How to Produce a Christmas Number One Hit
The worst thing about Christmastide have to be hearing to Top Of The Pops and the Christmastide Number 1 Girls Aloud, Robbie Williams, Westlife and Mister Blobby for goodness sake! Surely anyone can bring forth a better Christmastide Hit than those. After all, a computing machine makes all the work, doesn't it - all you make is fourth estate a few buttons and joggle a few beat and bass lines around.
So what make you need? You necessitate a personal computer with a sensible amount of processing powerfulness under the hoodlum - a Pentium three at least, preferably a P4 - in order to run the music software.
Audio data files are quite big - bury MP3s, we're talking the existent thing here - and for each path of audio you record you'll necessitate around 10.6Mb of difficult disc space per minute. Every path won't be filled with audio so you won't necessitate quite that much in a multi-track recording but for a four-minute 16-track song it would be wise to apportion around 500Mb of difficult disc space.
Playing cards
You necessitate a soundcard. All modern PCs have got one of these but if you don't desire your song to sound like it was recorded in a dorsum sleeping room - even it if was - acquire a nice card.
At Christmas-stocking terms are a scope of SoundBlaster cards such as as the Audigy 2 omegas (for under £70/$100) with a good set of built-in sounds. But more than than that, they back up SoundFonts. These are samples the card utilizes to bring forth realistic instrument sounds and better burly bass lines than yer norm sound card.
If you've a rich Ma and Dad theyll be pleased to purchase you a more than expensive card such as as E-Mus Copycat Ten (around £220/$380), a desktop sampling system that also back ups SoundFonts. If you have got a cabaret you'll be able to afford one of CreamWare's high-end systems with on-board synthesisers that tin make everything but sober up the drummer - not that you necessitate a drummer 'cause the cards have all the beat sounds you need.
Key move
You'll also necessitate a Midi keyboard to enter your masterpiece. Theres A huge pick here from E-Mus XBoard 25, XBoard 49, and Swissonics CK490 (all running around £100/$150 give or take) to the Fatar scope running from the TMK61 (£130/$225) up to the VMK 188 Asset (£599/$1000) with respective theoretical accounts inbeween.
These keyboards don't have got any on-board sounds like synthesists but they're much cheaper than synths and there are sounds in the soundcard anyway. If you've seen an Elton Toilet concert and can't face the idea of touching a keyboard, don't worry - you can utilize pre-recorded loops and samples and cleverly set up them in arresting combinations without a keyboard.
Listen 'ere
A nice brace of talkers is essential. The 10 British pound jobbies that were bundled with your personal computer may be mulct for playing MP3s but they simply won't make for mixing music.
The Big Boys usage dedicated monitoring device talkers which can be as much as a vacation in Barbados but if you go forth the other one-half at place you could easily afford Behringers MS16s (£46/$79), or Edirols MA7A (£80/$135) or MA150 (£120/$200).
If your personal computer is near your hello fi you can run the audio through that but electric switch off any bass encouragement or equivalent settings. The thought is to acquire a flat, uncoloured response so if it sounds good on those talkers it should sounds good on any speakers. So the theory goes.
Good arrangement
The Big Boys can violin with high-end music sequenators but the new and incredibly modestly-priced Cubase selenium 3 (less than a ton/$170) allows you record and piece audio and Midi parts with almost as much aplomb. It demoes both types of recording on the same set up page making it easy to see how they suit together.
And finally, you necessitate a cadmium recording equipment so you can fire your finished hit to cadmium and direct it to lucky record companies. If youve A modern personal computer youll have got one already. But make usage a labeller and make a cadmium inlay, too, to give the cadmium a professional finish. In the music biz, looks, manner and style are far more than of import than content so pass at least as much time on the outside as on the music. Put your contact inside information on the cadmium label as well as the inlay.
Hook and line
Now let's do a song. You necessitate a hook. This is the spot everyone sings so it have to be catchy. It's usually the chorus but you can have got a catchy bass line, beat line or even a vocal hook such as as cry or a catch phrase like "Eh Oh". Well it worked for the Teletubbies are you old adequate to retrieve them with embarrassment?
Let's say you've come up up with a stonking chorus. Construct a poetry around it. It doesn't have got to be memorable; few poetries are. You can meander around in a relatively tuneless manner until it's time to unleash the chorus on the world.
When edifice a song, start with the beat section. Catch some groovy beat loops, twine them together then add the bass line. You can play this on your new Midi keyboard or driblet in bass samples - jolly utile things, samples.
Next you'll desire to add some keyboard parts which can be adroit rhythmical figs or you can play pads of paper by holding down some chords using a broad-texture sound such as as strings.
Very vocal
Then add the vocals. If you can't sing - but retrieve that never stopped anyone making a record - you might wish to shot down the public house and inquire the winner of this week's karaoke competition to make the chanting for you. Play your cards right and they may even pay you for the privilege.
If you've too much musical nous to be in the same room as a karaoke singer, you can always fall back on your old friend, the sample.
The concluding measure is the mixing. This is where you balance all the parts you recorded, add a elan of reverb and generally lemony the thing up.
Then salvage the full song as an audio data file ready for combustion to CD. This agency recording the Midi parts as audio tracks. You necessitate to blend all the paths into one stereo system path so the concluding data file will be 10.6Mb x the length in minutes.
Looks good
Now you have got to involvement the A&R work force in your CD. It's all about mental image so if you're dull and ugly - name three ugly dad stars, apart from Mary and Paddy Hucknall - you may have got got to acquire one of your beautiful friends to present for the promotion photos.
Write a one-page biog - they don't desire to cognize that you have a GCSE in music, they desire to cognize what gigs you've done and any Big Name sets youve supported. Drop a few name calling such as as Bruce, Robbie and Tina. You don't have got to advert surnames...
If you make catch the ear of an A&R person, be prepared to throw your egotism out the window - you can't afford 1 at the minute and when you're rich and celebrated you can purchase a much better one anyway.
You'll see the calendar months of blood, perspiration and Pils which you poured into your song pouring consecutive down the drainage as the record company bills of exchange in a 14-year-old DJ to remix your song using the up-to-the-minute Dance breakbeats and dirt - sorry, blame - vocals.
But don't worry - you can express joy all the manner to the depository financial institution when it attains Number One!

