Question:
Home Studio - what is needed?
Hi All
I'm a complete newbie to this .... so please bear with me :?
I'm keen to set up a little studio at home - I want to be able to do the following:
- compose
- make arrangements and play back those arrangements with decent quaility
- record myself playing sax, either in isolation or as a track(s) on top of my arrangement
- burn CD for backing or demo purposes.
More amibtious ideas are include:
- recording entire bands - all together or as separate tracks and mixing/editing this to produce a professional quailty recording
- composing and producing music for commercial use (i.e. adverts, etc)
I am very computer literate, but ignorant on sequencers, samplers, midi, recording, mastering, mic's, synths, etc...
I would love to find a way to make music a career (just performing isn't viable here in South Africa) and suspect that I could be good at the above given a little direction. Right now, I am head of technology for the R&D unit of a mobile phone operator, but my hearts just not in it anymore - I need to start exploring my passion.....music.....don't mind if it takes me 5 years to get there, but gotta start somewhere right?
If anyone could suggest some good reading material on these subjects, I'd be most grateful :D
All i have at the moment is some saxes and a laptop? I figure I need the following:
- Studio software, like Cakewalk or Cubase?
- A PC with a good sound card (can i use the laptop?) with midi in and out?
- a decent mic - like a Shure?
- Midi keyboard - or do I need a workstation?
- do I need a external synth? or does cubase have its own software synth?
I know I'm biting off a lot here, but appreciate any help
cheers
Paul

Answer:
You've got the right idea. I'd suggest learning to make basic recordings at home, then branching out to remote locations and other more ambitious projects.
The basic setup is as you spec'd it:
- Studio software, like Cakewalk or Cubase?
YES
- A PC with a good sound card (can i use the laptop?) with midi in and out?
YES to both
- a decent mic - like a Shure?
YES
- Midi keyboard - or do I need a workstation?
KEYBOARD IS SUFFICIENT
- do I need a external synth?
NO, this only determines the quality of the sound you produce. You might be happy with your soundcard's sounds, if not you can upgrade to a soft synth or external synth.
- does cubase have its own software synth?
I don't know, check their website.
For further info and background reading, I reccomend Once you get going, there are several forums there where you can ask questions and exchange info.
Good luck,
fd

Answer:
fd - thanks for your feedback, much appreciated :D
I've bought a book called Digital Desktop Studio by Peter White - think this will give me a good start.
I think your suggestion of doing some basic homerecording is a good one - that way I can get into it quite inexpensively and see how it goes
Between Cakewalk and Cubase - which do u prefer? Is one easier to use than the other?
thanks
Paul

Answer:
Cakewalk is mor estable on a PC than Cubase. They both do the same job. Beware Software Synths as they take up limited system resources and the sounds really aren't that good, an external synth module willstand you in better stead in the long run.

Answer:
thanks bootman
are u using cakewalk sonar or is the homestudio product adequate?
i have a sony laptop PIII 650, 128 MB RAM - is this going to be adequate to drive this software, record multiple tracks, drive software synths, etc. or am i better off getting a decent new PC (or MAC?)
have a good weekend :lol:

Answer:
Paul,
Your laptop could possibly do you fine for small recordings of yourself. I would not trust that set up to do more than 3-4 channels at one time. There are a lot of things that come in to play when doing computer recording..
My suggestion would be to start off with something like this:
AMD 1.8ghz or P4 1.8ghz with 266 front side bus (System can be put together for less than $500 these days)
Hard drive 7200 RPM 40gig with 2+ megs ram
256 meg DDR
Audiophile sound card
A 2 channel preamp system either a Audio Buddy or a Presonus setup
With this you will have the option to expand leaps and bound over a laptop and a lot cheaper in the long run. The pc that I mentioned above should be able to handle 12-16 tracks when set up properly. The sound card I mention only has 2 channels in and out but also has midi. You woun't need anything bigger than that right now. You can always add another card to it like a delta 1010 or a Motu 896 when your ready that will give you multiple ins/out.
If your laptop has line ins (Not mic ins) you could get an audio buddy and some software and just start there. Audio Buddy is a preamp that you would need to have clean sound comming in.
In regards to software, Each company (Cakewalk, Cubase) puts out good tools. Interfaces are different and each user like something a little different. Both could easily get the job done.

I hope that is of some help to you.

Answer:
The system Shaun has itemised would be a good system for getting a lot of music composed/ recorded with. I was able to do huge things with an AMD 1Gb machine. There are a couple of other advanced features I would look at including.
A second fast 7200rpm hard drive for the music data and for your permanent swap file. This will speed your computer system up dramatically. Also add a big video card because any strain you can take of the CPU will give you better audio performance. A G-Force 4 64mb is more than adequate and even a 32mb version willdo nicely. It must be AGP.
I would also urge you to get a minimum of 512mb of Ram, the more the better as far as video or audio is concerned.
The audiophile is a good audio card but there are other options. Teh questions you need to ask are "will I be recording more than one instrument at once?" "to what end will I be using the recorded material?"
If you answered that you will be primarily recording yourself in a multi-track situation, then a stereo input audio card will do very nicely. If you answered to make cd's of yourself and sell them to the second question then I would recommend going for a decent quality sound card, a hardware synth and a sampler. This will be expensive but it can be done!
Drop me a line

Answer:
Bootman is correct. I was just trying to get you up and running with a very small investment. Remember this, you can always expand.

Answer:
Forgot to add, get yourself a mixing desk, 2 bus is ideal (basically means that you can send the sound to two different sources similtaneous). Behringer's are great desks and are available for a modest investment. They are also very reliable.
Shaun is correct. Bigger is always possible but you have to start somewhere. A lesser CPU and more Ram/ Hards drive will do you better in the long run than a faster CPU and less Ram.

Answer:
I don't have the master recording studio or anything like that, but I found a decent setup. My bro is going to school for music comp, and he turned me on to Noteworthy Composer. It writes and plays sheet music and it can also read and write MIDI, even convert MIDI to sheet music. Just go to
If you are serious about a career, I think it would be worth it to register. It's only about $40. I would get a mic to just plug into your comp. It's very easy if you record .wav files and convert to MP3. You can burn CDs from the MP3s if you want. I only have a built-in mic on my comp and the sound quality turned out fine on my recordings, you just want to make sure the line-in under the volume control is adjusted correctly, usually this means all the way up. Good luck!

Answer:
Thanks Guys
Would a 4 bus mixer like a behringer 1604a - - do the trick on the pre-amp side? - seems one can get these quite cheaply or is it better to get a dedicated pre-amp?
Apologies for the lame questions....I'm getting there.... the whole mic, preamp, mixer, sound card thing and that some contain the functionality of the other was confusing me.
As for a keyboard...I imagine anything cheapo thing with a midi interface is fine? I see there are some specialist keyboard intended for PC interfacing (USB etc), pretty cheap +- $300? any experience here.
Stayed up late last night composing (used BIAB actually - dead easy and fills in all the drums, bass, etc based on the quite decent styles). Then I exported it as midi and cleaned it up in Sonar - worked pretty well. Are there specialist programs for rhytm programming? I don't see anything easy to use in sonar?
thanks again...:)
Paul

Answer:
A Behringer 4 Bus 1602 would be more than adequate for a pre-amp for recording purposes. A good quality mic like a Rode NT-2 or Nueman or AKG will make a huge difference to how well the final recording sounds.
There is no really easy drum editing software, the piano roll style editor under Sonar works very well, it is identical to the Cubase style editor for drums.
As for a midi keyboard, any keyboard with midi in/out will do the job. A good quality keyboard with sounds can be useful too but this isn't essential. I use an older Ensoniq SQ-1 for this purpose.

Answer:
Paul,
I also wanted to set-up a small home studio few months ago and I am quite happy with my investment, you can check some of my recordings on my WWW site (and also links to vendors)
- Athlon XP1800+ processor
- ST Audio ADC/DAC2000 soundcard with external rack (8 inputs, 2 with pre-amp and phantom power for condenser mics)
- RODE NT-1 condenser mic
- CUBASE VST32 software (very comparable to cakewalk)
I just have to practice days and nights now ...

Answer:
Cubase is the way to go. Much more user freindly than cakewalk although steinberg customer support is somewhat lacking. I bought my system from a guy here in orlando at YRS midi. He gives me very good support and he can set up a system to fit your budget and guide you on cost effective equiptment. His name is George (407)331-6333

Answer:
Paul S
All of the recommendations here are very good, I would just like to add one more thing.
For you midi keyboard, it is true that any Midi compatable keyboard will work, but you would do yourself a justice by insuring that the keyboard is velocity sensing and aftertouch helps with some sounds, like a B3 organ.
Velocity sensing allows you to control the volume of the note inputed by the velocity in which you press the keys.
Non velocity sensing keyboards only play at one volume -- full -- so there would be no way to do a decent piano track.

Answer:
"Non velocity sensing keyboards only play at one volume -- full -- so there would be no way to do a decent piano track."
Well, no EASY way to serve up authentic, realistic piano! The necessary velocities can be (painstakingly) edited by hand! This can provide a more-than-decent product!
However, for organ sounds, no additional input is required or even desired if one wishes to stay true to the original instrument. All dynamics were supplied by the "expression pedal", and, of course, more or less drawbars enabled.
Still, a velocity keyboard IS a MUCH better choice.

Answer:
Selmer Fudd,
I have some organ patches that do the leslie thing when you press the keys down hard -- thus the recommendation for after touch.

Answer:
I'm keen to set up a little studio at home - I want to be able to do the following:
- compose
Any piano or electronic keyboard/synth/sampler/controller>pc.
- make arrangements and play back those arrangements with decent quaility
If you are not proficient at playing the keyboard - and moreover not familiar with the voicings and techniques of the instruments you propose to emulate, you may find something like Band in a Box suitable. This is an important point: knowing how to play a piano does not qualify one to emulate a violin part. It's going to sound like just about anything other than a violin. If you actually know how to play a violin and are familiar with bowing, plucking, and other techniques you might be able to passingly pull off the task. (The same applies to drawing dots on paper and declaring it to be a symphony).
- record myself playing sax, either in isolation or as a track(s) on top of my arrangement
A half decent mic. I've had good results with several in the $50-$100 range including the SM-57 standard and recently a Samson C01 phantom powered condensor that I bought from samash in a clearance for cheap. A pre-amp is mandatory, I use the Art Tube amp (original version, less than $100). This pre-amp is the best I am aware of in the under $500 bracket, and frankly beats many of the $300-$400 models that merely offer several otherwise useless features that should be dealt with outside the pre-amp itself anyway. A full duplex soundcard, preferably with a breakout box and latency optimized, I use a M-Audio Delta-44 (pretty inexpensive) at the moment. I usually only use 2 ins and 2 outs anyway, and the extra two ins are handy when friends stop by. For a full band, you'll need to get more inputs. I never chain hardware effects anymore, they are obsolete IMHO since I can now engineer my own in the software realm. Don't forget decent headphones. I have Sony MDR-7506 as the budget option on this. The model may be obsolete now, but there's likely something similar. Several of my friends use these also in their home studio, one preferring it over a pricey and much over-hyped AKG model costing thrice the price.
- burn CD for backing or demo purposes.
Most CD burners include software that will do this. Blank CD-Rs are cheap, and this is pretty much a no brainer for anyone at your local computer store. You're looking at under $100 here these days.
More amibtious ideas are include:
- recording entire bands - all together or as separate tracks and mixing/editing this to produce a professional quailty recording
As mentioned before, this is a big consideration in choice of interface to the computer. Also, the more tracks you record, the more processing power you consume. For particuarly large ensembles you may need to defer to a full fledged mixing console. Not to mention the need for more microphones, stands, and pre-amps. Unless you go to the extreme high end of consoles, you should avoid using built-in pre-amps for ideal results. Most of them are cheap $2 chip amps. Often the same ones you'll find in your portable consumer devices.
- composing and producing music for commercial use (i.e. adverts, etc)
If you need to synchronize to video, you'll need to integrate video into your setup. I'm not prepared to offer a dissertation on the subject at this time. Otherwise, it's the same as recording music for a demo. With more stringent terms.
- Studio software, like Cakewalk or Cubase?
Google a search for user reviews. Two very different beasts. I'm a sonar user and have used the cake platform since a very early non-audio version of the program many years ago. I am also about to convert due to VST vs Dxi (coming up)
A PC with a good sound card (can i use the laptop?) with midi in and out?
See above re: soundcard. The laptop requires hurdles, you can't just plug in a PCI card which severely limits your options. I'd opt for a dedicated desktop/tower. I built my own specifically for demanding audio applications.
- a decent mic - like a Shure? Shure, sure ... (above)
- Midi keyboard - or do I need a workstation?
No you don't need a workstation. They are overkill, I would never buy one and synths are my primary instrument. If you buy a synth go for the audio quality and variety of timbres, skip the sequencing/fx stuff, your computer can already do all that better and in a more user friendly manner.
- do I need a external synth? or does cubase have its own software synth?
Yes. This is the VST vs Dxi. Cakewalk is the direct-x plug-in variety and steinberg is the VST. A lot of people develop plug-ins for VST, more than direct-x, and many of these are either free outright or can be bought for a tiny fraction of what a real instrument would. This applies to both effects and instruments. I myself have been developing VST synth plug-ins using a shareware tool called synthedit.
This all said I have been a home recording musician since about 1986 when I started with two tape decks and a cheap department store variety keyboard. I'm a computer power user and have been using computers since the original IBM PC and the TRS 80, and the Apple-II. I even did some DecWriter patronage. Your learning curve and current skill at translating what I just said to plain speak should serve as a guage as to how far you'll want to take this. Personally, I say start small. Sure, I've got hundreds of things involved in my projects but I learned each one by one and as I said I've been at it for a while.

Answer:
On the cakewalk vs cubase deal. I use a program from PG music called powertrack pro audio -- I use 8.0 that is amazing, considering its a 30 buck software package.
Also, no-one has mention General Midi. Its true that it is nice to have a rack full of high quality synth modules, but a lot of people get good use out of a GM standard module.
I use a Korg X5 for a lot of my sequencing work. Its an inexpensive and easy way to get started -- as you build your sound libraries and modules.
Also, if you want to use a laptop, there are plenty of USB Midi connectors on the market -- some as cheap as 40 bucks.
Just make sure that your laptop comes with a soundcard with decent specs. If not, you can buy a PCM/CIA sound card, but they are more expensive than their PCI counterparts.
Oh, I recommend not worrying about a breakout box. Save the money that that costs and put it toward a good mixer -- like a Mackie.