new, help with selecting a vocal software

[kgates121]

Hello, We are new to music recording and production. We are excited we finally found a website that has other newbies with similar questions. We recently set up a studio for music production and vocal recording. Our daughter sings. We seem to have accumulated a lot of equipment and misc. software for music production, ie. Cubase lite version, Reason3 and Ableton 6 Lite, We don't know how to use any of it and we are working through the set up with a midi input, monitors and the Fast Track Ultra. We are reading tutorial books and purchased a some training videos to get the hang of the composition software, but need help with vocal recording. (A good snakeoil salesman would have us in major debt.)

We want something simple so our daughter can record and use her recordings for fun, as feedback and maybe to burn on CD. She currently uses MP3 and Karaoke tracks for the music. What is the best software to pull both vocal and the tracks together? We have looked at ProTools, Cubase 4 and M-Audio's Session Music Producer and some very simple Karaoke programs. We have some great equipment . Will the software we have do the job?

She also wants to compose piano and guitar music into the PC, and we were told that Reason3 will do that but it's an export only, so she would need to compose then export into Ableton. We are confused by all the hype in music production today. Please help us find the right direction.

[MetalDave]

There are alot of good people on here that can help you. First we will need to know what it is you are trying to do. What kind of songs does your daughter sing? There are some songs in here without lyrics. I have posted one she is welcome to put lyrics with if you want to. I will post it here for you to work with if she feels like it may be something she wants to do. If you post it back on here in Bash This Recording - Home Recording Forum , you will probably get alot of feedback as to what to do as far as processing etc. here try this music to sing to. If she feels like it need some fills she can leave some parts for that later. we can add these after she sings to it. Now if it isn't something she feels like singing to, no problem. I just thought maybe she might like to try. The chords used in this song are F, A minor, D minor and E minor. Of course alot of the chords are Chromatic. this leaves alot of freedom for vocals if she wants to sing something to it. Have fun!

[kgates121]

Thank you. I will let her take a listen. She is currently using MP3 and karaoke tracks. She sings country, pop and r&b. We are currently recording her in a professional studio, but want to give her a home base to practice and record fun stuff. She is currently writing some lyrics but has not shared much there. She works with a professional coach, and the studio uses ProTools. But the program is way over our head. I am looking into classes for us so we don't keep buying new stuff.

We have a good computer and external drive, we have MAudio 88 key pro station midi, BX8 monitors, some smaller Roland monitors, several really good mics, we recently purchased the fast track ultra. We are not sure our set up is correct, so we are consulting manuals.

We just want to record her voice and pull the tracks together in a recording that's easy to manipulate, until we understand what we have.

[MetalDave]

I suggest working with what you have.... Don't buy anything else unless you really think you need it. You will want one good Condenser Mic. It sounds like you have too much already for what you are trying to do. You will find several very helpful people on this site that will be willing to get you going in the right direction. I would really like to hear some lyrics put to the MP3 I posted for you but, if it isn't something she will want to do, I am sure she will be able to come up with something. As far as her training tell her not to get so edjucated that she loses feeling. Feeling is 90% of what it takes to keep people listening. I would love to hear some of her vocals if you could post them. Ask her first and post something and we can probably help you with doing some things with what you have.

[richiebee]

Sounds like you have all the gear you need. In terms of software, I'd personally try and do it all with the Cubase Lite program you have (is this Cubase LE, or something else?). Ableton from what I understand really serves a very similar purpose to Cubase, so I don't think you need both. Reason might be useful for using samples, though depending on instrumentation, you may want to look at alternatives.

Before you do anything else get it all set up and working. If you can't do that, let us know what you're having trouble with, and we'll see what we can do. The first step should be to hook up the Fast Track to your computer, and the BX8's to the Fast Track. That's enough for starters... when you have sound coming out your speakers, you can look into the next step, integrating with the software.

[kgates121]

Thanks. Relieved to know we don't need another program. We will finish our set up and see if we can get sound through the monitors. Do you recommend Cubase books or tutorials to learn the program. I am fairly literate on programs, but the monitors and sequencers is very confusing to me. We will post back any problems.