reyshizz

Below is a list of nine need-to-have desktop apps. I use these apps and benefit from them on a (almost) daily basis. I’m sharing it so that you may also benefit. Enjoy.

1. Pro Tools – Anyone who’s serious about recording music has at least heard about Pro Tools. This software is used by a majority of the industry engineers to record, mix, and master their tracks. In order to use protools you’ll need the hardware to go along with it, which can get pricey, but it well worth the investment.
2. FL Studio – If you rap or sing you’ll need an instrumental to complement your vocals. If you can’t play an instrument or don’t have access to a band, FL Studios is great software to compose music that’s inexpensive and easy to learn.
3. Audacity – Audacity is a free recording and editing tool. Many people who are only interested in basic functionality uses this tool to get what they need done. It’s not as robust as Pro Tools but the core functionality is there and it’s pretty good too.
4. WinFF Audio/Video Converter – There’s a bunch of programs available to convert between audio/video formats. The one that I use is WinFF. It’s a free program that’s light weight and very easy to use.
5. Free Music Zilla – Last I checked it’s against Youtube, MySpace, Pandora etc… policy to download videos/music posted on those sites to your computer… but people (like me) do it anyway. I use Free Music Zilla to download the videos of industry instrumentals then use WinFF to extract the audio. This is very useful if you’re working on a mixtape and need industry beats.
6. Windows Movie Maker (Video Editing) – If you video record your performances you’ll need video editing software to add titles, include logos, or your web address. Windows Movie Maker is a very simple software to use to do all those things. If you plan on doing your own editing without wanting to know much about production, this is definitely for you.
7. Photoshop – You can use Photoshop to edit all your images for album art, flyers, websites, t-shirts etc. It doesn’t take too long to get the basics down and once you do you’ll love it. And because it’s so popular there’s a bunch of tutorials online to teach you all you need you know. It’s pretty expensive but there’s a basic version you can use online for free at Photoshop.com
8. Aim – Aim or any other instant messenger service is good to have to Keep the communication lines open between you and your fans (add reyshizz to your buddy list ).
9. Tweetdeck – Tweekdeck is a great tool to manage all your friends/fans/followers across Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and more. It shows all those status updates in one view so that you can reply or send updates to all your fans at once.

The above are the 9 tools that I recommend using for all the indie artist out there… Is there anything I’m missing??