david henman
New member
...newbie here.
first, i should explain why this has been such a difficult quest.
i am not, and have no desire to be, a professional recording engineer.
i just want to record tracks, and experiment with arrangements.
something i enjoyed doing, without computers, for fifty years, starting with a philips reel-to-reel tape recorder with sound-on-sound back in the early 60s.
and following the evolution of the industry right up to the last portastudio - the mighty korg d3200.
i carefully avoided venturing into computer recording for two decades, because i sensed that it would be an absolute nightmare.
i was right.
i bought an imac two years ago, and quickly became familiar with garageband, which i still use, and enjoy.
garageband proved, from the get go, that a straightforward, no nonsense daw IS possible.
but, as most of you know, it is severely limited.
i am quite happy to work within these limitations, of course.
i am primarily a singer/songwriter, so recording, for me, is the equivalent of note-taking.
i leave the actual recording, processing, eq, compression, mixing and mastering to the professionals.
nonetheless, people keep recommending software programs like reason.
which i tried.
650-page manual - are you kidding me?
thankfully, the folks at propellerhead were happy to refund my money.
next up, cubase.
450-page manual.
i spent two-weeks, constantly in contact with cubase customer service, and with my recordign engineer, who uses cubase, just trying to load the software and get it running.
and then, the real nightmares began - hours and hours of trying to figure out, for example, why i couldn't hear the click track, to site just one of many dilemmas.
cut to the chase - since i made the switch to computer recording, as i predicted, i have spent way too much time tearing my hair out and thinking homicidal thoughts, while glaring at a computer screen.
time that i should have spent playing, writing, singing and, especially, recording.
the only upside to this is that i did, ultimately, figure out why recording software manufacturers have taken something that i have enjoyed doing for fifty years and turned it into a complete mystery, complete with an entirely new language, and no translation.
if you think about it, you will figure it out to. it has to do with this: $$$$$
anyway, i'm back to using garageband.
but there is good news!
manufacturers are starting to wake up and grow up.
presonus recently introduced studio one, and propellerhead has just come out with record, products that at least purport to be, like garageband, straightforward.
simple enough that a guy like me, who programs drum tracks from scratch, one hit at a time, can operate.
first, i should explain why this has been such a difficult quest.
i am not, and have no desire to be, a professional recording engineer.
i just want to record tracks, and experiment with arrangements.
something i enjoyed doing, without computers, for fifty years, starting with a philips reel-to-reel tape recorder with sound-on-sound back in the early 60s.
and following the evolution of the industry right up to the last portastudio - the mighty korg d3200.
i carefully avoided venturing into computer recording for two decades, because i sensed that it would be an absolute nightmare.
i was right.
i bought an imac two years ago, and quickly became familiar with garageband, which i still use, and enjoy.
garageband proved, from the get go, that a straightforward, no nonsense daw IS possible.
but, as most of you know, it is severely limited.
i am quite happy to work within these limitations, of course.
i am primarily a singer/songwriter, so recording, for me, is the equivalent of note-taking.
i leave the actual recording, processing, eq, compression, mixing and mastering to the professionals.
nonetheless, people keep recommending software programs like reason.
which i tried.
650-page manual - are you kidding me?
thankfully, the folks at propellerhead were happy to refund my money.
next up, cubase.
450-page manual.
i spent two-weeks, constantly in contact with cubase customer service, and with my recordign engineer, who uses cubase, just trying to load the software and get it running.
and then, the real nightmares began - hours and hours of trying to figure out, for example, why i couldn't hear the click track, to site just one of many dilemmas.
cut to the chase - since i made the switch to computer recording, as i predicted, i have spent way too much time tearing my hair out and thinking homicidal thoughts, while glaring at a computer screen.
time that i should have spent playing, writing, singing and, especially, recording.
the only upside to this is that i did, ultimately, figure out why recording software manufacturers have taken something that i have enjoyed doing for fifty years and turned it into a complete mystery, complete with an entirely new language, and no translation.
if you think about it, you will figure it out to. it has to do with this: $$$$$
anyway, i'm back to using garageband.
but there is good news!
manufacturers are starting to wake up and grow up.
presonus recently introduced studio one, and propellerhead has just come out with record, products that at least purport to be, like garageband, straightforward.
simple enough that a guy like me, who programs drum tracks from scratch, one hit at a time, can operate.