Slicing and Dicing

[9-Pin]

I'm just starting to get into recording and right now I am primarily looking to either record my band doing some rehearsals and gigs as well as capture music ideas.

I think that what I want to do is possible, but I haven't found it in the manuals for the software that I am using (GarageBand, Cubase LE), or in others I have looked at (Reaper).

For live shows, what I'd like to do is press record and record the whole set as one song, then later when I am at home edit/slice/cut the individual songs out so that I start with one hour long song, and end up with 10-12 short 3-5 minutes songs, with all of the wasted time in-between cut out. For my music ideas, what I'd like to do is press record, and just monkey around and jam, stream of thought style, and then edit/slice/cut the ideas down in to song ideas that I may want to expand on or work with.

Do all of the major DAW programs do this? Are there some that at better, easier at than others? Any bad experiences trying to do this?

In case you need to know, I am running a MacBook with a 2.4 GHz Core2 Duo processor and 2GB of Ram.

Thanks!

 

[TheChikenMaster]

Do all of the major DAW programs do this? Are there some that at better, easier at than others? Any bad experiences trying to do this?

When im asked to record live shows thats what I do, either with cubase or protools. Garage band might be possible, i never really touched it.

 

[PhilTact]

I record all my bands practice on an 8 track. I import the tracks to cubase Le and get a general rough mix. It's just rehearsal anyways.
I have found it easier to export the whole session as one big stereo track. Then I use audacity to separate the tracks. It's a huge time saver because of the batch export in audacity.

Usually use iTunes or something like that to make mp3s, in batches, to give to the guys.

It's a pain to do it all in cubase le4, for lack of a batch export feature.

 

[bunt]

Since it sounds like you're not worried about doing any mixing later and just want to record a stereo (or mono) track... any of that software will work fine if you have the memory to support the huge initial track.

You'll just end up with one long wave form that you can slice up any way you like.

 

[oretez]

For live shows, what I'd like to do is press record and record the whole set as one song, . . . I start with one hour long song, and end up with 10-12 short 3-5 minutes songs,

Do all of the major DAW programs do this? Are there some that at better, easier at than others? Any bad experiences trying to do this?

to a greater or lesser extent all DAW apps will accomplish this. Which might be easier for you to accomplish this depends on how you work. And the unfortunate truth is that almost all the apps lack some significant (again based on how an individual works) that another has. An even more unfortunate fact is that particularly robust apps can take years to figure out the most efficient way to accomplish various tasks. I go back to '96 with app that is my primary editor (& yes current version will do exactly what you are inquiring about. I use it for that purpose for live shows consistently. Unfortunately it's not being port to Mac until V4, sometime, probably during next year (in beta tests now)) and nearly every month (or so) I still discover new features (that I can use) and different, slight more efficient ways to do old tasks.

And the price tags range all across the universe. A good first bet is Reaper.

 

[9-Pin]

Thanks everyone.

I have heard a lot of good things about Reaper. I have even looked at the manual a little bit. I may need to just sit down and give it a whirl.

Being new to recording, part of it is learning the terminology. I would never have thought to look for "batch export". If I can get set up to record gigs, I do think I would like to mix though. I figure it would give me a lot of material to practice my mixing skills on.