Local recording studios in Sabah...

Hello, As a musician myself, i can smell more and more recording studios in sabah are being formed every year.And now we can find quite a number of good digital recording studio offering thier services to the public. For the last decade, it was hard to find a reputable recording studio . There was only one located at kampung air, namely SEH HUAT. The company has produced albums for our talented local singers like John Gaisah, Julius Goduk , Justin Lusah and many more......and the song like jambatan tamparuli,tarajang rasuk,miniagal oh sinsing are still heard until today ( Local evergreen songs ).During those days, there were no high tech equipments were available, you can only find those bulky analog recording equipments. No computers.....everything done manually and you have to be very careful with your work...since there was no such thing as undo you mistake. If you do mistakes, you have to redo it again and again until you are satisfied with your work. But now, it is entirely different. Everything is computerised. Anybody can setup their own digital recording studio at home.Infact you don't have to spend so much to do this.For a start, you only need to have few things like a MIDI keyboard, preferably one that has a velocity touch keys, a fast computer with a dedicated recording soundcard like yamaha or m-audio delta series like the one i am using now, a sequencer with midi and audio record capable software like sonar or pro tools which i owned one, a condebser multi polar microphone, a small pair of studio powered monitor such as the rockit 5 which can produce a very sweet and punchy sound, if you prefer, an acoustis or electric guitar and a small low noise passive mixer.And that's it. You are ready to roll. I will share my experience on this field with you in my next article.tq. by marcel website :http://www.freewebs.com/marcelmusic

Local singer to sue recording company for $5 million

Local singer to sue recording company for $5 million Subject: Local singer to sue recording company for $5 million by KaTaMa on 2007/12/4 12:18:37 KENINGAU: Local singer Atama said yesterday he would sue a Kota Kinabalu-based recording company for RM5 million for copyright infringement, defamation and compensation for lost album sales. From 2005 to 2007, the singer said, he lost almost everything after the company produced pirated copies of his song Throw Your Hands In The Air, a song which fuses Kadazandusun elements with hip-hop. The company claimed it had the copyright on the ‘taragang rasuk’ song, which uses the late John Gaisal’s vocals. Two years ago, it accused Atama of infringing Section 36(a) of the Copyrights Act 1987 and sought an injunction to prevent sales of Atama’s debut album My Tribal Roots. On Oct 17 this year, however, the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak dismissed the recording company’s claim as baseless. Atama, whose real name is Andrew Mudi, said his company Atama Music Publishing (AMP) would file the suit as soon as it has identified a suitable lawyer to represent it. He said he had been subjected to physical, mental and emotional depression after being accused of copyright infringement by the recording company, and he is suing to tell the world he had been a victim of injustice. He added AMP, which produced the album, suffered millions of ringgit in lost sales in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and the USA. Atama’s music marks a milestone in the local music scene, combining the sounds of ethnic instruments such as gongs, kulintangan and sompoton with hip-hop and R&B. Throw Your Hands In The Air has become something of a hit after being aired on local radio station Sabah VFM, and has even been used as a ring tone throughout the country. Atama said he is determined to make it in the music industry, and wants to be the first Dusun to penetrate the global music market. A telemovie, Can’t Stop The Sumazau directed by Tony Francis Gitom and a biography, Atama The King are expected to be out next year. Copyrite By News Sabah Times...........

Mu Voice Intelligent Vocal Harmonizer

I've been searching for a good harmonizer ( from the internet ) for my own use in the studio for quite awhile and finally I purchased the Mu Voice Vocal Harmonizer from Mu Technologies after having tested the trial version. I considered it as a Good-Buy product because of its sound quality,ease of use, userfriendly and quite an affordable price at the moment ( Early bird release ).The technical support is also very helpful. So, I strongly recommand for you all out there who are still hunting for a good vocal harmonizer plugin, grab this one, you won't regret. I used it mainly for harmonizing vocal for my local album productions. GREAT plugin!! Marcellus Simon Malaysia http://www.freewebs.com/marcelmusic _________________________________________________________________________ Mu Voice December 6, 2007: Update to Mu Voice 1.1.1 US $199 (instead of $259) 'Early Bird' Release Imagine a plug-in that allows you to tune your vocal recordings, apply special effects and add natural sounding harmonies when mixing your track. Look no further, Mu Voice is the plug-in for you. The proprietary spectral analysis and synthesis techniques of Mu Technologies set new standards in vocal processing providing a unique tool for your recording studio. An internal delay of only 5.8 ms makes Mu Voice the ideal vocal processor to perform live on stage. ( PC:VST/RTAS ; MAC VST/AU )NEW! AU on Mac - User Manual.Mu Voice is protected by iLok and has a trial period of 30 days / 50 launches. You do not need an iLok to demo, but iLok drivers need to be installed. Key Features * Intelligent Harmonizing * Scale / Chord Selection * Chord Scheme Editing * Mixer * Tuner * Channel FX * Preset Management * Full Automation * XML based file exchange * SIMD Optimizations * Info: o All audio must be sampled at 44100Hz. o Mu Voice uses two data files, W.dat and Y.dat. When it can't find them is generates them automatically. Therefore, when you launch the plug-in for the first time it will take a while to appear. From there on it will launch smoothly. o Mu Voice works strictly for monophonic audio material. For more info, please visit http://www.mu-technologies.com/

How To Start Recording Your Voice At Home

If you have spent the major part of your life entertaining your friends with your lovely voice, maybe it is time for your talent to reach out to more people around the world. All you need is a home recording studio that you can set up with the least bit of effort. Here are few tips of live recording that you could follow:-

Live recording is done through what is called "audio" which is an actual music recording of a live sound, just like a tape recording. Let us see what all gadgets are required to fulfill your dream.

i) Digital multitrack recorder

ii) Microphone.

iii) Audio interface/sound card.

iv) Studio headphones

Gadget 1 - Get your digital multitrack recorder or software multitrack sequencer. Decide where you want to record your audio. Here are some of the considerations. If you wish to use your computer's program, that's great and lot of money is saved. With a good quality sound card, you can record at very high fidelity.

But you have to be careful as there are some significant possible downsides. First and foremost, computers are sometimes unreliable, especially if you are using an older version for high end work that needs more memory. You are unlikely to enjoy losing lots of time and hard work when the computer freezes that becomes more likely the more you demand CPU power for multiple tracks and adding things such as reverb and echo. Go for upgrading your computer with a bigger hard disk and RAM as well as an additional Audio/Graphics card to enhance you r work experience. If buying a new computer, go for a high-end processor for the best results.

Using a mouse to run computer programs is just fine, but it may not be so convenient for the job of digital music recording. Simple 4 to 8 track projects may be possible, but you will need proper equipment for higher end work.

On the other hand, using an external digital multitrack recorder has many advantages – as they are more reliable, easier to mix with because they have those old familiar faders, and generally are of higher sound quality. They also come with internal effects such as reverb, delay, chorus, which can crash the computers. The disadvantages are of course the cost, albeit not so bad, and the limited number of tracks (usually 8 to 24).

Another consideration is that with an external device, you must make sure it has a proper connection and synchronization capability with the computer programs. Digital multitracks often utilize V-takes as well, which means you can record a number of versions of track 1 bass, for example, and choose the one to activate for your final mix.

Once you've analyzed your needs, you can go and get the home recording studio recorder or program you wish to work with. An external controller board is required if you are using a software analyzer which will give you real faders for mix down, which can relieve you of the inconvenience of the mouse.

In part two of this article, we shall examine the rest of the essential gadgets required by you for successful music recording. Keep your voice in shape till then, for you will soon be traveling on the highway to a successful career in the world of music.

The author loves mixing music. You can make your own music by setting up a home recording studio and using a good music production software. Learn all the music terms with the help of an online music dictionary.

By Sarika Kabra

Building and Soundproofing a Home Recording Studio

"How do I soundproof my garage, basement, or a bedroom in my single family house or condo so my 4 piece rock band can practice and record and not bother the neighbors?"

If I had a dollar for every time I was asked this question, I would be in the Bahamas right now, instead of writing this article. Many factors need to be considered prior to beginning your studio or practice room-soundproofing project. Some of the questions you should be asking yourself are: What type of amplification will the band be using, are the drums going to be acoustic and miked or are they digital. Are you going to be recording live late at night or are we going to be doing "line in" recording only? These questions and many more need to be considered before the actual construction begins. If live recording and rehearsal are the plan, then maximum soundproofing will be needed. The most effective way to soundproof a garage, basement, or bedroom is to actually construct a room within a room (go to www.auralex.com) and download the free booklet "Acoustics 101", this is a wonderful resource for the home studio builder.

Their ideas are solid and applicable to any studio-soundproofing project. The room within a room concept utilizes the sealed dead air space that is captured between the inner walls and the outer walls to help greatly with the soundproofing endeavor. It is probably easiest to frame the walls on the floor and then tilt them up into place thus making dry walling the outside of the walls much easier. It is also highly recommended that another ceiling be joisted out for the room within a room, however, this is often times not possible due to space constraints.

In this case, the existing ceiling and ceiling joists may be used as the ultimate ceiling for the studio, provided that it is adequately soundproofed with materials such as the mass loaded vinyl or a combination of closed cell foam mat and MLV. I will elaborate on these materials, as we get further into this article. Once the walls are framed out and the right amount of "Dead air space" is determined, then it is time to install the soundproofing. The first order of business is to consider what needs to be done to the wall cavities prior to installing a barrier and finally the wallboard. I like to line the inside cavities with a closed cell vinyl nitrile foam mat such as American Mat. This mat (generally 1/4" thickness) is adhered to the inside cavity walls as well as the studs and joists using a contact cement to adhere the mat. Keep in mind that the American Mat is used to line the cavities only, not to fill the cavity. If thermal insulation is needed, use products such as rock wool, mineral wool, cut wool fibers, or my favorite, Roxul. Roxul is a great thermal rock wool based batt type insulation that has great soundproofing qualities. If thermal insulation is a requirement for the practice room or studio, then Roxul is the way to go.

Now we come to a crossroads, it is time to determine if decoupling the walls using resilient channels or American Sound clips is a necessity. De coupling is used when impact transmission or low frequency noise is a factor. Impact would come primarily from the drums (acoustic type) or the bass amplifier. However, if the band is using Marshall high powered amps (50 watt amps with 4 X 12 cabinets for example) along with miked acoustic drums and an Ampeg bass system, then decoupling will most likely be necessary. These methods and procedures will be explained in later articles. If decoupling were determined to be unnecessary, then the next step would be to find a good barrier material such as American mass loaded vinyl (which is a high grade mass loaded vinyl barrier). This barrier could be stapled directly to the studwork on a wall assembly or directly to the joists. This is a method that is used if cost or space constraints are factors. If the barrier material is to be stapled directly to the stud or joist framing then it is best that the seams be over lapped, caulked (using OSI acoustical caulking compound) and then taped with either a lead tape or a heavy-duty PVC seam tape.

Once the Mass Loaded vinyl (MLV) is installed and sealed, it is time to install the final layer of drywall. I always recommend using 5/8” drywall as the final layer because of its mass and its sound blocking abilities. . It is always advisable to butter the edges of the last layer of drywall with acoustical caulk. You want to grab every STC (sound transmission class) point you can when trying to make your new studio as soundproof as possible. Finally you will tape mud and paint your final layer of drywall. Now you have a great soundproof home recording studio. We will discuss acoustical treatments for your studio in subsequent articles, but for now you are well on your way to having a professional grade-recording studio in your home.

Dr. Bob O. Soundproofing America, Inc. Senior Technical Director Soundproofing Expert to The New York Times, The San Francisco Herald Examiner, The San Diego Union Tribune, and the Charlotte Observer Ph (877) 530-0139 Toll free Fax (347) 721-9079 E-mail: Dr.bob@soundproofingamerica.com Website: http://www.soundproofingamerica.com

By Dr. Bob Orther