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Online Digital Audio Workstations

Online Digital Audio Workstations

By Brenda Barbour

Most people download DAW software onto their computers and buy additional add-ons as they are released. Oddly enough, there are DAWs located for use online. These online services allow you to record and edit audio files while offering many effects and effect presets not available with your current software. So, if you desire to make your own music, start with an online DAW. Test it and learn what you like before shopping for the software.

Looplabs.com which is free to use allows you to select loops of drums or bass, for instance to create music. Every instrument combination you choose can be combined. If you like, you can add a recording of additional instruments or vocals. You can add effects to alter the sound, effects like reverb, distortion, and delay.

Soundtrap.com offers basic free service with premium services available for a price. Subscriptions range from $7.99 per month up to $13.99 for access to everything available on the site. Users can select loops, instruments, sounds, effects, effect presets, and they can record vocals and instruments. All subscriptions are billed annually, but you can try it free or one month.

Soundation.com offers a free version and a paid version. Looks and feels very much like a traditional digital audio workstation. This site records real instruments the best. Soundtrap is very much like a traditional recording setup.

Other Online DAWs Listed

AmpedStudio.com is free with a premium version allowing for the use of more plugins.

AudioTool.com offers over 250,000 samples and 50,000 device presets. It has a wide range synthesizer and drum sounds. Audio Tool is free.

Bandlab.com allows you to connect instruments though your mobile devices. This DAW has its own proprietary hardware giving artists multi-platform accessibility.

AudioSauna.com provides synthesizers and samples to online users. The sounds come with presets and parameters that can be customized. Audio Sauna is free to use.

SoundBridge.com offers a 16-Step Sequencer, along with robust mixing and mastering and it’s free to use.

InternetDAW.com is web-based and can be accessed from anywhere. This online DAW is free.

Other free online DAWs are Drumbot and Viktor NV-1. Making music with a professional sound does not have to be limited to your use of a digital audio workstation that you have in your home or studio. Now, you can make music wherever you are if you have access to the internet.

MPC Renaissance

A Review of the MPC Renaissance

Looking to play and mix your music with boundless freedom?  Consider the MPC Akai Renaissance today.  Made by the reputable Akai Professional brand, the MPC Akai Renaissance includes a whole host of features that set it apart from the competition and leave you with the options you need.

The MPC Akai Renaissance

The MPC Akai Renaissance combines both the MPC console with your computer’s processing power through the MPC software.  You get 9+ GB of sounds included as well as the ability to change the output sound.  You also get 16 MPC pads as well as 16 pads that are touch sensitive and include W-link controls.  The console is light gray with dark gray and blue/red highlights to direct the eye quickly to different controls.

Details

Inputs include the ¼ inch XLR combo as well as turntable inputs that are dedicated.  You also get 4 channel USB 2.0 along with an audio interface (2-port USB 2.0) hub.  What does this mean for you?  First, it means that you can capture samples from just about anything out there?  Second, it means that you can be fully connected for faster audio manipulation.  What you can do is further improved by the 4 MIDI outputs, 2 MIDI inputs, and S/PDIF I/O.  Stay connected to everyone in the studio with the amazing MPC Renaissance.

Specifications

• 10.5 pounds, 15.5 pounds shipped
• 19.8 by 12.9 by 2.8 inches in size
• XLR-1/4-inch combo inputs
• 4-channel integrated USB 2.0
• 2-port USB 2.0 hub
• 2 MIDI Inputs
• 4 MIDI Outputs

Reviews

The MPC Akai Renaissance has come out to excited reviews.  People who purchased the MPC Akai Renaissance have loved their purchase, citing its longevity, sound quality, and overall functionality.  Considered an excellent investment, complaints were few and far between.

Conclusion

If you love mixing and playing, then the MPC Akai Renaissance will definitely be a smart investment for you to make.  While expensive, you get what you pay for.   A superior product with a decent legacy for clear sound, the MPC Akai Renaissance should be at the top of your list if sound quality is important.

Where To Buy

Interested in picking up sounds for the MPC Akai Renaissance?  Consider www.soundcrafting.com.  The king of hip hop sounds, you will find a collection of equipment designed for your needs.  There you will find a whole range of quality musical equipment you can use to create that perfect sound.  With any luck, you will find what you need to realize your creation and take that next step in launching your career.  Good luck!

Sampling Hip Hop Music

The different forms of hip hop music has always used samples from back in the day. Some producers have sampled beats or musical compositions from old vinyl records. Other producers rely on the hooks of old records for inspiration. It is important if you use samples and plan making the recording for sale in a commercial environment you may want to get the sample cleared before proceeding. Back in the day you could sample old records with out facing consequences because no one was really sure how to handle samples. But after many years of litigation and lawsuits there are many precedents for samples in the music business today. Still many producers continue to sample without checking into clearance for their samples which is setting themselves up for real problems. When sampling other artists you need to make sure you have the proper clearance because in most cases you have to get permission to use other artists music and you probably going to have to pay somebody.

In the music business now you should clear every sample you use even if just a second long. If you are just doing beats in your bedroom for fun and you are not trying to seriously consider a career in music then you don’t need to get permission to use samples. But if you are putting together beats that are going to be released on record label you might want to get permission. If you are the producer, it is your responsibility to let the record label and artists know which samples you used. You don’t want the record label and artist to get sued because you didn’t let them know your song was chalked full of samples.

Who pays for the samples? When it comes to putting up the funds for samples used in beats both the artists and the producer shell out the funds for clearance of samples. Not all samples are created equal. Sampling a piece of music from some unknown R&B group from the seventies will probably cost you a lot less than sampling from a major hit by Stevie Wonder or Michael Jackson. Let us pretend you are producing a beat for Rick Ross and you use a sample from a George Clinton song. Clinton’s publishing company may want half of the publishing rights since George Clinton was one of the biggest recording artists in black music in the eighties. Rick Ross might not want to give up half his publishing and may even want to turn down the track or beat based on that factor alone. To compensate Rick Ross and label might negotiate where you as an up and coming producer might not get publishing rights or points off the album.

Sampling is definitely a creative way of making music. I would smack anyone who says sampling is not an art form. Sampling is not for every producer. Producer like Kanye West built there careers on sampling and PDiddy was sampling force back in the 90’s. Producers with a lot of money and Artists with big budgets don’t mind using samples and giving up a part of their publishing for a hit record, usually because they have a lot of money.

Music Production

Lets talk hip hop music production. We will talk about equipment of yesterday and equipment and software programs of today. When I first started producing music, the Akai MPC 60 and Akai MPC 60II was all the rage in the music production game. It was probably the greatest sampler ever created at the time. The MPC 60 was an 8 bit sampler created by Roger Linn who was also known for creating the Linn drum machine. The MPC 60 was the predecessor of the new samplers like the Akai MPC 500, MPC 1000, MPC 2000, MPC 2000xl, MPC 3000, and MPC 4000. Year after year Akai has worked harder to create a better version of the Akai Midi Production Center (MPC). Because, hip hop producers accept the MPC as the staple for rap music production, Akai became synonymous with rap music and its producers. Other companies had samplers like Ensoniq’s EPS 16 Plus, and ASR-10 and EMU had the Sp1200. But the MPC had those Pads that producers loved to pound out beats on and I think that was one of the main advantages. With Ensoniq’s EPS and ASR series, if you’re like me you don’t drum out beats on keys of a keyboard. Ensoniq apparently realized this and created the sample beat box ASRX(ASR-X). Years later Roland created a drum machine that is a direct rip off of the MPC called the Roland MV8000. This box, even though it is similar to the MPC it is comparably as good as any AKAI sample that is out there now. It loads AIFF, WAV files and MPC .SND files.

I had a manager of a few rap groups and producers in my studio one night and he was talking about how good one of his producers was. He said all his beats to this point was done on a little Boss 660 drum machine and that he was going to get him a MPC 2000Xl because he felt he needed some better sounds. Like a lot of people new to the game the manager thought the MPC came with pre-loaded sounds. The Akai MPC does not come with internal sounds. You have to have drum kits for the MPC series samplers. You have to load sounds into samplers like the MPC and MV8000. Soundcrafting.com sells drum kits for MPC 2000, Drum Kits for the MPC 4000, Drum Kits for the MPC2000xl and Drum kits for EPS. If you are looking for sounds for samplers there are many website on the internet that sell sounds and the free sounds on the internet also. You just really have to do a lot of searching to find free sounds. We sell sound disk and sampling CD’s at Soundcrafting.com. We are the number one source in the world for MPC sounds and Fruity Loop packs. Our drum kits and sound kits will also load into software samplers like Reason. We have Aiff drums Sounds and .WAV drum sounds. We are a great source for Akai Sounds, Akai sample CD’s and Akai sample Downloads.

Every major music producer in the game like Jermaine Dupri who has the most hits of any producer in the 2000s, will tell you that you need to invest in sounds and always keep improving your hip hop sample library. To have a good strong Hip Hop sound library, you need hard hitting kick drums, crisp snares, Hi-Hats, Percussion sounds, EFX and FX, Bass sounds and keyboard sounds. If you’re new to the game you can buy ill hip hop samples. If you are a veteran to hip hop production you can create you own samples by digging’ crates of records and sampling your own sounds and creating your own sound.

How to Make East Coast, West Coast and Dirty South Beats

Most producers in the game are using the same equipment, Motif’s, Triton, Mpc 2000xl, Mpc 3000, Mpc 4000, Fruity Loops, Reason, Pro Tools and Logic its all the same in the game. The difference is the drum kits and type of sounds used to make east coast, west coast, and dirty south beats. The south usually has a lot of deep bass in its kits. The east coast are really solid but they’re lighter on the low end part of the kick drum. East coast kick drums have more of a flat response than a kick drum from the south. The west coast beats are usually influenced greatly by the funk music of the 70’s with it’s moving and shuttering bass lines. East coast beats have more undertones and nuisances in its beats. South beats will be stronger on melodies and chords and lead synthesizer sounds.

Sampling was born on the east coast, therefore you may hear more samples in east coast type beats. East coast producers might sample a Kick drum and take all of the highs off of it so it’ll be all mids or sample a snare and take all of the low end out of it so it wil be all highs and mids. Then the east coast producer will blend or stack that snare with a different snare to create a totally different sonic feel for the two sounds.

Certain beats evoke different emotions from the audience. A crunk beat might get the crowd hype where a beat with an old R&B sample may play more to listening sensibility.

When it comes to drum machines and sequencers, most producers use the MPC series of drum machine / samplers. As akai releases cheaper models of its series of samplers like the MPC 1000 and MPC 500, more and more producers will be jumping into the hip hop production game. The day of recording albums in big studios is slowly but surely coming to an end due to the fact that programs like Pro tools, Sonar and Logic are affordable and definitely get the job done. Some of the hottest rap records today have been recorded on laptops. No matter how much software and equipment you have, talent and a good ear are still essential to making hot records. You can make perfectly hot records with keyboard work stations like the Yamaha Motif and Korg Triton.. Another option is to make beats with software sequencers like Reason and Fruity Loops or also known as FL Studio. I lot of producers swear by these programs and it’s the only thing they use.

You can make various types of beats with all types of equipment and software. It actually depends more about your creativity than the type of tools you use to make your beats. The more beats you do, the better you will be at producing hot beats. A good rule to have is to master at least one piece of your equipment before purchasing something new.

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