Music Studio Phase II - sans condenser mic

I have decided to postpone the purchase of a new microphone, since I don't really have much opportunity to do this kind of recording. However, I have found a couple nice additions to my studio set-up (totaling just about $110). I recently made 2 purchases to allow a more flexible, complete, mobile solution to my DAW. I now have the ability to take my studio on the road and use my Sony Vaio.

First I have added a simple E-MU XMIDI 1x1 USB interface ($25) so I can use my midi keyboard with a USB port.

Secondly, I needed a USB audio interface / preamp. After some research I found an excellent solution that offers a substantial "bang-for-your-buck" using an ART USB Dual Pre ($80). The ART is a great solution for me so far. It is very portable, powered by USB, and requires no software drivers. When you plug it in you will find "USB audio codec" added to your sound I/O hardware options. However, you don't have to select this for your system if you run most of your studio software on top of JACK. Instead, just change the input and output preferences in the JACK setup and you are good to go!

I also found software designed to be a guitar effects simulator called Rackarrack which also has an on-board tuner and can route your guitar notes to midi events. Although it has limited sensitivity, this may be a good way to score midi data for someone (like me) who plays guitar/bass better than keyboard.

Home Recording Studio - Phase I

I think it is important to document my progress as I piece together a home recording studio. At this point I have come to a significant stage that I am designating Phase I. Phase I is basically setting up as much as I can without any new hardware purchases.

Phase I

Hardware:

1. In-The-Box:

- American Megatrends MoBo (add specs)
- Pentium IV 2.83 MHz microprocessor
- 2GB RAM (add specs)
- 80GB IDE 56k HD (check specs)
- Lite-On SATA DVD-RW
- SoundBlaster Audigy 1 sound card with mounted breakout box and midi "joystick" adapter

2. Out-The-Box:

- V-Tech vt-1030 dynamic mic w/ XLR3 cables
- radioshack dynamic mic
- Yamaha 12-string accoustic/electric
- Guild 6-string accoustic/electric (recently "set-up" including bridge reattachment $150)
- Epiphone Les Paul (recently "set-up" including jack-plate recplacement $50)
- Zoom Player Pro 4040 (ca. 1995) digital effects pedal
- Morley Wah pedal
- Crate PA-800 800W 8-Channel Power Mixer
- Cybersound 3 octave midi keyboard (given to me by a colleague)

I did, however, recently purchase a Boss RC-20 Loopstation ($150) which is not as much for recording as for assisting the writing process...and just a lot of fun to use!

Software (Ubuntu-9.10):

- Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) audio driver.
- Jack Audio Connection Kit (JACK or Jack).
- QJackCtl with the Jack audio server engine which runs on top of an optimized low latency "real-time" kernel (linux-rt). Also acts as a convenient transporter that may control several programs simultaneously such as Hydrogen, Muse, Qtractor and Ardour.
- Ardour2-GTK professional-grade multi-track recorder, mixer and audio editor that syncs with JACK Transporter.
- Qtractor multi-track midi sequencer and audio recorder that syncs with JACK.
- Hydrogen percussion sequencer (syncs with JACK) supporting multiple drum-kits with on-board mixing console and song editor to organize drum patterns into a complete performance.
- JSampler gigedit .gig sample engine
- QSynth soundfount .sfs sample engine
- ZynAddSubFX addition/subtraction digital synth with built in effects

So in total I have spent $400, but that was mostly to refurbish my guitars and buy a looper "toy." As it stands now, I have enough equipment and know how to use what where enough that I have a really good start to being able to make music that someone other than me can hear.

Additions for Phase II:

Condenser Mic for enhanced vocal recording
Stereo Preamp with phantom power

Whispering

I have found it to be a bit challenging to record music in the house since my usual window of opportunity is after the kids are all in bed. I decided that I can either wait several years until the kids are more self-sufficient so I can do any vocal-work during the day, or I could just whisper-sing at night. My wife and I tried to sing quietly one night recently and it wasn't a complete failure. I use a software amplifier from "JACK-Rack" to boost the signal from a cheap V-Tech vt-1030 dynamic microphone that I've had since my teenage rock/grunge band playing days.

Later I had the idea that maybe I could start writing lyrics designed for a loud whisper. I think it is an idea worth pursuing and at the very least it will give me a focus and project design that will push me to accomplish something. I have aptly named it project Whisper, Whisperer Err, Whisperin Her Err, or something like that.

I will be writing and editing lyrics right from this blog so hang on, it could be a bumpy ride. I will designate project Whisper's lyrics with the following signature:

-Shhh!

RPM Challenge

The Wire Magazine from Portsmouth, NH has held an annual "open challenge" to musicians all over the world (over 2000 participants this year) to motivate the recording of 10 new tracks or 35 min. of music. I have a friend who has participated for a number of years and was finally motivated myself, having been enabled by several flexibile/portable iPod Touch apps I recently acquired. My nOe rpm challenge page is http://noe.rpmchallenge.com. It was cool to see that the fine people at The Wire used xspf as their flash media playlist component like the one on my blog (look more lefter). They also use audio-player for individual tracks on the owners back-pages so songs can be reviewed individually (I'm using that too for embedding into my blog posts). Here also is the collection from i
nOe-i

Overall, I am happy that I was able to participate, even if the final product is a bit sloppy and brief for my liking... At least I learned a lot about what I can now do myself to make music, something I was previously incapable of. I have a long way to go, but I will be tracking progress here along the way.

Some future plans include:
- cutting a more polished nOe album from many of the ideas in i (which I think of more as a musical notebook).
- record some Betsy and Murgatroid tracks with Elia
- sell my Honda Shadow to buy an improved recording studio set-up (research still to do)
http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/39751