[Solar-general] 609 digs para un artículo que menciona a Musix

[Marcos Guglielmetti]

Más allá de eso, el artículo parece muy piola. Felicitaciones a todos
los que apoyan, usan y desarrollan Musix y todo el software libre
relacionado, saute


http://hehe2.net/linuxhowto/free-professional-music-production-a-linux-introduction/

5Oct2008 Filed under: Howto, apps Author: Ian McLean



People who either dabble or work in computing enough are probably used
to the idea that some operating systems are better than others as
creative platforms; Mac OSX generally seems to be the preferred place
for video editing, thanks to the likes of Final Cut Pro. They've also
got the fantastic GarageBand program for audio production as part of
their iLife suite, and with Windows, ProTools is often considered
industry standard when it comes to audio production. But these
popular, household names of programs come with a price; often a pretty
hefty one, actually. If you're thinking of getting SONAR 8 Studio for
your audio needs, be prepared to shell out $369 for it. Today, we're
going to explore how with Linux we can make music, and from a software
standpoint, it's going to cost us nothing.

Now, when I'm not designing websites with Kompozer or writing articles
like this on OpenOffice.org's word processor, I love playing and
listening to music; more specifically, I love heavy metal. I'm an avid
fan of Death, Cynic, Opeth, Nevermore and Megadeth to name but a few,
and I even played in a death metal band a few years ago. I suppose a
few of you are rolling your eyes already, but bear with me, this is
going somewhere.

Metal music may not be exactly everyone's cup of tea but if there's
anything we could all agree on, it's an extremely intense, technically
complex and physically demanding style of music — A perfect guinea pig
for pushing an audio production suite to its limits.

An obvious place to start is looking at the numerous Linux distros out
there that are specially tailored to multimedia production. Jacklab
Audio Distribution, Ubuntu Studio and Musix GNU+Linux are all great
examples; once you have them set up, you've already got everything you
need to get to recording, once you have all of your required
equipment. While all of these distributions have their own
arrangements and unique quirks, they've got a few common threads in
the software they use.
Drumming Without a Drumkit

With most music it's preferable to record real live instruments with
skilled musicians behind them, but that's not always a viable option —
be it for financial or practical reasons. I've always been a bassist
primarily and guitarist when needed, but when it comes to drumming
I've no equipment and really, no clue either. All I know is how I want
my drums to sound.

Enter Hydrogen, the free, open source advanced drum machine built for
Linux. It comes bundled with a good variety of pre-installed drumkit
sample sets, all modifiable and expandable. After you've chosen a drum
set to use, you've got a pattern editor. Drum patterns can be as fast
or long as you desire; from there, the program's song editor can be
used to string multiple patterns together to create a complete drum
track for use in a song, which can then be exported to WAV for any
other program to use.

Each individual drum can be configured with volume and balance, and
have four different effects applied as well. The program comes with a
decent set of effects from compression to reverb, all very much
required to get your drums sounding just the way you want it. Finally,
I can add that Hydrogen has abilities to 'humanize' the drum tracks so
they sound a little more random and less machine-like.

With this setup, I was able to produce recorded drums that were
blistering fast and decently complex, crisp and clear. Perfect for use
in my song.
Recording and Mixing

ProTools is the most commonly heard-of program for controlling
recording and mixing, and the Macintosh's GarageBand has received it's
fair share of attention too; but they're not the only ones. We've
already got Ardour, a complete audio workstation, capable of
recording, mixing and editing.

The drums are the backbone of my song, and provide the framework that
everything else builds on. So, it's a simple matter to import my drum
track that I produced in Hydrogen. Then, I can get to producing the
rest of the song.

Sealing off one of the rooms in my house and then padding the walls to
reduce echo, (the last time I recorded a demo, we actually used old
mattresses – talk about quick and dirty) I hook a microphone up and
set it down just in front of my Peavey guitar amp, plug in my BC Rich
and from there I can record my guitar tracks through Ardour. Once
that's done, I mic up my bass amp and record my bass tracks with my
ESP bass. Finally, all that's left is my vocal track to record and
then my fully recorded song is sitting there in Ardour.

Ardour can be used to mix the tracks together and fine tune every
aspect of each sound, so with a little messing about, it's a fairly
simple matter to add some strange and fancy effects where you like,
and the end product is a 100% finished song. Sure, the vocals are
probably going to sound like a screeching parrot, but don't blame the
software for that. Blame my voice!

If you're after some testimonials to the power of this software, you
can see for yourself by checking out the Ardour Forum's "Made With
Ardour" section.
Getting It Out There

Back in the old days for aspiring young artists, the only way to
really get your name out there was by word of mouth, playing your
heart out on stage whenever you got the chance and generally working
full-time to get yourself noticed by a record label who'd redistribute
your music and provide resources for recording high quality audio for
them to put out. Now these days, with software like Ardour making the
rounds, the power to create high quality audio is already in our hands
– and the internet can be our tool to get our music out there for
everyone to enjoy, and potentially even kickstart a career in music.

For example, US deathcore act Job For A Cowboy got themselves signed
to Metal Blade Records last year, and I actually saw them when their
world tour came down to Adelaide, Australia. But these guys started
out from producing their debut EP, Doom, by themselves, and their only
promotion was through Myspace, a method that anyone could follow for
free.

Taking the concept of internet distribution further, the legendary
industrial band Nine Inch Nails dropped their label completely now and
self-release all of their material through their website. In addition
to that, their new albums can be downloaded entirely for free and the
band even provides individual tracks from their albums to be remixed
by their fans at will. The band is taking steps towards making their
living not primarily from record sales and royalties, but instead from
touring and merchandising. The music is just reduced to what it should
be; the essence, the glue holding everything together.
Revolution Calling

These are but two small examples of a much larger change that's
seeping through the music industry. The power of the internet and the
ability to share information freely is giving more and more power to
the individual user, and with it we're starting to witness a kind of
renaissance in the way we distribute and produce music. Record labels
are increasingly finding it hard to keep a foothold in the industry
and the power to create trickles more and more into our fingertips.
It's a gradual shift, but it's visible if you know where to look for
it, and it's just the tip of the iceberg.

With what we've got available now, for nothing, the sky really is the
limit. The only thing that can stop you now is your own imagination.
That's a line we've all heard plenty of times before, but for once,
perhaps we can say with confidence, that it's really true.
-- 
Marcos Guglielmetti
* Responsable de lanzamiento de Musix GNU+Linux, 100% Software Libre
* CD Download: (http://www.musix.org.ar)
* Videos, programas y otras cosas en: ftp://musix.ourproject.org/pub/musix/
* Reporte de errores a:
https://www.musix.org.ar/wiki/index.php?title=Problemas-Bugs
*IRC: #musix channel on freenode