Home recording studio ins and outs

If you like music and you can sing, I’m sure that you may have a dream of possessing a recording studio of your own so that you can record your singing and produce your CD. However, such dream, in general, costs you a lot. Besides the facilities like production studio construction… you are also required a bunch of expensive recording system.

But thing has changed with AV Music Morpher Gold. With this compact, easy-to-use software now you can really enjoy an in-home recording studio.

First step is recording, AV MM Gold can help you to record your voice in high quality. Click record button under the morpher tab and sing. Then, you can replay to check and redo the recording until feeling content.

The next step is editing your work. Now you can see the differences of AV MM Gold. You can add as many effects as you like to make your song funky simply by click on the wished ones. There are many options for you, single effects or special effects or group of effects as well. And if you don’t like the ready-made ones you can create something new. The funniest thing is voice morpher, you can change your voice pitch, voice timbre and the tempo of the song.

More than that you can cut a part of any music song and insert it in to your song. It will be very useful to make funny things and it will stimulate your creativeness a lot.

After the postproduction, it’s time you make your beloved CD with burner. But don’t forget to make your CD look funky by creating a cover with your favorite pics.

Now you have in hand a complete CD, why don’t you make it a special gift for someone special:)

Rashaad Patrick's Jazz Essentials

I used to tell people I met on airplanes or at parties that I wrote about jazz for a living. Once they got past wondering just what type of "living" that amounted to, they'd smile and say, "I love jazz," then pause, adding, "But I don't know that much about it."

They were leery, thrown off by chart-and-graph references to jazz's development — stuff like how '40s swing begat '50s bebop, which gave rise to '60s free-jazz and all that. As if there was a textbook (well, actually some critic friends of mine are writing one, but that's another story) and there might be a test, you know. Not to mention the political squabbles: why swing was king or bop the thing or how '70s fusion killed it all.

Or maybe they'd been put off by all that technical talk: flatted fifths and extended chords and the numbers behind swing's rhythmic propulsion — like it was rocket science or something.

Then there's the cult aspect: those older guys bending and swaying at the back of the club, making like Jewish elders swaying to an fro at temple, or the generalized bowing down before deities such as Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker and John Coltrane (not to mention the infighting about just who deserves saintly status).

Thing is, jazz isn't any of that — and is all that. Appreciation requires no previous knowledge, yet continued listening offers all constant enrichment. The technical aspects of jazz's musical achievements have both the beauty and complexity of higher math: And the music has genuine religious heft, owing to both time-honored spiritual traditions and in-the-moment meditative thought.

I can't give you a 12-best list, or tell you that what follows tells the story in full. But the following list expresses lineages of thought, instrumental technique, rhythmic ideas and group conception. The dots are easy to connect, the names clearly indicated and the sounds unforgettable.

And this list is like those sponge toys that, placed in water, magically grow overnight. Listen, and you'll find expansive knowledge easily absorbed, not to mention natural links to many more artists and recordings.

Listen Hot Fives And Sevens
Artist: Louis Armstrong
Release Date: 1925

To tell the story of jazz without Louis Armstrong up top is to cut off the head of the living organism that is jazz. Armstrong was a giant of a trumpeter, he was an influential singer and perhaps most important, he transformed jazz from a strictly instrumental music into a complicated blend of solo and ensemble sound. In that sense, nearly all the 20th century jazz that followed flowed from the innovation of these recordings. Over the course of these sessions, you can hear the transformation in process, from traditional New Orleans collective style to a different blend, with the clarion call of Armstrong's horn pointing the way.

Listen The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces Volume 1
Artist: Art Tatum
Release Date: 2001

Any one edition drawn from this eight-CD set will do. And any one is enough to give a sense of the enormity of Tatum's genius and its far-reaching effects on all the music that followed. Tatum simply played more piano — got more out the instrument — than any other musician. He was a direct link from the whorehouse piano men to the classical soloist. Here, late in life, he plays song after song and, beginning with "Too Marvelous for Words," he builds each one into a concerto of melody, harmonics, and improvisation that set the bar high and establish the logic for much of modern jazz.


   
Listen The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943
Artist: Duke Ellington
Release Date: 1943

Little in jazz compares with the majesty, finesse, integrity and spark of Duke Ellington's bands during the '40s. It was a moment when jazz straddled two functions as it never will again: it was popular music, reflective of the nation's heart and mind, and artistic revolution, charting new waters. In Ellington, as perhaps in no musician other than Louis Armstrong, jazz had a leader who understood both drives. It was a dream of Ellington's to play Carnegie Hall, and it anticipated the Lincoln Center achievements of Wynton Marsalis today. This recording contains both shorter tunes (marvelous miniatures of great scope) and Ellington's more ambitious, longer-form work "Black, Brown, and Beige." There are stellar solo statements by players including saxophonists Ben Webster and Johnny Hodges, but really, it's the brilliant cohesion of the full band and Ellington's overall vision that makes this music timeless.

Listen Tomorrow Is The Question
Artist: Ornette Coleman
Release Date: 1959

Ornette Coleman's music has always leaned on tradition — listen to some Charlie Parker and you'll hear echoes of it here — distilled into something new and pointed straight toward the future, or curled up like a quizzical phrase. Here, Coleman's title begs both ideas. And the music announced his pianoless quartet setup: the harmonics of chord changes alone would no longer confine Coleman's music, replaced by his own personal science bent on liberation. The way Coleman and trumpeter Don Cherry shadow each other's lines and exchange ideas, the process sounds closer to pure joy than hard science. Nearly a half-century later, it still sounds fresh.
   
Listen Alone In San Francisco
Artist: Thelonious Monk
Release Date: 1959

The hippest, most addictive thing I got turned onto in college was Monk's music. I'd never heard anything like it, and it opened up a whole new idea for me of how the piano could sound and of what music could do: his compositions, his every arpeggio or tone cluster, contained math, R&B, Abstract Expressionism and slapstick humor. I went on to discover a world of jazz musicians, all touched directly or indirectly by Monk, but none who sounded quite like him. And though Monk recorded quite a few notable albums leading stellar bands, though his music led others to play with a special insight and cohesion, it's Monk alone at the piano that I crave: Straight, no chaser. Here, early in his career, by himself, Monk transforms San Francisco's Fugazi Hall with the unique architecture of his piano playing. This isn't what all of jazz sounds like: It's what the world of jazz after Monk looks like.
   
Listen Bill Evans Trio: Sunday At The Village Vanguard
Artist: Bill Evans
Release Date: 1961

There's plenty of religious, folkloric and literary evidence to support the idea that three is a magical number: Bill Evans's trio might be jazz's mightiest argument for that case. Evans was one of jazz's most lyrical pianists, and he's at his best here. But it's the nature of this trio that elevates most of all: neither Evans nor bassist Scott LaFaro nor drummer Paul Motian stick to customary roles. And in the three-pointed cheese slice of a room that is the Village Vanguard (the closest thing to sacred space remaining in jazz today) the music takes on a prayer-like quality.

Listen Live Trane: The European Tours
Artist: John Coltrane
Release Date: 1961

By 1961, Coltrane's soloing style — the free flow through chord changes and scale-based improvisations that critic Ira Gitler dubbed "sheets of sound" — was his signature. His band concept was similarly bent on expanding boundaries and explosive energy. Coltrane may have laid down some of jazz's most memorable studio sessions, but there's really nothing like him caught live. These tracks, drawn from a three-LP set, find him in two powerful contexts over the course of four years: in a 1961 quintet including Eric Dolphy on alto sax, flute and clarinet; and fronting his classic quartet at concerts in 1963 and 1965. The fire and especially the communion between Coltrane and drummer Elvin Jones on the later material is a thing to behold.

Listen Spiritual Unity
Artist: Albert Ayler
Release Date: 1964

The first release on Bernard Stollman's ESP label, this is the session that pushed Albert Ayler to the forefront of jazz's avant garde. He remains a touchstone for any open-minded musician wishing to explore the sonic possibilities of a given instrument, to exploit the aggregate effect of any small group and to mine the spiritual heft of musical expression. To some, the arsenal of sounds Ayler coaxed from his saxophone — screams, squeals, wails, honks and a mile-wide vibrato when he felt like it — represented newfound contortions of sound; to others, they harked back to early jazz evocations, like Sidney Bechet's soprano sax. Ayler's appeal anticipates the current axis that connects punk rockers to free jazz: He took the simplest of song structures and turned them into the most complex of visceral splatters. His "Ghosts," here rendered in two versions, will truly haunt you.
   
Listen Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods
Artist: Dizzy Gillespie And Machito
Release Date: 1975

Back when I edited a jazz magazine, I'd find regular annoyance with writers who thought Latin jazz was a tiny sidebar to American jazz. Jazz is many stories, a central one being the African Diaspora. The music of Latin America, South America and the Caribbean are cousins to American music (and they contain some rhythmic secrets we've forgotten, I'd say). Cuba in particular has a special musical relationship with the United States, and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie was one among jazz's ranks who honored that truth with depth and style. Though Dizzy made his Big Cuban Bang decades earlier, this 1975 session finds him with the famed band of Frank "Machito" Grillo, featuring the great Cuban trumpeter Mario Bauzá. Composer/arranger Chico O'Farrill's "Oro, Incienso y Mirra" is as modern a fusion of cross-cultural ideas as you'll hear today.
   
Listen Raining On The Moon
Artist: William Parker
Release Date: 2002

Born in 1955 [ck], William Parker is just a bit older than the music we know as free jazz. Some say that that musical revolution is dead: They're wrong. The most vital life signs are found on Manhattan's Lower East Side, and at the center of this scene is the loud, insistent sound of Parker's bass. He is something of a father figure, dispensing life lessons as well as musical wisdom, much like legendary bandleaders Duke Ellington, Art Blakey and Charles Mingus. Among Parker's many bands is the quartet he leads here (with Leena Conquest adding soulful vocals). Among the deep connections he shares is the one you can feel powerfully throughout this music, with drummer Hamid Drake.

Four Ways To Learn Guitar

With the increasing popularity of rock music during the last few decades, playing the guitar has become very appealing for many people. While there are many teenagers out there who dream of becoming rock superstars, there are also many people that want to learn how to play the guitar just for the sake of it. However, many of them don't find the best way to learn guitar and after a few unsuccessful attempts, they finally give up.

Different people have different learning needs. In addition, we also have different resources, different jobs, different errands to run and different schedules. If you're not at the level you want, maybe it's because you haven't found the best way to learn guitar yet.  There are several ways to learn how to play the guitar. Listed below are only a few of them.

Theory Books

There are thousands of theory books on the market that teach you how to play the guitar. Some of them are even very good and can provide you with all the information you need. Books are an inexpensive and comfortable strategy to learn how to play the guitar. Unfortunately, experience shows that for many of us they just don't work. However, if you are a very patient person, a theory book might be the best way to learn guitar.

Video Lessons

Video guitar lessons are available on DVDs and video tapes in almost any music store, as well as on virtual shops. In addition, there are also some video lessons available online. Some of them are even free. Video lessons are more dynamic and have a better chance of keeping you focused. They have the advantage of allowing you to practice at home whenever you find the time to do it. However, the inconvenience is that you can't benefit from the personalized attention and useful feedback a teacher could provide.

Private Lessons

If you are willing to dedicate a lot of time as well as some money to this, private lessons are definitely the best way to learn guitar. A good teacher can design a customized teaching program to suit your learning style and provide you with individualized attention and positive feedback to get you motivated. In addition, he/she can also spot and correct your mistakes very fast.

Learning by Ear

Learning the guitar by ear can be very fun, especially if you have some sort of musical bone in your body, and that bone is humming with lots of vibration, you might find that this is the best way to learn guitar for you. With the modern slowing down technology, it is much easier now than it used to be for our parents' generation. 

You should always keep in mind that playing the guitar should be fun. If you find it difficult or stressing, your learning strategy might have a lot to do with it. Sometimes you need to try several learning methods before finding the one that works best for you. However, if you really want to play the guitar like a pro and have enough time and money, taking up private lessons is probably the best way to go.

Make Your Own Beats, Instrumentals, Tracks, and Demo CDs Part 2

There are many, many ways to make money with your own music. The first thing you need to do, though, is break it down into pieces, or components we will call them.  

There are 4 key components to any track, or song. You have soundsets, which are nothing more than beats, sounds, scratches, etc. You have loopsets, which are your soundsets when put together in a loop. You have instrumentals, which are completed tracks with no voice or lyrics. Finally, you have completed tracks, which are basically just instrumentals that include lyrics.

When you look at music from this angle, broken down into components, you will start to see many ways to make money with your own. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this report, people are not only paying for completed tracks, they are also paying for the components individually. If you can create you own, good components, people will buy them.

Again, search the Internet for these components. Doing so will not only show you how much you can sell your components for, but also where you can sell them. As long as people are listening to music, there will always be a demand for it, and I can't see people stopping anytime soon.

If you are interested in learning how to make money with your own beats in more detail, I recommend you check out Bob Bakers website (see "about the author" at the bottom of this article). Bob Baker is a writer, indie musician and former music magazine editor who is dedicated to showing musicians of all kinds how to get exposure, connect with fans, sell more CDs and increase their incomes through their artistic passions. He is also the author of the Guerilla Music Marketing Handbook, as seen in the major motion picture The School of Rock ... and in VIBE, Music Connection, Electronic Musician and American Songwriter magazines. This is the guy you should listen to. Here are some of the things you will find at his website...

- 197 Promotion Tips, Tricks, and Resources for Independent Musicians.

- 101 places to submit press releases, get reviewed, uncover PR connections and promote your music on the Internet. Supplies the exact website and email addresses for submitting your music news.

- The 29 most important elements in creating sizzling music publicity materials. Make sure your media kit gets noticed by editors, writers, booking agents, program directors, and other industry people.

- 50 ways to promote and sell your music on the Internet.

- And more, including his coveted Guerilla Music Marketing Handbook.

I hope this report has proved useful to you and I wish you all the best as you learn how to make your own beats, tracks, and even complete demo cd's.

Make Your Own Beats, Instrumentals, Tracks, and Demo CDs Part 1

Many people are making an excellent living selling thier samples, tracks, and cd's, on the Internet and off, even if they're not with a major record label. Just look around on the Internet. People are paying $30 to $60 for small beat and and sound packages, $50 to $100 for small loop sets and beat sets, $100 to $300 for Instrumentals, $100's to $1,000's for complete tracks and samples, and for the few lucky ones like Jay-Z and J D... "Money aint a Thing"! They sell millions of their cd's. There are thousands of people and even companies looking for new music everyday! Let them hear yours!

Whether you dream of Making It Big in the Music Industry, or are just interested in making some extra cash doing what you love, this article is for you. You will see the resources you need to make your own beats, loops, instrumentals, finished tracks, and complete demo cd's. You will also see the resources you need to make money doing it. With that being said, let's get to the part you are waiting for...

Part I: Make Your Own Beats, Instrumentals, Samples, Loops, Tracks, and Complete Demo CDs...

To do this, you will need a few things. First you will need recording studio software. Recording studio software is nothing more than a program that allows you to mix beats, melodies, chords, samples and loops to make your own customized instrumentals and tracks. They also allow you to record yourself as you sing or rap to your track and to make a copy of your tracks to cd.

You can find this type of software all over the Internet. Just do a search for "make your own beats" or "recording studio software". As you search, you will notice that on average, this type of software will run you between $50 and $200. Don't Buy Them (you'll see why shortly)! Now you're going to need beats, melodies, chords, samples, and loops to customize with your recording studio software, aka: sound sets and loop sets. Again, just do a search for "beats" or "loops". They usually come in packages of about 200 sound sets for $30 and 300 loop sets for $60, or 600 sound sets for $75 and 900 loop sets for $150. Don't Buy Them Either!

Alright, so at the minimum, $140 gets you the low-end studio software, 200 sound sets, and 300 loop sets... or if you want a little better quality studio software and more sound sets and loop sets, you can spend about $425 for high-end studio software, 600 sound sets, and 900 loop sets. That's everything you need to make your own beats, instrumentals, samples, loops, tracks, and complete demo cd's. But why did I say Don't Buy Them?

Because you can get it all, the studio software and over 1,100 sound sets and loop sets for under 30 bucks with Hip Hop Starz Record Producer and Mixer Studio. This is an unheard of price for everything you need, and it is of such good quality, There is an entire page dedicated to the Snoop Dogg website to it. It is loaded with many features you will find on the high-end software selling for $100 or more.

"Pickin" up the Tab

If you enjoy the idea of learning the guitar and you visualize yourself sitting down and playing your favorite songs for your own enjoyment, acoustic guitar tabs give you the possibility of realizing your dream. You can pick up an acoustic guitar any time of the day or night and play without disturbing your family or neighbors. Some people even play the acoustic guitar while the family is watching TV in the same room!

Tablature, or tab, is the ideal way for any beginner guitar player to learn or for a more seasoned guitarist to learn new material quickly. A basic definition of guitar tab is a diagram showing the guitar strings with the frets where the guitarist is to play the notes indicated by numbers. Quite often a guitarist approaching a new piece of music will struggle with conventional music notation whereas tab is a quick and easy way of getting the feel of a new piece. Also a pianist or other musician can look at a piece of guitar sheet music and play it right away but would have no hope of playing from guitar tab because it is only written for one instrument. Another limitation of guitar tab is that you won’t be able to learn the rhythm from it. You will need a strumming pattern diagram or, having heard the song before, have some idea of how to approach the playing of the rhythm. If you are prepared to live with these limitations tablature will be a great tool for you to learn your favorite songs quickly.

When you search the internet for acoustic guitar tab what kind of music can you expect to find? Well, the variety is astonishing. Basically acoustic guitar tab is written with the idea of the guitar supplying the basic accompaniment for the song. So if you are a singer wanting to interpret the lyrics, your interest in the guitar arrangement may be slight. The second thing acoustic guitar tab usually gives you is the notes for any distinctive melody or riff in the song – music that people recognize before they hear the words being sung. A simple example of this is the few notes repeated throughout the record of “Something” by The Beatles. Of course you are quite free to leave out or change any music to make the arrangement your own.

Acoustic guitar tabs are often fingerstyle arrangements of songs. These arrangements will not be readily available in music stores or the usual sources of sheet music on the internet. Fingerstyle arrangements can give you some added depth to your guitar playing even if you don’t utilize all the techniques shown in the tab. Finally there is one advantage to using acoustic tab for electric guitar players. You can learn the muisc for the song without having to set up your guitar and amp. You can work on arranging your song for electric guitar once you know the chords and the basic structure.

I hope I have given you something to think about if you have not given tabs for acoustic guitar much of a look so far. If you look around you will be quite amazed at the range of popular – and obscure – music available.