Best Software Setup for Cutting a Demo

What other apps and distros do you use to round out your studio?

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aeb105
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Best Software Setup for Cutting a Demo

Post by aeb105 »

Hi, I am currently using Tango Studio and have all the music recorders and such. RIght now I am trying to figure out the best way to streamline my music making process. I have guitar and lyric portions ready to go. I have a bass guitar that will provide the bassline with after I record the guitar track. Then I will put in the drums. I guess the best config might be to record guitar and bass in Ardour. And then bring those tracks into LMMS for the drumline and any special effects organ, etc. Is that what most people do? I am looking to cut a really nice CD or demo I guess.
slowpick
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Re: Best Software Setup for Cutting a Demo

Post by slowpick »

I would use a hydrogen drumtrack when laying down the guitar. It will be hard to
overlay uniform beat drums later. But the flip side is that tempo changes may be strongly
desired at times, and you will at times want/need to manually record beats, maybe by
midi keyboard connected to hydrogen in qjackctl.

By careful phrasing, and zoom-in/cut/paste/undo audio editing in audacity, you can use both methods.
It will be important to insure backround ambience is uniform or absent at the phrase breaks,
and that riffs don't carry over across the phrase boundaries that you will want to edit later.

If your song has for example, intro, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, verse, chorus, finale

you could create hydrogen patterns for intro, verse, chorus, bridge, and finale, using
select-all/cut/paste repeatedly to create 10 minute versions of each, so you can record many guitar 'takes' in a 10 minute recording, and keep the best ones. Do similar for vocals, while isolating
them on a separate track

Easy naming saves tedious searching! aaaSong-chorus aaaSong22chorus aaaSong33intro etc aaa means what you are working on always is at the top of file-requestors, and you can refer to 22, 33 etc (and easily remember) the good parts you'll want to retrieve.

Practice zooming in to a familiar songs' waveform in audacity, and re-arrange its parts by
cut/paste, then do it on one of your songs. I keep a notebook, and as the song plays,
I jot down the time of parts I want to move, remove, or apply fx to.

Never leave anything good on the hardisk, without a backup to CD, dvd, usbstick,
or external drive :wink:

Another consideration is whether to record dry, with fx added later, record with fx, or both at once.
Nothing is carved in stone, I don't record things I don't enjoy playing, so I use fx on, for
instant gratification, but perfectionists and pros may like/need the freedom of post-production fx,
and apply things later in full experimentation mode.
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Capoeira
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Re: Best Software Setup for Cutting a Demo

Post by Capoeira »

yu gotta find your own way. some people start with a guiding guitar and voice. some start with a guiding drums. It's like painting, make a draft with a pencil, than take the colours.
It's mostly trail and error.
aeb105
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Re: Best Software Setup for Cutting a Demo

Post by aeb105 »

So there is no way to have both Hydrogen and Ardour and play one and create with the other without syncing the tempo? I have all the guitar portions, just need to lay in the bass and drums. What is the media player in tango studio? Maybe I can just have that play the track while I use hydrogen to create the beat
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