(Skinny Puppy in the early days)
Yep, I think that title says it all! It's 2020, matter of fact we are just about halfway through the year... and there should be no excuse! It's time to start your industrial music project!! First of all, let's get into the mentality of it... This year has definitely been rough, we are seeing a pandemic that has essentially stopped the world. Everyone around the world is experiencing a lockdown, or a period of self-isolation of some sorts. I personally have been in self-isolation here in my province in Canada for 2 months... so, what does that mean... First of all, if you were working, and are now not, now is the perfect time to start on your endeavor! Second, time is very short, if we are lucky we might live till we are 100... that actually isn't a lot of time if you think about it... so what better reason do you need to start!
I know some of you folks may not even have the option of purchasing gear right now, as there is no delivery service, or even curbside service. So, what does that mean for musicians, or people who are just starting out, or are considering starting an industrial music project. If you can't order gear, or go pick it up... look at all the options, and resources we have online! I mean, if you have a computer and an internet connection, you are already ahead of the game! There's some software out there, that is capable with the soundcard that already comes with your computer... so, here's a couple that I suggest to get started with, first is:
Jeskola Buzz Tracker: this is a tracker based program and it is Windows based. I personally have used Jeskola Buzz, and have written a couple of albums with it. It comes with built in synths and a tracker style sequencer and all kinds of other stuff! Here's a video about Jeskola Buzz Tracker (*Just a quick note this is an older video from an older version of Jeskola Buzz, but it gives you a general idea of what it is about! This video is also quite comedic!)
Audacity: now I personally haven't used Audacity in my own endeavor, but it is another option for at least recording audio and editing or modifying that audio! If you are using Jeskola Buzz Tracker, and you need to do vocals for your tracks... Audacity would be the way to do it! Here's a video about Audacity:
You can download the latest version of Audacity here!
Garageband: now I've only used Garageband very briefly, but if you are a Mac user and looking for something to get you started in your industrial music project, this is the free option that I do believe most Mac's if not all have already loaded onto it. This is basically band in a box, everything is included to get you started, and if you are looking for a relatively affordable upgrade from Garageband for your Mac, Logic Pro is the answer (when it is time to upgrade, and you feel a little more serious about your musical endeavor)! Here's a video about Garageband:
You can find Garageband on most, if not all Mac's, and if you do not have it on your Mac, then go to the App Store and download it (I think even in the App Store it's absolutely free)!
There are also demo versions of some of the pay-for Digital Audio Workstation software out there, but they are usually limited in what they can do... but I'll list a couple that you may find useful:
FL Studio: this is the current software I've been using to write most of my albums these days (although, I have a fully featured version), and I think it is quite excellent software and would recommend eventually getting a full version of it (if you feel this is the right software for you)! You can find a demo trial of it here!
Cockos Reaper: This software I've been using these last few years for running my backing tracks for live shows. This software is fully featured, you can record and sequence and all that kind of shit with it! You can find a demo of it here!
Ableton Live Lite: I've played with the trial version of this software, that's about it! However, Ableton is a great piece of software, and even though it is made for live performance, it is and can be used for recording and sequencing and all that kind of shit! You can find Ableton Live Lite here!
I figured for this blog, I would just suggest the "Free, don't need anything else to get started recording and sequencing software" out there, cause I know some of you folks may not have mail or delivery or really anything available to you... So, I hope that this was helpful and you are now on your way to becoming that underground industrial music artist!
(Twitch: August 26/2016 @ Lord Nelson's Pub, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.)
If you are already an established or even smaller industrial music artist, and you have suggestions as to other free options out there, please leave them in the comments! Anyway, thank you for reading and I may make a small series out of these blogs... we'll see!!
*Note: Just want to make a quick note here, I'm sure you're wondering how to do vocals when you have no way of getting the vocals into the computer, or you don't have a microphone to properly record your vocals. I think I want to stress here, be resourceful. When I wrote my first song, I had no way of recording vocals, I didn't have a mic, but I had these really old pair of headphones, and I thought "Why not plug this into my computer soundcard, and sing through them..?", I didn't know if it would work (these were really old like 1970s headphones), but I plugged them into the back of the soundcard, and sang through the headpieces... and, it fuckin worked, course my vocals came out all distorted and shit, but at least I got them, and it worked for what I was doing! So, nowadays... you might be able to use a shitty pair of headphones, or the headphone mic on your earbuds or whatever... be resourceful. I mean, if your computer has a mic on it, or you have a webcam with a mic, that might be another way of doing it! So... if there is a will, there is a way!!
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