Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bernard Stevens on June 27, 2012 at 6:08pm

Hey Marie, I will post that on facebook and ask some engineers I know, I'm more of a live tech myself! I will forward any thoughts to you! Take a trip to Buffalo soon! Bernie

Permalink Reply by Marie on June 27, 2012 at 6:27pm

Thanks! The trouble with engineers is that they know too much! Tell your friends that I need a recommendation for a someone who does not understand much more than line-in, line-out, record, and track (ok, maybe a little more than that). Sonar is way to complicated for me! Something user friendly that can take VST plugins and midi interphase would be great. I'll let you know the next time I'm in Buffalo. :-)

Permalink Reply by Paul on June 27, 2012 at 7:55pm

Hello Marie,

What you are looking for is a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). Audacity is a DAE (Digital Audio Editor). DAWs are used primarily for recording, mixing, and editing recordings and production. DAEs are used primarily for editing audio files like mastering the audio, cleaning the audio up, or things like that. I have never used Sonar but I can tell you that the two most frequently used DAWs in professional studios are Logic and ProTools. These programs are very involved and it takes years to really know what everything does. But you can purchase either of these and record some tracks and mix them pretty easily. Also there are plenty of youtube tutorials on both software that I can also direct you to or you can find them by searching on youtube. These programs are quite expensive but there is an open source DAW that is just as good as Logic or ProTools called Reaper. You can download a complete version of Reaper from the companies website and you will have the trial version of the software. This trial is unlimited so you really have the complete software for free. Since I use a mac, I prefer to use Logic to record, mix, and produce my music where it is pop, rock, dance, or classical. For me the interface of Logic is just more intuitive since I am used to the how Macs work and the program is made by Apple. All of these programs (Reaper, Logic, and ProTools) do essentially the same thing. The only difference is the interace (where things are and the color). But all of them have tutorials on youtube and you can figure that out. Here are some samples of my work that I can share with you.

http://soundcloud.com/paulsayed/graceinwindthepart3
http://soundcloud.com/atnightwesay/01-better-my-dear-at-night-we

Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Marie on June 27, 2012 at 8:29pm

Terrific information! I'll check it out immediately. Thank you. By the way, "All Night We Say" is wonderful. That's the type of electronic, trip-hop stuff I love.

Permalink Reply by Dominique Cleopatra on July 2, 2012 at 10:13pm

Hey Marie,

I used to have a blast mixing beats and recording my singing on a program called ACID 4.0 I know basically nothing about making music and was able to record several albums worth of very uh, experimental, electronica : )I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but it might be worth looking into. Best of Luck in your musical endeavors!