Equipment required to 'Remix' ? (Total Newbie)

[Phantom66uk]

Hello to all you talented guys at remix64.

What is the Minimum equipment requirements to do a decent remix?

I imagine a sequencer programme (something like Reason V3.0?), and a MIDI keyboard along with a decent soundcard is enough?

Also what tips would you give a complete beginner?

[trace]

Hi and welcome

I use reason and you can totaly do remixes with that and a good choice of a soundcard is good, best with ASIO support like M-AUDIO DELTA AUDIOPHILE 2496

Here is equipment some of us uses: Reason, Fruityloops(fruitystudio), Cubase(with vsti's and/or hardware synths) and some like i did in the beginning uses Fasttracker(tracker based prog) i guess there is more than that

A midi keyboard is a good choice cause it's hard and much job to do it by mouse

It's much of taste what YOU like to use

[Phantom66uk]

Thanks for that information trace I used Cubase around 8 or 9 years ago on an Atari520STe on a college course that I did, I imagine that it's changed significantly by now.

I've also had access to a demo version of Reason that only had a few soundbanks and I found it fairly overwhelming with all the options... Guess I'll have to start somewhere though.

Using a Creative Audigy2 at the moment in my system and that has ASIO support, so all I need to do if I decide to jump in at the deep end is get hold of a keyboard and Software.

(found sid2midi, although I need to pay to register it as I'm stuck with 90sec SID to midi conversions at the moment)

[Max Levin]

What kind of genre are you into?

[DHS]

Reason3 is good for start and even ok to make fantastic tracks.

Just look at LMan works: he's on Reason.

On the other side, i'm between the ones who think "get as much as you can" And not necessarily expensive stuff. I found myself putting Kazoo, and other simple sound sampled in my remixes

[Phantom66uk]

What kind of genre are you into?

Pretty much anything really apart from hip hop and rap, I suppose 80's electro pop and Rock are two of my more favorite genres.

[Max Levin]

Reason can be a bitch when it comes to tempo-changing. You can't have the program to change the bpm gradually or something like that, you'll have to mark pieces of the song and raise the speed percent after percent and it gets very problematic to continue your work when you don't know whet speed it goes on.
But if you are a good "carpenter" you will probably not blame your tools like I do

[Analog-X64]

Without getting into the philosopy about the artist and not the tool etc..etc..

It comes down to personal preference. You need to find a sequencer that works for you and take it from there.

I used to use something called "Edit Track Gold" on my Atari 1040STE with Real Midi Equipment which I still have stored in the basement. But with that sort of setup I was limited on what I could record, and limited on how much equipment I could purchase.

Now in the age of Virtual Synths, the world is open to many possibilities. VSTis are generaly cheaper than their hardware counterparts.

Now for sequencing, Reason, FruityLoops, and Cubase come up all the time. I've tried Reason and Cubase and FruityLoops, I have yet to settle down on using one, which is still a work in progress.

I'd recommend just download Demo Copys of sequencer and just play with them and see which you like most.

[Driller]

As a bit of a wanna-be remixer (I have a *long* way to go). I was wondering if remixers created their own drumloops (say in Battery) or use an existing one?

[Analog-X64]

I like having control over individual elements of a drum track so I'll create my own patterns with Kick / Snare / Open * Closed HiHats etc.. But than sometimes I feel lazy or have a specific drum loop in mind that has already been done so I'll use a Drum Loop sample in that situation.

Sometimes I'll mix both, a Drum Loop Sample, plus extra elements added via individual Drum Sounds.

[Tonka]

Renoise ( http://www.renoise.com ) is all you need to make a good remix. Hardware is officially dead, so if you want to upgrade from samples, just get some VST's - the better ones are now virtually indistinguishable from hardware anyway.

For re-creating the C64 sounds, I recommend Linplug Albino or (of course) Quadrasid (although Quadrasid can sound a bit gritty, even when you DON'T want it to).

I don't use a midi keyboard myself, so even that is not necessary to start with - just use the PC keys for input (just like Rob and Martin used to)!

Don't bother spending out too much on monitor speakers - if you have a half decent hi-fi, this will be enough (plus you will be accustomed to listening to regular music through it. If it sounds somewhere near your fav CD's, it can't be too bad - there's always someone who will knock your mix anyway)

Audigy 2 is fine for your soundcard. It doesn't really matter anyway if you are rendering your final mix as I'm pretty sure the soundcard gets bypassed via this process (unless someone knows otherwise)?..

Good luck!

Tonka

[DHS]

Hardware is officially dead

Well, ahem..... i won't say "hardware is dead".

(although Quadrasid can sound a bit gritty, even when you DON'T want it to).

QuadraSID 1.5 will be a lot smoother, if you want it to be.

Audigy 2 is fine for your soundcard. It doesn't really matter anyway if you are rendering your final mix as I'm pretty sure the soundcard gets bypassed via this process (unless someone knows otherwise)?..

This really depends on wich hardware (dead? ) are you. As a general rule, it doesn't matter, unless you're *recording* your master from digital-to-digital, in an outboard mixer/audiocard that allows you to do so.

[Tonka]

Hardware is officially dead

Well, ahem..... i won't say "hardware is dead".

I (of course) meant with regards to hardware synths as an upgrade option from the sample based sequencing software that I recommended. To declare that ALL hardware is dead, whist typing into a PC would be rather silly Maybe I should have written "hardware synthesizers are officially dead"?...

(although Quadrasid can sound a bit gritty, even when you DON'T want it to).

QuadraSID 1.5 will be a lot smoother, if you want it to be.

Yes, yes, yes!!! In fact, any chance of incorporating the RE-SID engine? It is by far the best sid emulation and sounds amazingly clear even without resampling

Audigy 2 is fine for your soundcard. It doesn't really matter anyway if you are rendering your final mix as I'm pretty sure the soundcard gets bypassed via this process (unless someone knows otherwise)?..

This really depends on wich hardware (dead? ) are you. As a general rule, it doesn't matter, unless you're *recording* your master from digital-to-digital, in an outboard mixer/audiocard that allows you to do so.

I agree entirely, but I believe the original question was "What is the Minimum equipment requirements to do a decent remix?". I am guessing that Phantom66uk does not have racks of outboard equipment, in which case rendering for a master is the best option

Tonka

[Phantom66uk]

I am guessing that Phantom66uk does not have racks of outboard equipment, in which case rendering for a master is the best option

At the moment all I have is a PC, soundcard, and the unregistered version of sid2midi. I've also got a demo of Reason on a CD / DVD somewhere....

Looking at the 'extras' that I could purchase, it looks like things could get pricey!

[trace]

Reason can be a bitch when it comes to tempo-changing. You can't have the program to change the bpm gradually or something like that, you'll have to mark pieces of the song and raise the speed percent after percent and it gets very problematic to continue your work when you don't know whet speed it goes on.
But if you are a good "carpenter" you will probably not blame your tools like I do

Reason can have tempo changes IF you rewire to Cubase or other rewire host

Can't someone program a rewire bpm changer especially for reason?