Computer Music and Sound Engineering Blog!

7 Rules of Successful Myspace Music Promotion[ myspace promote music song band ]

2010-05-19T02:39:00.000+07:00

7 Rules of Successful Myspace Music Promotion [ myspace promote music song band ]

Author: jerome ford

7 Rules of Successful Myspace Music Promotion

In a very short time, Myspace.com has become the hottest music promotional tool available to anyone. Here are the 7 rules of successful myspace music promotion.

1. Get a myspace.com music page. Getting a myspace.com music page is free so there is no reason not to have one.

2. Make sure your page is user friendly.
There are many would-be music business professionals who have myspace pages take too long to load. If your myspace page loads too slow, you could be losing potential fans. Mega bandwidth graphics and images will prevent your page from loading quickly. Your myspace page should take no longer than 20 � 30 seconds to load.

Many artists on myspace use layouts that emphasize their creativity but are a nightmare to navigate. Refrain from using dancing cursor's, raining text, and distracting images on your myspace music pages.

Other myspace artists have about me blurbs that go on forever. Keep about me blurbs short (no more than 1000 words), if people want to know more about you, they will ask.

[ myspace promote music song band ]

3. Have your music on your myspace page.
Don't put someone else's music on your myspace page unless you were involved in the creation of the music. How can you be discovered if your music isn't on your page?

4. Reach out for friends.
Networking on myspace is one of the most powerful tools you can use to build your fan-base. Take advantage of the opportunity to reach people with like interests. Never ignore or decline a friend request. You never know who can help your career.

5. Treat your friends like friends.
Common courtesy applies on myspace just as in real life. Be willing to thank your friends for adding you as a friend. Respond to friend's emails (if appropriate). Never post your ad as a comment on someone's myspace page without acknowledging them. Limit the size of your "ad comments".

6. Promote yourself in appropriate ways.
Noteworthy career benchmarks, or new music added to your page are good reasons to promote yourself on myspace. List your performance dates on your page and use bulletins to let people know where you are performing. Limit the number of bulletins you post. Posting irrelevant bulletins, or posting bulletins too often, will force your friends to ignore you.

Let people know about your myspace.com page. Putting your unique myspace.com address on your website and business cards will make it convenient for you to build your network and fan base faster.

[ myspace promote music song band ]

7. Provide ways for people to purchase your music from your myspace page.
If you sell your music anywhere online make sure there is a direct link from your myspace page to the location where people can buy your music.

Follow our rules and you will have fun and make many friends on Myspace.

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_70577_48.html

About the Author: Jerome Ford is a 20 year radio veteran, music marketing expert and Vice President of www.simbiz.info. Jerome has worked directly with national major and indie label artists.
Jerome Ford specializes in helping artist and musicians discover how to succeed in the music biz.

http://www.simbiz.info

[ myspace promote music song band ]
http://ampmiemusic.blogspot.com/

The Two Methods of Amplitude Modulation and how They Work [ amplitude modulation method ]

2010-05-13T03:44:00.000+07:00

The Two Methods of Amplitude Modulation and how They Work [ amplitude modulation method ]

Author: Robert Palmer

Methods of amplitude modulation can be put in the two categories namely Linear modulation methods and Square law modulation methods. Linear modulation method utilizes the linear region of the current voltage characteristics of the amplifying device that is transistor or electron tube. Square law modulation method utilizes the square law region of some current voltage characteristics of a diode or transistor or electron tube. A large number of linear modulation methods have been devised and have been used to varying degree. These methods are namely linear shunt plate modulation or anode choke modulation, linear series plate modulation, grid bias modulation, cathode modulation, suppressor grid modulation, screen grid modulation, collector modulation.

Square law modulation circuits make use of non linear current voltage characteristics of diodes or triodes and are in general suited for use at low voltages. Important square law modulation methods are square law diode modulation and balanced modulator.

In linear shunt plate modulation the modulation voltage is inserted in the plate circuit of a class C amplifier tuned to the carrier frequency. The plate currents of modulated amplifier tube and the modulating amplifier tube find parallel paths or shunt paths. The carrier voltage is applied at the input of the class C modulated amplifier. Linear series plate modulation makes use of a linear class C tunes amplifier as modulated amplifier. This tuned amplifier is so designed that a linear relation exists between the root mean square value of peak tank current and the plate supply voltage for constant grid excitation. The modulating voltage appears in series with the plate supply voltage of the tuned modulated amplifier.

[ amplitude modulation method ]

The merits of linear series plate modulation are small distortion, high plate circuit efficiency and easy adjustments. Grid bias modulation uses a class C amplifier in which audio modulated voltage is placed in series with the fixed grid bias. In Cathode modulation the modulation voltage is introduced in the cathode circuit of the class C modulator amplifier. It has characteristics intermediate between those of grid bias modulation and plate modulation.

Suppressor grid modulation uses a pent code in a class C modulated amplifier wherein the modulating voltage is applied to the suppressor which is biased sufficiently negatively. It provides linear modulation up to eighty percent modulation depth. Screen grid modulation is applied at the screen grid. The distortion produced is low. In the collector modulation method the modulating voltage is applied in the collector circuit of tuned class C amplifier in push pull arrangement. It has the merits of high linearity of modulation, high collector circuit efficiency and high power output per transistor.

Square law modulation methods makes use of non linear current voltage characteristics of diodes or triodes and are suited only for use at low voltages. Square law diode modulation uses non linear region of the current voltage dynamic characteristics of a diode.

--
Tymon Hytem has worked in the electronics feild for the past 15 years. He enjoys helping people decide on electronic gadgets from telephones to XM Radio and choosing the perfect

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_188472_48.html

About the Author: Webmaster at ArticleTrader.

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How to Prepare Your Computer for Recording Music at Home [ computer recording home studio ]

2010-05-09T22:22:00.000+07:00

How to Prepare Your Computer for Recording Music at Home [ computer recording home studio ]

Author: Mark Spivey

Here are tips to improve the reliability of your computer for use as a recording studio for your music.

Working with Audio can place a high demand on your computer's capabilities - from the CPU to storage and memory.Below are some tips that will increase the performance of your computer and make it less prone to crashes when you are recording or editing your music.

Preparation:

Before you install recording software check the following.CPU speed and memory-

Most modern computers that are only a couple of years old will have a processor that is equal to or exceeding the minimum CPU speed your editing software requires but it is still worth checking – particularly if you have machine that is earlier than this (be aware that processor speed, along with memory will determine how many tracks of audio you can record and the number of effects you can have running simultaneously.

The same goes for required RAM (most good recording programs state a minimum of 512 megabytes) More is better- a gigabyte or higher (in fact increasing the memory of your computer can compensate for a slower processor to some degree and is probably the cheapest way to add more speed to your machine).

[ computer recording home studio ]

Storage space –

In most cases you will have enough storage on your operating system hard drive to install the software and related effects – what I'm referring to is a second drive dedicated to storing your songs and all the files they are created from.

This is a must, because having both your software and songs on the same drive will place a high demand both on your drive and CPU as it tries to find, read and write and execute a program all at the same time from one location.

[ computer recording home studio ]

Also note that music files are large so you'll need a lot of space – one five minute recording can easily be 250 megabytes or more – multiply that by eight for a song consisting of eight different instruments, (each on an individual track) such as drums, bass, guitar, keyboard and vocals and you begin to get the idea that a 40 gigabyte drive will fill up fairly quickly so go for something bigger (say 150 gigs or larger).

Choose a reliable brand and get an external drive to keep your files backed up.

While we are on the subject of hard drives – if you are planning on using an external drive and writing directly to it, choose a unit that has a cooling fan.

Enclosed drives can generate and trap a lot of heat and if you are doing a long session without much ventilation you can cook your drive and cause it to fail prematurely. (internal drives are less prone to this because they usually receive cooling from the power supply fan and you can mount them in such a way that there is an air gap between each of them for circulation).

[ computer recording home studio ]

Removal or disabling of other programs.

The absolute best computer based recording studios in terms of speed and stability are those that are dedicated units – in other words they are set up to specifically record and edit music.

This means they are not connected to the internet (except for updates and registering the software), they don't have anti virus running, screen savers or other widgets running in the background that use up memory and CPU.

The result is that dedicated computers are far more reliable and tend to have significantly less problems.Windows is particularly notorious for having many programs running in the background and can cause havoc with your audio work. Mac is less so.Consult an expert when disabling background programs – some are vital for the operation of your computer and should be left alone – others are ok to shut down (you just need to know what can and cannot be touched).

If you are financially able, and serious about recording – try to get yourself a computer just for audio work and keep your current machine for the internet and any other work you might be doing.If you can't do this and are stuck with just one machine – do the following.

[ computer recording home studio ]

Upgrade the RAM if you need to.

Uninstall any programs you don't use and do a thorough clean up.

Disable background processes that are not essential to the running of your machine (This applies to Windows only) – again if in doubt get expert help.

Close your internet connection and disable automatic updates and anti virus etc while you are recording (you can re-enable them later when you are done).

Use a plain background as wallpaper.

Defragment your hard drive and (make sure your operating system has no errors first and is up to date) before installing your recording software and any drivers you might be using for your sound card or external inputs.

You are now good to go – install your recording gear and enjoy less problems on a more stable computer.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/hardware-articles/how-to-prepare-your-computer-for-recording-music-at-home-359962.html

About the AuthorMark Spivey is a musician and recording artist with experience in operating his own home recording studio , live sound production and music promotion.He is also the author of www.createandrecordmusic.com , a website all about how you can create, record and promote your own music successfully.

[ computer recording home studio ]
http://ampmiemusic.blogspot.com/

Recording Software For Computer Based Music Studios [recording software computer music studio]

2010-05-07T00:11:00.000+07:00

Recording Software For Computer Based Music Studios [recording software computer music studio]

Author: Marvin J. Markus

There are a lot of recording programs to choose from when you're creating your first computer based music studio. The choices may seem overwhelming at first but once you consider a few basic details (such as what kind of computer you are using) you'll be able to make a wise choice.

There are a lot of things to consider when making this choice. The first is what kind of computer system you are using.

[recording software computer music studio]

I am not going to tell you whether you should use a PC or a Mac as that argument long ago became tedious. You can create a top quality computer based music studio with a PC or a Mac. That being said, it is important to consider what type of computer you are using when choosing your music software because some programs only work with one or the other (or work much better with one or the other.)

If you are basing your system on a PC then you first of all want to cross MOTU's Digital Performer and Apple's Logic off your list as they are Mac only programs. I recommend that you don't choose Pro Tools if you are using a personal computer.

[recording software computer music studio]

Yes, I know Pro Tools is the "industry standard" but that's mostly because people love to do what everyone else is doing. There's nothing special about Pro Tools. Sure it's a great piece of software, but so is Nuendo.

And the problem is that Pro Tools just isn't a good choice for PC users. Currently it doesn't even work with Windows Vista and while the next version is supposed to be Vista compatible we don't know when that version will be available and even then, it will only be compatible with the "Ultimate" version of Vista (if you currently own the regular version of Vista that will be a $200 upgrade.) On top of that, even on XP Pro Tools doesn't work nearly as well as it does on the Mac. It's definitely a good choice for Mac users, but you should avoid it if you are on the PC.

So what's left for PC users? Steinberg's Nuendo & Cubase along with Sony's Acid and Cakewalk's SONAR. Acid & SONAR are only to be used by Windows based computer but Steinberg's Nuendo & Cubase are well suited for both Windows PCs and Macs.

If you are looking for the best audio quality you can get (and you're willing to pay more for it) and you do not use MIDI very much then Nuendo is probably your best choice. It's also the right choice for those working with audio for use with video and for those interested in working with surround sound.

Cubase & Sonar are great choices for those who use MIDI a lot. But you shouldn't think that these programs are only for MIDI, they also work exceptionally well for recording and mixing audio.

Sony's Acid is for loop based music like techno and hip hop. Really, I don't think it's a very good fit for most people. Unless you make loop based music, don't choose Acid.

Mac users will probably end going with Pro Tools but Digital Performer & Logic are also great choices. I would recommend downloading the demo versions of each of these programs and seeing which one works for you. You may also want to choose Cubase or Nuendo. Remember that software also works well on PCs so it may make you more versatile in a way to learn those programs.

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Marvin J. Markus believes you can build a great home studio with a good quality computer (plenty of RAM) along with high quality recording software and some high quality microphones.

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_744021_32.html

About the Author:

[recording software computer music studio]
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Free Anime Music Downloads

2010-05-05T21:35:00.000+07:00

Free Anime Music Downloads

Author: Leon Reinhart

It is pretty tough searching the internet where you can get free MP3 songs which is featured in your favorite anime show. Well, we have listed below some great sites that feature Free Anime Music Downloads.

AnimeMP3s.org

AnimeMP3s.org in my opinion is the best. This site is the only Free Anime Music Downloads site that does not have any downloading restrictions, no forced voting, no pop ups, no membership fee, and no spam. You can get a wide variety of Free Anime Music Downloads files, including zipped albums, opening and closing themes, movies, and more. Best part is this site also offers a request section where you can ask the webmaster for a specific anime show.

Free-Music.com

You can get unlimited Free Anime Music Downloads here from anime movies, theme songs, and more. You will find it easy to get instant access to their Free Anime Music Downloads and all you need to do is enter your name and email address. After that, you are on your way to downloading your favorite anime tunes, plus get a free CD burner. To make this Free Anime Music Downloads site working for you, you need the following requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP or MacOS X, 64MB RAM, 233Mhz CPU, 5MB disk space, 20GB Hard Drive space.

Sputnik7.com

Sputnik7 is very popular for Free Anime Music Downloads. The site offers several options for your viewing pleasure. Sputnik7's Video Station section gives you a TV-like experience that features multiple stations on music, film and Free Anime Music Downloads. You can browse their library of music videos, film, and Free Anime Music Downloads or sing and scream along their Internet radio station selected by Epitonic.

AnimeFantasia.com

Here's another site that offers Free Anime Music Downloads. Create an account and start participating in AnimeFantasia's review forums. The site uses AF Peer-to-Peer software to let users share or swap Free Anime Music Downloads. AnimeFantasia is one of the best sites to go to when you're looking for Free Anime Music Downloads or just information about your favorite anime.

DBZGTLegacy.com

This site is dedicated for fans of Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z/GT Legacy is one of the largest Dragon Ball resources on the net. If it's news you want or information, pictures, or downloads, you can find all that right in this website. Learn everything you need to know about your favorite Dragon Ball character. Get a Free Anime Music Downloads of that one episode you missed watching. Movies, pictures, theme songs � Dragon Ball Z/GT Legacy offers that and more.

By Leon Reinhart

Leon Reinhart is author of music news, music reviews and free downloadable music info at his blog. Discover wide range of free download able music at his Blog.

Visit: http://coolmusictracker.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_82835_48.html

About the Author:

http://mesothelioma-cancer-center.blogspot.com
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The essentials of sound recording equipment

2010-05-04T20:58:00.001+07:00

The essentials of sound recording equipment

Author: Lucky Mamome

The essentials of sound recording equipment
Whether you’re an amateur or a professional, here’s some advice on the basics to keep in mind when buying sound recording equipment:
Microphone

This is one of the most important pieces of sound recording equipment you will buy – without a decent microphone, you simply won’t be able to capture high-quality sound. Do not be overwhelmed by the incredibly wide selection of mics for broadcast, studio recording and professional location work: if you know exactly what you want to use it for, you’re halfway there.
Microphone boom poles

Made from either carbon fibre or aluminium, the right microphone boom pole can make life a lot easier. Choose a lightweight, compact pole with quick release detachable tips and sufficient length when extended.
Windshields

Microphone wind and handling noise can be effectively controlled with a wide range of windshield devices, depending on your needs.

Radio microphones

Depending on your needs, a radio microphone might be more effective, allowing greater freedom of movement for the performer and recorder. Ensure the wireless mic will cover the distance you need without breaking up, and will reflect the quality of the overall sound recording equipment.
Headphones

A set of professional, quality headphones will make your life a lot easier. Make sure it is suited for your specific needs, whether it’s for recording in studio or on location.
Recorder

Choose a digital recorder that will allow high-resolution sound recording to a convenient device, such as an internal hard drive or external FireWire drive.
Mixer

A mixer is a piece of sound recording equipment that is used to combine, route or change the level, timbre and/or dynamics of audio signals. Mixing consoles, also known as soundboards, are used in many applications, including recording studios, broadcasting and television. Many people are going “mixerless”, however, as computer software is allowing sound engineers to do their mixes digitally.

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1529001_48.html

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Finding The Best Song Lyrics Database With Online Lyrics Database

2010-05-04T00:28:00.000+07:00

Finding The Best Song Lyrics Database With Online Lyrics Database

Author: Vikram kuamr

If you are looking for the best song lyrics database, you should look for one that features the lyrics to thousands of tunes from the past as well as the present. When you are looking for song lyrics, you want to find a lyrics database that is easy to use and makes searching very easy. Here are some tips to finding the best song lyrics database: The first thing that you will want to do is to look for a lyrics database that features all of the best known lyrics from your favorite songs. These include songs that you like now as well as those from the past. You want to be sure that the song lyrics database is always updating the lyrics in their database and that they are not stuck in some other decade. The lyrics database should have very up to date songs as well as older songs in their database. This is how you know that the song lyrics database is covering as many lyrics as possible and is up to date with the hottest new songs. The second thing that you will want to look for is how you can search for the song lyrics. You want to be able to use more than one search tool. There are often times that you know the song by sound but are not sure of the title or who sang the song. A good song lyrics database will not only provide you with artists tools to search through artists, but also other tools that can refine your search and filter in those songs that are likely to be the song you are thinking of. Look for a lyrics database that uses more than one search option when it comes to finding song lyrics. Looking through song lyrics is fun, but often you want to listen to the song. It is nice if you can do both on the same site. Instead of just looking at a boring list on some website of song lyrics, you can find both song lyrics as well as music videos when you use a good song lyrics database. A good lyrics database will feature not only the lyrics of the songs by your favorite artists, but also some music videos that you can listen to and watch right online. And not just older, homemade videos, either. The music videos on a good lyrics database will include the up to date original videos from the original artists. You can have a lot of fun looking up lyrics and music videos when you are exploring a song lyrics database online. The internet makes it easy not only to find the best song lyrics that you are looking for, as well as ones that are accurate, but also to find the best music videos by your favorite artists, all at your fingertips. When you use a lyrics database, you will have all of your music information that you want, right at your fingertips. There is no better and convenient way to look for music online than by using a lyrics database.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/finding-the-best-song-lyrics-database-with-online-lyrics-database-839425.html

About the AuthorThe best song lyrics database is one that has lyrics and music videos. You can find a good lyrics database when you go to Mofito.

Discover the nuances of digital audio recording.

2010-05-02T22:18:00.002+07:00

Advanced Audio Recording Techniques

Author: Stephanie Ciccarelli

Hard Disk / Computer-Based Recording

One of the biggest trends in recent audio production has been to merge digital audio with computer technology to create a samplebased approach to sound recording. The encoding of audio data into digital memory or onto a storage medium provides us with a means for storing or manipulating defined blocks of digital data. This data can be stored as a soundfile such as .wav, .aiff or SDII.

Perhaps the most important difference that can be distinguished between a tape-based system (digital or analogue) and samplebased recording system is random access. Random access production refers to the fact that digital audio can be stored within a random access memory (RAM), or a disk based memory medium in such a way that the data can - virtually instantaneously - be accessed, processed, or reproduced in any order at any point in time.

Once developers began to design updated sample editor software, it was discovered that through additional processing hardware, digital audio editors were capable of recording digitized audio directly to a computer's hard disk. These devices, sometimes known as digital audio workstations (DAW), serve as computer based hardware and software packages that are intended specifically for the recording, manipulation, and reproduction of digital audio that resides on hard disk.

Commonly, such devices are designed around and controlled by a standard personal computer with the addition of a sound card which provides the input and output interaction with the computer.

There are multiple advantages to using digital audio workstations in an audio production environment.

- The capability to handle longer sound files. Hard disk recording is limited only by the size of the hard disk itself (commonly one minute of stereo recording at 44.1 kHz occupies 10.5 MB of hard disk memory or 5MB / track minute).

- Random Access editing. As audio is recorded on the hard disk, any point within the program can be accessed at any time, regardless of the order in which it was recorded.

- Nondestructive editing allows audio segments (often called regions) to be placed in any order, manipulated in any fashion without changing the originally recorded sound file in any way.

- DSP. Digital signal processing can be performed on a segment or entire sound file in either real time or non-real time in a nondestructive fashion.

- In addition to these advantages, computer-based digital audio devices serve to integrate many of the tasks related to both digital audio and MIDI production. Many DAW's are capable of importing, processing, and exporting sound files into formats such as mp3 or Real Players G2.

Recording Techniques

FILTERS
Also known as equalization or EQ, filters are used to increase or decrease the level in a specific range of audio frequencies. The most common filters are the simple bass and treble controls found on inexpensive stereo systems, which act on a broad range of frequencies. But other filters are designed to surgically boost or cut very narrow bands of the audio spectrum.

SHELVING FILTERS
As the simplest form of filter, shelving EQ boosts or cuts all frequencies above or below a fixed frequency. A bass shelving filter, also called a low-pass filter, boosts or cuts everything below its fixed center frequency. Likewise a treble shelving filter, also called a high-pass filter, boosts or cuts everything above its fixed center. A single control typically adjusts the amount of boost or cut.

These filters are useful for making broad changes like reducing boomy bass and wind noise. But encoders can easily be overloaded by too much bass or treble, so it's often wisest to use these filters to cut high and low frequencies to prevent artifacts.

BANDPASS FILTERS
These filters can be used to boost or cut audio on both sides of a center frequency. Bandpass filters are commonly used as midrange filters, because they have little effect on either high or low frequencies. The familiar graphic equalizer is just a set of bandpass filters tuned to different center frequencies.

More sophisticated versions, called sweepable bandpass filters, have an additional control allowing you to change the center frequency. Bandpass filters are useful for increasing the intelligibility of a speaker without increasing hiss or background noise. A variation of the bandpass filter is the notch filter, which boosts or cuts all frequencies except those around the center frequency.

PARAMETRIC FILTERS
A parametric filter is a bandpass filter with an additional control to adjust the width of the frequency band being effected (fig. 3). These are the surgical tools of audio editing. They can be used to eliminate just the noise from an air conditioner, while having a minimal effect on the rest of the audio.

With all filters it's important to follow the audio engineer's first rule of EQ -- cut rather than boost wherever possible. Cutting undesired sounds is always less obtrusive, and boosting too much can make a track too loud and lead to distortion and artifacts when encoding.

COMPRESSORS
A compressor's basic function is to reduce the dynamic range of an audio recording, which is the difference between the loudest and softest sounds that pass through the recording chain. Simply put, a compressor is a processor whose output level increases at a slower rate as its input level increases.

By reducing the volume of the loudest sounds, a compressor lets you raise the level of the entire audio track, making it all sound louder than it actually is. Compression can be a big help in achieving intelligible audio tracks with a more uniform volume that will survive the encoding process.

A compressor consists of a level detector that measures the incoming signal, and an an amplifier whose gain is controlled by the level detector.

A Threshold control sets the level at which compression begins. Below the threshold, the compressor acts like a straight piece of wire. But when the input level reaches the Threshold, then the compressor begins reducing its output level by an amount determined by the Ratio control.

The Ratio control establishes the proportion of change between the input and output levels. If you set the compression Ratio to 2:1, then when the input signal gets twice as loud, the output signal will increase by only half.

If you set the Ratio to its maximum (10:1 or more), the the compressor becomes a "limiter" that locks the maximum level at the Threshold.

While a compressor can level out a recording, high levels of compression can also introduce artifacts including "pumping", in which there is an audible up and down change in volume of a track, or "breathing", which sounds like someone breathing as the background noise level goes up and
down.

EXPANDERS
An expander is the opposite of a compressor. As the level of the audio signal gets louder, the expander's amplifier turns up further making loud signals even louder. An expander can be used to reduce noise in a process called downward expansion. In this case you set the Threshold just above the level of background noise. The expander will then raise the volume of everything above the Threshold, but won't change anything below the Threshold, thereby lowering the perceived background noise.

NORMALIZING
Normalizing increases the gain of the audio file until its loudest point (or sample) is at maximum level. The overall signal level is now higher, which makes for clearer audio, and also gives the encoder more bits of data to work with and reduces encoding artifacts. The only downside of normalizing is that it increases the noise as well as the audio signal so it should be used carefully. It should be your last step before encoding, and you may not need it at all.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/advanced-audio-recording-techniques-149046.html

About the AuthorStephanie Ciccarelli is the VP of Marketing with Voices.com, the voice over marketplace hosting more than 10,000 professional voice talents. Stephanie is also the author of The Definitive Guide To Voice-Over Success.

http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/advanced-audio-recording-techniques-149046.html

How to Use and Set Up Your Amp

2010-04-26T19:52:00.000+07:00

How to Use and Set Up Your Amp

Author: Chris Moresby

So, you have a guitar and an amp, but you're not sure how to get started. There are just a few things you need to know in order to start playing, and you will be operating your amplifier like a professional in no time.

First of all, you will need a guitar cable to connect your guitar to the amp. Be sure the amplifier is "off" and that the guitar cable is plugged first into the amp's input jack. Plug the cable in all the way. Some amps have two input jacks, and it should not matter which one you use. When one end of your guitar cable is plugged into the amp's input jack, plug the other end into your guitar's output jack. Be sure it is plugged in all the way.

Next, you will want to make sure the volume knobs on your amplifier's preamp are turned all the way down to zero. This is important because if the volume is turned up high when you turn on the amplifier, you may be greeted with horrible, screeching noise or feedback that wakes up your neighbors! If your amplifier has two volume knobs, turn both of them down all the way.

The last thing you will want to do before turning on your amplifier is locate the button on your preamp labeled "channel," "overdrive," or distortion." Be sure that it is depressed, that is, that it is in the position where it is sticking farthest out from the amp. This is the button that will switch your amp from a clean to distortion or overdrive channel, and you don't want to turn on your amp in anything other than clean channel if you're using it for the first time. Again, the result may be an auditory disaster--wailing feedback one can hear out in the streets.

Now, make sure your amp is plugged in to the wall, and you're ready to turn on the power to the amp by flipping the on/off switch. When you turn on the amp and strum, no sound should be coming out yet because you have the volume turned all the way down. Slowly turn up the volume until you can hear the sound of your guitar coming out of the amp while you play. When the volume is up high enough to your liking, just leave it there. Playing too loudly just makes it more difficult to pick out the nuances of your playing, and it's not good for your ears. Adjust any other knobs to fit your taste as well. Your amp probably has adjustments for high (treble), low (bass), and mid (mid-range) tones that you can play with until you achieve a sound you want to maintain.

Finally, experiment with your amp's distortion or overdrive channel. Press the channel selector button, and slowly turn up the volume knob associated with your amp's other channel so that it is also at a comfortable level. This channel should also have its own high, low, and mid settings for you to adjust to your liking. Another additional adjustment in this channel, however, is the "gain" setting. The higher one sets the gain on his or her amp, the more fuzz and rough distortion is added to the sound of the channel.

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Piano Chord Finder

2010-04-24T01:40:00.002+07:00

Piano Chord Finder

Author: Jimmy Graham

There was substantial debate whether piano courses that are offered online are as good as being taught by a personal teacher. The understanding is that yes they are as good, and that they offer benefits that allows the average person to learn the piano. Here is more information about how to play piano online and feel assured in your call.

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You will be taught how to play the piano in a totally different way than you would be taught by a private individual.

Some people aren't open to new ideas and techniques and feel you need to be taught one-on-one by an instructor. Yes, it is taught in another way.
One of the explanations why online piano lessons work is they take under consideration the lack of one on one teaching and replace that with something else. Videos are used as a teaching method so that you can see for yourself what is predicted and the correct way of doing things. Ever since the web has become more well-liked, videos have now become a respected source of info and a respected technique of teaching. Any good online piano course offers video instruction together with its written material.

Discover what they have to say about learning online, so you can be certain that you are making the right decision. Take the time to be sure this is a good call for you, and start to learn the piano immediately.

You must also consider the price factor. Find a good course which has good feedback and reviews and you'll be on your way.

You will be expected to use self-discipline to make certain that you do all the practicing you can, and put some time into it to truly achieve results. You can learn how to play piano online, and you can learn it at a low price.

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Transform an Old Room into a Recording Studio

2010-04-24T00:43:00.000+07:00

Transform an Old Room into a Recording Studio

Author: Kristine Sanchez

Low-Budget Equipment Advice on Music Recording Necessities

Designing an unused room can be exciting; with a little bit of creativity and a few purchases, you can build any room for any purpose. If you are into music, reconstructing your room into a recording studio can instantly pave way for a small sideline business or a great hang out with friends and bring music compositions to the next level.

Being serious with your hobby is a good thing, and the next best thing can be injecting some entrepreneurial spirit into your pastime, that, a recording studio made out of an old room can be a quick and practical solution. Providing a haven for musicians within your circle can surprisingly breed genius musical ideas and compositions, and using print postcards in the near future to fully promote aspiring artists, or even yourself, can be a great solution. With just a few design and purchase tips, your room can be functional and professional-looking in just a matter of days.

1.    Audio Mixer: Without this equipment, your chances of building a recording studio of your own will not happen. An audio mixer or sound board is the heart of every recording since this is what controls the level of timbre and other dynamics in recordings; without this, an input of the vocals and instruments cannot be blended in accordingly. You do not need to purchase a brand new one; asking around in different DJ mixing schools, DJs themselves, clubs, schools, or teachers in the field can easily lead you to buying much cheaper equipment.

2.    Carpet or Foam-based Walls: Music recorded has to stay within the parameters of the room for reasons that you need all sounds produced to bounce clearly for proper soundproofing. This way, you can capture acoustics precisely and accurately. Usually, soundproofed rooms are structured with patterns and grooves; but for a cheaper solution for homes, you can use foam on canvas boards, carpets, or heavy drapes to dampen and reduce sound pressure.

3.    Flooring: To add more to soundproofing, carpeting your floors also provides better soundproofing for any recording.

4.    Reference or Studio Monitors: At your computer area, having near field monitors will help when you are triggering with notes and recording. Your large mid field monitors are used for when you are at your mixing desk; this set of monitors is what helps in evaluating crispness and balance of sound.

5.    Speakers: Purchasing a good set of speakers is also important; with positioning, avoid placing them at the corner but instead a few inches away to avoid excessive bass boost.

6.    Lighting: Using dim lights can build an atmosphere for being more creative; just make sure the dimness is still workable to read though music sheets. Adding fixtures such as lava lamps and dimmed spotlights can help increase mood.

7.    Musician Recording Tools: Have at least five microphones present. Purchasing a dynamic microphone can already suit a small recording studio plus these items are fairly cheap compared to others. Sometimes, they come packages fit for vocal and drum recordings.

8.    Digital Audio Workstation: Choosing a good kind of software to install in your computer is one thing you should spend time looking for. This is where recording, editing, and playback are produced; without this, you will not be able to manipulate the sounds coming in from the recording.

These items may seem difficult to set up and expensive; but you will be surprised that cheap finds are just around the corner and will still give you the same benefits brand new and modern equipment provide. What’s important is that you get to produce and record music; and eventually turn this into a running small business. As you progress, getting postcard printing done to give to your prospects can specifically hit a group of people. This way, your promotions are effective and cheap as well.

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Music Production and Mixing Tips & Tricks

2010-04-24T00:35:00.000+07:00

Music Production and Mixing Tips & Tricks

Author: Ian Waugh

What makes a pro recording pro? What is the "sound" that the pros get and how can you make your recordings sound more professional?

The simple answer is - there's no simple answer. But with careful listening and a little experience you can create excellent results with modest equipment.

Good mixing starts ear

The first and most important item of equipment is - who knows? Anyone? It's your ears! Sorry to tell you this, but listening to ten hours of Rave at 110dB will do nothing for them and you might as well give your mix to a turtle as try to mix with misused ears.

Listen to commercial recordings of mixes you like, analyse them, listen for the effects and get to know what constitutes the sort of sound you're after.

Mixing secrets

There's no hidden secret to getting a good sound, but if we had to sum up the secret of mixing in two words it would be this - EQ and compression. Okay that's three words.

These are probably the two most important tools used by professional producers. However, like any tools, if you don't know how to use them you'll be carving Habitat tables instead of Chippendale chairs.

That's where your ears and experience come in. Here we have assembled some production ideas, suggestions, tips and tricks but they can only be guidelines and need to be adapted to suit your material. There are no presets you can switch in to make a bad recording sound good. And if your original material has been poorly recorded not even Abbey Road could salvage your mix. But follow these suggestions and see how much your mixes improve.

Get the level right

You can't push the levels when recording digitally as you can when recording to tape but you still want to get as much signal into the system as possible. This means watching the levels very carefully for clipping, and recording at an even and constant level.

Some recording software lets you monitor and set the input level from within. Some expect you to use the soundcard's mixer while others have no facility for internally adjusting the input level and expect you to set this at source.

Monitors

Your ears are only as good as the monitors they listen to. DO NOT expect to produce a good, pro mix on tiny computer speakers. It may sound fine on a computer system, but try it on a hi fi, in a disco and through a car stereo.

Oddly enough, you don't necessarily need the most expensive Mic. Many top artists use what some might call "average" Mics because they work well and get the job done. You can spend a wad on a large diaphragm capacitor Mic (yes, they're good for vocals) if you have the lolly but check out dynamic Mics which are much more affordable and can be turned to several tasks.

Mixing MIDI and audio

One of the great things about computer-based recording is that the parts can so easily be changed, edited and processed. It's also so easy to combine MIDI and audio tracks and many musicians use a combination of sample loops, MIDI parts and audio recording.

Audio recordings are generally guitar and acoustic instruments such as the sax and vocals. Incidentally, the best way to record guitars is by sticking a Mic in front of its speakers. You can DI them and process them later and this may be cleaner but for a natural guitar sound a Miced amp is hard to beat.

It's not necessary to record drums live and, in fact, it's difficult to do and retain a modern sound. You can buy off-the-shelf MIDI drum riffs and audio drum loops, or program your own. The quality of the gear which makes drum noises these days is such that anyone with a good riff can sound like a pro.

Mixing MIDI

As MIDI and audio parts appear on the same screen in modern sequencers, it's very easy to arrange them into a song. However, when you come to mix everything down there's another consideration. If you are recording to DAT you can simply route the audio and MIDI outputs through a mixer and into the DAT machine.

However, if you want to create a CD you must first convert the MIDI parts to audio data. The entire song can then be mixed to hard disk and burned to CD. Converting MIDI to audio can have another benefit and that's the ability to process the MIDI tracks using digital effects.

Effects

There are three positions for effects known as Master, Send and Insert. Use the Master for effects you want to apply to the entire mix. These will often be EQ, compression and reverb.

Although giving each channel its own Insert effects is kinda neat, each one uses a corresponding amount of CPU power. So if your computer is struggling and if you're using the same effect on more than one channel, make the effect a Send effect and route those channels to it.

Many pieces of software let you apply an effect Pre or Post fader. With Post fader, the amount of sound sent to the effect is controlled by the fader. With Pre fader, the total volume level of the signal is sent. Post fader is the usual default and the one you'll use the most.

EQ

EQ is the most popular and the most over-used effect. Yes, it can be used to try to "fix a mix" but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear as me Gran used to say and what she didn't know about mixing could be written in the margin of the book of honest politicians.

But before you start messing with EQ - or any other effect for that matter - make sure you have a decent set of speakers. Have we said that already? Oh, must be important, then.

There are plug-in effects such as MaxxBass which can psychoacoustically enhance the bass frequencies to make it sound better on smaller speakers. However, this is by no means the same as getting a good bass sound in the first place by observing good recording principles.

EQ can enhance a mix to add gloss, fairy dust, shimmer, sheen, a sweetener or whatever you want to call it to the final production. It can be done with enhancers and spectralisers, too, although these tend to mess with the harmonics which some producers don't like. However, don't dismiss them out of hand.

General EQ lore says that you should cut rather than boost. If a sound is top-heavy, the temptation is to boost the mid and bass ranges. But then what usually happens is you start boosting the upper range to compensate and you simply end up boosting everything and you're back where you started - only louder!

The reason why cutting is preferred is that boosting also boosts the noise in the signal which is not what you want. Try it. Boost every frequency and listen to the result. If you think it sounds okay, fine. What do we know?

But when you're fiddling, do keep an eye on the output meter. Boosting EQ inevitably means increasing the gain and it's so-o-o-o easy to clip the output causing distortion which does not sound good.

Finally, check EQ changes to single tracks while playing back the entire piece. In other words, listen to the tracks in context with all the other tracks. It may sound fine in isolation but some frequencies may overlap onto other tracks making the piece frequency rich in some places and frequency poor in others.

Reverb

Reverb creates space. It gives the impression that a sound was recorded in a hall or canyon instead of the broom cupboard. Recording lore suggests that you record everything dry, with no reverb, so you can experiment with a choice later on. You can't un-reverb a track once it's been recorded.

The more reverb you apply, the further away sound will seem. To make a vocal up-front, use only enough reverb to take away the dryness. Vocals don't want to be mushy (lyrics can be mushy) so use a bright reverb.

A common novice error is to swamp everything with different types of reverb. Don't - it sounds horrible!

Mixing down

You've done all the recordings, done the edits, applied the effects and now it's time to mix everything into a Big Number One Hit! Before you do, go home and have a good night's sleep. Have two. In fact, sleep for a week.

Yes, we know you're hot and raring to go but your ears are tired. They're falling asleep. Listen carefully and you might hear then snore!

There is a phenomenon known as ear fatigue and consistent exposure to sound, especially the same frequencies, makes our ears less responsive to them. Goes back to the bit about spending your life in a Rave club - you'll never be a master producer. If you try to mix after spending a day arranging, your ears will not be as responsive, so do them and your mix a favour by waiting at least a day.

Now, go forth and mix! And don't forget - you get better with practice. For more information about mixing, pick up a FREE copy of Creating The Perfect Mix at www.making-music.com

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Ian Waugh is one of the UK's leading hi tech music writers and creator of www.making-music.com. He has written for most of the major - and not so major - hi tech music magazines in the UK and many general computing titles both offline and online.

His output numbers over 2,000 articles, features and reviews and he has written several books and albums. He is author of the "Quick Guide to..." series which includes the Quick Guide to Dance Music, Digital Audio Recording, MP3 and Digital Music, and Analogue Synthesis.

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_29927_48.html

About the Author: Ian Waugh is one of the UK's leading hi tech music writers. He has written for most of the major - and not so major - hi tech music magazines in the UK and many general computing titles both offline and online.
His output numbers over 2,000 articles, features and reviews and he has written several books and albums. He is author of the "Quick Guide to..." series which includes the Quick Guide to Dance Music, Digital Audio Recording, MP3 and Digital Music, and Analogue Synthesis. There

http://www.making-music.com