The best way to set up a music studio at your home. Home Music Studio Ideas!

Setting up a small home studio is not hard to do, but you should prepare to spend reasonable amount of money to do so. When you have your own home studio set up you will be able to save some portion of money in the long run. This is because you will not have to spend money on studio hours charged by external studios. You have all the time to do your music projects without looking on the watch. So today I want to share some vital information on how you can set up your own musical studio at home.

Here is a list of all the possible things you might need to setup a reasonable home music studio.

1. You need a reliable PC (computer). Your computer must perform at high standard to keep up with the number of activities that will be taking place. Your computer should have good memory (2 gigabytes of RAM is good), large hard drive (80 gigs or more), recording device (CD/DVD burners) and a good processor (2GHz or more).

2. You will need an Audio interface (Sound Card). The one I use is the M-Audio Delta 1010LT 24-Bit 96kHz PCI Card. I bought it at zzounds.com and it is works well but there are other options that you can choose from. The quality of sound in your home studio should be good, remember, you are competing with major studios on the market (Check zzound.com).

3. You need a good microphone. The options for music studios are condenser microphones. Condenser Microphones are of great quality and are even great for recording acoustic instruments. There are some cheap condenser microphones on the market; you can find them at zzounds.com. The microphone that I am using is the Rode NT1-A Studio Condenser Microphone, it works well.

4. You need a mixer board. The mixer board that I use is the BEHRINGER EURORACK UB2442FX-PRO but you can check out Mackie and Yamaha for good mixer boards, plus there are lots of digital mixer board on the market.

  

5. You will also need studio monitor speakers. The good thing about the market is that there are power monitor speakers available and so you don’t have to buy amplifiers. I use the KRK RP6G2 Rokit G2 Powered 2-Way Active Monitors and again you can get it at zzound.com.

6. You will need music recording software. This very important. There are lot of multi-track recording softwares available but I have found Protools, Nuendo and Cakewalk Sonar to be the best. This because there are a lot of plug-ins available on the internet for these software and they also worked well with my M-Audio PCI sound card.

  

7. Extra accessories – You will need headphones, midi cables, microphone cables and other cables for guitar and synthesizers. All these accessories are available at zzounds.com. You might be wondering why am I promoting zzounds.com so much, but not only am I an affiliate but have several successful purchases on this internet music store and the prices are great.

8. All home studios should have a synthesizer or a keyboard with good quality sounds. But you should also prepare to make a sound proof area for recording voices. I use dry wall and sponge to create a small sound proof area in my home.

 As I said before that you will be spending a reasonable amount of money to setup a good home studio. However, if you are planning to stay a long time in the music industry them you need to invest in all the things mention earlier. You will also save a lot of money in the long run and will be making money from different projects that will become available to you.

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Learning to play guitar chords

Hello world! How are you today!

Today I want to share some vital information with you. Today we are going to talk about guitar chords and I will be showing you some basic chords that you can practice on your guitar.

I must say that the guitar is not a walk over and so you will have to dedicate some time for practice. Not everything comes easy in life even though there are some gifted persons who will figure things out on their own and then become a super star.

For those of you who have a guitar parked in some corner at your home, it is time to take up the instrument and give it another try.

Now let’s get down to business!

What is a chord?

Chord as it relates to music is a group notes that are played at the same time. When the group of notes are played simultaneously harmony is created. Chords are formed by choosing specific notes from a major scale.

There are different types of chord in music. Some type of chords are major chord, minor chord, diminish chord, suspended chord among others. But today I will be sharing just a few basic major chords with you.

Why do we use chords in music?

Chords are use to create unique texture in music. When an individual performs a song and a musician plays the guitar in the back ground, harmony is been created. We can say that the chord acts as an accompaniment in the music. So learning chords is very important. Most hymns and popular music such as reggae, jazz and R&B are dominated by chords.

Here are three basic major chords that are easy to practice on your guitar.

The circles shaded in blue are the notes you will hold with your left fingers and unshaped circles are the open notes that you will play along with the notes you hold on the fret board.

Practice to play them in the same order as outline above.

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Learn Music: Musical Element - Musical Form

Musical Form

Musical form is the way in which the music is organized or structured. Some time when we listen to a piece of music we can identify different sections of the song based on how it is composed. In contemporary music we have verses, chorus and even a bridge in a song. This is a clear description of how a piece of music is structured.

There are three techniques that are commonly used in musical form. They are repetition, contrast and variation.

Repetition allows us to recognize familiar sections of music hence causing us to remember the melodic and harmonic structure of the piece.

Contrast exists when there is a change of mood in the music. A number of factors can cause contrast in the music such as dynamics, tempo, articulation and tonality.

Variation is another aspect to consider when thinking about musical form. Variation is when some features in the music change while others are retained. Some of the things to consider are;

1)       The way in which accompaniment is been played compared to the melody of the music.

(For example – One simple description of variation is when the main melodic structure of a song changes but the rhythmic pattern remains.)

2)      The pitch of musical instruments might have been change in comparison to the rhythm.

3)      The way in which notes are played in comparison to the main notation of the music.

Types of Musical Form

There are two types musical form that I would like to discuss in this article. They are binary and ternary form.

Binary (two-part) Form: A B

In binary form the music has two large sections, part (A) and part (B). Binary or two-part form gives a sense of statement in (A) and counterstatement in (B). However, both sections can have immediate repetition in the music. Therefore this type of form can be written as ABB, AAB or AABB.

Ternary (three-part) Form: A B A

Ternary form is more popular in most musical composition. In ternary or three part form there are three main sections that can be identified. Ternary form can be represented as statement (A), contrast or departure (B) and return (A). The contrast between statement (A) and section (B) can be of any length and any kind. The return (A) section of the form can occur smoothly with a clear expectation or it can be unexpected.

Like binary form, ternary form can be subdivided. Each section can be sub divided as follows;

A (a b a)          B (c d c)          A (a b a)

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Guitar Scales

Hi my friends, I hope all is well with you.

For the past months I have been sharing some basic information on guitar scales. To be more specific I have showed illustrations has to how you can play the C major scale, G major scale and the D major scale. Today I want ot continue our lesson on guitar scales. In the near future I will be writing articles about guitar chords and even share information on how to use chord progressions.

I know you might be wondering why would I dedicate my time to blog about music, but I must say that music as been a great part of my life since I was a child. I love music and love to teach it to anyone who loves it.

Today's guitar scale is A major. Here are the notes for A major scale.

A B C# D E F# G# A
1  2  3   4  5  6    7   8

BELOW ARE ILLUSTRATIONS SHOWING HOW TO PLAY A MAJOR SCALE ON THE GUITAR.

ILLUSTRATION 1

ILLUSTRATION 2

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An easy way to record CD at your home.

Today I was searching for some information on the internet and some how I came to a blog site with information on how to record audio cd in your studio. I've found the article to be very interesting and the information was useful for my students who have been doing basic recordings for the CSEC Music examinations.

After reading the article I have realized that if my students can do their own recordings at their home instead of paying to do it at a studio it would benefit them alot. The information in the article outline the basic things that you need when doing your audio recordings with out spending a lot of money.

HERE IS A LINK TO THE ARTICLE. (CLICK HERE)

After you have read the article I would like you to give it a try. I thing the software used will give you alot of practice if you want to become a producer or studio engineer in the future.

Have a great day!

ELEMENTS OF MUSIC - Musical Texture

Musical Texture

Musical texture refers to the number of layers that is heard when an individual listens to a musical piece. There are three main types of musical textures in music. They are monophonic texture, polyphonic texture and homophonic texture.

Monophonic Texture – The word “mono” means one or single. Therefore we hear monophonic texture when a person sings alone without accompaniment or background music. So we can say that monophonic texture is heard when a single melodic line is performed without accompaniment. When an individual plays a saxophone or any other wind instrument alone, the single melody played by the instrument can be described as monophonic texture.

Polyphonic Texture – The word “poly” means many. One has to be careful when explaining the term polyphonic texture. Polyphonic texture is produced when more than one melody line is used in a particular musical piece. Remember that a melody is a series of notes that is played one after the other to form the tune of a song. Therefore, when polyphonic texture is been produced there are more than one melody that is present in the musical piece. Sometimes each melody begins at different bar or on different beat of the music and sometime they are performed simultaneously (at the same time). A “round” is an ideal example of what polyphonic texture is. Rounds are great activities that can be used to illustrate polyphonic texture but you can also hear polyphonic texture when more than one person sings two different melody lines at the same time. For example – one person singing the song “Mary had a little lamb” while another sings “London Bridge” at the same time.

Homophonic Texture – Homophonic texture is heard when a main melody is done but is been accompanied by chords played by musical instruments or produced by voices. So when an individual sings a song which is accompanied by the piano or guitar then homophonic texture is formed. Homophonic texture is the most popular of all the different types of texture, especially in modern or contemporary music. Homophonic texture is dominant and is most popular in musical genres such as Reggae, R&B, Souls and Rock. These musical genres have one thing in common; they have lead singers singing melodic lines that are accompanied by a band. It is as simple as that. So homophonic texture is heard everyday in this modern age.

Thank you for reading today’s article, I know you have learnt a lot and it is good to share what you have learnt with others. Please share this information with a friend by sending them to this blog.

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TODAY'S FREE GUITAR LESSON: Learn to play the D Major Scale on your guitar.

Hi guys! It has been a long time since my last post. I hope all is well today.

In today's lesson I want to show you how to play the D major scale on the guitar.

Here are the notes that make up the D Major Scale:

Below are two illustrations showing how to play the D Major Scale on the guitar. The illustrations shows how to play D Major Scale at two different locations on the guitar.

ILLUSTRATION 1

ILLUSTRATION 2

You should notice that illustration 2 shows how to play D Major Scale using open notes.

Thank you for participating in todays lesson. Remember to practise!

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