Help!!!!!!!!

[jester101]

I have been on here a couple of times and people keep givingh me help but nothing i can really do. If you haven't heard of me talking on here I am 13 and a singer-songwriter and play the guitar. Not to good at the guitar yet but im getting there. I need something to record myself on. The thing i am using right now is a karoke machine with a half a micraphone... not cutting it. I need this so I can remember my songs and eventually make demo tapes and stuff when i am a little older. Now I have tried some of the software I downloaded N tracks, but I am totally lost. Will this help me with all the things I want to do? What do I need for the software? Any other things that I can get instead of the software. All I know is that I am totally lost and I need help!!!! SOme1 please get back to me!!!!
Always,
Jessie

 

[Gidge]

To go the PC route, all you need is N-Track, the soundcard in your computer, and whatever you want to record...may include mics, guitars etc...

or you can go the 4 track cassette route, where many of us started.....a little easier to grasp.......

 

[DavidK]

Hi Jessie, nice to see a young person startin out by asking questions

Gidge makes a good point. All of us old folks ( I am 36, I bet Gidge is late twenties?) started out with four-tracks like Tascams and Fostex. N-tracks is way more advanced than a 4-track, no doubt. However, there is something about a 4 track; I think you might learn the basics much quicker that way, and for some reason, it seems much more fun.

I guess it is something like math; anyone can do math with a calculator, but to know the basics takes a mind, and paper and pencil.

4 tracks are cheap, and have a few bells and whistles (Aux sends, eq,faders, mute buttons), enough to keep you busy for a while, and they are also low-budget mixers for future use, so you might want to look into that.

Best of Luck, Dave

 

[Scriabin]

i started out on a tascam 4 track about 5 years ago, now its my po' man's mixer. either way, getting into recording is a black hole. the amount of money you'll invest is endless if your serious... in fact now that i think about it, music in general has been a black hole for me. i dont regret it though

 

[someone else]

What type of stuff do you try to sound like,...??

Sometimes in order to feel a little more like a songwriter/guitar player, it helps to sort out what you want to do yourself, by listening very closely to the music you are trying to emulate, whatever that happens to be,....

In other words, if you are a total beginner, just think for a second, what is it you would like to sound like,..??

Then, learn as much as you can about that music,... go buy a songbook with the chords, words, etc, and really try to see how it was put together. Something that is fairly easy to start with is just plain stuff, simple stuff,... like 3 chord blues, or 3 chord country, you get the idea,..... when your fingers have quit being so sore from playing a lot, then you start to feel a bit more comfortable in practicing, ( yes like any other skill, you must practice to be any good.) play the same 3 chords over, and over again, till you can make the changes with your eyes closed...!!!

When you are to that point,.... it really starts to get fun,.....
I mean you can really start to put some of your own ideas into songs, and (again, with much practice) start to really write your own ......

Make any sense,..??

Upstate

 

[Tekker]

Hey Jester,
I'm 20, and I started recording a little over a year and a half ago when made a demo CD of my band for my senior project. I dove head first into the software recording (using Cakewalk Pro Audio 9) without ever using a 4-Track or learing the basics. I had an old tape deck and a karaoke mic and that was pretty much it. I know it looks intimidating but it's not really as hard as it looks, I've never used N-Tracks but I'm sure there's a manual online that you can download to learn the program. Plus I'm sure a lot of guys here have or have used N-Tracks that would be glad help out when you have a problem.

Personally I think that the computer is the way to go, especially if you are wanting it as a "notebook" to keep track of your songs. It's a lot easier to look up the name of your song on your computer than it is to keep track of a million tapes with songs at different spots on each tape. And when you get more advanced you can then make use of all the editing capabilities (which you won't have on a 4-Track). I can garantee you won't out grow it for a long while.

Software recording definitly has a steeper learning curve than a 4-Track (plug in and press record) and it will take a bit of time and effort to get it, but it is definitly well worth the effort.

Good luck,
-tkr

 

[Gidge]

late twenties?...yeah, twenty thirteen (33)......

hell I was on 4 track cassette until 5 years ago...its still a good option for home recording....but if you have the patience for learning N-Track, which really isnt that hard, it is really quite powerful and very rewarding.......the things that can be done with N-Track and all the free plug-ins out there is amazing compare to what us old farts had when we started out.....to have all these tools at your disposal at the age of 13 for little $$$ and pass it up for 4 track cassette would be a shame......