Hi everybody.
First off I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Oli and I'm 20 years old. I'm not from an English speaking country, so bare with me. I quit school and my part time job a year ago to focus solely on music. Sadly I haven't been as succesful as I hoped. Mostly, I guess, because of my lack of discipline. This whole year I haven't made more than 4 crappy demo tracks. I've become too distracted with other things. Mostly video games.
You see, when this project of mine started I moved from my father to my mother. My father was very strict and I never had freedom to do what I wanted, like music and games. So when I moved to my mother I had a lot more freedom, and she also gave me a place to live without me having to pay for it (I know I'm very lucky, but trust me, when I make it big I will pay her everything back). Anyway now as I had freedom to do it, and no school or work, I started playing video games. A lot. I wasted most of this year on them. Occasionally I focused on the music, but I always got demotivated for something and went back hiding in virtual worlds. I'm finally sick of playing video games, and the spark for playing music has come back to me.
I'm going to be much more disciplined now, but I've also realized that improving my workspace is vital
This is what I've got right now that's not working:
A small desk.
A computer with FL Studio installed.
A USB audio interface with only one input (Line 6 GX http://line6.com/podstudiogx/ )
A midi keyboard (M-Audio KeyRig 49)
A few electric guitars
A drum machine (Zoom RhythmTrak RT-123)
A microphone (Shure SM58)
My goal is to be signed by a record label and play live giggs. And of course make money from the music in the end. But I'm just one person. I need to be able to practice whenever I want and make exactly the music I want, so right now a band wont work for me.
So far what I've been doing has been recording the music to the computer. The problem is 1. I can't play this music live, which I figure is quite important for playing live giggs. And 2. It's a lot of hassle every time I want to record. My audio interface has only one input so I always have to swap connections between instruments. Also I don't have enough space on my desk for all the equipment to permanently be there.
So I guess I have two questions, one short and one long
1. I can recreate all my music in a studio, but I cannot play it live at the moment since I am just one person. Is it necessary to be able to play my music live to get a record deal and make money from my music?
I assume I do have to be able to play it live, this is kind of what I'd like to as well. So that leaves me with the big question.
2. How can I become a one man band?
I need an answer for everything from what kind of recording machine I should use (PC, Mac... Are there any other, better alternatives? I'm clueless!), what audio interface to use, to what kind of desk set up I should have.
This is how I want it to be at home while practicing and making music:
I want everything to be set up and ready to go. If I want to start playing I can just flick a switch and start playing. I need some kind of device that can playback loops from all my instruments, so I can play live. And I also want to be able to just hit a big «RECORD» button if I want to record everything to my computer or whatever it may be. Besides ease of access the most important thing is of course audio quality.
Instruments I will use:
Guitar
Vocal
Drum Machine
Keyboard/Synth?
Bass
(Might add more in the future)
I do not expect you to set up my whole workspace (would be nice though!), but I just don't know where to start? Where can I learn stuff like this? I'm willing to spend all of the money I have left from my previous part time jobs ($7000) if necessary to set up a perfect work space for me. If anyone can point me in the right direction or give me any tips on how to set this up (I'm truly clueless), I would appreciate it so much.
Thank you.