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#236749 by MikeTalbot
Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:01 pm
JimmyD

It's situational actually. Right now I need some product to show that I have something going on. I've put a vid on the profile.

I hope to attract some young, motivated players to take it on the road. (sadly, not with me).

For that I need somethinng - anything - but I need it quick.

Second stage of course is a studio

Talbot
#236750 by MikeTalbot
Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:34 pm
Dane

I googled your suggestion and found I actually own such a beast, a Tascam 4 track pocket studio.

I found it pretty perplexing - used to be you stuck a tape in a recorded! Might be time to revisit the thing. Records to a memory card.

Good suggestion brother - this will defeat my one input M-Audio external sound card. I guess I'd go straight into the computer?

thanks
Talbot
#236760 by 90 dB
Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:37 am
Home recording made easy?

Download Audacity (Free Multitrack DAW)

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/


Pick up a decent, but inexpensive USB mic:


http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AT2020USBP


Set the mic as your input, hit “Record”.

You can spend a lot more money and time, but your recordings will probably not be that much better than with this simple setup.
#236761 by GuitarMikeB
Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:21 pm
Audacity will work fine for simple demo/song sketching, but is very limited when it comes to audio editing.

Most USB microphones have very inexpensive A-D converters and the sound can suffer accordingly. There are a few USB mics that are ok, the AT202, Blue Yeti, but these are more expenisve than the garden variety of USB mic you see for less than $100.
The real disadvantage of a USB mic is you are limited to using one mic at a time for recording (there are ways around it, but most computers only allow use of one USB audio device at a time).
Last edited by GuitarMikeB on Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#236762 by 90 dB
Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:44 pm
"For that I need somethinng - anything - but I need it quick."



You're right, of course. He should buy Sonar or Pro Tools, take about five years learning them, then invest in some good LDC's, a WAVES bundle, and WaveLab, Ozone and some esoteric sample libraries.

I bow to your obvious expertise in recording. :lol:
#236765 by t-Roy and The Smoking Section
Thu Oct 02, 2014 2:58 pm
I like Acid! :wink:

It's the simplest of the DAWs I've seen. Never read the instructions but figured it out the first time I tried. Acid loops just fall into tempo, and it comes with lots of editing capability.

Used to do multi-track recording with Teac and Yamaha machines but it would sometimes take days for me to record with drum machines. With Acid, you can drag a beat out as long as you need it to be in about 3 seconds, then go back later and change the drums to whatever they need to be. Now I can make a demo with drums, bass, couple of guitars, keys, and all the vocals, finishing in about 3 or 4 hours

When writing a song, I don't want to get bogged down with the recording process. So I wanted something easy, since I'm going to take it into a real studio when I'm done. By doing all the pre-production on Acid at home, I saved between 30-40 hours in a studio, not to mention being able to show the idea to musicians that are playing on it.



.
#236771 by GuitarMikeB
Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:58 pm
ProTools is a complete waste of money unless you want to be able to import/export full projects with a studio or other recordist who uses it. As I said, Audacity will work find for simple demos.
For a full DAW, I recommend Reaper. Free to download, $60 to register. Extensive help available through the 400+ page manual and on online forums. Has all the features of much-more expensive DAWs, is very intuitive in its basic operation (standard interface is much like an analog board).
#236773 by Badstrat
Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:39 pm
I tried Reaper and couldn't wait to get it off my computer, yet some musicians like it.

Perhaps it was because Sonar 3 was one of the first real DAW programs I used. Now I use both Sonar 11 (On my XP DAW) and Sonar 12 on my Win 7 DAW. Sonar has everything but is not a cheap program. If my download was faster I could have bought Sonar 13 at a gargantuan discount. Sonar 13 has many more great features. I'm Sonar all the way. Some of the guys in town use Nuendo and their stuff is top drawer. Some use Pro Tools. Yet Sonar doesn't take a back seat to any of them.

More or less it is what you wish to spend. There are even some free recording programs that will do quite well. You just have to look for them and download them. Try a few to see what is acceptable. If you simply wish to lay down some tracks, most programs will work for you. If you want professional sounding tracks, then you will have to spend professional money. I use Maya 44 sound cards in two machines (Quad) , and Juli@ cards in two other machines. (Duo)

I have made good sounding recordings on old Sound Blaster Live 16 bit PCI cards. Generally you can get one from a computer shop for about $5.00. Although only 16 bit, that is still CD quality and the noise floor wasn't nearly as bad as the sound cards that are on the mother board. Generally speaking, the Sound Blaster Live cards that I have tested with Sonar have had about a 56 db noise floor. Quite Acceptable.
#236780 by MikeTalbot
Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:50 pm
I started with Audacity but every time I'd accidentally play something decent it would lock up. 8) It was just a bit too shaky. I did snag a wonderful recording of my 4 year old granddaughter singing twinkle little star - accompanied by Paw Paw on Tele. (no solos or it would have locked!)

Have Reaper now. Still working through the book. It's an improvement but I don't love it yet.

Talbot
#236851 by gtZip
Mon Oct 06, 2014 4:33 pm
90 dB wrote:"For that I need somethinng - anything - but I need it quick."



You're right, of course. He should buy Sonar or Pro Tools, take about five years learning them, then invest in some good LDC's, a WAVES bundle, and WaveLab, Ozone and some esoteric sample libraries.

I bow to your obvious expertise in recording. :lol:


Nope, just get the free version of Studio One.
Easy to use.
#237006 by RhythmMan-2
Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:55 pm
All my recordings are done on computer.
#249498 by schmedidiah
Wed Nov 04, 2015 1:12 pm
What's new? This topic should be stickied. And political threads should be banned! :twisted: :lol:
#249499 by GuitarMikeB
Wed Nov 04, 2015 1:26 pm
Not much new in the way of homerecording.

1) Find a DAW that you like - GUI, workflow. Learn it, use it.
2) Do some acoustic treatment to your tracking and mixing room(s) - bass traps, not "acoustic foam".
3) Use an audio interface to do your A/D D/A conversion - rather than a USB mixer or USB mic. More options for both tracking (24 bit) and monitoring.

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