Home PC Recording
With a vast array of sounds and samples available, creating your own compositions couldn't be easier with the help of a music editing software.
These days, anyone with a home PC and some freely available software can make music. This doesn't mean that the tone deaf will be instantly cured, but if the enthusiasm is there, there's nothing to stop any of us from recording an original song that sounds as professional as anything played on the radio.
In this issue, we'll explain the various ways of recording music on a home PC and finish with a Workshop that shows how to create a piece of music from scratch using free samples and software. We're going to talk about making music on a computer, but this doesn't mean to say that your creations need to sound like computer music. The beauty of modern samples, loops and software synthesizers is that they can actually sound as though they are real instruments being played by real people.
In the case of loops and samples, this is because many of them are real instruments that have been recorded by musicians in a studio and then organized into little chunks so that those of us with less natural talent can copy and paste them together to form original compositions.
In the case of software synthesizers, these include libraries of sounds that range from the deepest, darkest bass blips and pads right through to mandolins that would bring a tear to Captain Corelli's eye. So, let's look at the three main kinds of home recording setup.
If using loops is similar to creating a musical arrangement, the emphasis when using software instruments is on creating original music from scratch. This method usually involves playing a keyboard connected to a computer.
The computer runs a program called a sampler, which typically includes 100 or more realistic or synthesized instrument sounds. When you push a key on the keyboard, the sampler software creates a sound - this could be that of a grand piano, or something more exotic.
Using this method, you'll get superb, realistic-sounding instruments plus classic synthesizer sounds from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s; complete creative control over the instruments and what they play; and end-to-end digital quality. Sequencing software also allows a wrong note in a recording to be removed or even corrected.
The downside to all this is that this method requires some musical skill. It's also much more time-consuming than using simple loops and doesn't solve the problem of adding original vocals.
|