Home Recording

McFiddler

Hey folks. Just starting this thread for anyone willing to share their home recording methods or ideas.

I have tried on many occasions to set up a sort of makeshift home studio to record decent sounding demo tracks, but all attempts so far have been unsatisfactory. Is their any programs (preferably free) or equipment you would recommend?

I was using n-track at one stage with my electric guitar directly plugged into the soundcard but couldn’t get any volume. Is their some sort of pre-amp I should get?

Looking foward to your suggestions..

fitz

I've one of these:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MobilePreUSB-main.html

Great piece of kit.

Einstein

the use of pro-tools via Mbox is also another great piece of kit.
Pricey enough too, although if you do a search you'll get some really good prices if you shop around online.

tomMK1

we released a single last year (got to no 18 in the irish charts) that was recorded in my shed.

Basically we had a 16 track desk going into my iMac running Deck2 recording software. the desk preamped the sound signal and could be monitored either through headphones or speakers

SouperComputer

not big into it myself, but a few of the guys I know swear by M-Audio gear.

Also, audacity is a good open source software that you can use.

McFiddler

SouperComputer wrote:

Also, audacity is a good open source software that you can use.

Have used Audacity before and I find that the tracks go out of sync. Anyone ever used CoolEdit?

daram

I've an m-audio quattro. Which is essentially the same as what fitz has, but it allows you to record four things at once. This is required if you want to record drums. Pro-tools have just released a new version called pro-tools m powered, which is compatible with a range of the m-audio firewire and pci cards. Woudn't mind getting one of them, cause you can get an 8in 8out card bundled with protools for roughly the price of an mbox. Looks fairly sweet. That said, I'm currently not using protools, using nuendo which is a version of cubase with lots of extra fills. Basic setup is a 24 digital desk with 4 aux outs into the soundcard, which usbs into the laptop. Coupled with a array of mics including some nice condenser ones for vocals etc. Bought mostly second hand, i'd say altogether it cost more or less a grand (excluding the computer and software). On my site, linked below, there's a track called 'Harmless' which was recorded using it in my attic. Quality is pretty good I think.

Spicy Lauren

I use a simple MD player and an electret condensor microphone, and it's absolutely perfect for what I need at the moment.
Otherwise I know someone who uses a 16 track to plug his guitar / mics and he mixes his tunes onto Cubase. Brilliant program that is!!

mean_feat

i either use a mic or plug directly into my soundcard, record the track on nero, edit it on nero wave editor and mix on mix meister. its pretty primitive but the results are suprisingly good. you can hear some of results on www.blazeskate.com in the audio section. Class website.

DiamondJQuimby

McFiddler wrote:

Have used Audacity before and I find that the tracks go out of sync. Anyone ever used CoolEdit?

I use a Tascam US-122 into Adobe Audition which is essentially the upgraded version of Cool Edit. Adobe bought Cool Edit from Sytrillium.

I have no problems with it I also use Reason and use the Rewire feature to playback in Audition.

daram

I never liked Audition. sucked a fair amount in comparison to a lot of the other stuff out there. The best platform i reckon is either cubase, micrologic or protools. And then get a rake of plugins to do all the work.

GodISmE

I also own a M-Audio (Firewire Audiophile) interface. It's one of the cheapest, yet still pretty quick when it comes to latency. It's also very small and I can take it anywhere with my laptop.
My friend has got Tascam US-122 - nice piece but uses USB,that means more latency.
The best way to record an electric guitar is to mic a nice sounding tube amp. But not everyone can do that, especially if u live in an appartment. I record directly using Line6 Pod and Vox Tonelab. With a bit of tweaking u can get very close to the originals.
POD is very good for distorted guitars where Tonelab serioulsly lacks. But Vox has got warmer clean and crunchy sounds and that's why I decided to buy both.
For sequencing I use Cubase SX and Acid Pro 5. I also have a small MIDI keyboard and although I can't really play it,it's very useful for creating drum tracks(playing samples) and playing pads, strings etc.
I've recently bought a Roland GR-20 guitar synth
which comes with a midi pick-up that u install on your guitar. It's great
fun playing piano, strings, synth and even drums on your guitar. And u can send MIDI out of it to your computer and either record it or play virtual instruments live.

Here's a link to the thred on this forum where I put links to 2 of the songs I recorded at home. Check it out yo:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=284744

The Muppet

I use cool edit pro in preference to adobe audition, I find cool edit to be more stable . The multi track editor does everything i want which is mostly jingles and promos but I have recorded and edited live musicians with reasonable success.

Brother A

Mein gott!

Sequencers you might use to record your tracks: Pro-Tools [Mac - yuck], Cool-Edit, Acid, Cubase, Reason, Nuendo. Some are free, some or not - look out for any falling off backs of lorries...

Drum Machines: Fruityloops, Cheap/free ones (look up on google).
Like GodIsMe mentioned, midi processes can be used to create drum tracks - by the device of a midi stream triggering samples...

Microphones:
-Cheapo 'dynamic' microphones should do the job generally, for all vocals & all instruments except drums.
-To record drums decently, you prob need at least 2 dynamic mikes & 2 identical/paired 'condensor' mikes.
-For a better quality vocal sound & more options when recording instruments - get a nice vocal condenser mike.

Recording Guitar: -- uh, don't it into the soundcard. Thats just nasty. Instead, plug the gtr into the amp & set up a dynamic mic a few inches from the speaker cone.

Recording Bass: You CAN plug this directly in.

tomMK1

you'd need an active bass for that

tomMK1

and afaik you cant record tracks into reason

daram

Yeah, reason is just a sampler/sequencer. A good one though. Although, I prefer fruityloops, but only because I learnt it first. Too whoever said that macs are yuck..... they beat the socks off pc when it comes to anything audio/video based. I'd say 90% of studios in the world use mac. They cant all be wrong.

Brother A

Oh you're right about Reason Tom & Daram!

Also, Since Reason can't record tracks we should probably say its NOT a sequencer. ja?

---

I'm not sure about that active bass thing though.
I can't remember if I did this, but has anyone recently plugged a bass directly into a computer.?
Go on, give it a go someone, *: whats the worst that can happen...




(*especially if its a Mac.....no no no! I'm only joking. peace and goodwill)

SouperComputer

theres not much point in plugging in an instument directly. The whole idea of your amp etc is to get the tones you like.

You can plug an electric guitar in your line in, dont see why it would not work with a bass. have a look at these:

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/Guitar_Effects/

http://www.guitar-fxbox.com/

sanfran

one free program thats easy to use is MS Lite Multitrack Studio, just do a google search and you'll find it

LundiMardi

I personally use the mbox factory bundle running pro tools, only two inputs but grand for pretty much everything except recording a kit, but use your imagination there and you can still get a good recording. I use these with a set of Genelec 1029a's for monitoring and just an SM57 for recording, but i don't use this lately as i don't sing and i don't have an amp good enough to mic, i use amplitube instead just for practise. Just got myself an ENGL Fireball though, so that will change soon enough;)

Yv

I'm trying to set up some way to record at home - I have a powerful enough new system at home (P4 3.2gHz, 1GB RAM, 250GB SATA & 13GB SCSI hard drives & so forth) which I was very fortunate to find on Ebay. Now I'm looking for a sound card so I can take advantage of it all & start recording & producing my own (& my band's) music (:D).

I've set aside about €500 for it, & I've been doing tons of research & googling & the like for a couple of months now but it's so difficult to sift through all the cards & choose one Any recommendations? So far I'm thinking the Echo Gina 3G as it has the XLR & midi inputs I want - has anyone used this before?

Passenger

Could somebody reccommend a good MIDI keyboard. I use Reason, Acid, Cubase and editing software and I'm looking for a good MIDI keyboard. I'm looking at an Evolution and an M-Audio Keyboard at the moment. Any suggestions appreciated.

Fusion251

I use Cubase Sx & Reason mainly, I have alot of plugins for Cubase including Guitar Rig which is really good, I have a studio condenser and a dbx minipre, Evolution MK449 C USB-MIDI-Controller Keyboard and an Alesis M-One MKII/RA150 Bundle with two Alesis Monitors.

I'm gettin some pretty good stuff done with that gear.

Cheers,
Fusion
:cool:

Fusion251

Passenger wrote:

Could somebody reccommend a good MIDI keyboard. I use Reason, Acid, Cubase and editing software and I'm looking for a good MIDI keyboard. I'm looking at an Evolution and an M-Audio Keyboard at the moment. Any suggestions appreciated.

Evolution MK449 C USB-MIDI-Controller Keyboard that one is perfect!

Cheers,
Fusion

Passenger

Fusion251 wrote:

Evolution MK449 C USB-MIDI-Controller Keyboard that one is perfect!

Cheers,
Fusion

That's the exact model I was about to buy.


P.S. Do you know where I could get a copy of SX?

Fusion251

Cubase Sx?

A real copy?

http://www.musicstorekoeln.de/en/PC-Equipment/12_26_CSEQ_319_A/0/0/0/artikel/musicstore.html

If you're using it for music that you're planning on selling I'd recommend you buy it + you get some free plugins too which is cool.

Fusion
:cool:

Passenger

It's very expensive to update it. Better just "borrowing" a friends copy.

feylya

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

A free multitracker, similar enough to Cubase. Not as good but it is free and should suit most people's needs.