Hello, I'm new...

A

apamallard

New member
Hi.

I'm new to the forum and new to home recording. I'm hoping to learn lots from all the experienced users here. If you're interested, here's a little about my situation...

I've played acoustic music (primarily vocal and guitar) for several years with and without a band. I've never taken it too seriously, but enjoy it a lot. I've always relied on friends to take the technological brunt of what we've played as I'm the traditional creative, songwriter, technophobe.

My best friend (and producer effectively) is leaving the country soon. I have a lot of material that I'd love to record and make in to an album, but I know he won't be around to help. I think it's time to start learning how to record myself and stop relying on others.

I don't have any equipment, or know how, so that's why I'm here. I'd welcome any suggestions for home studio set up, or basic information on how to get started. The music I play is generally acoustic and not overly complicated. However, I want to experiment a bit more in the same way that someone like Bon Iver has, with layered sounds and instruments creating someone slightly more engaging than the average.

Any help or guidence is most welcome.

APA Mallard.
 
Welcome aboard man!!!

Read this in its entirety.


http://tweakheadz.com/guide.htm


Then read it again and again and again.............and when your sick of reading it use it as a reference for when you have questions later!

To give you a jist though you will need

1. Semi fast computer = 1 to 2 gig of ram

2. Audio interface

3. Large Diapragm condensor microphone.

4 XLR cable....so you can hook your mic into your audio interface.


This will make perfect sense when you read that link above........promise.

Most people starting out go pretty cheap at first as far as hardware goes.........or "audio interface"..........

This is really all one needs to ...........well ......... record...

I started out with an M-Audio fast track USB interface that I bought from best buy.......this is where i learned the basics and foundations of recording.

Trial and Error is the way to go.

When you see posts about that "perfect sound" dont listen...........close your ears to this. Most of the people that argue about "sound quality" here have been on the upper end of the spectrum and have heard what a thousand dollar preamp sounds like.

Stick with something cheap at first.

Read as much as you can. Such as the link above.

Check out Home recording for dummies by jeff strong

Record as much as you can. Just turn your computer on, set your mic in front of your acoustic and strum away.

This is how you really learn to record.

Its all about what really sounds good to you.

good luck man


CHEERS!!!!!
 
Thanks for that, it looks like a really user friendly and informative site.

Incidentally, I was reading about what microphone to buy and small vs big diapragm mic's and the author seemed to think small was preferable. Not sure this is a topic you want to get in to on this thread, but what do you think?
 
Bon Iver is a good example of what you can do yourself and sound great.

I know he done a ton of vocal layering on his album and the only mic he had was an SM57. For the type of music he does, the recording methods he used worked.

Mic positioning on the acoutic is quite tricky. I heard of people using a dynamic mic (sm57) , LDC (large diaphram Condenser), or a pair/single SDC.

I also depends on the guitar. One combonation may not sound suitable for a particular guitar. You really need to discover these things on your own.
 
Welcome MallardDude :D

Yeah, it's gonna seem like a helluva lot of readin just to be able to hit record but better to make informed decisions before ya spend yer cash than buy the next cool gadget with pretty lights and waste it like some guy I know.
:rolleyes:

:D
 
Thanks folks. After more reading, I'm only just starting to realise how much I don't know! Still, I'm excited to begin.
 
Dry times are normal, and they will come
People may yab you, make you think you're dumb
However frustrating things may become
Making music is essentially fun

Enjoy the ride and make good music that you're happy with. And keep progressing, learning, adapting and creating.
And come up with better rhymes than that one ! :D
 
Before you go getting a 'semi-fast' computer with lots of RAM, you might want to consider an outboard, dedicated recorder. Cheaper, more convenient as it is designed just to be a recorder. Some of them even have mics built in. Then you USB stuff to your computer to make mp3s or CDs with. Its a far more 'budget' way of doing things, and I find that 'recording workstations' or whatever you call them, are a lot less confusing than worrying about computer details and RAM and sound cards and all that. Plus you get real knobs and sliders instead of a mouse. Many companies make fairly cheap ones with good quality sound, some even with built in condenser mics, may want to look at Boss, Zoom, Tascam, Fostex just to see what's out there (I swear by Zoom personally, but they are more of the 'ghetto' brand out of that listing). If you can get a simple recorder that lets you record accoustically from a good built in mic, and lets you add layer after layer as you prefer, that sounds like an ideal tool for your intent. Since you are just learning, I think the most basic of setups will help you just get used to... well.. the basics. You worry about complicated DAW plugins and compressors and such after you get familiar with just getting an accoustic recording to sound good as you add to it. Baby steps.
 
AbuseTheMuses said:
you might want to consider an outboard, dedicated recorder.
Click to expand...

+1

This is where I started many years ago, and it's where I still am, many albums later...

Yeah, you lose some flexibility, but I like sliders and knobs and things I can touch. And you probably won't spend half your time here posting questions like "How do I get my Firetastic Confabulator to talk to my Spondulick SuperComp via Firewire?"

However, in fairness, there's lots of stuff you can do on a PC that's more difficult on a standalone studio box...

Depends upon your fondness for mucking around with computers, I guess.

YMMV. but worth thinking about before you start splashing the cash about ....
 
Good day yea.
It's not like in the old days when, you had to push play and record at the same time. But just as fun.



:cool:
 
Armistice said:
And you probably won't spend half your time here posting questions like "How do I get my Firetastic Confabulator to talk to my Spondulick SuperComp via Firewire?"
Click to expand...

Even a beginner knows that a Firetastic Confabulator talks to the Spondulick Supercomp via a supermolecular dust separater, not firewire. :eek:
 
Thanks for the welcome all (and the beautiful poem!)

The options are endless for where to begin, but cheap is definitely good. I guess if I can't get what I want then I can plough some more money in to it at a later stage.

Okay, I'm going to get reading about outboard recorders...
 
apamallard said:
Thanks for the welcome all (and the beautiful poem!)

The options are endless for where to begin, but cheap is definitely good. I guess if I can't get what I want then I can plough some more money in to it at a later stage.

Okay, I'm going to get reading about outboard recorders...
Click to expand...

Outboad, one box units are very good for learning signal flow logic.

That being said, a decent comp, DAW and soundcard package can be had for around $800 US. I'm running one right now. Cheap HP laptop + Sonar Producer 8 + ZOOM R16 8 channel interface.
The cool thing with this rig is, the ZOOM also doubles as a 16 track stand alone recorder. Buy it first and simply use it as a recorder. It comes with a copy of Cubase LE. Later, if you want to go full DAW, you've got the software already. The ZOOM works great as an interface and functions, further, as a DAW control surface. My two centavos....:cool:
 
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