I Want To Make Music
As an acoustic musician, I'd like to start learning more about recording and mixing my own material. So far I have no equipment of my own and a budget limited to a few hundred pounds. What are the absolute basics that I'd need to do some vocal or guitar recording at home? As I currently own a PC, should I be thinking of extending my budget and moving to Mac instead?
Chris Simpson, via email
For novice recordists, the cost of a setup can be kept low by home-made solutions like a 'coat-hanger and nylon stocking' pop-shield, and careful gear choices such as the Focusrite Saffire 6 (below), a good first interface for beginners.
SOS contributor Mike Senior replies: The good news is that a starter setup that will deliver respectable vocal and acoustic guitar recordings needn't set you back a tremendous amount of cash, especially if you already have a fairly modern PC. However, there are a lot of options available to you and it makes sense to find equipment that will remain useful to you if and when you expand the setup later on.
First off, you'll need a mic — the sound of a DI'd acoustic guitar doesn't usually cut the mustard in the studio, and most singers don't have a DI socket at all. (Plain selfish of them, if you ask me, but there you go.) A good first choice would be a large‑diaphragm condenser mic, and fortunately market forces have squished the prices of these in recent years, so there are some good deals to be had here. Out of choice I'd tend to gravitate towards established manufacturers with a history of R&D, and I'd also look for something with three polar patterns, too: omni and figure‑of‑eight patterns tend to sound clearer on budget mics and will also make the mic more future proof. A couple of recent mics that fit these criteria would be the Audio Technica AT2050 and AKG Perception 420 (retail prices are between £219 and £279 in the UK, but both are currently well under £200 on the street), and each has a decent shockmount included, which is helpful for keeping your recordings clean.
How can the answer be improved? Jun 26, 2012 Songwriter Ken Tobias began recording his own material in 1969 and over the next ten years released over 15 singles and four albums, including Dream #2 (1972), Magic's in the Music (1973), Every. The #1 music creation app. Join the music revolution now! Millions of people use Music Maker JAM to create, remix and share amazing beats and tracks across a wide variety of genres like EDM, trap, hip-hop, house, pop, rock, and more. We make music creation easy!
If the mic is primarily going to be for your own voice, see if you can try out a couple of contenders before you buy. Budget mics can be quite coloured‑sounding, and this can either work for you or against you, depending on whether that colour suits your unique voice. When auditioning, pay particular attention to 'S' sounds, as these quickly highlight high‑frequency harshness, something cheap condensers can be prone to and which causes problems with both vocals and acoustic guitars.
How To Start Making Music
Along with the mic, you'll need a stand and an XLR signal cable. The UK's Studiospares do a good basic studio stand at £12, and they also stock spare bits for it, which should help extend its working life. Their leads are good value too, and I'd recommend their £13 five‑metre mic lead, as it has solid Neutrik connectors that can be re‑soldered if the lead needs repairing. (For my money, cheaper leads with moulded connectors are a false economy because they can be difficult to repair.) You'll probably need a pop shield for vocal recording too, and although you could also buy one of those from Studiospares, a bit of nylon stocking stretched over an old wire coat hanger should be perfectly up to that task at this stage.
As far as your budget goes, then, you're looking at maybe a couple of hundred pounds for that lot in the UK, if you shop around, which does seem like a big chunk of your change gone already. However, that befits the fact that the mic is the most important thing in the setup — it's what actually captures the sound after all! Your next most important piece of gear will be what you listen back to your recording with. Given the budget and your likely monitoring environment, I think there's little point in investing in studio speakers at the moment, so try to get hold of a decent pair of headphones instead — probably a closed‑back pair that can also be used for overdubbing without spill becoming problematic. We did a big round‑up of the main headphone contenders back in January 2010 if you want to read a range of views, but my tip would be the AKG K240 MkII, which is an excellent monitoring option and, although it's semi‑open‑backed, it still seems to deliver low enough spill levels for most overdubbing purposes. Those retail at £138, but are currently more like £80 on the street.
If you've already got a PC, there's little advantage to be had in changing to a Mac just for recording purposes at this stage. Neither platform should hold you back at all. What you will need, though, is an audio interface to get sound in and out of the computer, and some software with which to record. The interface will need to have at least one phantom‑powered preamp for your mic and an output for your headphones, but there's a lot of choice here and I'd look for something that has both a second mic input and a dedicated instrument input socket. The Focusrite Saffire 6 USB, M‑Audio Fast Track Pro and Presonus Audiobox all offer these features and you should be able to get hold of any of them for around £120 if you play your credit cards right. They all also include free software bundles, including a 'Lite' version of either Steinberg's Cubase or Ableton's Live recording application. The new Alesis Multimix 4 USB is even cheaper (you can easily pick it up on-line for around £75), but doesn't appear to offer any kind of software bundle. For my money, a Cockos Reaper license (which you may have seen me using in the Mix Rescue column) is a steal at $60 and knocks any 'Lite' software version into a cocked hat as far as recording and mixing are concerned.
According to the back of my envelope, that lot should set you back a few hundred pounds. Not a lot when you consider that a good engineer could probably produce a commercial record with nothing else!
A familiar voice in the South Indian film industry, Ranjith started off with playback singing in 2002. Sixteen years and over 150 songs later, the singer talks to MetroPlus about his journey, independent music and his new single, ‘Pachondhi’.
You’ve been a playback singer for 16 years. How has the journey been?
In 2001, after winning a singing talent show, I thought I’d have offers to sing in films pouring in. But it took a year for that to happen. That’s when I started taking any opportunity that came my way. I was singing in the chorus for music directors like Yuvan Shankar Raja, Ilaiyaraaja sir, and Rahman sir. I wasn’t very confident about my potential as a singer. A la mala online. So, singing in a chorus was a safe zone for me. It gave me an opportunity to understand what a music director demanded from a singer and the concept of singing in front of a mic. That’s when I met Mani Sharma, my godfather. He’s the one who identified me from a group of five singers during a chorus recording. When he heard my voice individually, he asked me what I was doing singing in the chorus and gave me a song. That’s how I got my break.
Was playback singing your goal?
I’ve been training in classical music since I was a kid. But Carnatic felt alien to me I didn’t understand why I was learning it. It was my parents who pushed me to go for classes. They were particular about me spending one hour every day practising music. Today, I’m thankful for that because it gave me an edge when I entered the industry. I never saw myself in film music because it was a place for the legends. Winning in competitions gave me a boost and when I needed to pick a career path, I realised the only subject I was good at was music. So I decided to focus on that. I underwent vocal training and took music more seriously and it’s been constant learning since then.
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Has a lot changed in the music industry from when you started out?
Today, everything is social media-driven and anyone can become a sensation. So when kids ask me how to meet music directors, I tell them not to waste their time and to just put out their music. If your content is good you’ll have your own following and based on that, anyone would be ready to collaborate with you. If you have the talent, voice, and attitude, I believe anyone can make it today. Everyone gets a fair shot.
You’ve worked with so many music directors, how has your relationship with them been like?
I Want To Make Music Cd
Mani Sharma was the university I learned everything from. His studio was like a music factory with every room having some production going on. Yuvan Shankar Raja can only be described in one word — ‘chill’. Working at his place is casual and fun. Imman has a more serious work ethic. He’s a man of plans and sticks to them no matter what. When you work with him, you know everything is going to be perfect and structured. As a playback singer, I like to be the employee and have the music directors tell me what to do. I think with playback singing, your job is to deliver the music director’s vision. It’s like acting, but with your voice.
You’ve stepped into the independent music circuit by releasing your single. How did that happen?
All these years as a playback singer I’ve fulfilled other people’s musical vision. I felt it was time I did something that’s entirely me. With independent music, I’m trying to discover what I can do and the kind of music that excites me. I’ve always been fascinated with composing but ‘Pachondi’ was an accident. The idea struck me when I was with my friends in Yercaud and one of them was talking about a relationship gone bad. The phrase ‘you’re such a pachondhi (chameleon)’ stuck with me and I composed this song. A lot of people believed in it so that’s how we were able to release it. I’ve enjoyed the entire process of its creation so that’s the aim; to make music that excites me and hope people can connect to it.
I Want To Make Music For Tv
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