I have been looking at Cakewalk - probably the song creator package or the first level of the sonar products. Don't know which one to buy for a beginner who know nothing about recording, mixing, etc..

Anyone here a Cakewalk user?
Hammer

Been a cakewalk user since version one on a real 5 1/2 " floppy.

Buy an Edirol/Roland interface if you don't already have one. It comes with a great beginner version of Cakewalk. Other wise Home Studio is probably all you will need.
http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/HomeStudio/English/overview.asp

Don't forget Cakewalk is only native to the WIndows OS. If you have a MAC there are other choices that are worthy.

Dean I think your Tyros 3 features is more then enough for you to make some very decent recordings.Whats do you actually want to do?..

http://redrhythm.com/website/mp3s.html

Here are 3 songs my band recorded on the Tascam 2488 NEO that we bought recently and leave it in the garage we rehearse in so we can always record demos for getting work. We are pretty happy with the results considering it is a $599 24 track recorder which is darned good value. The only problem with these MP3 is that the bass player who mixed them processed the MP3s at a bit rate of 320 which made them a bit large for downloading so we will reprocess them soon at 160 to reduce the size.

We did record vocals after the music tracks had been laid down to get good separation. But we are pretty happy with the Tascam for doing garage recordings.

( Oh yeah, this is rock music so if that isn't to your taste you may want to pass on downloading these though I posted them here more to indicate recording quality of the Tascam than musical value )



[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 04-20-2009).]

Been doing my roughs for client approval straight from into a Zoom H-2, for the simple ones, and into an old Tascam for the ones needing to be multi-tracked.

After approval, we go to a commercial studio.

We do about 10 scores a year, and that is not enough to sustain a national quality production level; the kind necessary for people like Toyota and the like.

Edits are precise and we have our favorite place with OK prices and lots of experience in recording for film. Budgets are sufficient to hire what we need to get the job(s)( done.

I believe the quality of our audio tracks gives us an advantage; certainly over the houses that use "needle drop" tracks.

My name is on the whole production...the track, the script, the footage...everything, and the custom score helps.

Russ



[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 04-20-2009).]

WOW Loved the tracks....The singer that covered the Heart is spot on ..Just goes to show its about what you know not about what you have......Sort of wipes the shine right off my Tyros LOL....
Nothing beats live instruments...

Sounded Great....Nice to hear covers that are every bit as good as the originals.I'm guessing you guys are in demand...


Think of what a great live sound you would have with a splayed array of Podiums...LOL


[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 04-20-2009).]

Fun stuff, Nigel! Playing/recording with folks you are on the same wave length with...it doesn't get much better.

Playing live with others is my most satisfying musical activity.

You folks are COOL!


R.

Nigel, that is very tight performing. You got great results for a garage band!

I use Cakewalk Sonar 7 Studio Edition on a PC. I have a Focusrite Saffire ASIO interface - which I don't recommend because it gives me occasional grief (Twice a month I have to uninstall and reinstall the driver).

I have Peavey Revalver amp simulator for electric guitar. Excellent. You can hear my results on "It's Like a Rocket" www.myspace.com/larrylevin

Melodyne Celemony 3 - great software. TC Helicon Harmony M. Great for fast multiharmonies. Melodyne can be painstaking for creating harmonies throughout a song - but the results are excellent.

MXL4000 condenser mic, very clean. Cheap reference amp and monitors from Samson and Behringer respectively.

Beakybird


( Nigel - Just fixing your link Beaky so it works correctly )


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 04-21-2009).]

I've finally started to use my Zoom H2 for quick recordings. I like it and feel I will use it more often for demos and the like. Now that I've figured out how to record in mp3 mode, things are much easier.

Cassp, I don't know if you generally master a bit to get the volume up to the volume of most CD's and commercial mp3's, but if you do, I would honestly recommend recording at .wav, 44/24 bit initially, mastering a bit (light compression, maybe a little corrective EQ, limit a few db if you have some big spikes), and convert to mp3 right at the END of the chain.

You'll get a better end result, generally, and you will also have the option of choosing different bitrates for the mp3 depending on where you want to post... Some sites won't host as big a file as you might like - others will. At least this way you have options.

Just a thought.