Recording - April 2014 - 38

Audio The Free
In The Land Of
By Eleanor Goldfield

Get your songwriting rig started... for nothing
There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but believe it or not, there is
such a thing as free audio software. For those of you looking to get into demoing, writing, or simply laying down ideas in your own studio setup, this land
of the free has some cool tools to get you going.
It's the (wo)man, not the machine...
It's tempting to spend big money on audio gear; much of it is expensive,
and money can seem insignificant when you're passionate about something
like audio. It's not like having a passion for collecting seashells.
That being said, the amount of expensive gear you have is not indicative
of your abilities. This point was made starkly clear to me one day when I
asked Ed Cherney (Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Iggy and the Stooges, etc.)
what his thoughts were on home studios. He spun around in his Aeron chair,
a Neve 8048 console behind him and an iPhone in his hand. "Got one of
these?" he asked, pointing to his phone. I nodded. "Give it to me and I'll
make you a hit record. It's who's behind the tools, not the tools," he said with
his contagious grin.
Not all great gear is expensive, some of it is even free (read on!), and you
can build your rig one piece at a time. I can't tell you how many great producers and engineers I've spoken to that started their stories with "All I had was..."
What follows-the breakdown
I'm breaking this up into two sections. The first section is for those of you
who already have a DAW such as Pro Tools, and a MIDI controller. This section will focus on how to make sounds from within those programs, with tools
other than what you use to simply record your own voice or instrument
through a mic.
The second section is for those of you who don't have a studio setup. There
I focus on software programs for simple recording and for some synth use, as
well as tools other than a DAW and MIDI controller, tools that will still allow
you to create and demo.
38

RECORDING April 2014

Pro Tools pre-loaded
This is about free stuff, so I won't tell anyone to
go buy Pro Tools. But if you have Pro Tools or an
equivalent DAW, then you can make use of many
free plug-ins and add-ons, and we'll mention
some right here. I'll stick to virtual instruments and
simulators-compressors, delays and such processors can wait for another day.
All the major DAWs come with numerous synth
sounds and virtual instruments; you should
explore yours exhaustively before you spend
money on add-ons and third-party libraries. I
won't go to the length of listing all those DAWs
with their included sounds-but I do encourage
you to get to know whatever is waiting to be discovered in your own DAW.
As I work primarily in Pro Tools, an industry
standard, I'll start by mentioning the virtual instrument plug-ins that you get for free when you first
install and open the program. Many of you are
likely to purchase it sooner or later, and as with
any new purchase, it's nice to know the full range.
Xpand, now Xpand 2, is one package that I've
used a lot, not only on demos but in finished
recordings. From soft, hard and action pads to
ambience, percussive and polysynths, Xpand
allows for an infinite amount of experimenting
and layering. There are four separate MIDI
inputs, each instance housing 4 channels, to be
used discretely or blended; for example, setting
all four to channel 1 will layer all four sounds
together. Alternatively, you can choose to turn on
and off different inputs, switching between
sounds. Each input has two effects sends, level
controls and timbre adjustment parameters such
as envelope depth, cutoff, release, arpeggiation
and modulation.

Recording - April 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - April 2014