Where to go or what to do?

Oh where to begin... this topic has been here for a while with no posts. So, I wonder - is there any deep concern about getting your music edited or is it too much of a hassle to get it done?

I must say, I found a need for this in my local community in 2002. I have been a DJ since age 12 and started dancing shortly after - what a better way to glue my worlds together! I speak of the days where we had to bring cassette tapes to the theater - in BOXES. Jeesh, rewind, pause, cut, play, record - eeeewwww. And every studio and company did it that way back then.

So, I got crafty with my mixing skills and started to work digitally and opened my first of 2 businesses "Organized Noise, Inc" - and audio editing service catering specifically to the needs of dancers. Most artists were (and still are) concerned with 2 things: cutting a song down to fit competition time limits, or layering/blending multiple songs (primarily for hip hop or production numbers).

The business is still running, however, teachers are starting to get a little crafty with their Macs and PCs. My personal opinion is that if you have general knowlege of musical phrasing, it is easy to perform basic cuts. The difficult stuff comes in when there are serious key and tempo changes (most lyrical songs) and matching tempos for custom mixes. My individual specialty is custom mixes for Hip Hop routines.

In the Chicagoland area, I service many of the studios and high schools. What's it like on the coasts? I'm curious.

But if you all really need to know "How do I do it myself?"... Time, patience, practice and most importantly... the right computer programs. It's not as easy as 'if you can count to 8, you can cut music' - I scoff at that statement. The basic cuts are pretty simple... let's talk about some software options...

PC users: Get out and pick up SoundForge (Originally by Sonic Foundry, bought out by Sony) Probably available at your nearest Guitar Center or even Best Buy. If all you want to do is "cut" music, dont' spend the dough on the Pro version - pick up the Studio version for about 100 bucks. From there, it's trial and error...

Mac: Hmmm, I'm not too savvy with Macs - I'll do some research for ya. Gonna have to go through a stack of Electronic Musician magazines in my closet. Will return on this.

Custom Mixing (with layers, tempo and key changes, unlimited tracks): PC - go with Acid Pro. Again by Sony (formerly Sonic Foundry). This is where it gets really really fun! If you are not entirely comfortable with matching tempos or keys/pitch... this is NOT for you. It is a time consuming process to learn... though it's my personal specialty... I'm still perfecting the artform. Acid allows you to layer multiple songs to be played back at various BPMs (if you don't know what this is.......... why I oughtta), at many different places in the final mix. So you want the last 16 couts of one track to match the first 16 of another... EASY.

My goodnes... I'm going on far too long. I should write a book about it... "music editing for dummies" (not than any of you are, but you've all seen those books).

Perhaps I should post a link to some of my work. Then you'll get an idea of what I mean on the spectrum of things from basic to custom. Would you like? Hit me and I can direct you to a link - or post it here later. In the meantime, peep my DJ website and snag a copy of my older copy of Mashups. A mix I put together for dance teachers to use in class. Free to download: http://djanthonyfoster.com/mixes.html

Okay, I've ranted too long. I wanna hear what you have to say. Where do YOU go? What do YOU use? Can I help you? A few more tutorials, perhaps?

Happy hunting...