General Music Chat

If you want to get ahead in anything you must be prepaired to pay the piper. MOVE its a great adventure. Life is too short to screw around. Dont wait till your pushing fifty and have grandchildren

Hey man, you could even download Audacity, if you don't already have it or one of the Acoustica Mixcraft volumes while your deciding on where your gonna start,use them to get used to multi-tracking, audjusting different sound levels, and blending tracks.Good luck, have fun.

Hey man, you could even download Audacity, if you don't already have it or one of the Acoustica Mixcraft volumes while your deciding on where your gonna start,use them to get used to multi-tracking, audjusting different sound levels, and blending tracks.Good luck, have fun.

Don't need that. I've been using Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (Adobe Audition) for over five years. I'm working on a CD for my boss right now of him singing. His singing is terrible, but the quality is really good considering I only have a cheap little microphone. Here's a link if you want to hear one of his songs:

http://files.filefront.com/In+Christ+Al ... einfo.html

Just ignore the few places where he breathed on the mic. I didn't have anything to put over it at the time, and its not really THAT noticeable.

I'm working on a CD for my boss right now of him singing. His singing is terrible, but the quality is really good considering I only have a cheap little microphone.

Yeah, that's a decent recording if the mic is cheap.

He's not terrible. He sings ok in places.

But...

I CANNOT STAND THE CONSTANT VIBRATO!!!!!

SOMEONE SHOOT ME!!!!! ARGH!!!!

I'm working on a CD for my boss right now of him singing. His singing is terrible, but the quality is really good considering I only have a cheap little microphone.

Yeah, that's a decent recording if the mic is cheap.

He's not terrible. He sings ok in places.

But...

I CANNOT STAND THE CONSTANT VIBRATO!!!!!

SOMEONE SHOOT ME!!!!! ARGH!!!!

I hear ya...I want to tell him about it so bad, but the thing is, he's my boss...and I don't want to piss him off.

All great advice on here as usual. This is a HUGE subject. There's obviously SO much to learn. I would think there's even MORE to consider above and beyond the technical aspects of producing. In today's market, videos and image are so important in selling music. Does the sound of a particular artist fit the image? Is what you're producing going to be MARKETABLE? Is it going to be marketable six months from now, a year from now, five years from now? You have to be able to somehow know the trends in music. Also you have to have the personal flexibility to be able to get along with so many diverse personalities. You almost need to take a course in psychology. Some of the engineers who recorded us in the past were frankly as*holes. You're going to have to keep up with new technologies, trends in music etc. I think you're going to have to be down to earth with people. You mentioned not wanting to piss off your boss. If somebody's singing or playing an instrument that sounds like crap you should tell them immediately. If something's not working you should tell them immediately. I wouldn't want to waste my money on an expensive recording project. I would think you wouldn't want your future customers to waste their money either. Later...

there is a recording (and complete music industry) school in Hyden Kentucky. Dean Osborne (The Osborne Brothers) is heavily involved in the school. i dont know what genre your interested in. they have a bluegrass school there too...the school is new and has allready gained national recognition.... i'm sure you can find them in some listing on the net...

In my opinion, the way to deal with the killer vibrato is to say, "Hey, lets try a run using less vibrato. I'd like to hear how that sounds."
So he does it, then you say "Man, that sounds really great. You're the man.
What do you think about tracking all the vocals that way? "

That's the way I would play producer rather than just stopping the train and telling him that his vibrato is torture, and that he sucks.
Of course you have to draw the line at some point. If someone really sucks, then 'say so immediately' I guess.

I know up in my end of the United States a school like Umass Lowell is great for anyone interested in any facet of music. I have friends in the music production courses there. Also Massachusetts is spoiled because we have Berkley.

I am not knowledgeable in this area but I'd imagine that like any other field having one foot in the "ivory tower" and one foot in the "real world" would help. Gain experience by taking classes and experience through the real world.

I am a law student and I can tell you that I have learned just as much in my 1 week of an internship as I did in one year of legal courses.

I would suggest you decide what you want to do with your education before making any decision, if your plan is to apply to a major label and go on the national scene, they wont likely take you without a degree, but if you want to do local work, your own production company, then the interning for someone else is absolutely the best idea. Just be sure its someone that is good at their job. The first thing to remember is that a producer is the artists best friend/worst enemy/father when a long term relationship exists. If you just wanna take people in to record their crap, and don't want to really dive into the entire spectrum of production and post production, then just buy some equipment and learn how to use it, use it well and you will do fine. If you are going to be selective about who you produce, then interning is the way to learn the real ins and outs of the business.