How did you start

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pitseleh
  • Start date Start date
Back in the 70s, we had a couple of casette recorder/players.

We would record a stereo guitar.

We'd play it back INTO THE AIR while playing a new part, the second recorder capturing the first track that was now being played out loud, while we layered the second part.

Took lots of trial and error and ultimately you hear some cool multi-tracking deep behind the wall of hiss.

Taught us a lot about recording hot, about parsimonious track usage and noise reduction.
 
I got sick of people asking if I had a CD, so I bought a cheap little 8-track digital recorder (MR-8) and started recording. In the first year I cranked out six CDs and sold about 500 copies total, so it was worth it.
I guess before that, when I was 8 or so, my parents bought me a 4-track cassette recorder, but it sounded like crap and ended up frying.
So I got sick of the limitations of the MR-8 and moved up to a computer-based system with an Alesis Multimix 8USB and freeware DAW, and then to a Delta 1010, and now to an Alesis io26 and Cubase LE, and I'm soon to add a Firepod and n-Track.
 
i started out, as im sure many did, just playing music and jamming with friends. we would record ourselves with a video camera, or even send the stereo mix from a pa to a cheap cassete deck.

my friend had a sony minidisc recorder, we started to mess around with that, but i never really liked them, or any "all in one' recorders that much.

what really sparked my interest is two different friends of mine started to get pretty nice set ups around like 2000 or so, using a computer. once we started recording on those i was hooked.

i only played drums up until then, once i started playing guitar i got much more interested in writting songs and recording them.

i had a couple different four track tape recorders, or other borrowed equipement to record. i moved back to my parents house and they had a nice computer so i started to hook a a mixer with adaptors to their computer going inot the 1/8th" input hahaha. it sucked!!! i even plugged my acoustic in doing the same thing.

i finally got my own decent computer and i was off. now i have a bunch of nice stuff to do what i need it too.

its funny to look back on what i used to do to record music. sometimes every couple years i will watch the old video tapes of us jamming and laugh, good times those were!!
 
I'm really liking the thread. Very interesting hearing all the different stories :D
 
I played out in an acoustic duet and wanted to practice leads so I bought a Fostex four track cassette which lead to getting a drum machine,a cheapo keyboard and a multieffects rack unit.From there I went to a VS880 which just about kicked my ass but I finally got the better of it.
I had been reading recording magazines and that made me jump into computer recording.I bought ProAudio9 before I even had a computer.:eek:I may have bit off more than I could chew trying to Learn how to work a computer at the same time as learning to record on one but I'm still here.
When I had both my JV30 and DR660 synced up to my computer I thought that was the coolest thing ever,then I heard Gigasampler and realised that those were just toys.:(

Thousands of dollars later I'm still at it just as a hobby,still no regrets.:cool:
 
i started just downloading cool edit 2.1 and recording with a crappy computer microphone just cuz i was writing songs with drums and guitar and couldnt play both at the same time to hear it...

then my next band wanted to record stuff so we rented gear and did it ourselves....

then for the next album we did i bought a samson 6 drum mic kit and a crate mixer...

eventually got a SM57 and a D6 and a roommate has a SM58.

bandmate bought some real monitors instead of using bookshelf speakers hooked up to a stereo

rented a firepod a couple of times and loved it compared to what i had been using earlier.

yeh thats about where im at.

wanting to be able to afford to buy everything.
 
Get This

True story.

When I was about 10, my dad sold Lee Ritenour a new model Fostex 4-track (or was it a Teac?). (My dad owned a music shop and Rit was a customer). Dad took me to Lee's Malibu home to deliver it, but the night before my dad and I demo'd the recorder. We recorded Harrison's "Something." That was how I started home recording.

It was around that time that I jammed with Larry Carlton. We played "Sleepwalk." I was a wet-behind-the-ears kid and had no idea how lucky I was.
 
Ah, tape...

Nice to hear from fellow veterans of the tape era. Unlike some, you won't catch me waxing nostalgic about the old magnetic medium.

However, doing the classic 4-track cassette thing did teach some very good lessons, mostly the very important one about paring down tracks to just the essentials. A lot of people think that more is better, but honestly, some of the best recordings I've ever made have had the least number of tracks on them. I credit the 4-track with introducing me to the idea that less can sometimes be more.

BUT...there are tunes which need bigass production, and a good way to get started with that are things like the Roland VS series (I had a VS-880, but I don't even think they make those anymore) or the little Boss units. Unless you have a decent computer, in which case things like ProTools M-Powered are pretty damned inexpensive for all the stuff you get. I'm on a ProTools Digi 002 Rack at the moment, and it does pretty much anything I need.

One note: It often gets said, but I think it needs to be drilled, that mics are of the UTMOST importance. Even if you've got a little tiny cheap recorder, a good mic can be the difference between ambient and warm (a la Iron & Wine) or crappy and weak. Spend less money on the recorder and more money on the mic, and you'll likely be happier with the result.

Cool thread, this.
 
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