(ă 1998)
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Computer
Music Products
The
Making Of An Album
Page 2
- The Equipment And
Software Used -
by Michael Tyler
Computer Music Products
Our intention from the outset of this project, was to accomplish all recording, editing, effects, and mixing using a single desktop music system. This decision was made for several reasons...
1) It was cost effective for both the short and long term. Once the system was in place, we could use it for all future album projects. This, of course, would significantly reduce our expenses and allow us the freedom to do more projects than would otherwise be possible.
2) It was convenient. Everyone involved in this project had very full schedules. Because we had our own in-house system, it was much easier to co-ordinate recording sessions to accommodate personal schedules. We didn't need to concern ourselves with reserving studio time, nor would anyone have to travel any great distances.
3) It was actually doable! Recent technological advances in music software and hardware makes it possible to achieve a professional result using an in-house computer music system. This was not the case just a few years ago.
In the process of selecting the software and hardware for our system, we tried to anticipate every possible requirement ahead of time. We did a reasonably good job of this, but did make a few adjustments/additions in the midst of the project, as required. The following is a list of the software and system components we used, along with a description of the purpose each item served.
Software...
Cakewalk Pro Audio (version 6, at the
time) - All MIDI and digital audio
recording was accomplished using this software. In addition, the editing,
mixing, and effects were applied within the Cakewalk software as well. (NOTE:
The current version of the Cakewalk software used today is called SONAR
)
WaveLab - I used WaveLab for removing DC offsets in the digital recordings to make the audio sound as clean as possible. I had originally intended to use WaveLab for all digital audio editing and processing, but it proved to be more prudent and convenient to use Cakewalk's built-in audio editing features instead.
Audio FX-1 - I added this software in the middle of the project when it was time to "tweak" the audio tracks. I created several custom filters for tasks such as audio compression, noise removal, expander/limiting functions, and the like.
Easy CD Audio - I used this software for creating the CD submaster for sending off to the duplicator. It was included with the Hewlett-Packard CD-writer that we purchased. I had originally intended to use the WaveLab software create the audio CD, but discovered it was not compatible with external parallel port CD drives. The Easy CD software was indeed "easy" to use and did a superb job.
CorelDraw (version 7) - I used this for creating all the artwork for the CD and cassette inserts. All the files were provided to the commercial duplicator for color printing and packaging.
Finale - I used Finale notation software to create a lead-sheet style songbook for the album as an "accessory" item that people could purchase if they wished.
Hardware
Dell 200mHz Pentium Pro, 64MB RAM, Win95, 3.4 and 6.4 GB hard
drives - I had purchased this system about a year before this project, and
had specified certain features with digital audio recording in mind. I was
careful to ask for a genuine Intel™ Pentium processor, as I had learned
from past experience that some digital audio applications "didn't
like" non-Intel processors. At the time, a 200mHz machine was
state-of-the-art. The 3.4 GB hard drive came with the original system.
Just before starting this project, I added the 6.4 GB drive myself to be
certain that there would be enough room for all the huge digital audio
files we were about to create! (NOTE:
The current computer I use today is a Dell Dimension XPS, Pentium 4, 3GHz,
1 GB RAM, two 200GB hard-drives, 17" flat-screen dual-monitors,
Windows XP Pro.)
AudioWerk 8 digital audio card - I installed this card about a year before this project. Again, this was in anticipation of digital audio applications. I used it for all audio playback, but not for all the audio recording as I originally planned. I ran into problems getting an adequate input level and monitoring the input while recording vocals. I was able to use it for recording the MIDI tracks as digital audio, however. Near the end of the project, an updated driver became available for the AudioWerk card that would have allowed me to use it for all the audio recording -however, it came too late for this project.
SoundBlaster AWE32 soundcard - This was the card I originally specified when the computer was ordered. It was never my intention to use it for any serious audio recording or as a MIDI sound source, but rather had it installed to assure compatibility with other multimedia applications. As it turned out, I actually was able to use it for audio recording into Cakewalk, but routed the audio playback signal to go through the AudioWerk 8 card. I also used the Blaster's MIDI interface for MIDI input, but routed all MIDI output to a Music Quest MQX32M. This allowed me to bypass the Blaster's built-in synthesizer and use my two Roland external sound modules for playback of all the MIDI tracks.
Mackie 1202 mixer - I did not use the Mackie for any actual "mixing" for the album. It simply served as a hub that I could connect all the audio outputs from the MIDI sound modules and the sound cards to a central location. I was then able to monitor all playback and recording, from any device, through headphones or the connected speakers.
V-Tech microphone - I tested a few mics I had laying around and found the V-Tech yielded the vocal sound that we needed for this style of music. It has a ¼" plug (unbalanced), so I purchased a Radio Shack 1/8" reducer in order to plug the mic directly into the mic input of the Sound Blaster card for recording.
Hewlett-Packard 7200e CD-Writer Plus - This is an external CD-writer that easily connects to the computer via the printer port. I read several CD-writer reviews before finally decided to purchase this particular one. I also spoke to a few people who recommended a SCSI drive rather than the parallel port type that we chose for our setup. This recommendation was mainly because a SCSI drive has a faster data throughput than one sending data though a printer port connection (not too important when creating audio CD's since the write speed for audio is usually done at 1X ,or at most, 2X speed). An important feature we really wanted was that of portability. I wanted to be able to connect the drive to other computers without having to be concerned with SCSI compatibility. Any computer running Win 95 or higher will run this drive, and every computer has a printer port, so compatibility is no problem. We used the CD-writer for two purposes. Of course, it was used to create our audio CD sub-master, but it was also used as a convenient means of backing up the project songfiles at various intervals. The blank CD-R's are very economical (less than $2.00 apiece), so it was cost effective, too.
Music Quest MQX-32M MIDI Interface - This is a dual-port interface (32 MIDI channels) that I installed in order to access two external sound modules independently from one another during MIDI playback. I had an additional 16 channels for playback if I had utilized the SoundBlaster's built-in interface, but found that the Blaster intermittently "choked" when used for both MIDI input and output while simultaneously recording digital audio. I delegated playback and recording tasks as follows; I used the Blaster's MIDI input for recording MIDI tracks, the MQX32M for MIDI playback, the Blaster for audio recording input, and the Audiowerk 8 for audio playback.
Desktop MIDI Controller Keyboard - This is a 49-note compact keyboard that I used for all instrumental MIDI track recording except for the piano parts. It has an octave-shift function enabling it to cover a greater key range than an 88-note keyboard. It was connected to the SoundBlaster's MIDI input using a special 12' long gameport-to-MIDI adapter cable made for this purpose.
Roland FP-1 Digital Piano - Jeremy used this for recording the piano part for each song. It was temporarily connected to the SoundBlaster's MIDI input during the piano part recording. After those were done, it was disconnected and no longer used for the remainder of the project.
Roland SC-50 and M-GS64 Sound Modules - These two sound modules were used to produce the sound for all the instrumental MIDI tracks. They were connected to the two MIDI output ports coming from the Music Quest MQX32M MIDI interface.
Audix PH-1 and Altec Lansing Speakers - I swapped back and forth between these two speaker pairs when I wasn't using the headphones to monitor playback.
Yamaha Headphones - I bought a Radio Shack "Y" cable adapter to allow me to use two headphones simultaneously from the Mackie mixer while monitoring during vocal track recordings (one headphone for me, one for the singer). We don't have a sound proof booth, so this was essential for our setup. Also, I used headphones during most of the editing, mixing and mixdown process. Since we don't own a pair of studio-quality monitors, a good set of headphones was our best alternative.
Sanyo Dual Cassette Deck - This is simply a home-type cassette
recorder that allowed me to knock out cassette tape "proofs" at
various intervals during the project. This gave us the opportunity to
experiment a bit, trying various mixing levels, changing the order of
songs, and so on, before actually burning any CD's. We would typically
play the cassettes in different environments (home, car, boom box) to help
us in creating a mix that would sound good no matter where it was played.
Click on the thumbnail
below to see an enlargement of the actual system diagram.
Next Page (pg.3) Recording The First Tracks
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