes you can use your knowledge of music theory and rhythm to add something unexpected.

So, say I have four bars of music with a guitar riff, I might start writing the second guitar part: either a rhythmic complementary part, or just the same part up a third (sort of Iron Maiden signature). What plays a big role here is how well you know how you want to sound. Is that four bars the main riff? Is it the guitar part of the chorus? The verse? Is it going to be a slow ballad song or a heavy break down?

Since I’m a guitar player, I usually wrote both guitar parts, then I’d send the Guitar Pro file to our drummer, and he’d write his parts. We might change something in the meter map of the song, maybe not. In any case, I kept arranging the song, since I knew how I wanted it to sound.

Whenever you work with musicians you trust, you have to give them the freedom to write something they feel comfortable with. But at the same time, you need to communicate, and let them know what’s on your mind.

In my experience, the sequence of events while writing has always been this:

Write the guitar part.

Have the drummer write his own part.

Start rehearsing the song, and the bass player gets the vibe and start writing his own part.

Finally, the singer will add the lyrics and vocal melody.

3. Practice

As you can see, we didn’t start rehearsing the song until it was completely finished. Just jamming would have made no sense, since we continuously changed the time signature, the very technical parts for every instruments were difficult to play on the spot, and also the structure of the song was not a common ABAB pop song form.

Once you’re done with the whole song, you start practicing to see if it flows well, since even if you have done your job, you’ve only listened to it on MIDI software, which doesn’t really tell you anything about music. That’s the first thing I usually check. We used to rehearse a couple of songs for one month straight, even though we usually did it just to have a tighter live performance.

Pretend that you just have to write and record your song. Preparing a song for the studio has nothing to do with performing it live. You can do a good performance of your song in front of a thousand people, and completely screw it up in the studio.

The big surprise for me was how frustrating the studio can be if you’re not prepared enough. Recording one guitar part usually took about two hours, but you weren’t prepared enough, it could take up to six. This completely relates to the point I talked about in the first section: You want to sound flawless, no excuses.

4. Recording

At this point, you might be wondering, “How do I record a full-length album? I can’t afford a studio in Los Angeles.” Well, true. As I said, we were really influenced by all those new bands who are able to produce a record in their bedrooms. So, the answer is: digital home recording.

What we did is record the dry output in a Logic session, and then had a producer reamp it, and mix and master everything. Luckily we could use the school studio to track decent quality drums, and then the producer would replace every sound with digital drums.  

I’d like to warn you about how to choose your producer. If you don’t have any idea of who to choose, then start researching who produced the bands you like, and the albums you listen to. Of course, you can’t choose the number one artist on the hot 100 of last week’s billboard. Don’t trust any “friend of a guy I know” who might be interested in mixing your stuff. Ask for the previous record he produced, and make sure you like the mixing he does to the first song you send him.

You need to be picky and patient during this process, since a well-played song that’s badly mixed and mastered can sound terrible. At the same time, a so-so performance can be improved by someone who knows how to do his job. I’d say that for an eight to ten track album, you won’t get anything worthwhile for less than $1,000-1,200. At least, that’s my personal experience.

Conclusion

I hope this article has given you an idea of what it’s like to write and record your own album. It’s a wonderful and educational experience I recommend to anybody.