I give up! (before I even began)

[EddieRay]

AlChuck:

Oh. Here's the irony: I'm a software engineer. Have been for eight years. I'm not bad at it, either -- which perhaps gave me a false sense of hope. ("I can write multi-tier multi-threaded enterprise apps in java! how hard could this home recording stuff be!" Ha ha ha.)

So, I have four computers, I'm comfortable with them, etc.

The problem is I know sh1t about audio. I think I'd be equally clueless using a standalone unit, but even more out of my element.

Wow that sounds a lot like me - 25+ years in business computers and even longer as a musician and only started bridging the digital gap about 8 months ago. Take a bite at a time and swallow. Just think how far along you'd be now if you'd started 12 months ago.

 

[distortedrumble]

basking in the warm glow of knowledge....let the man soak it up!

 

[pdadda]

Don't lose hope man. I am also married and have a kid. We are so broke, I had to wait a whole year to have an extra $150 to buy a soundcard.
These forums can depress you. Music is a wonderful thing that you should never give up. People will tell you that all the cheap products suck, but its all about how you use them. I made a recording with a Behringer B-1, a SP VTB-1 pre, my acoustic, and free software, worked hard at editing it, and now I think it sounds great. This and other forums rip apart the Beh B1, but screw them.
I have heard homeless guys who only have three strings left on their guitars make incredible, moving music. Musical talent is a gift--its our duty to share it with others however we can.

 

[distortedrumble]

pdadda....I'm with both of yall completely no wife or kid but money is still too tight alot....i made the last payment on my amp head which was 83 bucks.....4 days before that, the timing chain broke on my car....well all my music stuff is paid off, but my car is dead at the shop. at this point i dont see me having a car for the next 2 or 3 weeks. but damnit at least i have the music lol.

 

[noisedude]

Absolutely - when you're a gear nerd more than a musician/singer/songwriter/DJ(???) you know you're hanging on forums to much and playing too little.

 

[bthiesson]

Don't give up Kevin! Once you get started you'll be amazed howmuch fun this is even if you're only playing for yourself. The important point for me was getting a rig cobbled together that actually works after a fashion. The fine tuning and better sound quality can come a piece at a time. You have a real advantage over me; you know how to use a computer...I've had to have all kinds of help just finding stuff in Windows. The folks on this site have helped so much...I wouldn't be up and running without the info found here. My gear is old, so the best stuff for me has been the archived threads from a few years back. Good luck!

 

[noisedude]

I think Kevin needs to come and tell us that everything's alright now, cos I think this thread has answered the Black Eyed Peas question as to where the love is

 

[noisedude]

Er, you haven't told us yet mr budget man! Do you save 10c and get a plain pizza base with no toppings??

 

[kevinb9n]

Wow... you guys!

I came back fully expecting to find that my thread had dropped off the front page of recent threads... and instead I see all this great advice. Thank you all so much!

You read all this stuff in books and it just seems like there's a huge gulf between where you are and where you HAVE to be before you're any good at all. You guys helped me remember that that's bullshit and it's all about the music and even if you don't like the sound quality you get in the beginning you can always get better one step at a time.

I have to run to lunch now. But THANKS!!!!

 

[noisedude]

Awww ... I wasn't expecting the love back!

"that was some of the worst sounding shit but damn it was fun doing it"

I missed this earlier up. Distorted rumble is right (for once, the cheapskate git) - I have a stack of CDs made with friends and alcohol but not much nous. They sound bad but every time I listen I remember the fun and want to do it again but better!

 

[zekthedeadcow]

zekthedeadcow

ebay is my friend... don't worry about having the newist technology...

Some times you can get out of date pro-broadcast equipment for much less than the consumer stuff. Example... I'm moving into video and I bought an old as dirt (mid 90's) S-VHS dockable camcorder (big, gray, sits on your shoulder) It's head can produce 750 lines (S-VHS records 460 lines or so and DV is around 500lines) It has 3 large 1/2 inch CCDs and a timecode generator... interchangeable lens... (I can actually replace the S-VHS deck with a DV or HD one when I get the money) ...and it was all of $600 off ebay (origional retail $13,000) ... Now $600 gets you a low end DV camera... but everyone HAS to have DV so people in my Video Art class spend $3000 on a decient one where I can get a vectorscope and waveform monitor and a video monitor (things they will need anyway... analogous to reference monitors in audio world) ...and still have about $2000 left over... which I never had in the first place. Granted you can tell mystuff is "different" but with _skill_ and mostly _creativity_ my videos kick the ass of most of theirs... because I'm the only one who can afford lights and mics and other necessary production items. The only real drawback is I now have a crapload of stuff to haul around to location shoots.

My first audio recording (my friend was "mixing") was on a large gray cassette tape recorder useing it's built in mic... placed on the floor in a stratigic spot to "balance the volume levels"... it is still the best recording of a highhat I have ever heard... soo crisp... soo smooth... and the overall recording itself was tolerable ... but there were no vocals...

 

[jfrog]

The hard part it keeping your perspective. I bought a used Fostex digital recorder (VF08) on ebay for not much $$. It's great for recording song ideas, making quick recordings, etc

...but it also has so much capability that begs to be tapped into. Suddenly I'm worrying about which is the most excellent mic to buy, what drum machine will work, getting confused by the best way to eq guitars....

I kind of got sucked into trying to create quality recordings, and I think that's where the huge learning curve comes in. Now every song has to be a production

However, I AM having a blast doing it...

 

[distortedrumble]

i hear ya there....there was a time when i plugged my mic into the my motherboard soundcard and went to town on songs. now i have to turn on the power conditioner which turns on the monitors, compressor, reverb unit and headphone amp. plug in the mixer, restart the computer so i get a fresh take, plug in the mic, turn on the GT-6, tune the guitar, find a pick and then think of what to play.....it sounds like a bit but you dont think too much of it after a while.

 

[noisedude]

what's a power conditioner?

 

[jfrog]

what's a power conditioner?

I think it makes your hair shinier faster than normal conditioner.

 

[noisedude]

*slaps forehead*

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

http://millimeter.com/ar/avinstall_power_line_conditioners/

Fascinating stuff

 

[kevinb9n]

results!

Well, I'm in business! I've recorded my first song.

My setup is Martin D15 to Shure SM-57 microphone to Behringer UB502 mixer (couldn't find the 802 in stock anywhere. Dammit!) to M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound card to Audacity (latest version).

Setting everything up wasn't too painful. Then it took just a bit of experimentation to set the levels properly on everything. Then I recorded a guitar track, applied some compression to it in audacity, and... WOW!

I am blown away by how good it sounds. I am completely overjoyed. It's incredible. yeehaw!

Then I tried vocals. Bad. This is probably because (a) my voice is badly out of shape after a brutal cold I had, and (b) the SM-57 really isn't meant for vocals. I'm hoping that experimenting with different mic placement and effects can produce something "good enough" for now.

I haven't figured out the best way to cable everything yet. For instance, what should I hear in the headphones. While I'm recording, I want to be able to select a mix of hearing my own voice plus hearing some or all of the already-recorded tracks. The problem is that the already-recorded tracks come from the computer (audacity) whereas my vocals can only be echoed back to me via the mixer. Or, if I got the computer to monitor them back to me I fear there would be too much latency. What should I do here?

Also, how can I apply effects in real-time to my voice as I hear it in my headphones, while I'm singing? Even just a little reverb would help. I would still want what's being recorded to be "dry", I just want to hear something a little closer to the end result so I can tailor my performance to it.

Thanks so much everyone. This is fun!

 

[distortedrumble]

right here....its in your best intrest to buy another piece of hardware....a headphone amp is your best bet. that way you can connect your computer playback and your mixer audio to one piece of hardware. the behringer powerplay is 99 bucks...theres also a samson c-control that can do this too. it helps a ton.....if you dont want to do that then its going to take some creative cable setups comming out of your audiophile and your volume wont be very loud and could end up distorting. basically what you'd do is run a splitter from your audiophile to your speakers and the pair of headphones.

i'm not sure about a plug in that lets you hear reverb but records the voclas dry.