darthweasel
New member
Greetings,
Apologies in advance for the wall of text, I spent some time reading through the advice in the newb forum and a few things stood out; on eof them was be as specific as possible. I am so new to this that I would require at least a year's worth of research just to qualify as a newb. So here goes:
My Dad was teaching me guitar and I was progressing okay until that fateful day about 35 years ago when I went all stubborn and refused to follow some instruction. I was wrong then which does not change the fact I quit playing and had little or nothing to do with music other than listening to it for 3+ decades. During most of that time Dad had a small music group that wrote several of their own songs. However, they did it in essentially an ad-hoc manner. The running joke was their official stationary was a napkin...except there is a lot of truth to that. The majority of their songs were written on napkins...the back of a manila envelope...some other random piece of paper.
2 of the 4 song-writers have passed away and health keeps Dad from being able to play any more. Essentially when he breathes his last those songs will be gone forever. They have a lot of sentimental value to those who heard them and loved them. So I have initiated a project to get as many of them recorded as possible so they can at least be preserved for a few more years. While this will not be a commercial project, it is something I want to sound as good as possible with the limited budget I will be working with.
I have spent many hours digging through documents and transposing songs from napkins, back of bank receipts etc to actual sheet music and have been working on getting actual music notation applied to them for the first time ever.
I did some preliminary study and have been trying to pick up appropriate equipment as well to move the project forward. I bought a Zoom R24 Multitrack recorder. I bought a really nice set of studio headphones gently used from a local radio station...only to discover they are USB and the R24 requires a 1/4" TRS. I had to look up what the TRS was, Best Buy was pointless but Guitar Center upgraded me to AKG K24 Studio headphones. I also picked up a Senheiser E835 Dynamic Mic with a 15' Livewire Advantage 15 cable and a mic stand.
On the one hand, I am not going to go super cheap on the equipment, trying to get reasonable quality...on the other hand, I have expended the majority of the budget currently available getting the most minimal setup possible. Through local connections I was able to pick up enough 2" rigid styrofoam (foamular) to surround the room it will be recorded in.
I did some experiementing, watched how-to videos to explain the R24 manual, have laid down a couple of test tracks to practice bouncing and combining them and have about expended the amount of knowledge I have.
Here is my problem: the terminology and point of some of it eludes me. I had to learn what "scratch tracks" and "click tracks" were, for example. I read the usefule piece in this forum on compression and several other useful pieces, but even there I feel like I skipped K-5 and started in 6th grade. So here are some questions that...well, if there are no stupid questions, and that means this is a smart question for me, it gives you a rough idea.
Reverb: Why does it matter?
I am going to stop there because if I don't know that you know how much beyond my education I am in these matters. Having expended the bulk of my funds so far available on equipment, I am most likely going to rely on the library for the book portion to learn what questions I need to ask as I don't even know that at this point. Are there books you recommend? I am willing to spend time online but I learn better with a physical book in my hand so prefer those wherever possible.
Part of my problem is time is of the essence. I will have more money for this project from time to time. I am trying to do it as :right" as possible...doing all the prep-work I can so when the people playing the actual music are ready we can record as many things as quickly as possible but I feel like my ignorance is the biggest inhibitor at this time. To me it seems like recording say...the 4 voices, the guitar, drums and piano (which happily I have people prepared for all that) on separate tracks, as many recordings as necessary to get what they need would be the bulk of it, but the online reading I have been doing suggest that is the most basic start...there is a lot of effects to turn it into something listenable and I am unsure of where to start.
I think I got a little incoherent towards the end there. This is something I am passionate about and any direction on logical steps is greatly appreciated.
Apologies in advance for the wall of text, I spent some time reading through the advice in the newb forum and a few things stood out; on eof them was be as specific as possible. I am so new to this that I would require at least a year's worth of research just to qualify as a newb. So here goes:
My Dad was teaching me guitar and I was progressing okay until that fateful day about 35 years ago when I went all stubborn and refused to follow some instruction. I was wrong then which does not change the fact I quit playing and had little or nothing to do with music other than listening to it for 3+ decades. During most of that time Dad had a small music group that wrote several of their own songs. However, they did it in essentially an ad-hoc manner. The running joke was their official stationary was a napkin...except there is a lot of truth to that. The majority of their songs were written on napkins...the back of a manila envelope...some other random piece of paper.
2 of the 4 song-writers have passed away and health keeps Dad from being able to play any more. Essentially when he breathes his last those songs will be gone forever. They have a lot of sentimental value to those who heard them and loved them. So I have initiated a project to get as many of them recorded as possible so they can at least be preserved for a few more years. While this will not be a commercial project, it is something I want to sound as good as possible with the limited budget I will be working with.
I have spent many hours digging through documents and transposing songs from napkins, back of bank receipts etc to actual sheet music and have been working on getting actual music notation applied to them for the first time ever.
I did some preliminary study and have been trying to pick up appropriate equipment as well to move the project forward. I bought a Zoom R24 Multitrack recorder. I bought a really nice set of studio headphones gently used from a local radio station...only to discover they are USB and the R24 requires a 1/4" TRS. I had to look up what the TRS was, Best Buy was pointless but Guitar Center upgraded me to AKG K24 Studio headphones. I also picked up a Senheiser E835 Dynamic Mic with a 15' Livewire Advantage 15 cable and a mic stand.
On the one hand, I am not going to go super cheap on the equipment, trying to get reasonable quality...on the other hand, I have expended the majority of the budget currently available getting the most minimal setup possible. Through local connections I was able to pick up enough 2" rigid styrofoam (foamular) to surround the room it will be recorded in.
I did some experiementing, watched how-to videos to explain the R24 manual, have laid down a couple of test tracks to practice bouncing and combining them and have about expended the amount of knowledge I have.
Here is my problem: the terminology and point of some of it eludes me. I had to learn what "scratch tracks" and "click tracks" were, for example. I read the usefule piece in this forum on compression and several other useful pieces, but even there I feel like I skipped K-5 and started in 6th grade. So here are some questions that...well, if there are no stupid questions, and that means this is a smart question for me, it gives you a rough idea.
Reverb: Why does it matter?
I am going to stop there because if I don't know that you know how much beyond my education I am in these matters. Having expended the bulk of my funds so far available on equipment, I am most likely going to rely on the library for the book portion to learn what questions I need to ask as I don't even know that at this point. Are there books you recommend? I am willing to spend time online but I learn better with a physical book in my hand so prefer those wherever possible.
Part of my problem is time is of the essence. I will have more money for this project from time to time. I am trying to do it as :right" as possible...doing all the prep-work I can so when the people playing the actual music are ready we can record as many things as quickly as possible but I feel like my ignorance is the biggest inhibitor at this time. To me it seems like recording say...the 4 voices, the guitar, drums and piano (which happily I have people prepared for all that) on separate tracks, as many recordings as necessary to get what they need would be the bulk of it, but the online reading I have been doing suggest that is the most basic start...there is a lot of effects to turn it into something listenable and I am unsure of where to start.
I think I got a little incoherent towards the end there. This is something I am passionate about and any direction on logical steps is greatly appreciated.