Recording/composing new age/meditation music

[Blueser100]

What are the best software programs for composing new age/meditation/world music on a Mac?

What are the preferred software programs and minimum external hardware peripherals?

Thanks.

[moon]

At a minimum you need a decent mic (or pair of mics), an audio interface, and DAW software such as Logic, Ardour or Reaper for multitrack recording. I think Garageband comes bundled with your mac. This is quite a basic DAW.

An Apogee Duet would be a good choice for the interface, so long as you only need two channels. The audio quality is very good, good enough to produce a CD IMO and it integrates well with mac hardware/software.

Mics can get pricy. What's your budget? The ADK A6 ($250) is a nice, inexpensive mic for acoustic guitar with a natural, unhyped sound. This also makes it quite versatile if you want to record other instruments.

A software sampler could be very useful for miscellaneous sound effects and atmospheric noises. Linuxsampler is a decent free sampler (also works on mac despite the name) which plays .gig format samples. I've got pianos, harps, Uillean pipes, bagpipes, choirs, tubas, trombones, saxes, upright bass, and just about every instrument in the orchestra at home.

You'll also need decent monitoring gear: headphones and studio monitors. An old hi-fi system might do at a push so long as it's one with a reputation for an unhyped, natural sound.

Room treatment is quite important too. Most rooms have less than ideal acoustics. DIY acoustic panels are fairly easy to make.

[runamuck]

I think Moon covered everything but I know you could do with less if you play
keyboards.

You'll need a MIDI keyboard.

You'll need Kontact, which is a sample player for your computer. It comes with
all sorts of sounds to get you started.

You'll need a pair of headphones.

You'll be spending hours and hours figuring it all out so you'll need plenty of
patience.

You can burn your CDs on your MAC.

Jim McCarthy

[Smurf]

There is really no "best" in any category, just the best you can afford.

I have learned since I started down the New Age-Ambient-Lounge-Chillout road that it is not what you by, but how you use what you have. For example, Garage Band is a totally usable DAW, and the newest version has some decent effects.

You need percussion for a track? A couple diffrent size tupperware bowls or tapping on your guitar & reverb is very effective.

Need some pads? Record your vacuum cleaner or sliding your pick down your strings then slow it down-flange it-bury it in a long reverb.

Creating the sounds are 1/2 the fun in this type of music!

And of course this is all an IMHO - YMMV - yada yada type of post...

[moon]

I agree Kontakt is very good if you're planning on using sampled instruments. If I could afford to buy it, I would.

One nice thing about linuxsampler (apart from being free) is that they bundle a program, gigedit, which allows you to make up your own multi-layer instruments. You could spend a day at the beach, or in some woods, recording nature sounds like water, birds etc, and then make up your own sample libraries.

[Blueser100]

Thanks for the feedback.

[deltoid]

Have you looked at some of the East/West Sound virtual instrument collections?
Listen to some of the samples on this page:
http://www.soundsonline.com/Goliath

Kind of expensive, and maybe more that what you're looking for, but you might find interesting.

[Cocobolo Kid]

The basics are well covered above. You would only need the mics if you plan to record vocals or acoustic guitar. If guitar is your main instrument and not keyboard, you may look into a MIDI electric guitar like the Roland GC-1 (I use Brian Moore's iGuitars) and a midi guitar interface/guitar synth like the Roland GR-55. The GR-55 has lots of onboard sounds and you can use the MIDI guitar to play other soft synths you purchase or download.

When budget allows, I would look at some soft synths, especially Spectrasonics Omnisphere and Camel Audio Alchemy. They both have great new age sounds and are well regarded.

John

[him]

I think moon has laid out some sensible advice for recording, regardless of style. Since that subject is well covered I'll offer this....

I have seen performers play, live, some decidedly new age-y/meditation style music with a single instrument, a mic, and one of the fancier looper pedals. That might be a direction you want to take, depending on your style/approach.

The fancier loopers can save digital audio and send it to your computer so you could work up a piece with the pedal, bring it into a DAW, and then re-record parts as needed to get the final sound you want. This works with multiple instruments too.

May not be your style but it's an option.

[mahoriver]

Thanks for the question/thread @Blueser
As im looking for pretty much the same.

Moved here
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...60#post4896860

[mahoriver]

Deleted 000