starting my own studio

starting my own studio

got powerbook g4, using garageband at the minute, just bought a roland mc-303 groovebox, no idea what else to get next

any ideas/suggestions?
cheers

Re: starting my own studio

can you produce? i suggest learning it before you spend loads of money on stuff. Might be a big waste of money if you aren't very good at it.

cheers..
so what software is best to use? ive heard cubase and pro tools are very complicated,
and reason is the main option i've been looking at.
also gettin a m-audio midi keyboard to go along with it all.

i use cubase and love it, but may not be the best option for you, imo reason is fucking shit, the only sequencer that i think you should avoid, all the others are good pieces of kit, like fruity, logic etc...

cheers.. appreciate it..
had fruity loops for my pc years ago, (about 4yrs ago) didnt have aclue what i was doing, but now i have my mac i need proper software. coz i want to ge t into production.
not tried my hand at it yet, but got enought time and dedication to learn about it
(hopefully)

if you've got a mac get logic

i havent used it since i was 17, not touched it,
bought the roland 303 as it was cheap, 50 quid off ebay, a steal i thought. just to play about with.

You can use VST's with Reason, You just need to Rewire it into something like Ableton....its really easy, theres a big bit in the Ableton Manual which tells you how to Rewire.

Ive started using Ableton for making tracks recently and have found the results Im getting a much better than I ever got in Reason. Saying that, there are still loads of top notch producers who use Reason.

I could never get on with Cubase but Version 4 looks pretty good.

Still a few top notch producers use fruity!

The advice here is sound

Spend a couple of days finding some good quality samplepacks, theres loads about on various sites, amongst the shit there's some good stuff.

Then install a couple of VSTs for your sequencer.

I find z3ta+, albino3, spectrasonics atmosphere and vanguard are enough for most people wanting to produce trance... then just play about to create your own sounds.

If you don't want to buy monitors, get yourself a nice pair of FLAT headphones - not these DJ headphones which have enhanced bass etc.

Get yourself some mastering software such as Waves and learn to use it properly, compression, limiters etc etc

Teach yourself about the various effects that make you track sound better - stereo enhancements, reverbs, etc

Then just fuck about for a few years.

With the roland mc-303 midi it up so you can use it with either Logic or cubase. That way you can use the sounds within the Roland in tracks you lay down in the sequencer.

I would say its better just to start off with logic/cubase/ableton re-wiring reason/vst's through it and use the roland and a midi controller to start with.
Buy some books or attend a course/Blag a good producer so you have an idea of what your doing with rewiring/mastering/compression/automation etc.

Good headphones/moniters i would say are also needed or you will not get a clear idea of what the track should sound like.

Plus ask people loads of questions, Ive learnt so much about compression/eq'ing/producing tracks from people who have been doing it for years

i don't use them, crappy pc speakers for me, imo unless you gonna spend loads and get like some mackies, you won't really see any benefit,because the budget ones don't really off much flater frequency response.

I was recommended the budget ones below by a professional recording artist/music producer

http://www.dv247.com/invt/27074/

they are poor mate.

For starters they have a bass enhancer, which is pointless on monitors, secondly it doesn't tell you what the +/- dB frequency response is so, it must be poor if its not ones of its selling points.

I'd steer clear of them if i were you.

m-audio bx8 = the daddy

The bloke who recommended them produced alot of the Global Underground albums and owns Loft Studios in town so i trust him (not saying you're speaking bullshit but he knows his stuff)

having tracks on albums doesn't make you the expert on monitors, its all about how flat the frequency response is from 20 hz - 20khz, and you don't need to know the technical aspects of monitors to create good music, your mate may think they sound nice, but sounding nice and having an accurate representation of the sound are very different things.