I'm a total amateur to the world of home recording. I'm anxious to learn about it to help me to fine tune my songwriting (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, piano) As I'm in a band I'd like to be able to write/record the rythym and lead guitar for our songs, the vocals and bass independently. Would I be able to do this with a basic 4 track recorder, like the tascam 02 portastudio, and if not what equipment would I need. I'm a student and probably wouldn't be able to afford expensive digital recorders. Any suggestions?
extreme basics of home recording
- Thread starter Geeman
- Start date
Brad
New member
Hi Geeman, welcome!
Yes, the TASCAM 02 can do this, although it is a bare bones machine. Basically, look at it this way: with a 4 track you can record 4 seperate audio tracks at different times. I will just give you a "for example" On trk 1, you can lay down a drum track. Then you can go back and record a guitar track on track 2 while listening to the drums on track 1. When that is done, you can go to track 3 and record another instrument while you listen and play along with tracks 1 & 2. Then you can grab a mic and sing the vocal track on track 4 while listening to the music on tracks 1, 2 & 3 simultainiously.
Now, if you need more tracks, don't despair! There are little techniques that you can use like "ping ponging" that will degrade the sound a little, but will give you more tracks for recording. But it's a little too soon to go into that. IF you are as new to this as you said, you may need to chew on the info above for a little bit first. But to answer your question, yes, a 4 track will work.
Also, you can use your computer as a multi track recorder, but I will let someone else tell you about that because I have never used my computer that way. Other guys around here will probably chime in on this one...
Good luck, and I hope this helped!
Brad
Yes, the TASCAM 02 can do this, although it is a bare bones machine. Basically, look at it this way: with a 4 track you can record 4 seperate audio tracks at different times. I will just give you a "for example" On trk 1, you can lay down a drum track. Then you can go back and record a guitar track on track 2 while listening to the drums on track 1. When that is done, you can go to track 3 and record another instrument while you listen and play along with tracks 1 & 2. Then you can grab a mic and sing the vocal track on track 4 while listening to the music on tracks 1, 2 & 3 simultainiously.
Now, if you need more tracks, don't despair! There are little techniques that you can use like "ping ponging" that will degrade the sound a little, but will give you more tracks for recording. But it's a little too soon to go into that. IF you are as new to this as you said, you may need to chew on the info above for a little bit first. But to answer your question, yes, a 4 track will work.
Also, you can use your computer as a multi track recorder, but I will let someone else tell you about that because I have never used my computer that way. Other guys around here will probably chime in on this one...
Good luck, and I hope this helped!
Brad
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Geeman:
I'm a total amateur to the world of home recording. I'm anxious to learn about it to help me to fine tune my songwriting (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, piano) As I'm in a band I'd like to be able to write/record the rythym and lead guitar for our songs, the vocals and bass independently. Would I be able to do this with a basic 4 track recorder, like the tascam 02 portastudio, and if not what equipment would I need. I'm a student and probably wouldn't be able to afford expensive digital recorders. Any suggestions? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I have a tascam 4-track and a cheap microphone to place in front of your acoustic guitar or guitar amp. You can even plug your guitar right into the 4-track. The bass sounds allright going straight into the 4-track as well.That's all you need for barebones recording. Get some headphones too. With the headphones you can record electric guitar all night without waking anyone up. Good luck with your writing
I'm a total amateur to the world of home recording. I'm anxious to learn about it to help me to fine tune my songwriting (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, piano) As I'm in a band I'd like to be able to write/record the rythym and lead guitar for our songs, the vocals and bass independently. Would I be able to do this with a basic 4 track recorder, like the tascam 02 portastudio, and if not what equipment would I need. I'm a student and probably wouldn't be able to afford expensive digital recorders. Any suggestions? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I have a tascam 4-track and a cheap microphone to place in front of your acoustic guitar or guitar amp. You can even plug your guitar right into the 4-track. The bass sounds allright going straight into the 4-track as well.That's all you need for barebones recording. Get some headphones too. With the headphones you can record electric guitar all night without waking anyone up. Good luck with your writing
gaffa
Recalcitrant Member
If you're a student, you might already have a computer? If so, why not have a look at n-tracks? Using an SBLive soundcard, you could record quite decent quality stuff, and you get more tracks than four, plus you can put all the effects and stuff onto the tracks easily. The big advantage is that n-Tracks will set you back $30US (so I guess that's about 20-25 irish pounds) - not a huge expenditure if you just want to dip your toes into digital recording , and you can get a demo copy for free.
Lovely spot, Co. Clare, 'cept every time I've been there, it's rained constantly(well, it is Ireland after all)
- gaffa
Lovely spot, Co. Clare, 'cept every time I've been there, it's rained constantly(well, it is Ireland after all)
- gaffa
Even
New member
Gaffa totally nailed it there. Unless I misread your intent, all you are truely looking for at this point is an audio scratch pad of sorts. www.fasoft.com will get you the N-tracks. Just buy it, its cheap enough. You will be able to record no less than 4 tracks, probably a heap more if you have a pc worth a bean.
If you own a computer that was built after 1996, don't bother with the 4-track. You're computer will do the job just as well (at least in my opinion; there may be something that I'm overlooking). I used to use a Tascam 244 4-track (it's really really old but got the job done). About 3 years ago it broke down. I thought it wasn't worth it to fix it because it was so old and I didn't have enough money to buy a new one so I looked into the realm of computer recording.
At that time I had a Pentium 100MHz with 24MB RAM, a 1.3GB hard drive, and a $20 soundcard. I got myself a copy of Cakewalk 6 and never thought of my 4-track again (until I realized that I could use it for its preamps, but that's another story).
Really, if all my gear was destroyed in a fire, I wouldn't buy a multitrack tape recorder. I would just buy a computer and a cheap soundcard like the SBLive Value (that's what I'm using now). The SBLive is cheap and very good for the price you pay. It can use SoundFonts which will allow you to use decent midi sounds and it sounds decent enough for recording audio as well. You can probably find a Celeron 300MHz system for WELL under US$500 (that's an educated guess) and a SBLive should only cost around $50.
How much was the Tascam recorder you were looking at? Maybe it would be more efficient for your objectives. But in my experience, after using a computer for recording, I never plan on going back to tape again. I don't think it would be difficult to find a cheap computer that would be capable of doing everything that a 4-track could.
Software-wise... well it's not always necessary to *pay* for software, is it?
[This message has been edited by MrLip (edited 03-27-2000).]
At that time I had a Pentium 100MHz with 24MB RAM, a 1.3GB hard drive, and a $20 soundcard. I got myself a copy of Cakewalk 6 and never thought of my 4-track again (until I realized that I could use it for its preamps, but that's another story).
Really, if all my gear was destroyed in a fire, I wouldn't buy a multitrack tape recorder. I would just buy a computer and a cheap soundcard like the SBLive Value (that's what I'm using now). The SBLive is cheap and very good for the price you pay. It can use SoundFonts which will allow you to use decent midi sounds and it sounds decent enough for recording audio as well. You can probably find a Celeron 300MHz system for WELL under US$500 (that's an educated guess) and a SBLive should only cost around $50.
How much was the Tascam recorder you were looking at? Maybe it would be more efficient for your objectives. But in my experience, after using a computer for recording, I never plan on going back to tape again. I don't think it would be difficult to find a cheap computer that would be capable of doing everything that a 4-track could.
Software-wise... well it's not always necessary to *pay* for software, is it?
[This message has been edited by MrLip (edited 03-27-2000).]
Thanks for all the advice, endless hours of web browsing hasn't gotten me this much relevant information.
I was wondering how would I transfer my recordings onto a tape or a C.D. without buying expesive equipment like a C.D. burner. The specs for an old Gateway2000 I have (from 1997) Are as follows: 32MB RAM, 2.5GB hardrive and a soundblaster16 compatable. Would this be sufficient to serve as a digital multitracker?
I was under the impression that audio recordings took up an enormous amount of space, is this true?
P.S. I'm glad you like our lovely 'wee' county(gaffa). Unfortunately home recording experts like yourselves are as scarce around here as a dry day in december.
I was wondering how would I transfer my recordings onto a tape or a C.D. without buying expesive equipment like a C.D. burner. The specs for an old Gateway2000 I have (from 1997) Are as follows: 32MB RAM, 2.5GB hardrive and a soundblaster16 compatable. Would this be sufficient to serve as a digital multitracker?
I was under the impression that audio recordings took up an enormous amount of space, is this true?
P.S. I'm glad you like our lovely 'wee' county(gaffa). Unfortunately home recording experts like yourselves are as scarce around here as a dry day in december.
gaffa
Recalcitrant Member
Geeman,
What kind of processor is it? 4 tracks can be recorded on a 200Mhz machine, although the processor is probably not fast enough to do multiple realtime effects.
Regarding the storage space, wave audio does take up a fair bit of room, there's a post around somewhere that has teh maths that calculate it for you, but if you can spare even 500Mb, then you can at least record and work with 4-6 tracks with no space dramas (a 4 min track is about 20 mb when recorded in 44.1/16bit)
The computer you've got will probably suffice for the moment, but once you get into it, you'll probably want ot upgrade some if not all of the bits. It might also be worth buying a slightly better soundcard that the SB16 - the SBLive is not a 'prosumer' card, but it's quite suitable for getting going (I'd say half the people here either started with or still use one.)
Dry day in December? I was there in July, and it was still raining (although there were 8 (yes, count them, 8) straight days without rain in Tralee, and all the farmers were talking drought conditions. If only they knew what a _real_ drought was like
- gaffa
What kind of processor is it? 4 tracks can be recorded on a 200Mhz machine, although the processor is probably not fast enough to do multiple realtime effects.
Regarding the storage space, wave audio does take up a fair bit of room, there's a post around somewhere that has teh maths that calculate it for you, but if you can spare even 500Mb, then you can at least record and work with 4-6 tracks with no space dramas (a 4 min track is about 20 mb when recorded in 44.1/16bit)
The computer you've got will probably suffice for the moment, but once you get into it, you'll probably want ot upgrade some if not all of the bits. It might also be worth buying a slightly better soundcard that the SB16 - the SBLive is not a 'prosumer' card, but it's quite suitable for getting going (I'd say half the people here either started with or still use one.)
Dry day in December? I was there in July, and it was still raining (although there were 8 (yes, count them, 8) straight days without rain in Tralee, and all the farmers were talking drought conditions. If only they knew what a _real_ drought was like
- gaffa