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Welcome to the Recording Forums archive of audio recording posts from the old Recording Website Message Board

Home recording and general music post from the archived Yabb Recording Website Message Board. Some of the info here may be outdated but many of the audio recording and home studio tips are still good. Note: The only tags I made and attempt to convert are italics, bold, center and underline. So if you see some gibberish surrounded by brackets, just ignore it.

Recording Website Archived Yabb board Post

Febuary 2001 Yabb Message Board Archive

Subject: Getting Started
by Douglas_Murphy | 03/14/01 at 07:26:47

Have recently upgraded and now can listen to mp3's etc. I am a singer/songwriter and now I would like to know how/where do I start?

Would like to know what I need to know, where do I go? and what do I have to do/buy to be able to use my pc as a studio? (I have a portable 4-Track, Fostex, old but still working)

Anyone??

Douglas???

Subject: Re: Getting Started
by Daytona | 03/14/01 at 07:59:31

Hey I was where you are only a few days ago (so take what I say with a grain of salt haha). IMO if you already have a 4 track you're halfway there. Just download a demo of n-trax studio and you're off! You can go through your Fostex and then into your soundcard (line in jack) with a mike, guitar or drum machine. I'm extremely new to this so just read around the forum here and good luck. I've gotten some good advice here in the last week.

Subject: Re: Getting Started
by CGibson | 03/14/01 at 22:18:04

I would recommend buying a good recording mic, a preamp and a copy of cool edit pro for your computer.

It's an easy program to use and will take the place of your 4-track as well as a two track mix down.
If you have a cd burner in your pc then your set.

I use this program to add vocal tracks to cdg's or midi files transferred over to wavs and it's fast and easy.
AKG has great recording mics in the $300.00 range
cool edit pro is about the same price and a good preamp will set you back about $250.00

hope this helps
C

Song Structure

by Dan E. Monk

Songs at the most basic level are structured by verse. Most modern songs add a chorus. A bridge, although not as popular can also be added. In addition songs can also contain: an intro, a pre chorus (also called a build), a refrain and an extro (also called an outro or tag).

A brief explanation of the different song sections:

Verse :
Verses are structured lines that while differ in content follow the same musical pattern.

Chorus :
A chorus differs both musically and lyrically from the verse and is repeated at least once in the song.

Bridge :
A bridge differs both musically and lyrically from the verse and the chorus, usually only used once in the song.

Refrain :
A refrain is one or two lines at the end of each verse which while different lyrically from the verse remain consistent to themselves.

Intro :
The into is a different musical form that comes at the beginning of the song. It differs from the verses but can and often does share music and or lyrics with the chorus.

Pre Chorus (also called a build):
A pre chorus precedes the chorus. While keeping the same music form the pre chorus can lyrically change throughout the song. It is usually repeated as often as the chorus.

Extro (also called Outro or Tag):
Stylistically the same as the intro, except it occurs at the end of the song.

The different forms
The Traditional AAA form.
The AAA song form consists only of verses. Sounds simple but it is one of the harder forms to write. Both words and melody must be fresh and compelling, there is not chorus or bridge to break things up. The ABA form.

(A = verse, B = chorus)
The ABA form adds a chorus. More often you will see it as ABABA or AABABA. This fits in well with modern pop music. Adding a chorus allows the songwriter to move the song in a different direction musically. Lyrically, the chorus is the meat of the song, usually repeating the title while summing up what the song is about. The ABCA form.

(A = verse, B = chorus, C = bridge)
Also quite popular the ABCA form adds a bridge. The verse and chorus have the same function as the ABA form. The bridge can be used lyrically to clear up parts of the song that may otherwise be obscure, or to tie the song together, hence the name bridge. Musically a bridge is used to break up a pattern that may be getting a little too monotonous or predictable.

There are other forms of course. These are the most common. What form you use depends a lot on what musical genre you are writing your song in.