It took about a year about 5 years ago for me to get the digital audio recording software (Cubase Le) installed on my computer and working.I bought the Tascam bundle for $200 for the mics to capture high fidelity recordings of the bands that I was filming. I ddnt understand the software enough to use it so i used a pirated copy of Cool Edit Pro for basic recordings. Time went by until I installed Cubase and went on a binge to learn it. And I did in baby steps. The first was assigning ports to the proper input and output so the outside world could commuincate with the program. Installing drivers so the software could talk to the laptop’s internal soundcard or play out thru the interface device. Then I discovered the midi input and that I had a drum setup built in the software. But what blew my mind was when I discovered there were musical instruments available that could be triggered by the midi input. I was working and making decent money then so it was nothing to run to Guitar Center and by a midi keyboard.
I remember when Photoshop hit me. I had been using the program in a very basic way and then all of a sudden the idea of layers became clear and how powerful a tool it was when utilized. Same with the recording software and having multiple tracks on top of each other. From there I learned how simple effects were applied to each track and what they did.
Now all of this is only dandy if good music is going into it. Lloyd Major was my first test. he was part of the gang of us who would carpool around to the p-funk shows. He was the cameraman for the video that made me famous (the first atheist video on Youtube) Atheist Walking (which was shot spontaneously on our way to see p-funk in San Francisco) and me and him use to always go back and forth about religion. I was learning and I learned alot from him about the process. I was able to plug in his instruments and record them on seperate tracks. The thing is over time this becomes routine and I’m ready to move on to more complicated stuff. We were recording a project I entitled “The Funk Of Gods” which is what i call atheistic spiritual music. He showed me about panning instruments and where to set levels to get an overall sound while performing all the music while i “sang” during the process.
Then my boy Rick in the bay that I went to college with who has a full blown studio in his house also gave me a lot of tutoring. He was familiar with working with the softwares so I got a lot of insight regarding the computer and electronic side of things.
I gotta find out when I first bought that Tascam USS-122 interface cause in 2011 at the Long Beach Funk Fest when I ran into Anthony Sanders. I had know Tony back in Ohio growing up and he was one of the first people I visited when I arrived in California. We sorta kept in touch until one point when he was living with me! We fell out of touch but met again at that funkfest and me and him always talked music, he was Slave and I was Parliament. Even back in Ohio he would be carrying a bass around but I never ever heard him play. So after 20 years we got together again and my recording confience at this point was up so I was like let me see what you got, come on over and lets do something. Over the years we both improved our krafts and when we go together we developed a strategy for recording and getting music down.
i learned he grid and snap to edges and what the bar and measrure and on the claps were on the “2 and 4” and the foot on the 1 and 3.
I learn how to “send” the tracks to different outputs that and have the same effects applied to them for uniformity n sound.
Now im at the point where I can program drum breaks and breakdowns so that I can make actual songs, and not just 10 minute riffs. I have enough foundation where I can divert attention to song structure like breaks, changes, chorus’, intros, etc.
