Protected WMA files:
Convert them to plain mp3's - Ok so I have this friend who has all these songs he/she purchased through a certain iweb site which a certain ithing just about forces people to iuse when they buy an iplayer pod thingy. To my friends surprise, all these songs refuse to work in anything but this iplayer. I explain DRM and WMA files to him/her and then offered to convert them.
How do you convert them? There are several ways, even obvious ways. One, you can burn a cd with windows media player, which has access to the WMA file licenses and can play and burn them to cd. Then rip the cd using other software (not windows media player or itunes!) like Acoustica's Audio Converter Pro. You now have mp3 files of all those pesky wma's. You just have to tag them (Enter cool
tagging software)
Another cool way to do it, is to play the songs on your ipod or mp3 player and record them with Acosutica's Spin It Again. You can then tag them all directly from SIA and get some plain old mp3's out of the deal.
Acoustica Beatcraft:
Need a template made? I can make just about any template for Beatcraft you would need. Simply leave a post in the forum as to what you are looking for and I will answer. Once we have established exactly what it is you need, make a donation in any amount you think it's worth by using the donation button at the bottom of this page, and I will create your template.
What can I do with a template? You can use it as is, you can arrange the patterns in any order you need at any length you want, you can visualize how to create beats you are looking for, you can copy the patterns and practice making your own or change them as you see fit.
This is a great tool for non-drummers who want to use Beatcraft and also a great tool for people who are having trouble creating the beats/songs they want, or just can't get it to sound quite right.
How to create a sequence - by dragging patterns into desired order to create your song's drum track.
Make A Simple Beat - How to create your first beat with Beatcraft using simple timing and hit placements.
Human feel snare roll or Large JPG file Showing also varied low-pass and high pass filter settings for steps 2 - 8. NOTE This file is 487kb and is very long side to side, make sure your browser is set to NOT resize pictures
to fit the screen
or you will not be able to read the picture.
Equalizing drums
How to record and use your own drum kit with Beatcraft
Trimming Silence From Recorded or Sampled Sound For Use With Beatcraft.
Drum Roll Tempo - Ever notice that a beat sounds fine until your sequence goes into a roll? This is caused by a lot of things, one of them being that all drummers (yes all) speed up the song tempo by at least a little when doing rolls, it's a human thing, we can't help it. And I don't think we WANT to help it. Your
rolls within
Beatcraft might sound a little robotic because they are in perfect time, here's a tutorial on how to fix (or screw it up on purpose) that.
Combine this technique with the human feel tutorial and you should have some pretty human sounding riffs.
How to "Dial In" your drum kit - Just like we do live at a club or with a live kit in the studio, you need to dial the kit in before recording. This means, set the equalizers, effects and other tweaks before creating your songs. A very crucial part of a great resulting song.
Choke Hi Hat - Useful for choking cymbals as well. Simple 4/4 beat with closed hi hat and added open/choke hat every 4th beat.
Double Bass Hints 1 - Explaining some human touches and how to use them with Beatcraft.
Adding sounds instead of using pre made kits - Shows how to add sounds as tracks rather than selecting a premade drum kit.
Black Metal Double Bass and rolls - Example of how to create a human sounding "slayer" type beat. These beats take more human feel than others because real drummer REALLY fluctuate on this kind of stuff. Grab the corresponding mp3 and Beatcraft project file under the file downloads header of this
page.
50 to 200 tempo not enough for Beatcraft right? Wrong, If you want a beat created at 45 then simply make it 90 (45X2) and place the beats twice as far apart. 50 tempo slow - 90 tempo slower. Get project files here: 50
tempo | 90tempo
Do the opposite for a tempo faster than 200 (220/2=110), then place beats twice as close together.
Sounds For Beatcraft:
18 Piece Tama kit - I recorded each piece of this kit; Cut the samples to size and equalized out any terribly bad frequencies. You will be using an actual drum kit by adding this to Beatcraft.
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- Listen to "On The Edge" - Recorded with Beatcraft using this exact kit, Vocals and lyrics by Gord Sheffroth, music by Eric VanLandingham
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Download the kit
NOTE: This installation file is password protected. The kit used to be donationware, but for lack of the donation part, I now have to charge for it.
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Or get the new CD from Bottom Feeders, recorded with the above Tama drum kit live! HERE
Cowbell
Trunk Thumper 1
Trunk Thumper 2
Sub low Thumper
Tweaking your sounds:
Parametric VS Graphic Equalizers - The difference in usage and what they are meant for. Use this if you do not know what a parametric equalizers is for, or how to use one.
Studio and Recording recommendations:
A starting point for panning drum sets and drum machines for recording purposes.
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Project File Downloads:
Beatcraft Project - The first few riffs of the song "Swim" by "In Flames". Done at the request of a user to show how to add the short intro before the 4/4 timing starts.
Beatcraft Project - A "Rumba-Blues" type beat using all dry sounds included with Beatcraft. Meant to demonstrate how to accomplish this type of tempo/beat.
Beatcraft Project - Kick and snare sound for speed metal, this file was requested by a Beatcraft user. NOTE: Must have nyquistEQ plug-in installed. You can find it in the software>plug-ins section.
Beatcraft project - demonstrating the verse beat for Master Of Puppets by Metallica. Time is not perfect, it's just an example. Load the rock and blues kit and then open this project after downloading it. This was a request from a Beatcraft user.
Beatcraft Project - Demonstrating the intro beat to Metallica's "Orion". This was requested by a Beatcraft user.
Beatcraft Project - Demonstrating the beat for "Dakota" by Stereophonic's. This was requested by a Beatcraft user.
Beatcraft Project - Submitted by a user named Scott Foust. Scott created this template as one of his first Beatcraft projects and felt it might be of use for some beginner users to get used to using the program. This is a straight 4/4 rock beat with rolls and other variations. Thanks Scott!
Beatcraft Project - Punk rock song originally titled "Beatcraft Rulez"! Using all native beatcraft sounds. Thanks to Acoustica Forum member matliolec.
Black Metal Example Mp3
Black Metal Beatcraft Project File
The Ballad Of Bill Gates - Done Entirely in Beatcraft - Done with Windows XP Pro, project file probably won't work on other Windows platforms. But probably ok on Windows XP Home.
Windows:
How to use MSCONFIG to speed up your computer - Using msconfig to stop unneeded programs from running at boot up, this will give your recording applications more computer resource to work with.
How to take a screen shot using only your keyboard - Follow the linked tutorial.
Windows Vista as a recording PC? - My opinion as of this writing as to the capability of Vista as an audio recording studio pc.
Windows Vista - Missing some recording sources are we? They are there, just hidden for some reason, isn't this fun? Watch this tutorial to enable recording sources like stereo mix and cd player so you can record streaming radio and other things you did so easily iwith Windows XP.
Task Manager - How to end process on programs running in the background. Which will make your recording session go much smoother.
Windows Volume and Recording Properties - How to enable and choose the correct settings for recording incoming audio.
System Tray - Closing programs that are running in your system tray to free up resources for a smoother recording session.
Performance Tweaking - This page explains my personal settings for getting the best performance from a pc in a studio recording environment. It is NOT something I am telling you to do, but if you want to follow the advice given, feel free. I am not responsible for anything that might result from your efforts to follow this guide.
Direct X Report - If you need help with your Windows configuration, you may have been asked to send this text file to us. Here is a tutorial on how to generate it.
WinAudit - How to send us the most useful info using this great program. It gives a great overview of what is happening with your pc if you are having trouble. If you follow this procedure, send an explanation of what is happening along with the WinAudit file. Download WinAudit here.
Acoustica Mixcraft V3 and V4
How to add effects to sections of a track
How to create track markers for burning a cd
Create a drum loop - Using Beatcraft and then import into Mixcraft and manipulate it to your preference.
Acoustica Mixcraft V2:
How to record a 60 second commercial - Techniques and tips for recording radio commercials with Mixcraft - Result Mp3
How to create a DJ mix CD - Shows techniques for creating a DJ mix CD, like overlapping songs, fade ins and others things - Result Mp3
How to record a live band - Simple steps to take to get a decent live recording using Mixcraft
How to record a band in a studio environment - Multitrack, one instrument at a time recording tutorial - Result Mp3
If these files, recommendations and tutorials have helped you out, please consider donating a little to keep me motivated. Thanks!
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