What has been the crutch of so many mainstream artists these days has been kept a secret for so long by producers. Let's let the cat out of the bag - the secret is called the Antares Auto-Tune computer program. The first artist to pioneer this program was Cher in "Believe", her #1 selling hit of all time. She used this program on her chorus vocals, which actually added some depth and originality to the song. Low and behold the double-edged sword: technology.

Antares Auto-Tune is used by artists to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform perfectly tuned vocal tracks without the need of singing in tune, as well as in the recording studio. While its main purpose is to slightly bend sung pitches to the nearest true semitone, Auto-Tune can be entirely programmed to bring a voice to a specified key controlled by a keyboard on or off the stage - while the singer attempts to sing, the keyboardist plays the notes of the voice that will be heard in a computerized version - hence the robot sounding voice. You'll notice that a lot of mainstream rappers are beginning to sound like robotic cousins as they use this program to its limit in every vocal and every note that they try to bend from their off-key melodies. We all cringe when we hear that our favorite athletes have been using performance enhancing drugs, but seriously, in the music business - technology can become a drug for many artists. In fact, a couple artists who are Auto-Tune addicts are T-Pain & Lil Wayne. Kanye West, Jamie Foxx and even Jay-Z have dabbled with the Auto-Tune in the studio and during performances. People are growing sick of this sound as it takes the musical talent out of the performing artist. What you have now are producers playing major back seat roles in their artists' music, like puppeteers pulling strings literally. What could simply be a boring Ben Stein vocal could instantly have Simon Cowell's mouth watering with the Antares Auto Tune program running in the background. What hurts America as a culture are artists who use Antares Auto Tune and are also winning awards. Antares Auto Tune is a fad, and it will die out quick, and we will once remember when 25% of the pop music on the radio was Auto-Tuned because we thought it sounded good. One thing we won't remember is whose auto-tuned voice that was, as over time they will begin to sound all the same.

Don't believe me... This video will have you laughing like never before. Some innovative producers decided to spice up C-SPAN with the Anatares Auto-Tune program and demonstrate how you can turn any ordinary voice into a #1 hit.

For a guaranteed hour of laughter, view the entire Season 1 of Auto-Tune the News, click here.

How to Become a Hip Hop Music Producer

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Rapping is a very lucrative business, but hip hop producers work behind the scenes, creating instrumental tracks for a record company, or just for fun. There are many types of producers, but they all follow the same basic steps.

Steps

1. Love hip hop. The industry is tough and ruthless, and without a deep love for the game you will never be good or famous.
2. Learn about music. This is a never-ending process, so don't ever think you're "done" at any point. Learn about all different styles of music, not just modern hip hop. Learn the roots, the theory and the great musicians for many different genres. No style should be neglected, not even country.
3. Determine what equipment you will need. This is a very complicated step, as there are infinite combinations of hardware and software. I would recommend FL Studio's demo version of their production software, if you wish to try production out with paying any money. If you're sampling, be sure to think of how you will access your samples (ie turntable, computer, etc). If you're more interested in composing with synths and virtual instruments, a MIDI Keyboard is an excellent investment.
4. Experiment. Set up a easy kick-highhat-snare-highhat track, and mess around with playing notes over the beats. This should be a period for getting familiar with your equipment. It will take about a month at the very least to acquire real skill with you equipment
5. Start refining your beats. Read the manual and begin using the Google search waaayy too much. Learn about EQ, effects and quantization, and begin to use them.
6. When you've got other people nodding their heads to your music, start promoting yourself. Use sites such as rocbattle.com, soundclick.com, givemebeats.net, and cdbaby.com to your advantage. Look up rappers, local or just on the internet, and see if you can produce a mixtape.

Tips

• Don't limit yourself: know the four elements of hip hop. Breakdancing, rapping, graffiti and turntablism.
• Learning to beatbox will help to compose beats anywhere.
• Make sure you volume each instrument correctly. Louder is not necessarily better.
• If you like old school hip-hop make your snare a few notes lower
• Watch tutorial videos on YouTube.
• EQ will make or break an only OK track.
• Don't be a hater. As a producer, beef will not earn you any respect.
• Study successful producers. It sounds corny, but sit down with your top 25 or 50 instrumental tracks, and take notes as to why they are so appealing.
• Try everything. Nothing is "wrong". If people like it, or even if only you like it, its "right".
• Recommended software: FL Studio, Cool Edit Pro, Logic, Reason, Ableton Live, Audacity.
• Recommended hardware: MPC series, Korg synthesizers, MIDI keyboards, Technics turntables, professional production headphones and studio monitors.

Warnings

• Don't expect to make a living out of this unless your willing to work the hardest you have ever worked in your life. It's not an easy market to enter into, unless you are very determined and will not give up easily you might remember might just make it---it is a crowded market.
• Don't get discouraged by critics.
• Don't develop an ego; it embarrasses you in the long run.
• And keep at it. If you are sure this is a passion you wish to develop, then make a way to integrate it into your life until it is mature enough to be where you want it.
• The software for FL Studio is (about) 200MB, and it is well worth the price. An outstanding program, especially for creative users. You can develop your skills to make a sturdy tool out of it.
• Do not ask a question about how to do something without reading the manual or searching the internet first. Hip hop producers will be very helpful if you follow this one rule.

Things You'll Need

• Determination
• Either production software (FL Studio, Reason, Ableton, Logic) or hardware (MIDI keyboard, MPC (any variant))
• A manual for above product that you've read at least twice
• Music. Lots of it. Which you know by heart.

Related wikiHows

• How to Produce Music from Home
• How to Make a Beat in Fruity Loops 8 or Reason 4

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Become a Hip Hop Music Producer. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How to Make an Instrumental on Fruity Loops 8.0 or Reason 4.0

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Many hip-hop lovers give credits to singers and artists, but a few of them give credits to beat makers who are also known as instrumental makers. Beat making is a tough job especially when one has a mediocre knowledge about the processes and the right programs needed to compose a good melody. Eight main steps are required in order to compose a good hip-hop beat.

Steps

1. You will need to have a computer. (It could be a desktop computer or a lap top). The computer should have at least Windows VISTA or Windows XP and they should not be a Macintosh brand (because the Macintosh platform is not supported). Another tool a beat maker should have, is a MIDI Keyboard. The keyboard allows you to play notes by linking it onto your computer using a USB interface. A necessary tool to have if you want to keep up with the sound quality and to stay away from distortion is a good monitor speaker. I would recommend the “Alesis m1-Active Mk2 Powered Studio Monitors” because I’m really familiar with it. Once all those equipments are available at your disposal, then you are ready for the next step.
2. Though there are many companies claiming to be making the best beat making software, there are only two programs that a professional beat maker may use to compose a beat in today’s music industry. The first program is called “Fruity Loops” and the second one is “Reason 4.0”. Those two programs have many tools in common and therefore they need to be bought together. Having the right programs to start an instrumental is vital for beat makers because as a hip-hop beat maker, one should be able to captivate an audience of hip-hop lovers as well as hip-hop artists. Those two programs both have the exact sounds, groove and quality that people in today’s music industry are using to make millions.
3. Now that we have the two best programs to compose good melodies, it could be really annoying not to have both programs rewired into one program. That is where the third step known as “Rewiring Reason 4.0 into Fruity Loops” comes in handy. This technique allows the beat maker to drag Reason’s sounds into the Fruity Loops software. To start rewiring, first open Fruity loops and click on “channel” then “add one”. Now you’ll see a lot of options presented by the software but since we are rewiring something we need to click on “rewired”. There should be a red rectangle displaying “rewired” with a green light next to it appearing on the sequencer. Click on the “rewired” sign on the sequencer and you should see a big rectangle device named “channel settings-Rewired” displaying a rewire image in red. Look for “Client” and select “Reason” because we are rewiring it to Fruity Loops. Then after that, click on “show panel” to open Reason 4.0. Now Reason is opened, click on “create” and select “mixer 14:2”. After that step, click on “create” again and select one synthesizer or a sampler between “subtractor synthesizers, thor synthesizers, malstrom synthesizers, nn19 digital sampler and nn-xt advanced sampler”. In this case let’s say I choose subtractor synthesizers for example. Next step is to go back into Fruity Loops and select “midi options”. Now you should have 3 channels that are “hardware interface II, mixer 1 and subtractor 1”.Now remember that the order of those channels matters a lot (notice how the synthesizer name subtractor is third). Click on the “hardware interface II” and then click “add/change” then close the box by clicking “ok”. Now you need to go to “channels” in Fruity Loops, click on “add one” again and this time select “midi out”. Click on “midi out” and change the channel to “3” so you could use the subtractor. Now if you use your keyboard and play some notes you should be able to hear some sounds from Reason 4.0.
4. After the rewiring step, set up a tempo of the type of hip-hop beat you’re looking forward to create by using Fruity Loops. On your screen you should have a default tempo that is 140bmp; however, 140bmp is used for Techno beats, so you should reduce it by right clicking on it then choose 110bmp or less. Your tempo matters because it helps your timing to be more accurate.
5. Use your ears when you’re composing a melody because if it doesn’t sound right to you what makes you think it’s going to sound to your audience? If you don’t like the sound you’re hearing, make sure you go to Reason and switch manually the sounds. For example the default sound of our “subtractor” is bass guitar but you can switch it into an acoustic guitar or a trumpet and vice versa. Every change you make on an instrument is going to affect your Fruity Loops pattern. It takes a couple of times for anybody to really know what instruments you want in your melody and therefore, it’s okay to play with it and get familiar with new sounds. The more time you spend on your instruments the more inspiration you’re acquiring. My main concern for beginners is that all sounds do not get along. Let’s say I picked an electric guitar and I add some harmonica into the melody. That type of mistake is usually made because beginners love a specific sound of a song or a beat that they heard and they try to add all of those sounds into their melody. Again Use your ear a lot because you cannot force sounds to get along. If they don’t get along by nature, there’s no way they will get along at all.
6. After you’re satisfied with your melody, look for the right percussions. A good way to make this step easy is to listen to your favorite hip-hop song with the exact tempo that your beat has for example and try and pay attention to the percussions only. You’ll notice that most hip-hop songs drums are repetitive but catchy. Once you know how you want your drums to sound like, go to Fruity Loops and browse into percussions section on the left of the screen under hip-hop and drag drums, snares, and hi-hats into your pattern that contains the rewiring. Then for each one of those percussions use your metronome to help you set up a tempo that your percussions must follow. Again this requires a lot of tries, and familiarity and like I said earlier the more you try the more you understand the process.
7. One error most beginners tend to make is using one single pattern that contains everything. Fruity Loops gives you enough space and an infinite number of patterns one could work on. Knowing how to generate the space Fruity Loops gives you is necessary because a professional beat maker would use up to 10 or more patterns for different instruments or percussions. For example you could set up a pattern for your guitar melody, a pattern for your drums, a pattern for your trumpet melody and a trumpet for your snares. You’ll notice the more you advance into beat making, setting things apart is important and it allows you to set up different volumes for different instruments just by using the mixer provided by Fruity Loops. Let’s say I have my drums in pattern 5 but for some reason it’s not loud enough. All I need to do is just look for the mixer then click on channel 5 then add some the volume until I feel like it’s adequate for my beat.
8. Finally when you’re done with your instrumental, make sure you use you mix everything and lay your patterns down into your play list. Listen to your beat over and over again or ask the closest listeners in your household to listen to it so they can give you their opinions. If you feel confident with your beat, click on “file” and export your beat as an mp3 file. Make sure you give it a name.

Tips

• The art of practise is what makes everybody better at anything. Just coz you cannot achieve a goal today, doesnt mean you should give up! Give it a lot of tries and I promise you, you'll make it!

Related wikiHows

• How To Become a Hip Hop Music Producer
• How To Make a Mixtape

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make an Instrumental on Fruity Loops 8.0 or Reason 4.0. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How to Produce Music at Home

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

With new technology, it is becoming more and more popular to make music at home. You can easily start producing without spending a fortune.

Things You Will Need

1. Computer: Since you are viewing this website, I don't think a computer is a requirement you should be too worried about. However, your computer should be fairly up-to-date. It should have at least 512 MB of RAM and a processor speed of 2.0 GHz or more. RAM is very important; the more RAM the better.
2. Digital Audio Workstation (DAW): This is just a computer software program that allows you to produce and sample sounds then sequence them. Don't feel intimidated...This is very easy to do. I use many different DAWs, but I recommend using FL Studio for beginners. If you get more into it, I recommend using Reason as well. A demo of FL Studio is available for download, and it can do EVERYTHING the full version can do except save your work....or....You can buy a synthesizer for $3000 that does everything....you might want to stick to the computer and DAW.
3. Sounds: You will definitely want a huge library of audio samples. VSTs are like virtual synthesizers. There are many different VSTs that produce all kinds of sounds. Google "free VSTs" and you will find many free VSTs; the better ones cost money. Soundfonts are files that contain different sound samples of instruments. You can find thousands of free soundfonts online. You can access thousands of free soundfonts at sf2midi.com but you have to sign up first (it's free) The only thing about that website is that they limit your download speed since you're a free user. Otherwise they have a great library of soundfonts. Propellorheads Reason uses its own proprietary "Refills" for sounds. There are hundreds of these available; each refill holds MANY different sounds.
4. External Hard Drive: As your collection of sound samples, soundfonts, VSTs, Reason Refills, etc. grows, you will need more memory to accommodate it. I bought a 750 gb hard drive for this reason and it's nearly full. If you want to buy one, I recommend buying one off of eBay; this will save you a lot.
5. Midi Controller: This is basically a keyboard (like a piano) that you use to control the note inputs in your DAW.
6. Audio Interface: This is basically a bridge between your midi controller and your computer. You could spend hundreds of dollars on an mbox, or you could spend $10 for a midi-usb adapter on eBay...go with the adapter. The only real advantage of the mbox is that there is a slot where you can add a microphone that runs on fantom power.
7. Microphone: A microphone is not necessary, but if you want to add vocals to your beats you will want one. Don't buy an expensive microphone. Buy a usb microphone, like the Samson CO1U. That's what I bought and it works beautifully. If you don't buy a usb microphone, then you will need to find an expensive way to connect your microphone to your computer.
8. Headphones: If you buy a microphone, then you will need headphones with which to listen to your beats while recording your vocals; if you play your beats out load while recording, you will get feedback.

Tips

• Search YouTube for videos on how to make beats. Try searching for "FL Studio."
• You can sell your beats. There are many websites dedicated to selling beats. Here are a few:
• Thebeattrader.com
• Givemebeats.com
• Beatswagger.com
• Buythatbeat.com

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Produce Music at Home. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How to Make Great Mix Tapes

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Making a any old compilation album is easy, but making a takes a real effort and a skill that only comes with practice. For many people a compilation of songs does not equal a mixtape. For many a mixtape is only a mixtape if it is actually mixed. Good mixtapes therefore only come from good DJs. Making a great mixtape takes the dedication of either a good DJ and/or a good audio engineer or audio software wizard. While there are many programs that now allow normal people to mix songs together automatically it still takes a good DJ to know how best to program the mixtape to build the energy and vibe of the music and know how to move people through proper song choice and proper energy build ups and break downs.
A great mixtape will take you on a ride, keep your excitement throughout the entire mix and make you want to listen to the mixtape over and over again. A great mixtape will stand the test of time and still be listenable long after the songs on it have lost their popularity, because a great mixtape is more than just the sum of its parts, it's an overall experience the DJ creates with their remixes, blends and overall style of mix. To learn how a great mixtape is created read the steps listed below.

Steps

1. Listen to other great mixtapes as inspiration and to get an idea of what you can be accomplished.
2. Decide on a theme or overall style of music you want on your mixtape.
3. Collect the music you want on your mixtape. You might already have all the music, but isolating the music in One folder or One place is essential to keeping yourself focused on only what you really want in your mix.
4. Organize the music by BPM range (beats per minute) so you can visually see which songs are within beat match mixing range of each other.
5. Start off with a strong energetic vibe and a medium to fast pace and continuously build the energy throughout your mix.
6. Save slower songs for later on after you have established a rapport with your listener. While it may be customary for DJs to start off nightclub nights slower and gradually build up the energy as the night goes along, on mixtapes it's essential to grab the attention of the listener early on, so start with medium high energy songs and build the energy and pace up to at least the half way point on your mixtape before breaking it down to slower songs and rebuilding the energy again with the slower paced music.
7. Make sure every mix is flawless and as perfect as you can make it. If you messed up a mix and it sounds like a train wreck, go back and redo your mixtape or redo the part you messed up. No matter how good the rest of your mixtape is if you have jacked up parts that's all anyone will remember.
8. Be creative with your mixing, take out and bring in songs in various ways, scratch out of certain songs, mix in acappellas and instrumental blends, create your own remixes.
9. Pay attention to how certain songs react with other songs. Make sure the last words from one song matched up perfectly with the first words of the other song to almost create sentences and phrases that makes sense with each other. I.E. on The "Badder than Bad" you may have Michael Jackson's "Blame It On The Boogie" going into "Dancing Machine" where "Blame It On The Boogie" ends with "My baby's always dancing" which I sampled and looped to continue saying "always dancing, always dancing, dancing, dancing" leading right into the first words from Dancing machine "Dancing, dancing, dancing, she's a dancing machine" This way the songs don't just match beat wise but they match conceptually as well. These kind of creative mixes will help make your mixtape a great mixtape and help it stand out from other mixtapes out there.
10. Do a quick 3-4 song practice run to get yourself warmed up and test out your first few songs and test out your volume and equalizer settings. If you don't like how the mix sounds or how the songs work with each other change things around. Also use this time to modify your EQ settings and volume levels til they sound perfect. No matter how good your mixtape mixes are your mixtape will never be a great mixtape if your mixtape sound quality is not as good as it can be.
11. Once you get started don't stop mixing until you just can't anymore, even if you mess up, it's good practice to keep going so you can at least listen to your first pass and then decide what you want to do different the next time. You may decide to just redo the same exact mix with maybe One or two songs changed out or simply decide to change the places where you start or stop a mix.
12. Try creating it in parts. Creating a mixtape can be a long endeavor, and during the process you may want to change directions. It's Ok to create it in parts. Create One half on One day listen to it decide on the direction you want to go with the second half then create the other half on another day.
13. Try it in several tracks. If a mix you want to create is too complex to do in One pass separate it out to several tracks and do it in Two or more passes. I.E. Record, then go back and rerecord over your original recording on a seperate recording track. (you will need multi track capabilities for this as offered in 4 track recorders or on Audio production software like Cubase, Sony Acid, protools etc).
14. An alternative to multi track recording is to pre create your remixes before making your mixtape. Then all you have to do is mix your already made remixes. Or create edits of songs that have an acapella trail out or an instrumental trail out instead of having them end the normal way.
15. Listen. When you are finally finished recording your mixtape mix, it's time to go back and listen to the entire mix and note what you might want to add at certain points in the mix.
16. Go back through your mix and add in a few scratches if you want, also add in your theming if need be.
17. Add in your tags every few songs. Adding your name into your mix is an important step that ensures that no other DJ can claim your mixtape mix as their own. This step also ensures that people know who created the mixtape and if you also include your website in a few of your tags they will also know where they can get it from. This is especially important if people will be using your mixtape to play at parties, for outings in the car with friends or for social functions or during the early part of nightclub nights where others will also be listening. Some DJs over do this and it becomes blatantly annoying. Don't yell your name over songs, only put your name tags over instrumental beds and quiet parts or transitions, most importantly don't yell over the lyrics of a song!
18. Make sure your name tags are also mixed in properly. Don't have them way louder than the music, they should not detract from your mix but sound like they belong and are part of the overall mix.
19. Along those same lines make sure your final output volume is as loud as it can be without distortion or skipping. For Cassette tapes this meant going above the 0db (0 Decibel) line by maybe a +1 to +2 red zone. For Digital production onto CD however this is not the case. You must keep yourself below the 0 db or you will distort and have pops or skips on your CD. The optimal range is -2db to -3db for your overall sound and maybe peaking a few times at -1 or -2db on your loudest sounds. That means bringing up your music to consistently hit this range and occasionally letting a few things go just barely above that.
20. You can use a Compression to bring up the lowest points in your music to a level that can be heard a little easier but don't over do it with compression settings as this will take away the natural highs and lows experienced with quiet parts and loud parts of your music. You want your soft quiet parts to be heard but still be distinguishable as a quiet part of a song. If you bring up the quiet parts too much and reduce the loud parts too much it makes for a bland and dry mix that has no ups and downs in sound and emotion.
21. Save all your settings then produce One master disc, listen to it on several different audio systems, including your car, your home audio and a few friends audio as well as your home studio or music studio's audio system to make sure the sound quality is where you want it to be. If there are a few things that need to be tweaked like adding in a little more Bass or a little more midrange etc go back and add the settings to correct the sound and create another master disc, repeat this process until you have it sounding the way you want it.
22. Track and chop it. Once you have your mixtape sounding the way you want it's time to track it out and chop it up into separate tracks. Since this is a continuous mix you will have to manually insert track markers and export each marked section into a separate track. This process will be different for each program. In Cubase you manually have to write in the start and end times for every track and make sure that you use the same exact numbers from the end of One track as the number that begins the next track. Make sure you write down the start and end times of each track in case you have to do anything more than once and also to ensure no mistakes are made during this crucial step.
23. When all the tracks have been created you can put them back together in your Audio Disc burning software and burn them onto your new Tracked out Master Disc. Remember that this is supposed to be a continuous mix with no pauses or gaps, so make sure you have your CD burning software set to do a gapless album. Tell the software not to insert any gaps between tracks.
24. You will also want to create One version of your mixtape that is just One super long entire track that you can use to send as a download copy for I-Pods and Mp3 players as well as for use as an online promotional tool.
25. For your master disc you will also want to set your burning software to its slowest most accurate setting. Copies can be made full speed but your master disc needs to be burned as slow as possible to reduce the chance of small errors that will the be copied to all your other discs. Also make sure you burn more than One copy of your master disc direct from the program.
26. Listen to your master copy if there are small skips or glitches that are consistently in one spot you will need to go back and re-export whatever track they are on and then burn a new master disc with the new version of the fixed tracks.
27. Duplicate. Once the master is as good as it is ever going to be it's time to start duplicating your CDs. You're best bets are professional duplication or either owning or knowing someone that owns a professional 11CD duplication tower or automatic CD duplication machine. Trust me burning CDs One at a time is way too time consuming and ineffective.
28. Have a professional design Having a professional designer design your mixtape is another ultra important step that will help you stand out from the non serious mixtape DJs and make sure you project a professional image with every mixtape you sell or hand out.
29. Market your mixtape. Marketing your mixtape is the next logical step. If you believe you have created a great mixtape that is newsworthy, then it must be heard. Send it to local and national magazines, websites, blogs and newspapers that are at least slightly related to your style of music, to DJs r to the mixtape industry in general.
30. Get out there and hustle, hustle, hustle.

Tips

• If you can't stand to listen to your own mixes more than Once don't expect others to. A great mixtape can be listened to over and over without getting tired of it.
• Professional printing is not cheap but Once you go past a hundred copies home printing becomes more expensive than just ordering a bulk amount of professionally printed CD inserts. Being Cheap will cost you more in the long run. If it's a worthy mixtape get the CD inserts professionally designed and printed.
• Your mixtapes are like your own personal progress chart, you should be improving with each mixtape. If they are getting worse instead of getting better then you need to practice your mixing more often and improve your skills as a DJ and as a mixtape maker.

Warnings

• If you don't like a song don't add it just because it's popular. You'll probably hate your own mixtape if you do this, and as time goes by that One song you hate will lose it's popularity and you will be stuck wondering why you added that song in the first place.
• Don't slam songs together, learn how to properly beat match and mix your songs together.
• Gunshots and yelling are not transitions, real mixtapes are mixed with real song blends and real transitions.
• Don't jump around from fast song to slow song back to fast song again without a good reason. Learn to plan out your mixes so you can keep building song speed gradually by beat matching them. Then when you reach a certain point where you feel you are ready to start adding in the slower songs do so by dropping down the speed with a well planned transition or skit. Only drop down in speed one time then gradually build the speed back up from there.
• If you are not mixing and blending the songs together you are not actually making a mixtape but are making a compilation. Learn the difference and make sure you only make real mixtapes.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make Great Mix Tapes. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How to Set up a Portable Recording Studio

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

The holidays, huh? The time with family and time of joy. That means locking up the studio. Now, YOU can have your own recording studio on the go!

Steps

1. Buy a laptop. Buy a laptop that is portable.
2. Buy a usb microphone. USB Microphones are good for portable recording
3. Get some headphones. Studio headphones are the best.
4. Get a DAW or Digital Audio Workstation.
5. Make sure that any software or drivers are installed on your computer
6. Set up everything and you are good to go!

Warnings

• If you are recording in a car, be careful with your equipment. There is a high chance that stuff will fall down or get knocked over on sharp turns.
• Make sure where ever you are recording, is soundproof. If not, make a Porta-booth created by Harlan Hogan.

Things You'll Need

• Laptop
• USB Microphone
• Headphones

Related wikiHows

• How To Pick A Computer For Your Recording Studio
• How To Build A Home Studio For Recording Music On A Computer

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Set up a Portable Recording Studio. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How to Pick a Computer for Your Recording Studio

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

The recording software is where you control the majority of the recording process. Here you can trigger recording and playback processes, manipulate recorded audio with effects, mix and master your songs and do many other things. Therefore, it is imperative that you purchase a computer that is good enough to comfortably run the program(s) you will be using to make music. In this article I will show you how choose an appropriate computer for your home studio.

Steps

1. Take things into consideration. Preliminary considerations are as follows. Do you plan to record, say, a big band or a small acoustic act? This will determine how many tracks you need the program to be capable of processing. Some programs, such as the latest version of Steinberg's Cubase support unlimited tracks.
2. Do you want access to lots of effects that you can apply to instruments and voices(e.g. reverb, echo, distortion)? Keep in mind that the more expensive software packages may come with better quality effects.
3. Perhaps you will want to add some third party effects, plugins, or mixing tools; this will require VST support.
4. Consider Price. How much are you willing to spend? If you are just starting out and are unsure about whether you will lose interest in recording, then perhaps it would be a good idea to invest in a basic version of (Cubase, for example) a recording software package. Or, better yet, you could try free software such as Audacity or Kristal. Free software is a wonderful way to get to grips with the basics of producing music.
5. Once you have decided on your recording software, it's time to consider which operating system you would like to work on. The software you choose may dictate the operating system you must have. Or maybe even your preference or familiarity with one will be the deciding factor.
   • In the recording industry, Macs are usually considered the standard on account of their reliability and stability. Unfortunately, you have to spend more to get a Mac of the same specification as a PC. If you're on a budget, a PC is most likely the wisest choice.
6. Make sure you have a strong CPU. For most home recordists, the majority of the processing goes on inside the computer. You can never have a processor that's too fast; adding more processes requires more power to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
7. Have as much RAM as you can afford. The more RAM you have, the more your computer will be able to handle in the way of plugins, effects and so forth. It will also help your system run faster for reasons that I will not get into (see the computer information page if you would like to get into the details).
8. Have Hard drive space. This is another important consideration. Recording music requires takes up a lot of space; one song can occupy a few gigabytes of hard drive space. Therefore, get the biggest hard drive you can afford, or keep in mind that you can always add an external hard drive or two later on. Also, a fast hard drive will reduce the chances of unwanted pops and clicks during recording and playback and somewhat speed up your computer's processes; a 7200 rpm hard drive is recommended.

Tips

• Base your computer purchase/build on the requirements of the software.
• Tally how much you are willing to spend with your enthusiasm.
• Do you have an aptitude for computers? Perhaps you could build your own.

Warnings

• If you choose to make your own computer, be careful of static electricity and wear a wristband.

Sources and Citations

• This is an excerpt from the "Recording 101" series on http://www.homerecordingtutorials.com.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Pick a Computer for Your Recording Studio. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How to Build a Home Studio for Computer Based Music Recording

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Making and recording music is a fun and rewarding experience! The only prerequisites to this tutorial are having a computer and being musically inclined.

Steps

1. Write a plan of what you want to do. Do you want to build a recording studio? Is it a singing booth? Is it an engineering booth? Is it for computer based music production? Knowing what you want before you start can help you decide which equipment you will need.
2. Acquire the appropriate equipment, such as: amplifiers, microphones, mixers, electric instruments, cables for connecting it all together. A modern computer built or purchased within the past past 3 years should be sufficient. If possible, acquire a working high-quality soundcard, such as an M-Audio Fast Track Pro or DigiDesign Mbox 2 Mini. Creative Labs DOES have a Pro Music line called EMU. I'd recommend a 1212M PCI system if you were going to go that route. Monitor speakers are helpful if you are looking to stick with this for more than a hobby. I recommend the M-Audio Studiophile BX8a's, KRK RP-8 Rokit, or if you've got money to burn, the Mackie HR824 Studio Monitors. If you're into hip hop, techno, or dance music, a set of turntables will be needed to record your sets or scratches on the fly. A MIDI Keyboard will be useful if you want to use midi software (which you can use to write bass lines, piano parts and drum beats) Nothing fancy is needed, but each person will have their own preference.
3. Buy or download music-editing software for your PC. The following are recommended Reason, Cakewalk Sonar, Pro Tools (comes with Mbox 2 Mini), Cubase, FL Studio, Adobe Audition, LMMS or Audacity. If you have a fairly new Mac, it will already have GarageBand preinstalled. This will work well, although if you want to be more professional you can also buy Logic. Play with it, learn the keyboard shortcuts.
4. Connect everything up. This is where most of the genius (and perspiration!) comes in. In general, keep it as simple as possible. For best playback quality run from the sound card into a mixer or amplifier and then to your monitor speakers. For best recording quality, run instruments/mics into a mixer(make sure you are getting a clean, clear, undistorted signal) then run from the mixer into the sound card.
5. Learn how to record a sound from an input line and how to arrange pre-recorded sounds. Also learn how to turn an arrangement into a .wav or .mp3 file. (After all, eventually we want to make a CD with all this awesome music!)
6. Select a room in your house. Sound-proof it if possible. If not, try to use special carpet or insulation that can at least reduce external noise.
7. Start writing simple tracks. Start off with a drumbeat. Add a bassline or piano or vocal track. Start mixing. Explore! It's all about experimentation. At the beginning, you don't have to write a masterpiece - just focus on having fun!
8. If you have trouble with any of the above, pick up a Mixing / Studio Book. It will help you understand the underlying concepts needed to keep you going for a lifetime.
9. Once you've learnt the basics, start breaking it down. Lay a bunch of tracks together. Experiment with processed effects. Experiment with plugins, loops, new hardware and anything else you can get your hands onto.

Tips

• It's also helpful to have a raw sound-file editor programs. The best ones, such as Sound Forge or Cool Edit, are expensive, but Audacity has most of the features you'd be looking for and it's free.
• Good quality equipment, while expensive, will help the overall quality of the sound. Do your homework, and buy the best quality that you can afford.
• Use DI boxes where applicable to cut down on noise and interference.
• If you are using instruments like electric guitar with your DI box or plugging it straight into the sound card but really want the sound of your amp, see if you can get your hands on a microphone. Put the mic in front of the amp and plug the mic into the computer instead. If noise is an issue, most amps will also let you run a direct line from the amp into the computer, too.
• The first few recordings will not sound very professional. No matter what recording software you choose, you will have to play with the quality settings to achieve the sound you want.
• Get an extra hard drive, either internal or external, and don't use it for anything except sound recordings. Quality, uncompressed digital sound files take up a lot of space.
• If you don't have the money to throw at all of this right away, start with the basics. That way, you'll be completely familiar and comfortable with the setup by the time you have all the equipment you need.
• Remember, you system is only as strong as the weakest link. When looking to upgrade equipment, work out what the most important piece of equipment is for your system. Is it the sound card, the mic, the software or the computer itself?
• Get advice from your local music shop specialist. Sam Ash and Guitar Center usually have studio professionals who know what they're doing for the most part. If not, contact a local recording studio and ask what they have and then try to reduce down the costs to what you need.

Warnings

• As with all electrical equipment, exercise caution with live cables, wires and speakers. Discharge static electricity when necessary.
• Make sure the mixer's main line isn't too hot! You'll blow your freaking eardrums out if you're not careful.
• Make sure you turn off phantom power before you unplug mics. You can ruin the mic and the preamp.
• Make sure you turn on the monitor speakers after you turn on everything else. This is to avoid the sudden occurrence of transient noise caused by significant variations in the signal path (like turning on the mixer). Such noise is potentially harmful to your speakers as well as your ears.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Soundcard
• microphone
• speakers
• softwares
• Midi Interface
• Crinjava

Related wikiHows

• How To Become A Music Producer
• How to Make a Beat in Fruity Loops 8 and Reason 4
• How To Become a Hip Hop Music Producer

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Build a Home Studio for Computer Based Music Recording. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Making music on the go is often times important because I always hear music in my head and if I can get it down on a track while it is still playing around, it is mine to keep forever unless otherwise copyrighted, in which I would probably never find out unless I received a subpoena.  As an artist, I create because I have to.  Something inside requires me to exhibit this form of expression.  What would I do without my MIDI controller keyboard?  I don't know.  The world is a better place with MIDI controller keyboards.  Before their conception, people with any desire to play a keyboard instrument had to go out and buy them.  There are thousands of different keyboard instruments varying in price from cheap toys to professional electric pianos to priceless church organs.  Each keyboard instrument has its own unique sound and feel, which were the two sole purposes for buying them.

Since the invention of computers and the amazingly talented software developers who pioneered the concept and application of virtual synths (recreating real instruments in software playable form) a special hardware device called a MIDI controller keyboard was born.  The MIDI controller keyboard is assigned a map of the virtual instrument so that when middle C is pressed, the program knows to play middle C for that instrument.  So today, when you want to get a new keyboard, you don't have to go out and buy a whole new keyboard, you just have to buy (sometimes virtual synths are free) the virtual instruments to use with your MIDI Controller.

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Formerly known as Fruity Loops, FL Studio is a Digital Audio Workstation developed by a Belgian company named Image-Line Software.  Image-Line prides itself by offering it's users lifetime support and updates for purchasing the program.  FL Studio is one of the simplest programs of its kind to navigate and get used to with its graphical user interface.  Drum patterns and samples can be placed into the Step Sequencer for the creation of quality drum loops.  With the Piano Roll, users can make any instrument come to life by placing notes along the track for playback.  When virtual instruments are plugged in, you may use a MIDI controller keyboard to record individual tracks in real-time or you may use the Piano Roll to place individual notes on the track.  The Playlist allows all of the parts you've assembled to come together.

At any point in the creation of a Fruity Loop track, the user has the ability to playback the creation at any point.  If the user wanted to just hear the drums he created during playback, then he would single out the drum pattern channel and press the play button.  FL Studio also comes with a Mixer for adding effects such as reverb, chorus and flanger, as well as balancing the audio for playback or export to any audio file type.  FL Studio also serves as a multi-track virtual audio recording studio.  Just plug in a mic, select your recording source parameters, hit record, start singing and FL Studio will pipe in your voice to its own separate channel.

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Reason

Reason is an advanced piece of music production software developed by a Swedish software company named Propellerhead Software.  The graphic interface of Reason is very in-depth and creative in regards to its design - you are basically staring on your computer at a music studio rack of equipment and hardware such as synthesizers, sequencers, mixers and samplers. What makes Reason such an advanced piece of software is its capability to use it to produce music as well as use it as a virtual instrument performing live while hooked up to an amplifier.

Although Reason lacks the capability to record and sequence external audio such as vocals and analog instruments, it does provide seamless integration into other sequencing software with this capability.  Usually people will use Reason along with another program such as protools or Cakewalk Sonar, in which tracks created in Reason can be imported into the sequencing software where external audio tracks may be recorded, mixed and mastered.  Reason is such a powerful music program that it still kicks the socks off of other music production software.  Most notably, the newest release of Reason, version 4, has three unique synthesizers, four unique sample players.  The most notable of the four is Redrum, a virtual drum computer based off of the classic Roland TR-808, not The Shining's "Red Rum".  This drum computer features usable drum kit samples of real drum sounds from studio produced drum sets.  No matter what you say, this drum computer is the best in its business because you can edit effects of each individual drum sound, create multiple patterns and use multiple drum kits at the same time.

Reason has a great mastering suite of effects from an equalizer, compressor, maximizer and stereo imager.  There are additional advanced effects for reverb, chorus, delay and distortion.  There is no reason why somebody wouldn't want Reason to make good, quality music.  If you're the type of musician that likes to create instrumentals, then Reason is the perfect fit.  If you need a great virtual drum machine to make fat beats, then Reason is also suitable because you can export raw WAVES and use these in other sequencing programs for laying down tracks of live recordings.

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