These days, with computer power on the rise and very affordable hardware.Contributed by David Jiang for the Roland Australia BlogIf you want to get started in computer music production, there are four essential pieces of studio equipment you’ll need: Not long ago, studio quality recording, mixing and were only in reach of those. Voltage Modular Ignite (included in Mixcraft Pro Studio) requires 64-bit Windows and 64.RAM is the most limiting factor on the amount of tracks and plugins you can run at one time. If you want to record with large track counts and many plugins, try and aim for at least a decent quad core CPU. A CPU with a higher core count deals better with more processes running simultaneously. However, three things will determine the maximum workload capacity of your system. Even cheap desktop and laptop computers should be able to handle a recording project from recording through to mix and mastering. Monitors or Headphones (preferably both)To get into computer music production, the first thing you’ll need is not surprisingly, a computer.
Using them while recording can lead to crashes. This is because external drives have slower read and write speed. If you can, try to record to an internal hard drive. The more hard drive capacity you have, the longer you can record for. At the time of writing, 8 GB of RAM is the minimum you will need for a decent recording system, 16 GB or more is better. If you’re confused, don’t worry. As long as you take good care of your computer and make sure to run regular virus scans (yes, Macs can get viruses too), you’ll be fine.How To Integrate Multiple Devices On Your Mac DAWThe next thing you’ll need to decide when getting into computer recording is what Digital Audio Workstation or DAW to use. Go with the platform you are most comfortable with as it doesn’t make a lot of difference. There is nothing worse than losing all of your work because of a faulty drive.You may be asking whether to get a Mac or PC. Always back up your projects to external drives. Minimum Requiremments Recording Studio Free Trial PeriodHere are some of the more popular DAWs with a brief explanation:Pro Tools (Mac and PC) – Pro Tools is the “industry standard” DAW for recording, mixing and mastering. If you want something with a bit more than just the basics, most DAWs have a free trial period in which to try them out. There are great free options like Ardour or Podium Free that come with all of the basic tools you’ll need to get started. However, don’t fret if you’re on PC. If you have a Mac then you’ve already got a powerful piece of recording software on board with Garageband. InterfaceSo you’ve got your computer and DAW sorted. Quite a few DAWs have tutorials built right into their help sections, but if your DAW of choice doesn’t, YouTube, recording magazine websites and DAW communities have some great beginner to advanced tutorials that will get you up and running in no time. It is one of the few DAWs that records at extremely high sample rates such as those achievable with the Roland Super UA interface.Once you’ve picked which DAW you want to try, the next step is learning how to use it. DJs and performers make use of its unique session view to launch audio clips at the push of a button.Reaper (Mac and PC) – Reaper is another DAW that is a solid choice for recording, mixing and mastering. Logic has excellent MIDI editing capabilities and is useful in theatre production when combined with its sister program, Mainstage.Ableton Live (Mac and PC) – Ableton Live is a DAW with a large emphasis on live music production. One of Pro Tools more handy features is the ability to manually edit audio wave forms within the track view, rather than having to export it to another program.Logic (Mac) – Essentially the big brother of Garageband and another solid choice for studio recording, mixing and mastering. Single space a table in word for macMonitors and HeadphonesThe final piece of the production puzzle comes in the form of monitor speakers and headphones. Check out Simon Ayton’s article for a rundown of what interface is right for you. While you definitely can record with just the internal sound card built in to your computer, you will run into issues with crashing and latency (the amount of time it takes for a sound you record to transmit to your computer and back out to your headphones or speakers), especially once you start getting into higher track counts. There are a huge range of studio monitor speakers and headphones available and the only real way to find out what will work for you is to go in to your local store with a piece of music you know inside and out and have a listen. Therefore, what we’re looking for here is a wide range of reproducible frequencies and as flat of a frequency response as possible. In music production, we value clarity and the ability to hone in on problems in your mix. However, for mixing you want to know what the music actually sounds like. However, to really tweak your mix and get a feel for how it will sound you definitely need a pair of monitor speakers set up properly in a decent room.Consumer speakers and headphones make music sound good and add “vibe” to certain frequency ranges. It is also important to listen to how noisy the speakers or headphones are when they are silent.Which Headphones Are Right For Me? All set to goOnce you have your Computer, DAW, Interface and Headphones/Monitors sorted, you are ready to delve into the world of computer music production. Listen to see if you can pick out how the note decays into silence. Try and pick out individual instrument lines and pay attention to the end of notes.
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