Ive been trying to work out how to get a video on here and I’ve seen @dot.dot.dot’s comment on another thread. So I’ll give it a go
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Hey @MandiH 
this is a pretty rough version but ive been trying to nail the ‘Paradise city’ solo for some time - it tests every skill I have and i can only get halfway through
@TeejLazer - Any tips?
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You guys might want to check this one out.
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So I’ve gone and set up my computer for music production once again. It was a lot of work because there’s quite a lot that goes on. There are many different programs stitched together to do the job of the big name commercial software I can’t afford. However, this gives me a lot of flexibility and freedom that I wouldn’t otherwise have. I might throw some screenshots up later to illustrate… I’m feeling pretty accomplished 
Excited to put it to use today. I have so many different ideas to run with though! I have stacks and stacks of sheet music I’ve scrawled here and there, most of it back from when I was in psych ICU. 70% orchestral, 10% rock, 10% piano, 5% electronica, all begging to be rendered into physical sound for the first time. I’m a little overwhelmed. There’s also new ideas running about in my head.
What do I choose??!?!? Is a string quartet in the cards for digitization today? Rock band? Full symphonic orchestra? I’m having a case of decision paralysis. Maybe after I come back from the day’s errands, things will be clearer.
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Sometimes it’s worth settings things up and walking away for a bit to see what surfaces.
It’s a trick I learnt at work.
The guy I used to labour for said if you have a job, look at doing the easy bits first if you can, gives your subconscious chance to sift through the options.
Sometimes I come up with an idea totally different to what I had conciously thought in the first place.
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I am in the same situation. I got my studio back after a month and set up my new Scarlett 18i20 interface, mixed all my drums and sat there with an eager look on my face and said “ok, now what?”.
As far as software goes, check out Studio One Prime by Presonus. It’s a free DAW, and I’ve been using the free version up until 2 months ago. You can do 90% with the free version.
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Most of my sample libraries are in SFZ format, which doesn’t look like the base version will support. Thanks for the suggestion though! It’s good to be aware of the options.
Oh bummer. Have you ever used Reason?
I haven’t, but Logic Pro and Reason are at the top of my list of what I want to try eventually. My friend demonstrated his Logic setup for me and it looks like it covers a lot of what I want nicely. I’m less familiar with Reason, but if it played nicely with my scorewriting software, it should work splendidly.
Edit: I haven’t actually checked if those support my current libraries either, but I figure since I’ll have money when I get to the point of buying such software, I can also look at buying new samples as well.
Reason is pretty cool. I used v3 long ago. Used to make the music for my videos on it, back when I was a pirate, if you’re mopping up what I’m spilling. 
Today I picked up a cymbal pack, a couple of stands and hihat stand. Got the kit all mic’d and ready to start laying down some tracks.
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Today I had the house to myself, so took this opportunity to try out the new gear! I recorded some music I had written for my old band back in 2007. I haven’t played this song or have I played a full drum set in over 10 years so I’m a bit rusty. 
Edit: if you’re familiar with any of my other work, this is totally different!
[Link removed]
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Sounds awesome! Rock on, brother🤘
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Thanks! It was fun playing it! I miss playing in a band sometimes!
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No doubt! All those screaming fans and such😁
Love this Dan!!!
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Since I don’t actually play and record an entire orchestra myself, when I make orchestral music I use samples, and I thought I’d illustrate my workflow for anyone who’s curious.
- The ideas usually form in my head, and I can sort of “hear” or visualize what it sounds like, and break it down into the parts different instruments play. I usually just write the ideas down right onto a stack of these directly from my head:
- At some later date, some of these eventually get digitized, and I use scorewriting software for this. I input the score, and usually do a considerable amount of editing as well, once I actually hear the music out loud. This tends to take a long time. A piano piece isn’t so bad. But if I’m so inclined, I could have upwards of 30 instruments involved… really only limited by time (!!), imagination, and what sounds/samples I have access to.
- Now that the jumble of notes is in the computer, I need to turn the notes into actual sound. I have sample libraries for this. A sample library is a collection of recordings of notes being played on one or more instruments, and they tend to be expensive. Making one often involves a skilled recording technician and musician(s) working together for many hours. In a good sample library, you don’t just have a sound of a violin playing a particular note. You have a sound for every note, for every dynamic (piano, forte, etc.), for every articulation (staccato, tremolo, pizzicato, legato, etc.), recorded multiple times each.
Anyways, I load my samples up in the sampler, a different bit of software that looks like this.
Each articulation of each instrument listens gets loaded into a unit that listens on its own “channel” for instructions as to which recording sample to play, when, how loudly, for how long. As it listens, it plays the samples on an outgoing channel for me to mix and modify in another piece of software.
- This big guy is the DAW, digital audio workstation for those unfamiliar. This is the one that lets me mix the instruments together, add effects, and generally shape the sound of everything put together. It listens and processes the audio from the sampler in real time, while I listen and make changes. Then, if I’m so inclined, I can bounce out an audio file of the whole thing.
- Behind the scenes, each program I’m using is communicating sound-related information back and forth with the others, and a system called JACK is coordinating all of this. Now, the software can guess which sounds to route where automatically, but I generally want to decide myself. I can visualize the routing of all the signals, and make changes to it, with something like this:
If I decide my viola part is better suited played on the cello, I just change the connection to send those notes somewhere different. If I want to hammer on the keyboard, take the sound of an oboe playing it, and record that live, straight into the piece I have playing, I can do that. Pretty neat.
Now… if only it could do the concentration and motivation parts for me. That would be nice.
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And there was me thinking banjos. 
Sounds great Dan!!
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Haha thanks dude!
You got me thinking, I’m gonna do a banjo/rock song…
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