4 Free Recording Apps For Windows

Hey guys! I know that a getting a good DAW program can be hard. Pro tools is the standard but there are a lot of people who use everything from Cubase to Audition. Even though those are good programs, they can be expensive to someone just starting out in the game. I dug around and found 4 free recording programs that you can use forever or just until you decide to drop big bucks on something else. One more note, if you like what I do, please click the ads on the side, it helps me make ends meet!

1 - Quartz Audio Master



Quartz Studio Free is an easy to use multi-track digital audio recorder, perfect for quick creation of music tracks or audio assembly and…. Free ! Moreover, it features the basic functionalities required to use the Digital Sound Planet Virtual Studios - also Freely available registering on the Digital Sound Planet site. The program also includes, among other features, 4+2 audio tracks, real-time processing effects (Reverb et Chorus) on each track, along with volume and pan, audio track data editing functions, a spacialization interface, Skin change, etc


2 - tracAxPC



TrakAx empowers you to create professional music and video mixes in an easy-to-use and fun environment. Whether you are creating a music track for your MySpace page or a video for YouTube, TrakAxPC is the most powerful FREE application on the web.” Features include beat matching, a drag-and-drop interface for mixing and adjusting tracks, and video editing features. Audio formats supported include WAV, MP3, OGG, and WMA.

Trakax.com’s website is very slick. If the software is comparable, it may just deserve a place in your software toolkit. It may be a great DAW to get started on. The site also sells royalty-free loops, beats and tracks for a price.

3 - Audacity

This is a fairly well known free open source program. Check out the site for all the info. I used to use this a long time ago, so trust me, it's a good investment. Oh wait, it's free!!


4 - KRISTAL Audio Engine



KRISTAL Audio Engine is a powerful multi-track recorder, audio sequencer and mixer - ideal for anyone wanting to get started with recording, mixing and mastering digital audio. It is designed as a modular system. The main application provides a mixing console, while the audio sequencer, live audio input and so on are loaded as separate Plug-Ins

Thats it for today! Check back for more soon!!

-Cheebs

5 Sample Loaded Sites

I put together this list of the top 5 places I go when I get bored with the drums I have. Some of these sites are more than just samples, so give them all a good look around and get as much out of them as you can. What's the point of free stuff if no one takes advantage of it?

Sample Swap

This site is full of break beats and loops as well as drum hits. There is also a section where people upload songs they have created for other people to download. I go here every few weeks just to see whats new.

BAP

I stumbled onto this site on accident. I was just looking around and clicked on a link. It threw me off that it was in french, but I found out where the samples were and downloaded some of them. Its basically just enough to get anyone started in making beats. There's some drums, instruments and loops to pick through. It's nothing too special, but I like something about it.

Sample Craze

This site is cool because it has a lot of drum kits for sale. But me being cheap, what really makes this site cool is there are free sample packs to check out of each kit you could but. If you spend a little time and download them all, you might find some cool sounds to inspire you. It might actually make you wanna buy something. it happens to the best of us.

Sound Zone

I haven't used them for quite a while, but soundfonts are pretty cool. It's basically a synth that is played in any soundfont player. A lot of good bass, piano and other synth are put in soundfonts and sound pretty good. It's also a good way of having a lot of sounds without having to get a bunch of CPU munching VST's.

KB6.de

These guys have tons of vintage drum machine samples. Everyone knows about the 707, 808 and 909 by Roland, but there are a ton of other really grimy and dope drum machines out there. I love hardware, but computers are the wave of the future, so I sold a lot of my drum machines. This way you get the milk and don't have to buy the cow, or something like that.

Don't forget to leave me comments on what you want. Most of these posts are requests.

-Cheebs

3 Links Stuffed With Music Production Tips

Hey everyone!

As you know, this is a blog that is about music production. I look all over the internet to find tip and tricks for my own self, and I have decided to show you a few of the sites I go to when I'm confused or in trouble or just hungry for knowledge.

Tenth Egg

There is a lot of good stuff here from mastering to production. All of it is helpful and good to know. The more you know, the more you can do. Check this page out and bookmark it while you are at it.

Create Digital Music

This site is full of all kinds of info. It's a site like mine with a little bit of everything. I will one day be like these guys. Check it out and check out all the videos.

Remix Blog

This is a blog created by Remix Magazine. They have a great mag and this is a great blog. Check them out and be sure to check back often because they update all the time.

That's the links, use them or lose them.

Don't forget to comment if this was helpful!! I love the feedback.

-Cheebs

3 Great FREE VST Plug-In Bundles

There are tons of VST's all over the place. You can get them all the way from free to thousands of dollars for a program that helps you shape waveforms. In fact, a PC, Fruity Loops and a hand full of VST's can make a whole studio out of a bed room and no one would know any different.

In my search for Vst's over the years, I have found a lot of shit and a lot of really good stuff. I have filtered through the shit and shoveled out a couple really good packs of VST files from different companies that are really worth getting. You can never get enough VST's, don't forget to pack these on top of the rest!

1: TWEAKBENCH "Nintendo" style bundle pack

This pack is great. It has VST's that replicate everything you would need to make a NES soundtrack. I mean it, EVERYTHING. The plug-ins are free, they offer the complete bundle in a sing zip for a small fee. Get these either way.

2: The Fillet bundle from digitalfishphones.com

This mini bundle has a few really cool dynamic plug-ins. I use the compressor quite often. The "Spitfish" is a really good de-esser, I use that one a lot too. You can navigate back and check out the other plug-ins they have also, it's worth a peek.

3: The VST pack from jeroenbreebaart.com

I just found this pack. They are all user friendly and sound real clean. Get these and try them out on a track to switch it up a little bit. Some good limiter and compressors in this bundle.

That's it for today. Don't forget to check the older posts and tell your other friends about this blog is you like it. Also leave me comments to tell me if this was helpful, I love the feedback.

-Cheebs

5 Of The Best Hip Hop And Rap Forums

What's up everyone! In this article I'm going to let you know something that some of the more hardcore Hip Hop heads might not take advantage of. There are a lot of forums on the internet that offer a lot of help, criticism and advice from people who have had the exact same problmes you might be having. Going on a forum is a good way to also network with artists and producers from all over the world who no one knows about yet. I have met a few really dope producers on forums in the past and I still work with them. Here is a quick list of 5 of the best forums I have found on the internet. Go sign up, browse the topics and maybe post something of your own.

Real Rap Talk : http://www.realraptalk.com/

Jee Juh Forum : http://www.jeejuh.com/forum/

Rap Battles : http://www.rapbattles.com

Underground Hip Hop : http://www.ughh.com

Rap Music Dot Com : http://board.rapmusic.com/

You might learn something

-Cheebs

6 Dirty Sample Blogs You Must Peep

Hey everyone!

I was just checking out some of my favorite blogs I look through to get samples from. I know it took me months to filter through all the crap to really find the best of the best. I wish they updated more often sometimes but beggars can't be choosers. I decided I would show you guys a few of the ones I go to the most. They range from Soul to Jazz and beyond.

36 15 Moog : A blog dedicated to albums that are mainly composed with the Moog, a classic synth that everyone who makes music would love to own just to brag about it.

Dust 2 Dust : This is a blog I always check first. It has some of the best albums I have ever sampled. Vinyl ripped albums.

Orgy In Rhythm : I just found this blog and just happened to find some good albums on it. Check them out.

Milk Crate Breaks : This is a site that I guess is mainly geared towards Hip Hop and break beat samples. I get a few good ones of this page from time to time.

Never Enough Rhodes : A really nice blog with Rhodes flooded albums. I can never make the Rhodes sound like these guys can.

A Pyrex Scholar : This is a blog that is a lot like Milk Crate Breaks. It is just really good albums that have a lot of gems to sample. Check them out

A little side note about the downloads you get from these sites. A lot of the blogs that upload albums you can check out use rapidshare. This site only allows you to download 1 album at a time if you dont own a premium account. I strongly suggest you pay for either a 1 or 3 months subscription to save you time in the long run. Now rapidshare also make syou wait a number of minutes between free downloads. I say just pay and downlaod all the sample syou could ever imagine.

Let me put it this way, it's cheaper and easier than taking a trip to your local record store to buy these albums, then listen to and record to your computer. It took me a few months to realize that, so learn from my mistake.

Until next time!!

-Cheebs

Tons Of Video Tutorials at tunetorials.com

Hey guys. I just found this link in my endless search for info on music production. This is a really nice collection of tutorials for basically every music program on the computer. i watched a few of the Reason and Fruity Loops ones and they looked helpful. Check them out and tell them is sent you!!

Here's the link : http://www.tunetorials.com/

Happy New Year!!

-Cheebs

Can you tell the difference?

Here's a chart that I found that will break down all the freq. in a beat and basically in any song. It tells you what makes what sound how it sounds and what to add or take away to get the desired effect. Just check it out, its very helpful.

Here's the link : http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/eqfreq.php

-Cheebs

Instrumentals

A good way to make a beat sound a curtain style is by listening to a few beats that are the style you are trying to mimic(DUH). I found a nice site called GetSomeShine.com. The guy has a sample pack uploaded, has a section of beats he has made as well as about 4 pages of popular instrumentals that you can listen to and download. This iswhere I downloaded the beats I am using for my "Global Warming" Mix Tape that will be out early 2009. Stop by and tell him I sent ya!!

Here's the link : http://www.getsomeshine.com/instrumentals/index.php

Happy Holidays!!

-Cheebs

Free Plugins @ http://kubton.com

I found a great free VST plugin page at http://kubton.com so I wanted to share it with you guys. They have all the types broken up into categories and each VST has its own description. Enjoy!

Here's the link : http://kubton.com/freeplugins.html

Check back often!!

-Cheebs

Tip - The Imporance of Ear Training

What's up everyone? Today I would like to talk about one of the things that a lot of Hip Hop producers overlook these days, but is one of the most important things to be able to do. What I am talking about is the ability to recognize different frequencies and differentiate between notes. Not having the proper training can take a otherwise good beat and just make it seem "off" when everything is finally put together.

People will speed up a sample, throw it over some drums and put bass over it. But do you know how to EQ the sample properly? Do you know exactly what frequency is making it sound harsh, bassy, or just out of place? Do you have a favorite track you want to try to make sound cleaner or more commercial but it still seems dull? If you know what frequency you are looking for and tweaking, it will make it go much faster and you will end up being more productive in the long run.

I found a dope site that offers many kinds of ear training software's. I used one when i went to school and its really simple. The one I used just played white noise and turned up different frequencies and you write down what one you think it is. After a few min you start to be able to tell the difference between the frequencies and get more answers right. I don't know if that's what all these ones do, but any of them are great to check out.

Here's the link : http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/cat/EAR_TRAINING/

I also want to say that the entire site is very helpful and has a ton of stuff that has to do with multiple kinds of audio and video software. Just browse around and I know you will find something else you really want or need to download.

Here's the site link : http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/

Happy Holidays!!

-Cheebs

Hip Hop Makers

Hey everyone! I kinda posted quite a few posts today, but so what? I just wanted to let everyone know about a site I found called Hip Hop Makers. This is a great site and resource for anyone that is into Hip Hop production. There are tons of great articles, interviews, tutorials and resources for you to check out. He updates it frequently, so keep checkin back every week or so for any new jewels he decides to drop! Check the site out in my links or just go to http://www.hiphopmakers.com

Tell him I sent ya!!

-Cheebs

Fruity Loops Tutorials

Hey everybody. This is my first real post so its pretty exciting for me!

So I found quite a few Fruity Loops tutorials on YouTube the other night and i thought I would share them with you. They are made by a guy named NFX. These tutorials are very very good and he goes into some really deep details. I do have to warn you he really is redundant at times and it gets annoying, but other than that they are dope as hell. I have been using Fruity Loops for years and I really think it is a great program regardless of the name. It has everything you need to make music of any kind and these tutorials will help you get the most out Fruity Loops if you use it.

Heres a sample of one and the link to his YouTube channel. Enjoy!!



Link : http://www.youtube.com/user/nfxbeats

Peace Out

-Cheebs