Having your own home recording studio is one of the biggest advantages you can provide for yourself as a musician.  In this 7 part report on setting up your own home recording studio, we are discussing some of the technical specifications and advantages to necessary recording equipment.   As we arrive at Day 5,  it is time to discuss the necessary software your computer should have to record music from your home recording studio.

As we have mentioned before, the modern advances of technology have provided many outlets for new music to be developed.  Software is no exception.  With the appropriate software installed on your computer, you can eliminate the huge amount of hardware that used to be required for recording audio.  From freeware to expensive software suites designed for specific purposes, the software available for home recording enthusiasts offers some great options.

Free is always a good thing, especially when you are just getting started.  Believe it or not, if you are a Windows user, one of the best applications for recording your music may already be on your computer.  Windows Media Encoder is an application that offers the ability to record and save your music in the wmv format or stream the recordings via web server for live broadcast.  The bitrate and quality can be adjusted to meet your specific needs.  While the Windows Media Encoder may not be as fully featured as some of the paid software suites, the advantage of being readily available on most machines and not costing any extra money is a definite selling point.

There are many great freeware applications that do an excellent job of recording audio but sometimes you just want options that freeware may not provide.  If you choose to take things further, paid software suites are available with all kinds of bells and whistles to turn your home recording studio into a professional sound studio.  When you choose any software application, especially paid applications, it is important to consider a few things to make sure you get the most for your money.

Recording Formats -  Does the software record in popular formats or will you be required to use a format converting program to make the recording useful to your fans?

GUI -  The Graphical User Interface is the part of the program that you interact with.  Choose a program with a simple GUI that you can make sense of and you will be much happier than if you choose one with hundreds of adjustments that you don’t understand their functions.

Features -  Software is only as good as it’s features and if it doesn’t have the particular feature you are looking for, then it just isn’t worth the money.  When shopping for audio recording software, make sure you get features you need now or think you might even possibly want to use in the future.

Two more days are left on our seven part discussion.  In the next segment, we will discuss the editing software you will need to make your home recordings sound their best.

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mcpherson MG 4.5 guitar at www.guitargal.com. Paua Rosa back and sides. Played by Markham Brown at Guitar Gallery in TN

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Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

Alex Chilton, singer and guitarist of Big Star, one of the most influential rock groups to emerge from the early 1970s, has passed away at the age of 59. Chilton reportedly suffered a heart attack today in New Orleans, just days before Big Star were scheduled to perform at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. Chilton had been complaining about his health earlier in the day, and was eventually taken to a New Orleans hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Big Star drummer Jody Stephens confirmed Chilton’s passing, Memphis’ Commercial Appeal reports. “Alex passed away a couple of hours ago,” Stephens said. “I don’t have a lot of particulars, but they kind of suspect that it was a heart attack.”

Chilton began his musical career in his teens as a member of the Box Tops before returning to his native Memphis to form Big Star with guitarist/co-songwriter Chris Bell, drummer Jody Stephens and bassist Andy Hummel. Blending power pop with the sound of the Beatles and the Beach Boys, Big Star were critically acclaimed but largely ignored commercially. In their short time together in the early-’70s — though Bell exited the band after #1 Record, Hummel after Radio City — Big Star only released three studio albums, but what three incredible albums they were: 1972’s #1 Record, 1974’s Radio City and 1978’s dark but beautiful Third/Sister Lovers all placed on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and their classic tracks “Thirteen” and “September Gurls” both made the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Read David Fricke’s review of Big Star’s last New York City concert here.

While they only lasted a few years, Big Star’s impact continues to reverberate decades later. R.E.M. and the Replacements both named Big Star and Alex Chilton as major influences, and the Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me features a song titled “Alex Chilton.” Chilton became a cult musical icon, and artists as diverse as Beck, Wilco, Elliott Smith, R.E.M., Cheap Trick, Jeff Buckley, Garbage, Bat For Lashes and Whiskeytown have covered Big Star’s songs. Renewed interest in the band’s music led to a reunion of sorts in the early ’90s and a new album in 2005’s In Space, which featured two members of the Posies, Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer. Just last year, a box set celebrating Big Star’s entire catalog, Keep an Eye on the Sky was released.

“It’s not like I’m a ‘big star’ constantly getting noticed, but I do get recognized,” Chilton told Rolling Stone in 2000 of the fame that eluded Big Star during their first years together. “What’s nice is that the people in my neighborhood just know me as Alex. It’s funny, because I spent so much of my life moving from place to place and I went through a few dark periods, but in the last few years I’ve kind of settled down.” Chilton is survived by his wife Laura and son Timothy.

For more on Chilton’s musical legacy, watch a handful of Big Star classics below, and be sure to remember Alex by looking back at our Rolling Stone features below:

• Big Star Rock “#1 Record,” “Radio City” Classics at Rare NYC Gig
• Alex Chilton Set to Go
• Big Star Travel “Space”
• Big Star Album Reviews

“Thirteen”

“September Gurls”

“Life is White”

“In the Street”

“Kanga Roo”

Jeff Buckley performing Big Star’s “Kanga Roo”

Read the full post at Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily

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