I have the stuff...now what?! Help please

C

charlottetat

New member
Hi everyone,

I'm brand new to home recording, so if irritating questions from newbies are not your thing, then turn back now cos I have a VERY basic question to ask you:

I decided to start home recording, so I found out what I needed and bought:

A decent puter
Alesis Amp
Behringer Eurorack Mixer
A large diaphragm condensor mic
Some moniters

Now the software I have is logic audio, reason and cakewalk audio.

I've pretty much got to grips with reason but I just CAN'T figure out how to record on any of the sequencer progs. I've tried the tutorials but it seems they are aimed at people who already KNOW the basics, I think I've got everything plugged in right cos I can record using the windows sound recorder, but when I try on Logic or Cakewalk - nothing!...so any help would be greatly appreciated :)

p.s. is a large diaphragm condensor mic going to be OK to record double bass with?

Ta!
 
Yo Charlottetat, and welcome to the board! First, I know diddly about Cakewalk and Reason, so I'll leave that question for someone that has a clue. As far as double bass- What you have asked is, " I've got a piece of rubber. Will it work OK for a hockey puck?" Double bass is an instrument that can be mic'd in a bunch of different ways. with condensers, small diaphragm or large, dynamics, or ribbon mics. And there are many, many, types of large diaphragm condensers with different characteristics.
The most common way to mic a doublebass is with a mic intended for low frequencies (duh!) which usually means a kick drum mic. Favorites include AKG D112, EV RE20, Audix D6, and AT PRO 25. These are often used in conjunction with a condenser, either SD or LD. As long as the mics can pick up low frequencies, almost any combination can work. So in other words, experiment with placement, and the answer is you can probably use almost any mic, but the place you need to put it may vary quite a bit, depending on the mic, the instrument, the player, the material, and the room. No easy answer, mate.-Richie
 
Hi,
There is a Cakewalk forum here and there is a manual for Cakewalk....I am unsure if you have conflicts inbetween your softwares....shouldn't be the issue...but, anyways...
the first question I would have to ask is what kind of soundcard are you using?

regardless of the card....the Euro rack main outs (left and right or just left) should be routed to the "line in" of your soundcard....
you might need adapters if you want both left and right channels of the main "out" of the Eurorack to record....
1/4" female duals to a single 1/8" stereo male plug would do the trick....
I am just assuning that you have a low end soundcard that came with your computer and that it has a 1/8" line in....
Once this is done...you need to enable the "line in" oif your windows mixer....right click on the speaker icon at the lower left corner of the task bar on your desktop....go to the audio tab and click on "sound recording"....enable the line in option and make sure it is not muted..
I can't help you on recording MIDI if that is what you need to do...
As far as your microphone is concerned....well...try it and see how it works for your bass...
Microphones are one piece of gear that people often discuss (argue) as to their merits and applications....there are so many to choose from that it's hard to say whether the one you have is good or not....like I said though...can't hurt to try it....
Oh yeah...one thing you do need to know about Cakewalk (and most other recording softwares) is that you have to arm each track to record......there are usually 3 buttons for each track...
R
S
M
R is "armed to record"
S is "Solo"
M is "Mute"

you need to press the R button to enable recording to that particular track....

Good luck,
I am sure there are other fellas here that will help you along the way.
Take it easy and welcome to the site,
Joe
 
I am using am audiophile 2590 soundcard, i think that's a pretty alright one, the guy in the shop seemed to think so...but I suppose he would!

I've got the mixing desk plugged into the right ports on the soundcard, and playback is fine, but now i can't even record in the windows sound recorder...is there something i need to press on the mixing desk?

God I feel dumb!
 
Hi.

Sounds like you need to set your software to see and use your hardware correctly. Also you need to set the input device to "midi' or the equivalent in your soundcard mixer dialog if you are trying to record midi down to audio tracks. (.Wav files )
In cakewalk, go to ( options - audio ) and set your driver for audio record and playback. Sonar Producer includes WDM, ASIO, and MME. I'm not sure of the driver capability of your soundcard. You need to also set the midi devices up for your card. Once done with this you must arm a track for record and make sure you have the correct input/output devices selected on the track or in cakewalk's mixer. Note that cakewalk has a profiler for WDM driver setup that should run on execution of the program the first time that you opened it.

I need to leave the forum now but will offer more help if you need it later. I use and know a great deal about cakewalk and can point you to better advice when I have more time.

cheers,
baba
 
Large condenser mic and double bass.

The mic is a good start but of course, you got to get familiar with its responce.
I found out that if you expeirament with different mic possitions, you get to hear different sound responces the mic picks up.
Try putting the mic 6 feet away then two, try different angles.
you'll be amazed. Try to find that sweet spot.

Now my minds in the gutter.
 
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