For this design I am once again going to base the process around the SADIM design framework; Survey, Analysis, Design, Implementation and Maintenance.

 This is a design that I produced to help guide me in my process of making music. I have always loved music & can still recall the words of songs from my childhood, simply because they were attached to a melody. Many of these words didn't have anything of real consequence to say & yet I still remember the exact sentence structures. It struck me that songs are clearly a very powerful communication tool & I'm very aware of the different emotional states that some songs are able to stir inside me. I could see how valuable it would be to be able to combine some positive inspirational words with a catchy melody.

 I had also been exploring the healing power of sound & felt that this could be an important element of my music too. I had bought two crystal singing bowls, each of which made a beautiful tone, rich in harmonics. If I could also make use of these in my songs then that would be something unusual about them that might also catch people's attention. There were a few CD recordings of crystal singing bowls available, but not combined within song structures. I had all the enthusiasm that I needed, I just had to learn how to do it.

 As I had suffered a long term writer's block, I decided to have a go at writing songs myself, but initially I wasn't sure how to go about it. I had the basic music education at school, but no more & didn't really remember much about it. I wrote down some words & tried to make them scan, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere. I knew I was going to be better off if I could play some kind of instrument, so I bought myself a guitar. It was an instrument that I had always wished I had learned, so I figured that it was time to have a go at it. At that time I was seriously considering going out to stay at Ecoforest for a few months over the Winter & there were a couple of residents there who played that I could have learned with. As it happened, it didn't turn out that way, so I got myself a book instead & tried to teach myself. At this point I also bought myself a digital multitrack recorder & a book called 'Home recording made easy'. Whilst I was making progress, it seemed as if I was just finding out about more things that I was going to have to learn. What started out as a simple idea was becoming much more complicated & was going to need a re-think. This was the point from which I set out with this design.

Survey

Firstly I needed to decide what it was that I was wanting to achieve with this design & so I noted down the key elements:

• Transferring the words & melodies in my head successfully onto a CD that people can listen to....
  ...and to enable me to do this:
• Learning about music theory, without losing my creativity.
• Learning to play some musical instruments to use in my songs.
• Deciding what recording equipment I needed to do all this well.
• Then learning how to to get the best out of the recording equipment.

 This is actually rather a lot to be asking of one design, but if I tackle the elements one at a time I can develop a process that will help me to achieve my aims. Firstly I will start with my observations:

Observations:

 Overall process:

• It's not as easy as I'd like for people to be able to hear the songs in my head!
• Recorded songs are often much more complex than they first appear.
• It's going to take some time to do this well.
• I could use the skills that I develop to help do recordings for other musicians.

 Music theory:

• Is a left brain interpretation of a right brain activity.
• I had read that the more music students become familiar with theory, the less creative they become.
• I will need to learn some to understand how keys, chords & harmonies work.
• It is easiest learned in combination with playing an instrument.

 Musical instruments:

• People, myself included have preferences for different sounds.
• Different instruments seem to require different skills.
• Some instruments are cheaper &/or a lot easier to learn.
• A keyboard seems to be the easiest way to send MIDI information.
• Instruments can also be 'virtual' & stored as banks of MIDI playable sounds on a synthesizer chip or a computer hard drive.

 What equipment do I need?:

 This question just raised yet more questions:

• What quality result do I want?
• What can I afford?
• What do I plan to record (instruments, voices, MIDI etc.)?
• What are the pros & cons of different set ups?
• How do they relate to my own needs?
• How adaptable/versatile/upgradable are they?
• What recording format is the best for me to end up with?

 To really answer this question then, I first needed to clarify my needs & then ascertain what would be the most efficient set up for me to have to suit them. I therefore had to do some research to find out what was available & what the pros & cons of each system actually were. I was going to need more books to do a lot more reading. But firstly....

 What are my actual wants?:

• CD quality recordings.
• I can afford a good enough quality studio set-up.
• For maximum flexibility I would be best opting for a set-up that will record both audio & MIDI.

Research:

 With this in mind I was able to do some more research. This involved buying a few more books as the library didn't have any on such a specialised subject as music recording. I also subscribed to 'Sound on Sound' magazine, who published some of the good music recording books I had bought. This subscription also gave me access to their archives on the WWW, including the reviews that they had done for different equipment. With all these to help me I was able to determine that the choices I had boiled down to:

1. Either a computer-based or a hardware-based recording system.
2. Using digital or analogue recording technology.
3. For a computer based system, choosing between a PC or a Mac.
4. Choosing between different manufacturers.
5. How many inputs & outputs were required (how much I would want to record at once).

 The main question that I had to address was the first one. The pros & cons of the two setups were:

Computer-based system:

Pros:

• Highly upgradable.
• Highly expandable.
• Can run on an existing PC.
• Controllable parameters can be almost unlimited.

Hardware-based system:

Pros:

• Dedicated hardware more reliable than software.
• No processing problems with dedicated ROM chips.
• More 'hands-on' control.

Cons:

• All the processing is done by the computer's main processor.
• Audio recording uses a lot of processing power.
• Not as reliable as hardware.
• Recording software doesn't like anti-virus software (it causes glitches).

Cons:

• Not very upgradable.
• Takes up more space than software!
• More expensive than software equivalents.

 It also appeared that for the meantime, although it never took off as a home-based system, DAT (Digital Audio Tape) is still the preferred medium of studios for mastering & producing CD masters from.

 ...And coming back to my original questions...

 What is my best learning strategy?:

 This again requires me to do some more research into what is available & make a decision about that first. I can however also research the following to help me to make my choices:

• What am I better off learning first?
• What learning resources are there available (books, internet forums etc)?
• How do I best learn (what methods are most effective)?
• I also need to remember that I am bound to make mistakes & that's OK!!

 What I discovered about these things I will incorporate as part of my analysis below, but before I get to that it is also worth me looking at what limitations & resources exist for me here:

Limitations:

• My time available to learn.
• My musical talent.
• The range & quality of my singing voice.
• The rate at which I have good ideas.
• My finances.
• The quality of the equipment (relates to finances available).
• Space available to house the equipment.
• Available teaching resources (people, books etc.).
• The quality of the teaching resources.

Resources:

• Office space with electricity supply.
• My finances.
• My time.
• My ideas, curiosity & enthusiasm.
• My singing voice.
• A lifetime of listening to music & knowing what I like.
• My computer, printer & internet access.
• My guitar.
• My crystal singing bowls.
• Zoom digital multitrack recorder.
• Dictaphone.
• A couple of relevant music books & the local library.
• A quiet place to live (avoids the need for soundproofing).
• My design skills!

 Before I can answer all the questions that I have posed above, I first have to do some analysis of what I already know about my needs & have found out about the different studio set-up options available to me.

Analysis

 To begin with, I am going to apply Permaculture principles to the process to see which of the different options would suit my needs the best.

 Minimum effort for maximum effect: Software sequencing of MIDI data allows me to record layers of music & not have to be a skilled musician; hence saving me years of practice! My purpose is to turn what is in my head into a recording & not to be an accomplished instrumentalist. My existing computer could be used as the basis for a software-based studio set-up. A computer can host a whole studio in software form for a lost less money than buying hardware. Filling up a dictaphone tape with ideas & then transferring then onto my studio equipment in one go.

 Multiple supply: It would be wise to make recordings in more than one format for maximum versatility; both for backups & as final masters. Music theory & instruments are more easily learned by utilising both books & playful experimentation. Backing up the software effects with a hardware unit gives two supply options & reduces the load on the computer processor (reverb uses a lot of power!). By learning how to write music I have more than one method by which I can record my musical ideas. The more different sounds that I have available, the more likely I am to find one that fits a particular idea.

 Multiple yield: A keyboard is able to control a whole host of virtual instruments via MIDI. I learn how to use the new equipment & make music at the same time. Both music theory & instruments can be learned at the same time, just by reading & playing.

 The problem is the solution: Having to learn how to use the equipment will entail a certain amount of playful experimentation that could yield some interesting musical ideas.

 Relative location: I need to keep some way of recording my ideas near me as often as possible; this I can achieve with a notebook for words & as I can't yet write music, my dictaphone for words & melodies. Having my studio in my home means that I can go in there & work whenever I feel inspired to.

 Stacking: By utilising the capabilities of a sequencer, I can 'stack' one layer of music at a time on top of the previous & build up a song.

 So going back to analysing my original needs:

 Overall process:

 I need to give myself the maximum number of opportunities to capture my musical ideas & to do this I need to keep a notebook & dictaphone to hand as often as possible. Listening carefully to other recordings will give me many more ideas about how popular records are built up. NLP has a technique called 'modelling' where to successfully achieve something, you simply model the behaviour of successful achievers! Music is no different; listening to the ways that recordings are built up & crafted can help me to produce something similar. The styles that are most popular are the ones most likely to be listened to... just so long as there is something a bit unusual in there too.

 There is also an opportunity here to utilise the skills that I am acquiring for my own needs to help other musicians who are of like mind (i.e. eco-logically inclined). This will be an additional yield, providing me with more experience, a bit of income & the Earth with some more good songs about living lightly upon Her.

 Music theory:

 Music theory is more easily learned when playing an instrument; a good balance of left & right brain hemisphere function is engaged & I am also using my time to produce the multiple yield of learning both at once. To avoid learning what I don't need to know; once I get beyond the basics, I should just learn what I need to know as it occurs.

 Musical instruments:

 Some instruments require the dexterity of both hands & this again provides a good balance of left & right brain hemisphere functioning. Both guitar & keyboard are good examples of this although the way they are both played is very different. Learning to play a keyboard seems to give me the most versatility in terms of what I am aiming to achieve & mainly because of the MIDI options. Popular sounds will be the most effective communication tools; this is another good reason to learn guitar & keyboard, the latter can also provide me with a rhythm section too. I can always add extra virtual instruments to my computer hard drive & expand my range of playable sounds.

 What equipment do I need?:

 Clearly it seems to me that for my purposes, where I am not (yet?) an accomplished musician, the computer-based option makes the most sense. It is very easily upgradable via software downloads & hardware add-ons. I already have a computer & so I just need to purchase some software for it & a keyboard & I will immediately have a much more versatile set-up. Being able to have a whole selection of virtual instruments available as software gives me the most options for sound creation. A software sampler will also allow me to record my fixed tone instruments (such as my crystal singing bowls), pitch shift them to pure notes & combine them to make chords & harmonies, making them much more versatile.

 The main drain on memory for a computer-based system is producing realistic reverbs, so a hardware unit providing this facility would be a good addition. Also to provide a good signal for audio recordings, a good pair of microphones & a microphone preamp unit would also be a good investment. Buying units that also provide other facilities & effects would give me more options again (multiple supply).

 If I am going to produce recordings that could be used by a mastering house (& I might as well, just in case), then a DAT recorder will also be a useful piece of equipment. A pair of studio monitors will be needed to enable me to hear what I am recording back. Ordinary hi-fi speakers usually have built in emphasis in some part of the frequency spectrum to give them their distinctive sound. Studio monitors are designed to have a level response so that the listener gets a true picture of what they are producing. I could also decide to opt for a dedicated music optimised PC that I could run without it being full of other software & in particular anti-virus software. This PC would not be connected to the internet, but obtain updates for its software via the general purpose PC.

 What is my best learning strategy?:

 My own experience tells me just getting on & playfully experimenting with it, whilst working my way through the various books & manuals. I can look for answers to queries that I might have, both on-line in technical forums or by asking my musical friends. Whilst experimenting I am likely to come up with some interesting musical ideas that I might use later on, so this becomes another multiple yield situation for me.

 So with all this information analysed I am nearly ready to put it all together into a final design. I just need to produce a generalised flow diagram of the whole process from the ideas appearing in my head, through to producing the finished CD so that I have a skeleton timebase on which to hang the whole design. This flow chart was produced by combining my own preferences for working with the finer details of the recording process that I have been reading about. Inevitably when trying to fit a process this involved onto a single sheet of paper, a lot of technical elements have been simplified. This is however just a guide for my own learning process & I have this detail already well documented elsewhere.

 To find out how I put all this together, now visit the Final Design page.