Sunday, May 26, 2013

What do I need and how much do I need to be able to record music in my house?

Q. I would like to start recording music w/ a laptop (singing + guitar + occasional piano). I've always heard of the macs and how great they are for musicians....but I'd like to hear some more opinions. Would buying mics/ video camera/ etc be better and more affordable? suggestions please.

A. There are so many answers to this question, but the first question to you would be how professional do you want your recordings to be and how big is your budget? A video camera is going to give you a very low end recording. There are a zillion software recording programs to use with computer recording. Probably the most popular right now is Pro Tools, but there are many others, each with it's own learning curve. There are also hard disk recorders that you can use independent of your computer and then transfer it to your computer is you like for editing. Many of these come with a built in cd drive in which you can master and burn a cd directly from the unit. Again, much like cars, there are the bare bones models and then there are the ones with all the bells and whistles. One thing for sure is that you need a really good mic and you need a fairly soundproof place to record vocals. A good mic can make or break a good recording. I have always been a pc person, though I have friends that swear by mac. I think it depends on what you are comfortable with because you can get great software for either. Do a little research before you invest a lot of money. You might try starting out on some used gear. Try ebay or your local music store. Good luck.


What are the best laptops for recording music/video?
Q. I would like to start recording music w/ a laptop (singing + guitar + occasional piano). I've always heard of the macs and how great they are for musicians....but I'd like to hear some more opinions. Would buying mics/ video camera/ etc be better and more affordable? suggestions please.

A. Wondershare Streaming Video Recorder is a powerful online video downloader which supports all popular protocol, such as HTTP, RTMP, RTSP, and MMS. Video sites like Yahoo, Google,MySpace, CNN, PBS, etc are all supported.

This Streaming Video Recorder can download online videos, online TV shows, online movies, live sports and other streaming videos. The built-in converter let you convert downloaded videos to MP4, 3GP, WMV, AVI, MOV, MPG for your iPhone, iPod, Cell Phone, etc.


What is a good video camera for recording loud music without distorting the noise?
Q. I'm in a rock band, and we would like to record us playing, so we can put it on youtube. We are looking for a VIDEO camera that can shoot good videos, but we want better sound quality. Budget is $200 or less. This, or a camera that has a "USB IN" thing so that i can plug a rockband mic into it

A. To get the very best sound quality for a music video, you should ALWAYS record the video and the music separately. Then merge and synchronize the music using a good audio/video editor and sequencer like Pro Tools.

But, if you insist on recording them together, you need to have a digital video camcorder that has an external microphone input so that you can plug in your own studio quality microphone. Better still is to have more than one microphone running through a mic preamp that feeds into the camcorder. The music should also be balanced correctly by running the entire band through a mixer and then recording the audio off of the mixer in stereo to the camcorder.

If your music is too loud, it's going to sound bad anyway. You can turn down the music and it not only sounds better, the people listening to won't have to shout at each other to comment on it and the musicians won't go deaf at an early age from damaging their ears with a constant barrage of excessive decibels. http://www.abelard.org/hear/hear.php#loud-music





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