Have you ever wanted to make your own music but didn’t know where to start? Read on to know how to get started using your PC or laptop.
Ingredient 1 – Decide whether you are going Audio or Midi
The first thing you should do is work out how you want to record music. You may want to record audio directly into the PC from your instruments. Alternatively, you may want to use software instruments and therefore only record midi note information.
Ingredient 2 – Musical Gear
If you will be recording audio, you will need your instruments and a mechanism for recording the sound into the PC. There are many options such as microphone, USB interface or a firewire interface.
To record audio, a musical keyboard will be handy. It may not be essential as these days sequencing software tends to contain virtual keyboard capability. A proper keyboard will nevertheless make life easier for you, especially when it comes to playing chords.
Ingredient 3 – Digital Audio Workstation / Host Sequencer
You will need to decide what software to buy. Some are geared more towards working with audio and others being a full workstation for audio and midi. Popular software includes:
- Cakewalk SONAR
- Ableton Live
- FL Studio
- Propellorhead Reason
- Cubase
- Logic Pro
- Protools
Ingredient 4 -Plugins
Plugins are add-ons you can install into your software to add new instruments and effects. Each application has its own format, however most are able to install the VST format of a plugin. You can find many on kvraudio.com.
Ingredient 5 – Enjoyment and regular breaks
This is very important. You need to be in the right frame of mind to make a useful studio session. As long as you enjoy experimenting, keep going. When you feel like you are hitting a brick wall, take a break.
There are many ways of making music both with hardware and software. In this article we have touched on a few things you will need.
