How To Record Your Music

I'm preparing to start recording some of my music... mainly for creating demo CDs and then possibly putting up some mp3s. What has me hesitating, is the several articals I've seen about EQ, compression, mastering, dithering, and lots of other technical stuff. (What the heck is dithering, anyway?)

For my purpose, is it necessary to do all the above? Or can I just record from my AK into my sequencer (PowerTracks), burn a CD, and forget all the "frills"? Thanks for any suggestions.

Glenn

Glenn....you may have to try several methods
I would try the easiest first and go from there...you might find you have it all and like what you got..as you said try from your
sequencer (PowerTracks) and burn it it may be just that simple....at the worst, you screw up 1 cd.....
Tony Rome

hi glenn, short answer EQ compression are what you use to enhance a recorded track (note NOT improve, a bad track will STILL be a bad track) mastering puts it all together for the final mix to CD, and dithering takes the recorded audio (which only applies if you record at higher than 16bit) and reduces it back down to the CD audio standard of 16bit.
hope that answers your question, there are zillio0ns of specialist audio forums and sites, including at PG music as well, so thats prob a better place for this sort of info..anyhoo l8r
dennis

peace, out

Glen:

If you are recording for demos there are at least two schools of thought. First, there are those who will tell you that you need masters. Next, there are those that will tell you that the music will speak for itself and that the record company or artist you are pitching your songs to will recut the darn thing anyway, the way they want to do it.

I tend to believe the latter. Lots of shark studios want you to pay through the nose so they can "master" a song for you.

Personally, I record straight from the PSR-2000 to a tape player. I make as many cuts as I need to make to satisfy myself that the work is ready to move forward. When I like what I hear, I record from the tape to a digital recorder. Next, I send the digital copy to the PC and edit and/or enhance the song (amplification/high pass/lowcut filtering/clip ends to keep song length within the magic 3.5 minute target, etc.) Finally, I send the finished product to the PC's CD burner or, as of yesterday, I send it to my Dell Digital Jukebox so I can listen to the result over and over again before I send the song to the CD.

Having said all this, I don't have a song on the charts yet. Hope this helps a little.

Rice (The Lone Arranger)

Glen,

This ain't neurosurgery! Just go to Record CD and follow the directions I posted. There's really nothing to it, you don't need to spend lots of money and the results are excellent. If you need help, give me a call and I'll be glad to walk you through the process.

Gary

I assume you mean a CD for giving to venues, not pitching original songs to artists. You can get plenty of quality just doing it the easiest way. The easiest being recording into a Nomad Jukebox or something like that. Actually, it might even be best because it would be exactly like you sound when you play live because you ARE playing live. Gary's link is easy enough, as well and will produce good results.

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Me Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

.
Good work choosing Power Tracks as your sequencer. It has a couple of hidden strengths:

1. The effects that come with it - compressor, reverb, etc - are all first rate. Try experiementing with the presets they provide and you will catch on quick.

2. It is has safety features that make it hard to crash and lose all your hard work.

3. The users' forum is populated by highly skilled and experienced users who can be consulted for great advice.

Good Luck!

Douglas Wolfe
Sacramento

Gary/others... you're right, not that bid of a deal. I'm just getting burned out with any kind of new learning curve - I just wanna play music. I'll go the direct PowerTrack route and see how things turn out. And yes, this is for new accounts, not for competing with major labels.

Glenn

Glenn,

Power Tracks will only provide you with an editable midi file--not an audio file. You must still convert the file to a .WAV file in order to make a CD for others to play on their CD player.

Additionally, if you're also going to do vocals, Power Tracks, at least the version I have, will not record them--just midi files. There are lots of good, multi-track, recording programs available that will do both.

Good Luck,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Strange?! I've owned PG Music's Power Tracks Pro Audio for sometime now (including earlier versions)& it's primary function has always been for recording-editing digital audio. With version 10, the audio-midi recording editing functions are now even further enhanced. New audio features include ASIO support, audio time stretching & pitch change, auto midi to audio conversion, & new DXI plug-ins. Though I also own & use Sonar 4, Power Tracks Pro Audio at $49 (imho) remains the BEST 'bang for the buck' Audio-Midi Sequencer out there. The main reason I still like Sonar 4 best is that it INCLUDES an 'instrument definition file' for all my keyboards, including the Yamaha Tyros. This means convenient plug & play midi recording access to ALL of the Tyros' sounds, not just the GM/GS & XG patches.

Scott

Scott, you're absolutely right on you PT opinion (IMO ). As for as tne instrument definition issue, it IS possible with PT... although possible not as readily structured as in Sonar. I think instructions are located in PG Music's FAQ on their website.

My question was primarily to find out how many are content with recording directly from their AK without bothering to then EQ, compress, etc., before burning the CD.

Glenn

Right you are. Here's the link : http://www.pgmusic.com/tutorial_ptwpatchmap.htm

I appreciate not having to go thru all this with Sonar 4.

Scott

My version of Power Tracks Pro 3.5 is like me--OLD, and came with Band In A Box 7.0. Acid Pro 4.0 does a great job and that's what I'm currently using. Within the next day or two, I hope to update my website with all new recordings, at which time I post the link for feedback from the good folks here.

Cheers,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

PG Music provides several keyboard/PowerTracks patch maps, including one for the Tyros:
http://www.pgmusic.com/support_miscellaneous.htm

Glenn

Glenn, Wow, cool! I hadn't realized there's a 'Power Tracks Pro Audio' custom instrument patch map file available for the Yamaha Tyros. MANY thanks for providing the link. This terrific revelation, PT's ability to add vocal harmonies easily, as well as new version 10 features (including ASIO Support) make PT-10 imo, more than 'well worth' the modest $29 upgrade price. I'm definitely upgrading right away. - Scott

PS: Glenn's above link also includes a Tyros 'instrument definition' file for "Band in the Box" as well. Just installed and it's wonderful to now have access (from both Band in A Box & PowerTracks) to ALL of the Tyros' terrific internal instrument voices now, and not just the GM ones. MANY thanks to Lanny Rosicky for both his work and generousity in sharing these files with the Yamaha Tyros arranger keyboard user community. - Scott