Technology has changed the modern music industry. Now, anyone can produce the highest quality recordings within their on home.The computer and it's software have replaced and emulated most of the outboard hardware that recording studios use to have to have to produce radio quality music.
Now, much less gear is needed to produce great music and thus, cost is down.
I've found out over the last 17 years it's not always about the quality of the gear you have but how much knowledge you have about music production and how great your song is.
You could give an inexperienced person a million dollar studio and they couldn't produce anything worth listening to. On the other hand you could give a genius a budget setup and they will produce magic.
I have a list of the 9 most important things you need to produce professional music with your computer.
1. Computer - First off you need a recording device and computers are prefect for this.
It comes down to Mac vs PC and if PC then you have to pick from Intel or Amd processors. I prefer Intel for many reasons and I'd start with at least a dual core 2.8Ghz processor and 4 gig of RAM, 32 bit Windows XP. I use 32 bit XP simply because it's more stable for Digital Audio Workstation "D.A.W." Work. If you do want to use a 64 bit operating system that's fine to. The upside to 64 bit is it can handle more then 4gb of memory but software support is still lacking for a good bit of the sound-card hardware and D.A.W. software.
You can get a computer anywhere from $300 and up and chances are you already have one.
You can even buy custom made D.A.W. Computers ready to produce music or build your own.
Here are some things to consider with buying a computer for D.A.W. production.
Motherboard - For audio recording the motherboard is very important. Make sure it has enough PCI/SATA/IDE/USB ports because you may want to add a 2nd hard-drive and if you plan on upgrading your sound-card you'll need a pci slot for it.
Hard drive - make sure it's at least 72,000 rpm's. I'd recommend an IDE hardrive with at least 4mg cach for the operating system and at least a 1gb SATA with 32mg cach for audio data and Software synth plug-ins.
You can use almost any computer in the world to record music. Chances are the computer your using right now will be able to handle 32 tracks of audio or more which is a great start.
Dedicating the computer completely to music production will yield the best results.
PCs are best for audio production but notebooks can be used as well with some limited results, though notebook computers make great portable recording devices.
2. Sound-Card Interface -
Your computer has a built in sound card but if you want high quality recordings then you need a dedicated sound card interface with high-quality microphone preamps and analog-to-digital converters (ADC)
You have to consider what type of music you will be producing in order to decide what kind of sound-card interface to purchase. Recording a band needs more inputs then producing Electronic / Rap / Pop music, because a band has to record drums which needs 8 inputs or more, though you could get away with 4 if you had to. Also a band needs to record all the other instruments at the same time as well.
I recommend a sound-card with at least two mic preamps in less your going to have outboard pre's or a mixer that has preamp's built in. High quality outboard preamp's and (ADC's) will have the best quality.
I use Universal Audio Preamp/Compressors and Apogee AD/DA converters but their are thousands of great preamps and converters on the market.
You don't have to have Dedicated preamp/compressors, and DACs to create great sounding music, though if you have the cash for them they would help a lot .
It's best to get a PCI sound card because pci has less latency issues but USB and firewire will work as well.
Here are two great budget sound-cards that have everything you need built in so you don't need to buy Separate preamps/midi i/o.
.
E-MU 1616M Pcie (16x16 Pcie Recording System) $400
Or
M-Audio Fast Track Pro Sound card - USB - 96 kHz - 24-bit
$250
3. Recording Software - Your computer will run your "Digital Audio Workstation" D.A.W. Software, sequencing software.
There are even free D.A.W. Software you can download to get started off with.
All D.A.W.s have the same concept.
Multiple tracks you can record Audio and midi data to and mix, add effects, and export the music for a CD or mp3.
Sonar and Protools are two of the best and well known and have everything you need to produce the highest quality music.
Both are around $300 and up.
When you record vocals or instruments like guitar to your computer, you can add real time plug-in effects like Compressors, eq, reverb, or add them later in the mix.
Most D.A.W. Software come with plug-ins you can apply to your music.
You can also download free plug-ins and buy them and they work inside most any D.A.W.
4. Studio Monitors.
You need monitors to hear the music. Good monitors are very important for creating a "Good Mix". I recommend not skimping on them but you can even use some cheap Computer speakers.
5. Headphones
You need headphones to record vocals and other instruments. Isolated headphones are best for
Recorded with because they don't leak sound to the microphone.
6. Cables.
The cables are for
Getting the signal or sound from a source to the destination.
Their are instrument, monitor, and microphone cables.
Cables come in many price ranges due to quality of components used, length, and design.
7. Midi keyboard controller / synthesizer.
A midi keyboard controller is a keyboard that doesn't produce sound, but triggers the sound within your D.A.W. Software or synthesizer/sound module.
A synthesizer is typically a keyboard that produces it's own sound, but can also be a midi controller.
Most producers have a midi keyboard controller or synthesizer to help compose musical ideas.
The midi keyboard controller will connect to your computer through a usb or midi cable.
This allows you to play and record your musical ideas as midi data.
MIDI ( /ˈmɪdi/; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is an industry-standard protocol, that enables electronic musical instruments, midi controllers, sound cards, samplers) to communicate and synchronize with each other.
M-Audio KeyRig 49 Keyboard Midi Controller DJ
$155
8. Microphone.
You need a microphone to record you voice and instruments.
Their are dynamic and condenser Microphones.
Dynamic microphones are almost always used in live performances due to the mic only picking up what's close to the front of it and the other musicians sound not bleeding into the mic.
Condenser microphones are great for studio use because they have a larger range they pick up.
Learning how to use microphones is very important in producing great music.
If you don't have $150 or more to buy a mic you could get a cheap mic and if you know what your doing, you can make it sound really good.
Sure sm58 is a great dynamic mic
9. Mixer - If you have multiple external sound sources then you need a mixer to mix them all together.
Not everyone will need a mixer and you don't need one to start recording music now but it's always good to have one.
Mackie are the industry standard but you can get a good inexpensive mixer for less then $50
