Audio Production Studio

Audio Production Studio

The MP3 files below where produced using REAPER, ASIO4ALL and a collection of free VST instruments and effects. In my samples below, other than the vocal, bass and guitar, everything is software, and downloadable from the web.

Some of the free VST plugins used are:
GTG Drum Sampler II, Alpha Free(LinPlug), Synth1 , Endorphin compressor, Kjaerhus Audio, EQ, Compressor, Limiter, Reverb, Polyblit (Andreas Ersson), Ambience (Reverb), Stardust (Arguru Software), Voxengo Boogex AmpSim, De-esser and Noise gate.
For a link to just about every other free VST synthesiser, and the good mda_piano, see Alexander Blu's download pages. For a Sampler, with all the features you need, get the free original Short Circuit.

The best Free Drums are MDrummer 2 Small free, a product not unlike EZdrummer or BFD2. To use it with Reaper, you must use a MIDI track set to channel 10, and configure MDrummer to have 1 output, and not the default 16, (otherwise you will not hear cymbals and hi-hats).

If your audio hardware didn't come with ASIO drivers, ASIO4ALL is required to have low audio latency. Here used the DELL PC's on board SigmaTel audio subsystem. You read that right, I'm not using any special audio interface, and you cannot tell the difference when listerning to the final tracks. Without ASIO4ALL there was an 85msec delay between playing something and hearing it back. With ASIO4ALL that became 2msec, which is inaudible. Make sure you turn off the software GM synth in windows as per the ASIO4ALL FAQ.

For a VSTi GM/GS synth get sfz player, Fluid R3 SoundFonts and the sfARK file decompressor. This will get you back the GM synth capability, and open up a world of differenty drum kits and instruments.

Used a Roland PC-180 Midi Keyboard Controller connected via a Edirol UM-1ex USB-Midi interface to enter midi tracks. The Microphone was an Ashton DM50 Dynamic Cardioid ( a very cheap Shure SM58 clone) connected via an old Tascam PortaOne used just as a mic preamp. If I didn't have the PortaOne, a single OPAMP circuit would have done the same job. You don't need any EQ or pan control when recording.

The guitar went through a distortion pedal, into the PortOne, then into the PC. The Mic'ed Amp sound was produced with the Amp Cabinet Simulator.

Monitor Controller

A Monitor Controller, basically a volume control and some switches, is used to control monitoring speaker levels and speaker routing. As there isn't any need for a traditional mixer, this box handles the monitor functions that a mixer has.

It is also needed to get around a problem with the onboard audio of my DELL PC. This is because the DELL PCs audio input cannot be controlled indepently of the PCs output volume using the Windows Mixer. The Line In seems to be just mixed straight as an analog signal to the PC's audio output socket. It gives you Zero Latency Monitoring, but at full volume, hence the need for another real volume control.

Monitor Controller Schematic

This little controller contains a precision ALPs Dual Ganged volume control, has switches to select an input from one of two sources and output to one of two destinations.

This output switch sends the signal to small multimedia speakers (raised on tube stands to be at ear height), or to a Hi-Fi Receiver and larger speakers or headphones. You need to try your mixes out on different speakers, to get an idea of what it really sounds like. I now also use some smallish passive bookshelf speakers for near field monitoring, and that has had a positive effect on recent mixes.

Doing the Mix

Reaper has all you need to be able to mix and process your recorded tracks. Levels, Pans and everything else can be automated and edited to your hearts desire. Never expect to have any of my stuff played on the radio or TV, or made as a CD, but if you do, then you should frequently compare your levels and sound balance to a similar styled commercial CD release/MP3 over your mixing speakers and headphones. That is the only way to judge if the bass is too loud, vocal too low etc. It is a lot of extra work to make something sound like a commercial CD.

Here is a hint, Compression and Limiting are very important in getting a loud CD like mix, and magazines like Sound On Sound and Computer Music have articles to point out the details.

In my case, mixing so that it sounds ok on cheap headphones is all I need. That means nothing is panned hard left or right.

The Mix is then rendered to a stereo WAV file. This could then be burnt to a CD.

Straight to MP3

Recording with a Limiter

The tracks below were recorded with the above PC arrangement. But what you find is that controlling vocal levels is difficult during recording. There are VST plugins for compression, limiting, EQ, De'essing, but you need an unclipped signal in the first place to be able to use them. Recording at a lower level means the signal isn't as clean as it could be and buying a 24bit/192Khz USB Audio interface is overkill.

The simplest solution, is to use a Microphone/Instrument pre-amp with a limiter or compressor to record vocals or other dynamic instruments. One of the best value units is the Behringer MIC100, a Mic / Instrument preamp with limiter. This preamp has phantom power for condenser microphones, but the cheap SM58 clone I used means you don't have to worry about room tone on your vocals, as you would with a condenser mic.

To record vocals, you also need headphones so that the track your sing along to doesn't also get recorded via the microphone as well. You can get by without them. AdrianBruce-QA_Phil_the_chicken_is_on_standby_3.mp3 was done without headphones.

The biggest improvement you can make when recording a Fender Stratocaster is to shield the internals and change one or more pickups to humbuckers. It just makes such a difference when hum and buzz vanish.

Acoustic Treatment

Acoustic foams are also available, but are out of the question, price wise. A batt sized piece of foam is around $700, and you get 6 for $44 with rockwool.

Sample MP3s with Notes

Some have said that I have made the same song 10 times, but that isn't correct. It is more like 40.

Most of the these files are edited to about a minute long. More like caricatures than full songs. Most were started with 1 to 4, 1 to 2 bar drum patterns, copied and pasted to make a backing track. Then generally a verse or chorus is recorded and copied and pasted to form the track. Additional little sections are then recorded and copied and pasted as needed. I'll generally do another take rather than do much editing on something. These are mp3s

• Supercharged, Nitomethane burning Topfuel Drag racing. Guitar Rock with synth bass and drums. Used our guitar DI speaker emulator and load. I wanted to get "gasoline is for washing parts, Alcohol is for drinking. Nitromethane is for racing. Nothing else is exciting." into a piece of music. Dean Neal's Serious Attitude ANDRA Top Fuel Television commentary used with permission.
  AdrianBruce-Nitromethane.mp3. ( 2:09 minutes 2.03MBytes )

• Real rock Guitar and Bass. VST synth and Soundfont based drums using szf player.
  With all the bad news at the start of 2009, Let's hope it is going to be A Really Good Year. ( 2:34 minutes 2.4MBytes )

• A short 2 minute instumental with rock/metal guitar and synths. Call and Answer between bitter guitar and sweet synth lead... AdrianBruce-BitterSweet.mp3. ( 2:12 minutes 2.0MBytes )

• Short Version of Judas Priest Classic. Heavy Metal Guitar Based, but vocal is more Adult Contemporary.
  AdrianBruce-After_Midnight.mp3. ( 2:30 minutes 2.3MBytes )

• Short Variation on a Metallica track. Search, Seek & Destroy 1000 Bugs. Software Development is tough! And like Bob Rock, I get the joke.
  AdrianBruce-SearchAndDestroyBugs.mp3. ( 1:17 minutes 1.2MBytes )

• Techno, synth & Guitar...Software Quality is Serious Business.
  AdrianBruce-QA_Phil_the_chicken_is_on_standby_3.mp3. ( 1:56 minutes 1.8MBytes )

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