i got the idea for this webpage when someone, who i was lookin forward to hearing some sound files from, asked me what kinda software i'd reccommend to get em started in the home studio do it yerself kinda thingy - hmm - "what software" - geez - heh - yeah, i remember when i asked that question meself, "it's been a long road ....." ;o)

now, i dunno what kinda system u got - but at the time of this writing, mine's pretty old - Windows 95, 200 MHz Pentium II processor, 64 MB RAM, etc - if u have any version of Windows, you prolly got Sound Recorder already - it comes with Windows (as far as I know), but that can be very impractical (unless the newer versions save as mp3 - like i say, i dunno) - but WAV files can be huge, n thus hard to manage, easilly crashing older systems by their very existence =o/

i remember starting out, playing into the computer mic - n wondering why it sounded so bad =oP

what i use now is much better - but it may be kinda complex - hope it don't bore ye .....

first step in amateur jammer home studio software approach to groovy goodness - Tapedeck - it's really neat - n works just like a sound board - i happen to have a Tascam four track, n it looks just like it on screen (above) - well, kinda - aah, u get the idea ;o)

basically, u record one instrument or vocal track - n then play it back, check it out, save it if ye like it - i like to start with a guide track, either acoustic or percussion (somethin ye can jus play along to, for now, n record over later) - n then play along to it, while ye record more tracks

it does up to 8 tracks, total - perfect for home basers, like me - which is how i do the one man band thing sometimes - me, i'll play guitar first, then lay down a bass line - n then put other instruments n vocals to em - it takes input from line-in, midi, even a cd - it comes with a few basic effects, too - like reverb, which is great for voice - saves as a WAV file - which are HUGE - but that's ok, cuz ....... we're already on to step 2

the second step in becoming independant of the music industry establishment - Cool Edit 2000 - which is kinda comparable to Soundforge or Acid, if ya hearda those - but much simpler, especially for me old system - - this is where i edit the final mix, as a WAV - fade in, fade out, convert to mono, etc - i can add all kindsa effects here too - eq, distortion, flanger, more reverb, etc - it will save as an mp3, but it takes forever - saves a WAV in nothin flat, tho ;o)

third - Audio Catalyst - aka "the cat" - yer basic mp3 burner, grabs from WAV or CD n has a buncha settings to modify compression - i usually save em as mono, at about AM radio or telephone phone resolution compression situations - basically, just enough to hear how the tune goes, n not too big a file, to save on server space n bandwidth, etc - if ya don't already know, the more compression, the smaller the file - but also: the smaller the file, the lamer the sound quality - so, cuz mostly what i been doin lately is just rough demos, it usually makes the final mp3 for me in about half the tune's actual time =o)

finally - n this is entirely optional - Notepad - yep, Notepad - the one that comes with Windows - this is where i make the M3U file - to stream the mp3 - yes, anyone can do it, even we lowly peasants - basically, i found out how streaming mp3 works, one day - you click on a file called something like "whatever.m3u" n this tells your mp3 player where to get the tune to stream - easy =o)

FYI - streaming is when yer player is jammin a second of music at a time, while it's grabbin the next second, so ye never hafta Download the entire file - n Real Audio started this concept, i think, but most people prefer MP3s these daze - besides, Real has gone way too corporate to be taken seriously, (by proponents of reality, that is) =o?

anyways, it's basically justa text file with some gobbly gook in it (Real's version of this, a RAM file, contains just the URL) - so i find an M3U, drag n drop it into Notepad, n just change the file name n URL to the new tune's info (watch careful ye don't do anything to the last line tho, below the URL, there's an invisible character that hasta be in there for some reason, argh) - n then save the new file as somethin like, "newtune.m3u" - n then i upload both the new files (mp3 n m3u) - n advertise for people to lavish me with praise =oP