Absolute Beginner

Comocks

New member
Hello good people of the forum. Today is another day of celebration for all you enthusiastic teacher types out there, for I, Comocks, am an absolute beginner to the Art of Recording, and each and every one of you has this wonderful opportunity to influence my every recording decision from the ground up. I earnestly hope you will all take full advantage of my innocence, and that you will all assist me on my path to recording joy.



So. I take the Shure, I plug it into a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter, and I plug that into the microphone hole on my laptop. I open up Audacity, and I press 'record'.


That is the extent of my knowledge. Who knows what I'm doing wrong?
 
I probably know exactly what you're doing wrong, but with a first post like that, I'm not inclined to help you. Others may feel more generous....

Do what mjb says. Or google "How to use Audacity" and RTFM.

I note, in passing, that you haven't specified your actual problem... :eek:
 
But I can't fiiiiind any. They all use words like "soundcard" and "phantom power". I have no idea what I'm doing here, I really need some help!
 
Well, sometimes when I record I can't hear anything or the recording is extremely faint. Then also if I try to add distortion on my amp, the mic doesn't pick it up properly at all and the sound sort of fades in and out. I not understanding what to do :|
 
Those 1/8" "mic" jacks on computers aren't meant for recording music...they're more for podcasting/Skype kinda stuff. I'm guessing you've got a XLR-1/4" mic cable then? A signal quality will increase or decrease depending on it's signal chain quality (get to that in a minute), and yours isn't too hot :D

The basic setup for recording goes like this...
Amp(or whatever)-->mic-->soundcard-->computer (recording program)

For a soundcard, most of us here use an audio interface.
For a program, I'd recommend Reaper. It's free...just search it and download it. Audacity isn't that great.

Now I'll pause for questions lol.
 
Haha k thank you! I'm confused about what a soundcard is, and why it is important. Also my friend suggested using a portable multi track recorder instead of an interface, what do you like better?
 
Haha k thank you! I'm confused about what a soundcard is, and why it is important. Also my friend suggested using a portable multi track recorder instead of an interface, what do you like better?

Are you for real or an alias bumping up the post count ? You have been advised a coupla times now to hunt around on this site.
 
Not free my good Christian friend. ;)

Fiiiiiiiine :D It's free for a test trial, but after that's up, you're supposed to pay $40 if you want to keep using it! It still works if you don't pay though (but you should, $40 is cheap compared to other DAWs)

Normally I'm just too lazy to type all of that out! ;)

Haha k thank you! I'm confused about what a soundcard is, and why it is important. Also my friend suggested using a portable multi track recorder instead of an interface, what do you like better?

A soundcard converts the mic signal into a signal your computer can work with. Portables are good too, but it all really just depends on personal taste. I prefer working on my computer!
 
I'm with CFox... Can you really ask "What is a sound card?" And not be yanking our chain. Don' get me wrong. Ikve typed pages of sh*t into my ********** in answer to this type of question, only to have the asker disappear into the night (come back Mandy! Come back) and I'll be happy to do he same for you (not that I'm that brilliant or anything), but I'm not convinced you're for real, and I don't want to waste my time. So R U for real???

J
 
I'm with CFox... Can you really ask "What is a sound card?" And not be yanking our chain. Don' get me wrong. Ikve typed pages of sh*t into my ********** in answer to this type of question, only to have the asker disappear into the night (come back Mandy! Come back) and I'll be happy to do he same for you (not that I'm that brilliant or anything), but I'm not convinced you're for real, and I don't want to waste my time. So R U for real???

J

But see, with computers you can do this neat thing called "Copy and Paste"...it's pretty amazing really.
 
Okay, this is the newbs section, let's just try to help him out, m'kay. Without the alias accusations. :rolleyes:

Comocks, you need to start reading before trying to record or post up questions. If you are completely new, then you don't know enough to know what to ask. No problem, just start reading. As stated earlier, start right here in the Newbs section. Read all the other threads that ask how to start.

Then get the book, Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies by Jeff Strong. You can find it on Amazon. It's a good book to get you started and teach you enough to make sensible purchases and develop a roadmap to assembling a studio.

There is also the Tweakheadz.com website. Full of good useful info to start you from zero.

Good luck and have fun.
 
Okay, this is the newbs section, let's just try to help him out, m'kay. Without the alias accusations. :rolleyes:

Always the peacekeeper ;)

Then get the book, Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies by Jeff Strong. You can find it on Amazon. It's a good book to get you started and teach you enough to make sensible purchases and develop a roadmap to assembling a studio.

I can not stress enough how important reading books is! When I first started out, I was just like you. I wanted to jump into recording with my feet running and just DO it. It's VERY exciting and hard to supress that long enough to take the time to read a book. BUT, by reading a book, like the one Chili mentioned, you will gain so much knowledge that by the end you will have answered some of your own questions, have a ton more questions (that we can help with) and know how to properly word and ask those questions.

Aside from giving you the proper knowledge, waiting till you read a book or two will also prevent you from wasting money on equiptment that you think may be good at the time, but really ends up being completely the wrong choice.

I know it seems boring and a whole lot of suck. But if you truely have the desire to be good at sound and recording, then you may find yourself a geek like us where you actually enjoy reading the books.
 
Always the peacekeeper ;)

ChiliDudes my hero :D



Aside from giving you the proper knowledge, waiting till you read a book or two will also prevent you from wasting money on equiptment that you think may be good at the time, but really ends up being completely the wrong choice.

A big +1 here. I was one of the boobs that just bought a bunch of gear and started twiddling knobs.
My recordings sucked. (surprise!)
Then I started doing some reading and discovered.....I'm a Boob! :)
I could've saved a shit load of cash (and frustration) by being an informed buyer.
Weird how that works, huh?
Edjamucate yerself laddy. Check out the threads around here, check out the book Chili mentioned and bring the beer next time.
:drunk:
 
A big +1 here. I was one of the boobs that just bought a bunch of gear and started twiddling knobs.
My recordings sucked. (surprise!)
Then I started doing some reading and discovered.....I'm a Boob! :)

And as much as we all love boobs, being one is a whole different story and really sucks. I was a giant DD boob when I started out. ;)

Well said Dogbreath!
 
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