Music Man Charlie!

[Crogg]

What all do you use to produce your demented jams?

[Charlie]

Finally, someone gets curious about this. :P

I get most of my sounds from Acid Loops. I distort it all to make it sound original, though. Or when I'm feeling particularly energetic in the recording process, I'll even actually create my own drums or rhythms for the songs. Lately, though, I've resorted to going on isoHunt and illegally (or legally, but hell if I know for sure) downloading random loops. Still distorting/randomly editing them, of course. And that sums up the musical process, since I don't have a real band to work with for the time being.

In terms of mixing/singing, though, I take care of it all myself through Audacity, as tedious and frustrating as it may get. The rapping parts you hear in "I Killed Your Dog," "Human Error," and "When I Get Back" are all done by my friend Eric, AKA Jokuah. The singing is all my own, however, done on an ATR20 Audio-Technica vocal mic. Anything before December 2007, however, was done on a standard computer mic, which was probably recycled, and is part of another recycled cardboard box by now, for all I know. lol..

And finally, my "studio" is a typical, everyday bedroom. No soundproofing, no wires and instruments everywhere, none of that. That's probably where I'm actually current with all of this stuff.

Hope this answered your question, man

[Crogg]

Seems like you have a pretty decent system going, nothing extravagant but that just allows you to focus more on the music you make rather than gear/software. A lot of people get caught up in that these days.

Good ole Audacity, it's funny... whenever I'm not on a computer with audio editing software I always leap to Audacity first. It's a bit rough around the egdes, but it is free and stable. Love me some Audacity.

On the creation front, have you ever looked into Propellerheads Reason (http://www.propellerheads.se/)? I think you may enjoy it, it's got a bit of a learning curve but it is very versatile for when you don't have access to a ton of instruments or a band.

That ATR20 is a pretty solid little mic. I normally go with an SM58, but you really can't beat the value of an ATR20. Gotta love those last minute runs to Sam Ash to grab a wired mic that you somehow lost when moving gear and realize you only have $20 and some change. Thank the gods for the ATR20!