General Music Chat

Here's the correct address for Audacity. Be sure to download the older version. Not the beta version!!!

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Geez, there sure are a lot of different options.
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Thanks a lot for the input, but I still think I'm leaning towards Sony's Acid Music Studio 5.

It does Cd burning, tempo matching, unlimited tracks, pan fades, loops, multiple file formats, EQ, Reverb, Delay, etc. . . .
And it's a big-name company, with support, if need be.
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I've been holding off on anything for a bit, because I've been working on about 10 new songs.
I don't want to get distracted by all the cool things I can do with a recording.
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I want to develope some songs that sound good all by themselves, when played acoustically, with no effects.

I want to improve the actual music itself.
Then I can do electronic tweaking afterwards.

I don't know if anyone's said this, because I didn't read everyone's responses...

But I just went to radioshack and dropped $40 on a mic, and a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter, and pirated a good version of Cakewalk Pro v9.4 or something. I just hang the mic in front of my bass amp and it records MUCH cleaner than connecting the amp directly to my motherboard, which is what I had done originally.

I eat children.

There are a few free programs that can be used to record Inline
Audacity...Wavepad.....also Some that can be used on a free trial basis
such as Acoustica...If you would like the links to these Programs you can Email me at this address

Ralphsvirgilio@myway.com Ill send you the links to these Programs

They seem to work well for me...Audacity is free program with tracking

Rock On

Ralph

oh yeah, i bought Sony Acid and its amazing for the price, only problem i have is my bass distorts the hell out of the sound card, is there any way to get around this? do they make a sound card that can handle the bass?

What's happening is that you are overdriving your sound card. You may want to read my earlier post on this topic which describes how I prevent that. As evidenced by the audio files on my Bandmix page, which were all recorded through my sound card, it works well after you get the right input level. If I can help with any specific inquiry, please feel free to email me (address on Bandmix page). Rock out.

Steve Flacy

Wow. My experience with trying to input a live bass sound to a soundcard is, uhm, don't. There are just too many variables not just the frequencies involved, but the "shape" of a good bass sound to try and get right through a mic. I've had better luck using internal computer instruments for that stuff. There is simply more control and less frustration with overdrive.

Irminsul, you've got a great sound, by the way! I love this topic because all I've used is my portable digital voice recorder (lectures, etc.) and plugged it into the pc, downloaded an mp3 converter and that's it. But all this other stuff above is great to know for future reference, because I have no clue what else to do.

Jude thank you much for that. I was lucky enuogh to have good sound techs around me so I should pass your compliments on to them! (Lord knows I don't know how to best handle the high end audio stuff).

On another subject: I really liked the sound of your voice with the few samples yuo uploaded on your page, and wanted to ask you if you do long distance collaborations. If so, please see my page on BandMix for my email. Thanks again!

I'm the guy who originally started this post.
Hi, all.
Thanks for all the great advice, everyone.
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After a session with a vocalist, yesterday, I realized I needed to get her some good quality, full-length sound files, and real soon.
I had to have the software, and right away.
I bought Sony Acid Music Maker last night. $69, from Circuit City.
Every reference to it was good.
It looks like it is exactly what I need to record my songs.
Most recordings will be one track.
Those for copyright will be 2 tracks (Rhythm guitar & Bass.)
For complete songs, I'll add drums, and perhaps a simple lead, or vocals.
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It was important fot me to output in the file-format I choose - most notably: mp3.
Some of the other programs did not do this, and required a secondary program for conversion.
I also see that I'm allowed only 20 Free mp3 encodes. After recording 20, I have to 'register,' in order to output more mp3.
I believe there is a 'monetary exchange' involved . . .
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In regards to distortion. Most distortion is caused by the input signal being too strong.
Digital distortion is not the same as audio distortion - it's worse.
With audio, it's ok to go into the 'red zone' ocassionaly.
With digital, you NEVER want to go into the red zone: turn down your input volume.
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Thanks, again everyone.
Ps: Now I'll be able to post "Molasses Blues in it's entirety, and with both the guitar and Bass together.

Magix Music maker 11 can split vocals into 5 part harmonies...lets you go up to 96000 and 24 bit rate. Which is a lot like acid pro software for music studio's price. Anyways it has a lot of plug-ins around DXi. I think I saw it online for 40 bux. Has an awesome record on the fly editing. For you ppl who have problems w/ clipping use a mixer w/ pre-amp outs for your music leveling. Also stay in the -3 to -6 range when recording and use some of the compression plug-ins and set a limiter of how high you want to go. Keep the ratio 3-1 and dont overcompress b/c it gets sloppy.

well I use protools m-powered on my computer with the fasttrack m-audio input for guitar. Costs a few hundred dollars. For someone on a budget get the fasttrack m-audio usb input--look on ebay and then download the freeware recorder Kristal on Kristal.com---its just like a recording studio for free and it works great and then get a vocal mic and input it into the fasttrack back panel. After your tracks sre done--convert to mp3 with the freeware "switch" and then resize it with freeware "mp3 resizer". You can make quality recordings. Listen to my sample audio tracks---rocker7474

kristal is pretty basic....I have it...its like the earliest recording programs out there...like garage band or something.

I don't know if anyone's said this, because I didn't read everyone's responses...

But I just went to radioshack and dropped $40 on a mic, and a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter, and pirated a good version of Cakewalk Pro v9.4 or something. I just hang the mic in front of my bass amp and it records MUCH cleaner than connecting the amp directly to my motherboard, which is what I had done originally.

I eat children.

is that what your music is worth to you...a 40 dollar mic and stolen software? sad, very sad

i gotta agree w/ hink...if you are goin to do it do it right....