Musician and multi genre artist Serj Tankian talks about song writing and recording.

Also shows us the gear in his home studio.

www.musiciansfriend.com

Serj Tankian – Sky Is Over (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

I personally am not a fan, but he is quite good.

And another one here:

Empty Walls  By Serj Tankian

Just look at current gear costs for a moment. For an investment of well under four grand, you can have a 24-track board designed by Malcolm Toft of Toft Audio Designs®, which has the same technology used on the Trident Boards he designed back in the ’70s and ’80s. And even better yet, it’s constructed directly under Malcolm’s watchful eye. That price is amazing when you think about the fact that you would spend upwards of $27,000 for a used 32-track Trident Console. Heck, even the 80B input modules cost $950 a pop used—if you can fi nd them.

Plus, you can have top-of-the-line tube gear produced by companies like Manley® in Chino California or Sebatron in Australia, and EveAnna Manley and Sebatron themselves are leading the way to innovative designs, while directly overseeing the construction of the gear they’re selling you. Then you have thousands of options for affordable solid-state gear, including effects boxes, compressors, limiters, preamps, amplifi ers, etc.

Companies like Joemeek, Tascam, PreSonus, M-Audio, and more all give you a wide variety of options for your recording needs. All of this creates an affordable cost for starting your own home recording studio.

Most of you reading this article probably have a fair idea of how to use this gear—after all, you’re musicians. However, what you lack is the knowledge that it takes to build a room in which you can use this gear effectively.

Don’t get me wrong—you can set up in any old room of your house (or apartment) and play around with your gear. Maybe you can even make some halfway decent sounding demo CDs if you run back and forth 10 or 12 times to your car so that you get the levels corrected. But, without a decent room, you’ll never be able to sit down and really make anything you’ll be truly proud of and excited to have other people hear.

The gear is only part of the equation when it comes to recording and mixing; the other part is the room(s) you do it in.

As a minimum, depending on the kind of music you do, the following are must-haves for a successful home studio:

Space

A quiet, comfortable space in which to record is essential.

A good microphone

There are almost as many microphones to choose from as there are singers and instrumentalists to use them. One of the best values on the market today is the Rode NT-1 (around $200), or its slightly more expensive cousin, the NT-2. If you’re on the slimmest of budgets, a Shure SM-58 ($100) will do in a pinch. For instrument miking, you just about can’t beat the Shure SM-57 ($100). Do not underestimate the importance of a good-sounding mic it’s one of the major advantages commercial studios have had in the past, since they can afford to pay thousands of dollars for high-quality large condenser mics like Neumann’s U-87 and U-89 series. These days, you can buy a large condenser mic (like the NT-1) that will come very close to the expensive Neumanns.

Mass storage for your master recordings

Most focus on using CD-ROM and CD audio as a primary means of storage , but you can also use a DAT or an external hard drive to great effect. Any way you look at it, you must have a reliable, lossless way to keep track of your tracks.

Mixers

Behringer or Mackie; Alesis in a penny-pinching pinch. Computer systems—HP, IBM, Dell, and Gateway are all reliable prebuilt PCs. Building your own can get you more for your money if you already know how to assemble all the pieces and parts and make them work.

Sound cards

A SoundBlaster compatible will do as a bare minimum; however, you’ll want to purchase a professional-quality board with higher bit depth and true full duplex capabilities, as well as multiple inputs and outputs.

Processors

PC and Mac machines are currently in abundance and have plenty of processor for multi-track digital recording. Fast Pentium are the best choices and are widely compatible with sound cards and other peripherals for use with PCs. AMD’s series of processors are also a good choice and often more reasonably priced.

Motherboards

If you’re rolling your own (building your own computer), motherboard manufacturers to look for are Intel, ASUS, Gigabyte. Read up on chipsets and the quality of their software drivers.

Memory

Use as much as you and OS can afford.

Hard drives

320 GB disk should be enough for first recordings.

Operating system

Windows 7 or Mac OS. An older version of Windows may work, but don’t go back any further than Windows 98, Second Edition.

Music recording software

Propellerhead Reason, Cakewalk Sonar, Pro Tools M-Powered, Ableton Live, Acoustica Mixcraft and many more. Cheap, professional and easy to use.

Get useful recommendations in the sphere of playstation 3 cheap prices – please study this webpage. The times have come when concise info is truly at your fingertips, use this possibility.

DJ Gear Video Overview For Beginners On Traktor and Pioneer

Tips From DJ Cotts

Which Gear To Start DJ’ing?

“Hi Everyone,

This is a video to hopefully give a coherent rundown of the DJ gear I use in my own studio.

Hopefully you are able to take some positive information away from this video and help you look for the gear that is right for you.

Cheers, Cotts

Gear List: Pioneer DJM-800 Mixer,Pioneer CDJ-1000 Mk3 x2 – Pioneer CDJ-800 Mk2 x 2, Pioneer EFX-1000 Effector,Pioneer HDJ-1000 Headphones,  Stanton ST-150 Turntables x2,  KRK Systems Rokit rp8′s -  KRK Systems Rokit rp10s Subwoofer

Which Gear To Start DJ’ing?

What I Suggest You Get To Try Out DJ’ing:

Native Instruments – Traktor Pro (Formerly Traktor DJ Studio) .

Once you have this piece of software you can make many custom configurations to build on this setup.

Hook up external mixers, use midi controllers etc..

It is very flexible.

So Which Gear To Start DJ’ing?

What I Suggest You Get As Your First DJ Hardware Setup:

Pioneer CDJ-400 x2  (or if you can afford it I would get the Pioneer CDJ-1000 MK3 or newly released CDJ-900) Pioneer DJM-400 Mixer . Any Generic DJ Headphone.”

Excellent video and thanks to DJ Cotts.

Other DJ Controllers here

Which Gear To Start DJ’ing?

Advanced DJ Performance/Production System

• The sliders could be a little heavier but its overall a nice sturdy midi.
• The waveform display is good, I was able to mix without headphones.
• For the price of this machine others can’t compare.
• The M-Audio Torq Xponent software is also pretty good.
• It is easy to use, the software is easy to navigate in.

Take the time to view torq tutorial videos in order to get full advantages.

M-Audio Torq Xponent Advanced DJ Performance/Production System

M-Audio Torq Xponent Gig Bag

• Rugged nylon shell and high-density stitching > stands up to years of use
• Padded sleeves with high-contrast orange interior > easy to find gear in low-light conditions
• Built-in cable management system > stay organized for easy setup and tear down
• Multiple compartments > carry a laptop, Xponent control suface and accessories
• Adjustable shoulder strap > one size fits all

The M-Audio Torq Xponent Gig Bag

is the perfect carrying case for today’s mobile DJ. Padded sleeves protect your gear while the high-contrast orange interior makes things easy to find in low-light conditions.
Built-in cable management keeps your cables organized and available for rapid setup and tear down – preventing the dreaded ”ball of wires.”
Separate compartments for the Xponent® control surface, a laptop, and the necessary accessories means quick access to everything you need.

And here is review in video on the M-Audio Torq Xponent

Shure Introduces  The Professional DJ Headphones

New Production 2009

“Professional DJs have unique requirements when it comes to headphones,” said Scott Sullivan, Shure’s Senior Director of Global Product Management.

“The Shure SRH750DJ is tuned to deliver high-output bass cleanly, with extended highs that enable precise mixing even in noisy club environments.

The Shure SRH750DJ also allows one-ear or two-ear use, and has increased power handling capability for use with DJ mixers.”

The Shure SRH750DJ DJ Headphones deliver world-class audio performance, comfort, and durability to professional DJ’s.

High impedance and maximized power handling optimize the headphones for use on high-output DJ mixers.

Comfortable, padded ear cups swivel 90 degrees and allow easy placement on one ear when mixing.

Replaceable cable and included set of replacement ear pads ensure a long-lasting lifetime of use.

Also includes a carrying bag and a threaded 1/4″ (6.3)mm gold-plated adapter.

Shure SRH750DJ DJ Headphones

Check out the best DJ headphones here