This entry was posted on Friday, January 19th, 2007 at 4:16 PM and is filed under Apple, Hardware, Mac, Music, Recording, Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
If you know anything about me, you know that I love rap music, among other types of music, and have been doing rap parodies for a while now. While I have only recorded two songs, Green Green Pinto and Still Eatin’, I have made up parts to other popular rap songs over the years that I think are pretty funny, I just haven’t ever got around to finishing or recording the whole song.
Lately, I have been going through a lot of things in my personal life. I normally have issues getting my feelings out one-on-one with people in my life so I recently purchased some recording gear and hope to release an original “Cocoa Crusty” rap album by summer 2007. Below is a list of the hardware and software I will be using on this initial project.
I am doing my recording on my Apple MacBook. My laptop has a 2.00Ghz Intel Core Duo 2 processor, 2GB of RAM, and an aftermarket 160GB SATA hard drive. I am running OS X 10.4 (patiently awaiting OS X 10.5, a.k.a. Leopard, which should be released sometime this year).
For live instrument and microphone input I am using an M-Audio Firewire 410. This device has 2 inputs on the front for recording XLR or 1/4″ inputs with independent gain controls as well as two headphone jacks with independent volume controls. The device also provides phantom power for microphones that require it. There are a number of inputs and outputs on the back of the unit like MIDI, S/PDIF, optical, and more.
For triggering drum samples and creating instrument sounds for instruments I don’t actually own, I use an M-Audio Axiom 25 MIDI/USB keyboard. I haven’t actually done much playing with this device but my good friend Josh has played it and he really knows how to make this thing sing!
The microphone I purchased for this gig is an MXL 990 condenser mic. I haven’t used my personal mic on any projects but I used the exact same model on the Still Eatin’ track I recorded in late 2005. This mic sounds pretty good and should be more than enough for what I am going to be doing.
So far, I have been using Apple’s GarageBand software for recording my music. I can do multiple tracks at once and can do playback through the internal laptop speakers, headphone jack, or through the Firewire 410 (which Josh prefers for sound quality reasons). There are a lot of built-in instrument sounds and effects to play with so I think this software will at least get me going on my project.
For drums, I am using the M-Audio iDrum software based drum machine and sequencer. This software even allows you to attach it to GarageBand so you can feed the drums directly into a GarageBand channel without having to export a song and import it into GarageBand.
I haven’t really had much time to mess around with all of this gear and figure out how it all will work together but from what I have seen of it, I should be able to put something together that may sound halfway decent. I hope so, anyway… So, be on the lookout for some tracks to be released on this site in the near future as I hope to get in the swing of things soon and start laying down some tracks.
Until next time…
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8 Responses to “I Wanna Be a Rapper: Recording a Rap Album”
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January 20th, 2007 at 4:00 PM
I’ll be looking forward to the release of your album. I assume I’ll be getting one of the first copies, right?
I hope that Green Green Pinto and Still Eatin’ will also appear on this album. I’ve never gotten copies of those!
FromJanuary 20th, 2007 at 9:26 PM
Yeah, you’ll get one of the first copies. I may do a better recording of the two parodies and put them on the album. I haven’t decided yet.
I guess I could just release a two song EP of those so everyone can get their groove on!
Jeff
FromFebruary 19th, 2007 at 2:55 PM
Hey - you got me rolling on the floor with “eatin on ho hos” — One of your co-workers is a friend of mine and told me to listen….you are wild lol SADLY the song is tooo true!
FromFebruary 21st, 2007 at 8:18 AM
Yeah, James. The song is all to familiar for me. I used to eat like it was going out of style. Thankfully, although not the way I wanted, I have lost quite a bit of weight and the song doesn’t really apply to me any longer. It is still fun to do live and see people’s reactions. I’m sure most people miss half of what I am saying due to laughter.
Good times! Thanks for the comment!
Jeff
FromMarch 6th, 2007 at 1:21 PM
[...] posted back in January about my goal of releasing an original rap album or EP by the summer of 2007. I have had the [...]
FromSeptember 21st, 2007 at 12:26 PM
hi im a 10 year old girl trying to start a rapping carrer.i have over 1oo different songs please sign me i get and me more money
FromSeptember 21st, 2007 at 2:51 PM
Uh, I’m not a record label. I’m just trying to record an album for my own personal satisfaction…
Cocoa
FromOctober 7th, 2007 at 2:40 AM
Hey! Interesting insight into I Wanna Be a Rapper: Recording a Rap Album. I have often thought about this myself. I think listen to rap music is somewhat related. On Sunday I have the day off, so will look more into it.
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