Helpful tools
Across the years we've come across several helpful software tools with various functions. We'll try to list all resources here as we stumble upon them. Drop us a line if you feel that a particular program has been of any benefit to you or not. All programs work on a Windows PC, but most are available for other operating systems and Mac as well. Personally, we can't afford a decent Mac, although it would be our preferred choice for audio recording for obvious reasons.
If you have a few bucks to spare, we have some recommendations for you at BitH Prod's Amazon Store. You can find great books, CDs that have inspired us and quite a lot of other useful things there, like MP3 recorders or USB sound cards or even turntables (we still love vinyl!).
| Program | What it does | Price |
| Audacity | Audio recorder and editor. This is what I use on my laptop to record ideas as they pop into my head. I'd never use it to record anything "serious," though. | Free |
| Adobe Audition | The user friendly, simple and GREAT program Cool Edit Pro by Syntrillium was eaten by the big corp money grabbers of Adobe. No offence (well, a little...). I still use Cool Edit Pro 2, but Audition is probably your only (legal) choice these days and a very good program. I recommend buying a tutorial book as well, though. | $348 |
| Music Maker 14 | It doesn't get much easier than this! Build your song from loops, mix it down and you're done! Not much knowledge of music needed, only a sense of what works in a song. | $45 |
| Band in a box | Ok, so it gets even easier... Just put your chords in your preferred order, choose a style and instruments and BAM! There's your song. This program has a million other functions as well. Making demos just got even simpler! Highly recommended for amateur songwriters! If you've got money burning in your pocket, you could splash for the DeLuxe Edition containing everything. Yes, everything. | $105 |
| MixMeister BPM Analyzer | Finds the
beats per minute
of an mp3 song. Small download (0.5 MB). Semi-accurate.
|
Free |
| BPM Pro Scan | More functions than the prog above, and slightly more accurate. Also a bigger download (4 MB). Made by Softjock (which sounds totally gay, but it's an ok program). It only managed to analyze 50% of my songs, though. | Free |
* Disclaimer: We take absolutely no responsibility for the functionality of these software programs and offer no support on them.