Recording.

guitarzero

Hey, I bought a custom Mac a while ago and was curious as to what options I have in recording decent quality sound i.e playing an instrument. I dont have Garage Band so I'm at a loss to what else I could use. The FaceTime has a recording but the sound is very low (not sure why, any clues?).

If my Mac has no options, what would be recommended to buy maybe so I can record on to it.

Thanks.

120_Minutes

Ok, few questions before i can offer some advice (i bought a macbook for this very reason a month ago)

1. what do you mean by custom? what spec/age is the mac?
2. why dont you have garage band? I thought all macs came with the ilife suite of programs for the last few years?
3. will you just be recording an instrument and of so what type?


depending on your answers i'll be able to point you in a particular direction.

Zapp Brannigan

Very strange you don't have GarageBand.

You're gonna need some sort of DAW to record a decent sound. GarageBand, logic, protocols, audacity et al.

You'll also need some way to record an instrument. Right now I use an apogee one to plug my bass directly in via USB and the sound quality is pretty awesome.

But I'm with 120_minutes, we need more info. Especially about what you mean by "custom Mac".

taylorconor95

Well for basic recording, open up Quicktime Player, then go to file > new audio recording

holystungun9

If you don't have a disc with Garageband on it then download it from the App Store.

holystungun9

taylorconor95 wrote: »

Well for basic recording, open up Quicktime Player, then go to file > new audio recording

Mate, see the other posts re: specs and what you want it for. Answer those and you'll get better advice.

120_Minutes

taylorconor95 wrote: »

Well for basic recording, open up Quicktime Player, then go to file > new audio recording

Not really the type of thing I think the op is looking for here.

ZENER

Hmmm . . . Custom Mac and no iLife suite . . . [cough]Hackintosh[/cough]

Ken

120_Minutes

ZENER wrote: »

Hmmm . . . Custom Mac and no iLife suite . . . [cough]Hackintosh[/cough]

Ken

I was thinking the same thing. I didnt want to say it though....

Liameter

My Hackintosh i5 has the standard suite of Apps. The only reason I can think of for not having them is because the OS has been cloned from another with the Apps missing. But even then it shouldn't be difficult to install them.

BTW I've used Garage Band to record instruments. It'll accept anything with a MIDI to USB interface.

120_Minutes

While waiting for the OP to come back, i'll go ahead and give the advice i was gonna give.

If you want to record on the cheap, garageband (if you have it) will do fine. Then to get your guitar signal in, the cheapest way is to buy something like the iRig which is an interface for the iphone/ipad but also works on newer macs via the mic in / headphone out jack. it costs 40 quid and i got mine in xmusic.

Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDdZ6KAO5o0

if you actually own an iphone or ipad as well you can get the irig app for free, which gives you one amp and two pedals, with the option to buy more within the app. it also works on garageband on ios devices.

now if you want to spend money, you can go the route i did and get logic pro and a better audio interface, but the method above will give you decent results for little money.