Music recoding sessions

[jexster]

Hey i am needing some one to point me into the right direction. This girl i know can sing really good and well considering i have no idea how much a real recording session cost i had the bright idea to see if i could get some recomendations on what to do so i can do it on my computer for her. Any ideas?

[DigitallyFascinated]

Hey i am needing some one to point me into the right direction. This girl i know can sing really good and well considering i have no idea how much a real recording session cost i had the bright idea to see if i could get some recomendations on what to do so i can do it on my computer for her. Any ideas?

First, to satisfy your curiosity regarding studio costs: I have been recording in full fledged pruduction studios for the past ten years, so I believe I'm highly qualified to answer this question. Generally, studios charge by the hour, with an average of anywhere from $65 - $150 per hour of recording time. Add to that the cost of renting equipment if necessary (instruments, special gear, etc), the possibility that you may also need to hire an engineer on an hourly basis, and you can easily get up to $300 per hour.

PC recording has skyrocketed in the recent years, and to be completely honest with you, studios like the ones I mentioned above are now utilizing PC based recording as the basis for saving, mastering, editing, and compiling audio (Pro Tools is the industry standard).

It depends on what your goal is with this recording venture you speak of that will determine which direction to take. If you're simply looking to record a few basic demos and don't plan on being too much of a sucker for quality, you can buy a fairly decent mic, load the instrumental on the PC, and use a program such as Cakewalk Pro to record a decent sounding song.

However, if you're talking getting REALLY serious to the point where you can produce readio ready quality songs on the PC, then that's a whole other ball game entirely. The first thing to do is condition your PC for recording - RAM upgrades, hard drive partitioning, high quality sound card with several in/out ports and capabilitites, a nice condensor microphone with phantom power, VSB effect plug ins, - I could go on forever. It all depends on you, and what you are trying to achieve. The sky is the limit with PC recording right now. It's really about how big your pockets are, and how serious your intentions are, as well.

But again, you can make a decent quality demo by using some of the current software available like:

Cakewalk Pro, Saw Studio, Saw Pro, Music Center Live, Cubase, Sound Forge, Acid Pro - many others. Those should give you a good start on ideas.

Be sure your settings are tweaked in your PC's multimedia section under control panel, and make sure no fans or noisy televisions are running in the background when you record, etc.

A good site to check out for tons of articles, tips, and software information is: http://www.pcrecording.com

Hope this helps.

[jexster]

I will defintly be cheaking out that link and thanks for the respnose.But what kind of sound card do you reccomend i have a high end pc so im not worried about that part.Thanks again

[DigitallyFascinated]

For an excellent studio sounding recording, I'd have to recommend an Echo Mia sound card, or even hte new SOund Blaster Audigy 4. Then you're talkin' mega nice sounding recording takes that will have a clearity and sonic quality nearly picture perfect. I think you can get either of them for around $200 -$250.