Gerie wrote:
Can anyone recommend a good, inexpensive, software to enhence my 13 year old Aspie sons love for music? Or inexpensive entry level sound equipment? He has a Casio keyboard, takes paino lessons and plays trumpet in the high school marching band. He hears and "feels" the music on a level I don't understand. Thanks! Jordan's mom
What kind of software, specifically? Something that trains you musically, or something to record what he writes? Also, what kind of sound equipment? Does he want to compose and record his own music, or does he want more toys in general? The Casio keyboard is a good start, especially if it has some kind of line-out plug for recording, extra bonus points for MIDI ports.
I'm going to assume that he's at least somewhat interested in learning how to record himself. It's incredibly helpful for a burgeoning musician to record one's performances and go back over them to fine-tune your performance. Plus, learning how to record can be an invaluable outlet for learning how to work with other musicians, composition, etc.; I've made a lot of friends recording for them. I'm a audio engineer/ recording technician, and some of the staples of my equipment include:
1. Audacity: It's free, open-source recording software. You can pretty much plug n' play a microphone into it and record directly, or use a sound board/interface for more advanced control over tracks.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ More "professional" software (I hate paying for things but have free copies of Ableton, SoundForge, and Reason) can be researched online, they're all different and it depends on your needs and interests.
2. Sound board/Mixer: I paid about $80 new for a Behringer Xenyx 1202 back in high school, a quality piece of equipment that's decent for home recording. It's got four mic inputs and four line-in inputs, plus some basic EQ and fader controls. I recorded my band's EP using this, its amazing for the price. Plug in the mics, mess with the levels, and then line-out the mixer to the computer which uses the recording software to lay down the tracks.
3. Microphones: Start out small with just one or two. USB condenser mics are excellent for someone who just wants to get the music recorded, and they usually cost less than $100. Mics take a little bit of research as far as what they're recording and what your budget is, and since I'm not quite sure what you're asking, I'll save all that info for when it's requested.
4. Other stuff: Look into MIDI controllers (like a keyboard, but it interfaces with the computer, you basically chose a sound to manipulate then use the keyboard to compose the track.), audio interfaces, portable recorders (fancy box with microphones, basically a digital tape recorder), synth keyboards (more fun than a regular Casio), drum machines, etc.
5. Good site to work on ear training and musical theory:
http://www.musictheory.net. I spend a lot of time here fine-tuning my ear training and learning theory, which I've never been too strong in. I can barely read sheet music. If your son is anything like me, he plays mostly by ear. Learning more than basic band-class/orchestra theory is so invaluable when he gets older and performs with other musicians.
Equipment, instruments and software, as well as more articles and resources on all the topics I've mentioned, are available at
http://www.musiciansfriend.com and at
http://www.interstatemusic.com. Feel free to message me any time.
30 Jul 2012, 11:44 am
When I was around your kid's age, I started begging my parents for a violin. I don't know why I picked violin, but I did. I was always messing with toy instruments, banging my "drums" (pots and pans), stealing their tapes out of the car (my favorite band when I was five was The Beach Boys, followed closely by Black Sabbath), etc. Usually kids will start to show an interest in music by asking for instruments, or for playing with musical toys, or listening to music on their own, or singing their own songs.
