HOW DO I RECORD MY SONGS?

Jack of all trades
If you are just starting out rapping I suggest going to a professional studio instead of buying recording equipment. Try not to be the jack of all trades and master of none of them. That means do not try to rap, learn how to record, be your own manager, promoter, run your own label, etc. You must find what you do best and delegate everything else to other people. You don't see Donald Trump driving around Harlem in a Cadillac burning up all his gas and time collecting rent money from his tenants do you? He hires people for that while he concentrates on new business ventures. When you do book studio time, make sure that you memorized your lyrics. Practice your 16 bars thoroughly while you are at home! Do not waste your time trying to "get it right" while spending $30 dollars an hour. This will not only frustrate you but it will infuriate you as well because of the pressure. If you have the dough then I highly recommend going to the studio instead of doing it yourself. It took me years to get good at recording and I'm still not the best. As a matter of fact, I hate recording. It truly is the one thing I hate about being involved with music because of the enormous amount of time I wasted waiting for rappers to get their versus right and lay it down

But I don't have money to record
If you insist on recording at home and spending all that money and time then I recommend buying Pro Tools. I'm sure you hear Pro Tools mentioned a million times by rappers like Jadakiss and people involved with music but probably not quite sure what it is. Pro Tools is recording software for your computer. It is not for making beats at all! You must have another program for making beats like Reasons 4 or Frooty Loops. Pro Tools is an industry standard meaning that 9 out of 10 times when you are in need of mixing and mastering your music or dealing with major studios they will also use the same software and everything will be compatible. It's very important to be on the same page as everyone else to constantly progress.If you have a group make sure you try your best to all use the same equipment. I refuse to waste time by trying to figure out how to use whatever you have that is different from what I 'm currently using. I used to have friends call me and ask me to how use something I'm not familiar with and get mad because I can't help them.Thats like asking me how to play John Madden on Playstation 3 when I have it on Xbox 360. The buttons are different on the controllers, different programmers probably made each game, different features on both systems, difference codes, etc.When you buy Pro Tools also make sure that you buy a book to teach you how to use it too! Do not spend months clicking buttons and tinkering around with the program trying to learn on your own. What might take you 3 months to learn you could learn in 20 minutes reading a book. Time is money. Lastly, Pro Tools is compatible with both a Mac and Windows. The CD that comes with it is a hybrid CD that works for both. I warned you not to record yourself but if you must I wish you good luck.

Should I charge people?
You should definitely charge people to record! I repeat, you should definitely charge to record! Pro Tools, microphones. headphones, computers and other studio equipment ain't free. Charging for studio time will separate the real from the fake. The people who aren't about nothing will disappear in to a cloud of smoke if you ask for cash.They might even look at you like you shot they mamma or something. If someone is serious about music then they will definitely cough up something. I don't care if you charge $5 an hour. You can at least pocket that cash and put it in your gas tank. Who wants to work 8 hours at their lame ass job and then come home to record an aggravating 4 hour session for free with some joker who could care less about your dreams of making it big.


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