I first started messing around with audio recording programs around the age of 13. In fact, Audacity was the first program that I used. After witnessing Garageband on my friends Macbook, and finding out the program comes standard on a Macbook, I saved up all of my cash until I could get one. I thought Garageband was the coolest thing ever made. What I didn't know is that Garageband is like a Honda Civic, and there were Ferrari's and Bugatti's in the Music Technology World.
Garageband is a Digital Audio Workstation that comes standard on all Apple Computers. There are now versions for the iPhone and the iPad - allowing you to record your guitar right into your iPad, or use your iPad as an amp/pedal board, and send that sound out to an amp for a show. Apple also makes a professional audio application, called Logic. This is like the grown up version of Garageband. It comes jam packed with virtual synthesizers, guitar amps, pedal boards, and a full collection of tools to help you mix down your audio tracks and get them sounding exactly how you want them to sound.
Logic is one of the main players in the Digital Audio Workstation world (from now on, referred to as DAW). Other main players in this world are Pro Tools, FL Studio, Ableton Live, Cubase, Reaper, Digital Performer, and many many more. Around one year ago I bought Logic, which has provided me and continues to provide me with endless amounts of creative fun.
So how do you get high quality sound from your computer into these software programs?
There are products called "Audio Interfaces". In their most basic form, what they do is take a signal from an external device, such as a guitar, bass, or microphone and translate the incoming audio into a language the computer can understand. These Interfaces connect to computers usually through a USB port, but also can connect through FireWire input.
In Today's Music Technology Landscape, is it very possible to create high quality recordings at home, in your bedroom, using software programs such as DAW's and using a high quality Digital Audio Interface with a High Quality Microphone.
What we haven't touched on yet is Midi. Midi stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface". Essentially Midi allows musical programs to communicate with each other to create music. This is commonly used in the creation of Electronic Dance Music and Top 40 heard on the radio today. There is an abundance of software programs that are designed to replicate synthesizers, drum sets, guitars, basses, keys, and any other instrument you can think of! A midi controller is needed to control these instruments through the use of Midi. Usually, programs will have a feature called "midi-learn" or something similar which will aid you in the programming of your specific controller to controller the specific parameters of the software instruments.
Midi Controllers often look like keyboards, and the cool thing is they don't always sound like keyboards! You can program it to whatever function you want. For example, say you are working with a drum machine, and you map the keys on the controller to each individual drum on the drum kit. Now you can play the drums with your keyboard.
Midi has been around since the 1980's. So it is OLD technology. This blog is going to teach you new technologies that are coming around, and since midi is still king - we will show you the really sweet software programs that run with Midi. We will explain what Sampling is, and how it created hip hop - and where Sampling is today. We will also show you how there are now full blown synthesizers, capable of creating any sound possible - available for purchase in the App Store. You can literally get on a stage today and replace the synthesizer with an iPad.
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