Freesound Forums

Hello all,
My 11 year old son is thinking he wants to give sound engineering a try.

What software and hardware would you recommend?
He wants to make sound effects, like a domestic fight with plates/glass breaking and stuff being tossed around. Wood floors creaking, snow storms, water flowing, etc... He also was thinking of composing music...

I already have a stable PC for him, but what else am I needing?
I know I need a DAW/Audio device and an XLR Microphone...

Thanks for any and all help!

My advice would depend on how much you're willing to spend on this newly found aspiration.

What's your budget like? Are you looking to spend as little as possible using free software? Or you want really decent kit?

Decent Kit!!
I don't really want to spend 10 grand, so if I can keep it between 1.5k and 2k, I would be just giddy!

Wish you'd been my dad BamBamm. When I was eleven I got home made toys made out of wood. I had to paint them myself!

Seriously though, very reasonable recordings can be made with free software and kit costing much less than that. I don't think that any eleven year old person is going to get better results, or learn faster for having kit that costs in the thousands. Expensive gear will never compensate for learning through experience, and trial and error. It's more likely to get in the way because it raises expectations of instant perfect results and that leads to disappointment and discouragement. There are some amazing sound recordings on this site made with a Zoom recorder(for instance) that were bought for low (or even sub) $(£)100 and post-processed on free software, like Audacity. To be honest, the more sophisticated the kit, the harder it is likely to be to get the best out of it.

I can't make specific recommendations because I lack the knowledge, but there are plenty of posts in this forum of other users experience and advice.

good luck
Wibby.

I agree with strangely_gnarled above.

I was planning to reply with some similar advice. What I wanted to say was that the only money you should be spending is on equipment. For someone so young who is just starting out, it is appropriate to only get the essentials just to test the water, and then in the future, if your son is really enthusiastic about this hobby, i'm sure he will start conducting his own research into better more mid-range equipment. Until then, we can safely advise to go for what we would deem the "starter pack" because at 11 years old, I'm sure whatever you present him, will bring him hours of experimental joy.

Once he starts progressing and showing a more dedicated interest, then you can consider investing substantial money into equipment and programs to suit the progression.

The workhorse: Zoom H4N recorder
I highly recommend this field recorder, it will provide the necessary high-quality recording means whilst also doubling up as an audio interface for the computer.

The Starter Software:
Audacity (free) - single track audio editor
Cockos Reaper (free/cheap) - multitrack audio editor - VST *virtual studio instrument* support

Personally, I can highly recommend Steinberg's Cubase as a DAW. Although I have used many programs over the years I have found Cubase to be the most versatile for a mixture of sound design and post production audio editing, it's targeted specifically as a music production workstation, but I can tell you that I have actually carried out audio post production for entire films using this software. It will handle video well and also timecode, so your son can get into audio design for moving image. The GUI is intuitive and easy to learn, and it includes a multitude of cool features along with great stock plug-ins.

There is a trial available on their site, here: https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/cubase/trial.html

They have 3 packages which are intended for different level of audio producer, the cheapest being Cubase Elements, which doesn't have the full feature range as the Pro package obviously. http://www.steinberg.net/en/shop/cubase.html

The other would be Avid Protools, a bit pricey, it's the industry standard for multitrack audio editing. It's used widely in the film industry along with Steinberg's Nuendo (for video game audio production)

There are so many great digital audio workstations it's really quite hard to recommend a certain one for a kid who's just starting to grasp onto the ropes of audio production and design. This is a great line-up you might be interested to run through:
MusicRadar - The 19 Best DAW Software Apps in the World Today

DAW Plug-ins: (FREE!)
http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2014/12/29/free-vst-plugins-2014/
https://splice.com/plugins/free_plugins - (create a free account to download)
musicradar.com/27-best-free-vst-plug-ins-in-the-world-today

If your son is serious about this in say a year's time, then you could probably start investing in better stuff, like a shotgun microphone or studio condensor, Avid ProTools for industry standard audio editing, Waves plug-ins, Native Instruments etc.

I hope i've been helpful enough, if you have any further questions that I didn't quite tend to, please go ahead, i'll be happy to help further.

Regards
Ninja Headphaze

Hi all.
Computers are a fantastic tool, some of the vsts and software synths are incredible but i do love knobs and faders. a great tool to link the two is somthing like a zoom r24. you can record in the field, then bring it back to the computer and use it as an audio interface and controller.

Listen to lots of styles of music

When I was 8, I asked for a Transformer for Christmas... I got 10 pieces of 2x4 cut into various lengths.

I don't need to build a complex sound booth for him, the replies here are great. Fairly inexpensive and he can give things a try.

Thank you all for the replies!

@BamBamm

Another great gift, is the "gift of knowledge".
There are fantastic places on the internet to lear from (Freesound, of course, being one of them). Your son can create an account here, post sounds, get feedback and post questions in the forums.

As he gets older, learning how copyright works and what is allowed and not allowed will also be valuable knowledge. - A lot of that is also here at Freesound.

If you want to be an encouraging and (slightly) demanding father, don't go splashing out lots of money. (It is clear from your answers that you won't.)
Instead, make your son work for the next gift. Make him show you what he has learnt so far from the previous gifts before you invest more money on something else.

The advice given previously is great. Allow me to add a bit more, including some practical aspects:
- handheld recorders are great. I have one of the most basic ones (a Zoom H1). - however, before running outside to record, learn this: "the slightest breeze will generate a lot of wind noise and make your recordings unusable.
My advice, before you spend moeny on windscreens, make sure you have exahusted sounds to record indoors (not just in the house, schools, gyms, train stations, shopping malls, coffee shops...)
- If your son intends to play any music onto the computer, he needs a midi keyboard/controler to connect to his DAW. Basic midi controllers can be bought for £100-200 and will be more than enough, especially if they include a few knobs/fadders also.
If you already have a music keyboard, it most likely has a midi connection and can double as a midi keyboard to play stuff inside the computer. A midi/usb interface is really cheap (check ebay).
Later on you can decide if a more spcialized piece of kit (e.g. dedicated to programming drums) is needed or justified.
- To start off with, the PC built in interface will probably be fine. (Download the Asio4all driver!). Later on you can decide if something else is needed, once you know whart you are really after (do you need more ins, more ins/outs or just better audio quality?)

Good luck and happy music/sound making/recording
Of course, if there are any sounds you/your son want to share, feel free to upload here.
(no full music, please. Just sounds. Freesound rules)

I didn't want to make the post all about me, but I am thinking it might have helped if I explained why my son is interested in this. My wife, oldest son, and I are in the process of developing a video game using Unreal Engine. We are doing well, we have a dedicated team of freelance artists and modelers. We don't have anyone willing to do the audio for the game yet, and my youngest son is wanting very badly to help out with this project and it was his idea to try making sound effects and voice overs.

So there we have it, my confession.

I appreciate all the answers.
I am finishing up building a dual Xeon server for this audio project.
It will be solely for the use of audio. I guess we will give Reaper or Fruity Loops a try.

We need to record an argument for the game between a wife and husband... this should be too hard. I will just make a comment about how sexy my wife's sister is... Then, sit back, let my son record. Easy enough...

I own a Casio CT-670. I think I will hook it up to the audio server...

Interesting confession. All is revealed now

Can you describe this "server" set up? I'm struggling to understand where a server comes in to audio production, apart from storage and FTP.

If you're serious about game audio production, then it will be worth it to invest in a dedicated software package. Steinberg Nuendo as I expressed before is the industry standard, and it works superbly I can affirm; only if you're serious.

Pro tools has a great subscription based payment model. You should look at it too.

Dual Xeon for audio? May be a bit of an overkill. Recent i5 or i7 processors are more than capable.

Just finished building my girlfriend's video workstation: i7 4790, gtx 970 and 16 GB of RAM. It's performance is great.

The dual Xeon server is literally something that was sitting around.
I bought 8 of them, plus four 48 Port Cisco Switches and two Supermicro file servers, for just $400.00! I just need more RAM, it only has 4Gb. I fired one up yesterday and installed Windows 7 on it. Needs a sound card as well, but hey, for something sitting in the closet, might as well use it.

If it was sitting around, then why not

That machine is going to be a beast. Overkill maybe

Just be careful that it doesn't develop consciousness.

Im new to this and i was wondering if these free sounds would work with any of the four programs i use to make music. Magix music maker2015.
Magix music studio 2
Acid 10.0
Cakewalk

Richierich510 wrote:
Im new to this and i was wondering if these free sounds would work with any of the four programs i use to make music. Magix music maker2015.
Magix music studio 2
Acid 10.0
Cakewalk

This deserves it's own thread by the way. This thread is irrelevant to your question.

The answer is yes

Probably not FLAC or OGG files though; I know Acid 10 supports .flac, not sure about the others. Luckily for you it's not that commonly used. WAV files are the most common on Freesound and every digital audio workstation or audio sequencer with import ability will handle wave files.

Hope this helps

Hi,

I would suggest that computer system you have, should be highly configured system because sometime some DAW get freeze in the middle of making track due to over CPU usage.

I'm sadly far past 11. My first music software was Dance Machine to build music pieces from music blocks pre-recorded by professional musicians, later I changed it for Acid Sonic Foundry, and I needed some synths installed on computer to create loopable music sequences and phrases of different lengths, wich I put together in Acid SF into anything I wanted from music pieces to radio plays, Propellerhead Rebirth, FL Studio, Reactor, prooved to be my personal favourites among computer synthesizers, also Cool Edit Pro Sound editor was very helpful to process sounds with different effects, and Acid SF multytrack mixing software was the best program for me to mix sounds into anything I wanted. Beware, the process absorbs you so much that you really stockpile food around you.