Anyone know about soundcards---which is best??

[Janet Jinx]

Hiya I am looking to get a new soundcard cos at the moment I have everything coming out of a shite headphone jack which is wobbly at the best of times. I have got a good PC running windows ME. I am looking at getting a soundblaster live card but I'm not sure if that is best for dance music production....anyone got any recommendations.

Cheers
Janet

[DJCraig Ryan]

Take a took @ www.redsub.com
Go into soundcards and they should fix you up, they have loads specifically for Dance Music Production. Inputs and Outputs, plugins etc etc

[MARKEG]

god no - please don't get a soundblaster live.. urrrggghhhhhh...

right if you're serious about making music you'll need to change your os. you'll need win xp or 2000 - 98se is ok though.

i'd then recommend a delta 10/10.. although there's quite a few i'd recommend actually... let me know your budget...

but then again there's so many factors you have to consider. the motherboard must be right, the graphics card etc etc...

actually, i've just fixed up a whole computer for a friend, designed and tested by music specialists, guaranteed and with serious support for 1000 quid (that's without music progs though but hey, there's ways and means for educational purposes ;-] hehee..)

i can do the same for you if you wish...

ps i checked a track of yours on your site - it's a great start. you really have to get into this j. take the plunge and get a proper system if you can...

[Jimfish]

yep, listen to mr EG...ive done the rounds now- been through 7 different pc soundcards. If id have just bought a delta 1010 to start with or whatever the equivalent was back then i would have probabaly saved hundreds....the delta 1010 is fantastic sounding, with a handy lillte bit of midi , and excellent latency whatever.... its worth thinking about where you see yourself 18 months down the line and paying that bit extra now...
Be it whether you are going to need more outputs (buy more than you think you will need) or you might have to swap to laptop or even mac based systems. Think about future compatibility with the way you see yourself working....
good luck with music!

[Janet Jinx]

OK...this has kinda made me realise I don't know what the hell I am doing. The demo on my site is a bag of shite which I made ageees ago...just messing around really.... But I gotta say I am still not happy with the results I am getting from my studio...considering the kit I have got. I have spent a fair amount on hardware but the actual quality of the sound I am getting is poor and that is due to my lack of knowledge in the engineering stakes. I find it hard cos I don't know anyone else serious about making choons. Now the first thing is my drums and my bass sound weak and not like the records I own....I can spot when something isn't right cos I listen to dance music 24/7 practically...so I get frustrated when I have a sound in my head which I can't create. Anyway I have recently been reading up about the importance of compression and EQ in order to make your drums and bass KICK! so I thought god no now I have to buy a compressor!!!! but then I discovered you can compress in Soundforge. So then I think right I'll compress the fork out of everything then wack it to my sampler. There will not be any sound coming from my computer so spending £500 on a soundcard...I dunno if that is a wise investment??? I just want to be able to hear if I am compressing things right before I save em and wack em to the sampler. The way I was gonna work was to have everything outboard, mixing desk, synths etc and they are all sequenced by a RM1x....which I now know backwards....so I wasn't gonna use my computer for anything but sound/sample manipulation really...but now I'm thinking after what you said.....is that the right way to go about it. I am really f**king confused HELP..... :cry:

[Jimfish]

good lord....now im confused too.....sounds like you need to find someone in leeds who knows what they are talking about to go through this with you in person... I would gladly do it myself were i not a couple of thousand miles away (or however far london is from leeds).... But i can help you with some decent kickdrums if you like...email me and i'll send you some tried and tested kicks to choose from.... just give em the desired punch you want em to have with low-mids on your eq.... anyway - email me if that helps at all

[Jimfish]

I generally make techno myself but i have produced a few hard dance type records under a different name for people that use my studio....here are a few things i try to think about when im making that stuff....

As with any music, dont put any sounds in without a reason for them being there....

Keep it uncluttered, be clever with whats there rather than adding more sounds....

Think about space, and where each sound sits within the mix, be subtle with your eqs and use a couple of different reverbs (not too much now) to largen things up.... leads need a good reverb....

Try to thin some sounds out with eq to leave breathing space for the phatties - i.e the kick, bass, and lead

Get to grips with programming filters - try filtering percussion post reverb to try and acheive that 'watery' sound

urm....god i could think of tonnes before i started writing....hmmm

oh, yes....dont forget to pan things about a little keep kick & bass central, but there is room for non bass heavy sounds to hang a tad on the left or right....this will help give other sounds space..

Oh, and get to grips with your delay, and try filtering down little delay patterns....

Relax when you listen to your track, close your eyes and think about Space, movement and flow - get it to sound smooth as poss...

running out of things now.....
no doubt illl think of more....but i hope those lil tips can be of some help to you....

sorry i cant be more help on the technical side (hardware n all that), but it its a bit of a mamouth conversation job really.....

oh, and dont take advice re. your equpment from just anyone.... I was given tonnes of bad advice when i was starting out - virtually everyone has a conflicting view and it can get even more confusing.....
And dont listen to those twats at turnkey ....they REALLY dont know what the **** they are on about....
Perhaps you should think about going to work in someones studio for a day that makes the kind of music you like....you might be able to glean a lot of info from them.....
Im going off on one like this cos i know what a mission it is and how frustrating when you are trying to get it all togethor on your own... Its aa slow process with noone to learn from, but the theory is that you develope your own unique style.....good luck

[Janet Jinx]

cheers for the advice and everything. soz to totally go off on one and confuse everyone with my production worries. its just you think you are getting somewhere and then you listen back to what you have done with your real listening head on and think, nah....its cack....the drum patterns are good but the hithats aren't cutting through, the kick sounds like an ant kicking a peanut the synths are overwhelming everything...argh....and I really feel like I am overwhelmed by technology. sometimes I feel like just giving up but my real desire to produce drives me on.

Anyone who says making dance music is easy is soooo wrong. not only do you need to be an engineering genius, a wizard with midi, cabling and general technology, an expert in oscillators, effects, filters, envelopes, compression and eqing, but at the end of all that you need to be able to write interesting synth parts, basslines, leads, drum patterns, sweeps maybe vocals.....my god....it's the whole package....and it's f**kin hard....

[Kaine]

You get better with every tune through janet. Just got to keep plugin away and exspermentin. Sound card wise if you can't stretch to the delta The Audiophile at about 150 is alright for a entry level card. it's one of those case's where the more you spend the better through i've found.