First Recording Woes Need Help

[Mae Blankenship]

I am trying to promote a songwriter. He writes contemporary Christian and love songs and puts music to them using his acoustic guitar. We want to get a recording studio going on my home computer. I downloaded the Kreatives Kristal program that lets you record music but I have no idea as to how it works. Can anyone help me to understand it? I am brand new to it and have no idea as to the lingo they use. We want to sell the songs but have none on the web to listen to yet. I have them on CD made with a karaoke machine but of course they are not very good quality. That is why we want to record them on the computer. We don't really have money to buy hardware yet. I think the program only requires you to have a microphone to use it. I'm probably wrong. We want to be able to add bass and drums sounds from the program itself. We only have one acoustic guitar and one microphone. I have an HP a465C 3.00 ghz with a Realtek AC'97 Audio sound card using Windows XP. Am I going to be able to record music using just these things or do I have to purchase other hardware? Thanks.
Mae Blankenship

 

[Jeyan]

First of all integrated sound cards are nothing but trouble. You will spend all your time and energy recording songs and then you would think "I should have used a quality soundcard" so the first upgrade you need to do is get a decent recording soundcard, if you cant afford a M-audio card atleast get a creative card, this integrated stuff are pretty much useless for song recordings. Then you need a little mixer to connect your mics and guitar to the soundcard. Finally a good software, i have no idea what that software you are using is, better get a multitrack software to do the job (some trial versions are available for free download)

 

[TimOBrien]

If you go to a Barnes&Noble or Borders or BooksAMillion bookstore, "Computer Music" magazine has a 'Beginners Special' edition out right now covering all the basics. Also comes with a CD with a full suite of audio software.

Go into the hardcover music books too. There are primers for home audio recording that will help you with starting out.

Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies by Jeff Strong - Despite it's title, I looked through this at the bookstore and it's an excellent guide for the beginner. You can also get it from Amazon.com for $16.

There is a LOT to learn and only so much we can cover in the message boards. Use the above resources to get up to speed....

 

[radiorickm]

learn here

well
glad you have decided to learn a new craft. once you get into it, you will enjoy the creativity.

you found the BBS here, but GOOD NEWS. there is an entire web site infront of this bbs with the information you need.

if you look thru the site, read all the articles. even the ones about tape recording and stuff.

it will help you "learn the lingo" and give you a lot of starter info. it is really great.

once you get the info from there, then you can come back to the forums and ask intellegent question. you will find the 'experts' respond better to intelligent questions.

hope to help you soon

rick

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

Recording is pretty hard. For one it is very TECHNICAL which means you are going to have to learn an entire new lexicon of terms, "rules", and start to care about a bunch of strange numbers. They don't call it audio *engineering* for no reason.

Secondly, it is also ARTISTIC which means that you will have to know the technical ends so well that you effectively forget them in order to be creative with the tools at your disposal.

Thirdly, it is an ongoing PROCESS that you will get better at with each recording. The people around here have often been recording for 20+ years and still getting better all the time.

Lastly, it is an expensive OBSESSION that can make you into a cracked-out gear fiend willing to fork over thousands of dollars for boxes with LED's and knobs on it that your spouse will never care about nor understand.

Good luck!

 

[noisedude]

Very basics available at this site, no knowledge presumed, with some links to other places to read:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/nikkeefe/

An absolute tonne of reading here:

http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com

Recording need not be an obsession ... it just often turns out to be. If you're just after a rough 'demo' you can do it with a little Behringer UB502 + cheap mic (~$80 - $100) of your choice:

http://www.hr-faq.org

But if you want something you can sell ... you need a proper soundcard (AC97 is onboard, terrible AD/DA converters pap intended just to make noises), a couple of mics, maybe a better preamp (M-Audio DMP3?) and some fairly good headphones. Not to mention monitors, outboard FX/dynamics processors, software ...

Decide what you're gonna do. It ain't too hard to get going ... just don't start selling stuff if it doesn't sound good!

 

[AlChuck]

Here's another article by a guy who's widely admired and has a long history in this field:

http://www.musicplayer.com/lounge/guides/audio1.htm