The new audio player, coming soon.

I’ll be updating the site with a new beat player within the next month. It’s something I’ve been working on from some time and will finally bring Android and iOS compatibility to the site!

If you’ve been keeping up with recent trends, you’ll know that a lot of artists and producers are flocking to Soundcloud to listen to and share music. There’s already a Smoothbeats Soundcloud page, and I’ll be using the excellent Soundcloud player on the website.

For the techies amongst you, the new audio player uses a combination of Flash and HTML5 to ensure compatibility across a wide range of devices.

I’m hoping to roll out the new player within the next month. Stay tuned!

From time to time, I’ll be publishing artist profiles of Smoothbeats users. If you’d like to be featured on the blog, just let me know at alex@smoothbeatsonly.com.

Courtney O is an R&B-newcomer from Germany. His songs are known for emotional and sensual moments, but also heartache and the “ups and downs” in life.

He’s looking for feedback on his music! You can listen to his music and connect via his website, YouTube and Facebook pages.

During this time, I’m aware that some customers tried to take advantage of the current free beat offer but were unable to. Therefore, I’ve extended the current offer for another 24 hours. Thanks for your patience!

View offer details.

Beats that have not been available for leasing on the public facing website for a year.

Beats that have been previously removed from the site as part of clearance offers.

I’m doing this to make room on the website server for new beats.
However, don’t worry! If you log on the “Look Up My Orders” area of the website looking to download one of these beats, you’ll still see info on how to contact me to get the files you need – they just won’t be available for instant download. Please let me know if you have any questions about this.

What equipment do I need?

The absolute essentials are a computer, microphone, headphones and pop shield.

What type of microphone do I need?

To record vocals in the studio, most people opt to use a powered, condenser microphone. Typically, these microphones are mounted on a stand – usually with a shock mount. They look distinctly different from the sort of microphone used for stage performances.

Most microphone manufacturers have an extensive selection of condenser microphones to choose from at a reasonable price. Good starts would be the Rhode NT1 and SE Electronics SE2000, but you’ll need an audio interface for these. See below…

USB microphones.

USB microphones plug directly into the USB port of your computer, bypassing the need to use a dedicated audio interface. Most also have a dedicated input for your headphones, providing everything you need to record vocals.

USB microphones tend to be USB enabled versions of “proper” studio vocal microphones – a far cry from the cheap sort used for Skype and online gaming. I’d highly recommend a USB microphone if you’re just “starting out” recording to beats. A good example is the Audio Technica 2020USB – but most manufactures provide at least one model.

Where should I place the microphone?

The aim of a good recording is to capture a “dry”, full sound which will give you the most options to edit later.
A “dry” sound is a recording without any room echoes or other artifacts. Effects and ambience can (and should) be added by software to give you maximum flexibility at the mixing stage.

For a typical space, the best place to record is often the center of the room. If you record near walls, your voice will “bounce” or echo off the hard surface and this will be picked up by the microphone as unwanted ambience. Surprisingly, a typical household room is often ideal for recording vocals. Furniture such as chairs, sofas and carpets help absorb sound reflections.

If you want to improve your recordings further, try hanging a duvet behind the vocalist. This helps prevent sound reflections entering the most sensitive part of the mic and can be the single most effective way to cut down on unwanted ambience and echoes.

How far should I stand from the microphone?

30 centimeters is a good start. If you stand too near the mic, your voice will sound “boomy” and you’ll probably overload your audio input! If you stand too far away, you’ll start to pick up “reflections” from your room – echos of your voice bouncing off the walls and being picked up by the microphone.

Audio interfaces.

Normal microphones can’t be plugged into your computer! If you choose not to use a USB microphone, you’ll need an audio interface. These usually take the form of a box connected to your computer via USB or Firewire and usually have audio inputs for one or more microphones. M-Audio and MOTU are popular manufactures of audio interfaces. If you see your recording needs expanding beyond a single microphone, an audio interface is the way to go.

Headphones.

Headphones are used to monitor your instrumental backing track (and previously recorded vocals) whilst recording. Using your iPod headphones is not a great idea! The sound will “leak” out and be picked up by the microphone. I recommend using a pair of “Closed Back” headphones.

The primary advantage of the closed back design is that the sound is “enclosed” in your ear and doesn’t leak back into the microphone. Typically, the sound quality is superior. You’ll be able to turn the volume up and really get a “feel” for the performance.

Pop Shield.

Last but by no means least. A pop shield looks like a net suspended in front of a microphone. They help avoid excessive “popping” on plosive sounds such as ‘P’ and ‘B’ consonants by scattering the air which would otherwise hit the microphone full force. This “popping” sound is incredibly difficult to get rid of once recorded.

Most pop shields come as an attachment for the microphone stand. If you’re really stuck for cash, you can fashion a pop shield using old stockings and a coat hanger. Remember to wash the stockings first..

What computer do I need?

Contrary to what most “experts” and forums say, any modern PC or Mac will be up to the job of recording audio. Computing power has come a long way in recent years. An iPhone has many times the power my first music PC had! If you decide to use your computer for some audio recording, bear in mind the following tips:

1. Make sure you have plenty of room left on your hard drive. Audio data takes up a lot of space!
2. Close all other programs running on your computer (such as browsers, mail etc.) Leave your computer processor free for audio related tasks.

What software should I use?

That depends on your computer! If you have an Apple Mac, “Garageband” should already be installed on your machine. This program is ideal for recording vocals over instrumentals. If you don’t have Garageband, it can be purchased as part of the iLife software bundle from Apple.

If you’re using a PC (or Mac) there’s a growing selection of cheap and free software you can use to record your vocals. Here are some of the better ones:

Audacity is one of the original “free” programs and is still going strong. It’s a bit “techie” but well supported, and is available for Windows and Mac. It features pitch correction – so if the key of the instrumental is not ideal for you, it can be changed using Audacity.

Jokosher is another free offering. It’s described as a “simple yet powerful multi-track studio” by the makers and is worth a shot if you’re low on funds!

Myna is a slightly unusual offering as it actually runs in your computers browser. It features an array of audio editing tools and effects. Worthy of your time.

Magix music maker is a commercial offering and at the time of writing is on version 16! There’s a nominal fee to download the program, but it’s fully featured and includes a library of sounds and loops if you want to experiment with producing your own beats. Audio editing tools and effects are also included.

What are the “pro options” for audio software?

If you’ve got cash to spare there are a number of other programs available and most have special “cut-down” versions available for less money. These versions may be all you need to record over your instrumentals. Pro-Tools is used by most professional studios worldwide but comes at a premium cost and requires special hardware. Cubase and Sonar are the most popular programs for PC and come in special “cut-down” versions: SONAR Home Studio and Cubase Essential. Apple Logic is the logical choice for Mac owners.

That concludes part 1. In part 2, I’ll be covering preparation and recording techniques. Thanks for reading!

I don’t think there’s anybody left in the world who doesn’t know that music piracy is a huge problem. Some visitors to the site use audio “scraping” programs. These programs record the audio output of the browser into a file which can then be used to burn CD’s, distribute across the internet and so forth. I know that some visitors use these programs to “grab” instrumentals from the site – to take away and write with before returning later to purchase a license. That’s cool – I don’t have an issue with that at all.

However, some people choose to record over the tagged beats and then try and sell the resulting tracks. That’s illegal.

The tags are there to protect my customers who legitimately purchase a licence. Once a license is purchased, download versions of the instrumentals have the tags removed. The purpose of the tags is to protect the rights of legitimate customers. If you’ve paid a license fee, you deserve to have a version of the beat that the pirates don’t have access too. That’s only fair.

I hope this goes some way to explaining my reasoning! Let me know your thoughts.

The new 'view all' option is highlighted in red.

Just a quick site update. Due to popular request, I’ve added a facility to view all available beats on one page. You’ll see this option above the list of beat genres on most pages. At some point in the future I’ll be adding the option of searching for instrumentals by tempo (speed) and key. Until then, I hope this helps!

A soulful journey of old school powerful vocals with a ballad style and great inspirational themes. Touching the audience with heart felt music one track at a time. Good old fashion feel good music. Angel Face is a soulful ballad dedicated to the pursuit of a angelic love. An easy listening danceable track that focuses on happiness in a relationship and a satisfaction of true love based on a Biblical decription of entertaining angels unrecognized Heb.13:2. The material is an ode to the true love of a beautiful woman that leads the listeners to a God fearing reflection of being touched and motivated to fall in love with Christ.

Angel Face is featured with a couple different versions on the CD. The first version is a danceable heavy piano two step style. Also the remix track more of a jazz laid back after hours listening track with soulful lyrics of the character of the song in pursuit of an angelic love.

The Rest track is an encouraging mid tempo style also danceable for the listeners to escape pain by seeking refuge in God. The lyrics speak about trouble and the correct response to overcome depression by a belief in the faith of Christ to change everyone’s circumstances.

The 1 more chance track is a prayer dedication to God asking God to allow the journey of the listeners to reflect on the life changing purposes of Christ and a the fulfillment of power to live a life of healing, happiness and help to overcome life’s obstacles.

The AF performance track the vocal arrangement is dropped to the background for an extended track play for jazz and the chorus refrain. “Angel Face you are a walking miracle”.

The love u so much track also is an ode to the audience thanking them for support and also encouraging them to lift their hands and their hearts to pursue the God fearing love that is avaliable to everyone that will accept the powerful message that Christ not only changes lives but also provides miracles of love and power to experience a preview of heaven on earth.

Special thanks to Al Fraser for his extraordinary musical ability and creativity.

You can check out the album right here on CD Baby. Thanks to E for all the support, I appreciate it!

Visit the blog to listen to audio!

The track was created using a beat from the smoothbeatsonly website. If you want to know more, you can hit up the writers and vocalists below.

Justin Ellis on Twitter. (song writing)
Glen Perkins on Twitter. (vocals and song writing)

Whilst the website will always feature R&B first and foremost, I’m considering adding more gospel influences to the site.

There’s one problem though – I’m based in the U.K and over this side of the pond, gospel music has never been as popular as in the U.S. Therefore, I’m not familiar with the artists that you guys listen to and love.

So, I need your help! I’d like to find out which artists inspire you, and who’s influences you feel I should represent on the web site.

Simply reply to this e-mail, drop comments on the blog post, or let me know via Facebook or Twitter. I’d really appreciate it. Thank-you!