Need help starting

[Grego12]

Hello, I have been playing guitar for about 4 years now, and probably like everyone on this site, I want to start recording. But I know next to nothing about recording, and in my crazy not thinking excited state I purchased a Line 6 UX1, and a Shure SM58 for recording. I dont expect to make platinum selling albums here, but are these decent enough to get started for recording? I installed Pod farm and fiddled around with that for a bit, but when i tried to find the "Record" button I was led on a wild goose hunt. Im starting to think I need another program to record? Any help would be grateful!

 

[mgjr73]

your UX1 is just an interface. It should've come with other software. In your case it should be Ableton Live Lite. That's your DAW and it's the one you use to record. Take time to follow tutorials especially on the setting up preferences part. This could make or break your enthusiasm for your art.

I know you're excited to start recording but it won't happen or you won't get good results if you skip steps. So take a deep breath and read instructions on how to operate your UX1 and Live and follow them one step at a time... have a song that you really need to get down before you forget it??? Put down the manuals, grab a tape recorder and play, you can use it as a reference once your up and running with your DAW.

Live Lite is...well, Lite. I think it will take you only as far as 16 tracks. That's plenty but eventually you might find you'll need more. If you don't want to spend too much, I've read in the forums that you can get the full featured Reaper. I'm sure others will be able to fill you in on this.

As for the recording phase, there's more to it than just firing up your DAW. Recording is very technical so you should read up on that too. Be warned, the learning curve is a bit high but not insurmountable. A good starting place to learn online is at http://tweakheadz.com/.

I pretty much have the same setup as you, except I have a UX2. Check out my links below to hear what I've done with mine. It's not perfect but I've been told in this forum that it's a good start.

I'll leave it with the others to fill in the blanks as I am still in the learning process too.

Welcome and good luck.

 

[CFox]

Hello, I have been playing guitar for about 4 years now, and probably like everyone on this site, I want to start recording. But I know next to nothing about recording, and in my crazy not thinking excited state I purchased a Line 6 UX1, and a Shure SM58 for recording. I dont expect to make platinum selling albums here, but are these decent enough to get started for recording? I installed Pod farm and fiddled around with that for a bit, but when i tried to find the "Record" button I was led on a wild goose hunt. Im starting to think I need another program to record? Any help would be grateful!

Hi. Ok. You have a good vocal mic and I think the UX1 has some decent mic pres packaged as part of Pod Farm. It helps to learn some standard definitions so you stay up to speed when rummaging around the net . These defintions dont change.

Your UX1 is an Audio Interface ( gets signal to and from computer at a higher quality than on board sound card )

Your Pod Farm is a both Standalone Software and a Plugin Processor You are currently using it in Standalone Mode. To record it you need....

....You need a DAW ( Digital Audio Workstation )

As my new buddy stated above, you should have Ableton as part of your install package.

I highly recommend you download and install Reaper. You will only hear good things about this DAW


Once you get the DAW running come back if you have any dramas concerning using your Pod Farm as standalone or as plugin.


Stand Alone mode is equivalent to playing through an amp and fx rig. You play and hear the result in real time.

Plugin Mode is where you can record a dry unprocessed signal and then apply the signal processing later. This is cool because you can change the amps and fx and anything you want and not have to commit to the change. You can also hear a processed signal while you record and I think that the UX1 can be routed to record both the processed signal to channels 1 and 2 and a dry signal to 3 and 4.

 

[Grego12]

Allright thanks a lot guys for the info! Did a bit of research on Reaper and i'll probably purchase it. Thanks again!

 

[TimOBrien]

My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $16
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recordin...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273169612&sr=1-1

PC Recording Studios for Dummies - $16
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Stu...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273169612&sr=1-2
(Wish I'd had those when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Gui...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

Home Recording for Beginners by Geoffrey Francis
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recording-Beginners-Geoffrey-Francis/dp/1598638815

When you get a bit into it, I highly recomend The Art of Mixing by David Gibson
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Mixing-Recording-Engineering-Production/dp/1931140456

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at www.tapeop.com

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics and have good tips:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/168409-tips-techniques.html

Guitar Amp Recording: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug07/articles/guitaramprecording.htm

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig: http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Other recording books: http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) and NOT quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and user-tested suggestions that work: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)

Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:
Sony ACID Xpress 10-track sequencer: http://www.acidplanet.com/downloads/xpress/
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com/smm

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
(It's $60 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages...
http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)