New to recording

[WadeStoker92]

I have an acoustic guitar, and a Yamaha Ypg-635.

I want to start recording but I dont know how, I have no programs on my computer, and the only equipment I have are my two instruments.

What all do I need?

And btw, I'm unemployed, and broke, so money is a problem.

 

[northlaine]

lol aint we all m8
ok first this is what u need
1 a recording program ie: cubase sx / sonar / FL / Protools
2 a audio card for you pc/mac that has a input
3 a mic and preamp
4 studio monitors or normal speakers with amp
5 headphones

money a problem (*****************)

 

[mattr]

money a problem (learn what torrents are m8 that will start u off)

I see your reputation has plummeted after just 6 posts. Congratulations.

How about Reaper to begin with, which has a good free trial and then costs next to nothing to buy? http://www.reaper.fm/

 

[Waffleness]

lol aint we all m8
ok first this is what u need
1 a recording program ie: cubase sx / sonar / FL / Protools
2 a audio card for you pc/mac that has a input
3 a mic and preamp
4 studio monitors or normal speakers with amp
5 headphones

money a problem (learn what torrents are m8 that will start u off)

Saying stuff like that will get you banned. Its also incorrect, because a lot of cracked versions are broken.


If I were you, OP, I would download Audacity and Reaper. These are 2 FREE programs that are good to start learning on.

 

[TimOBrien]

Recording is not a hobby to go into if you're broke; it'll only make you broker....

On the other side, you CAN go to any public library and order the books I list below and they WILL GET THEM FOR YOU FREE...
(and you can always sit in Borders or Barnes&Noble all day long reading.... they wont throw you out)
'Ya gotta do some learnin' first:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad:

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 - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that 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!

Another good one is: 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!!)

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/

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

Also Good Info: http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.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 tested suggestions: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

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 $50 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. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

 

[Treeline]

The first thing to do is to find someone who is doing this and hang out - help with a gig, or do running around, or talk with a local school media department, whatever. Spend a little time with someone else; time is free and knowledge is more important than gear. But when you do buy, consider this:

1. If you can borrow a small mixer from someone (or you can buy a basic unit for under a hundred bucks), a trs 1/4" cable and a 2-1 (stereo - dual mono) cable adapter, you can use the mixer as an interface. Run the trs cable from the mixer main outs to the LINE input on your soundcard and you can get signal. Windows has a rudimentary mixer program that will let you at least test the idea. Download this to learn about simple routing common to most mixers: Mackie CFX Mixer Manual. A good alternative is to investigate USB interfaces, as the most basic are inexpensive and bypass your computer's (generally inadequate) sound card.

2. Reaper (click on the name) is the best low cost software out there, and it has a free trial period.

3. Get some headphones, use the audio out (green) jack on the computer sound card and you'll have what you need to work with signal.

4. For starters, get a basic dynamic mic (Shure PG or whatever) for about fifty bucks or watch Cragslist or ebay for used mics. In fact, you can get the best buys with used hardware generally.

5. Ditto mic cables.

That's pretty much what I did when I started messing with this. Basic sound is not expensive. What gets expensive is that your ear will acclimate to it and then will begin to demand more. Then you get like us....

 

[mjbphotos]

How do you make a million dollars with Home Recording?







Start with 2 million!

 

[mattdee1]

I have an acoustic guitar, and a Yamaha Ypg-635.

I want to start recording but I dont know how, I have no programs on my computer, and the only equipment I have are my two instruments.

What all do I need?

And btw, I'm unemployed, and broke, so money is a problem.

I’m just now getting to the point where I have bit of extra money to buy some better gear, but for quite a long time I was hammering out basic recordings with next to nothing. I certainly can’t pee with the big dogs on coaching in the high end of the scale but I can definitely speak with some level of confidence on the topic of recording music as an unemployed, penniless songwriter with no training on recording! My basic setup was as follows:

1) An outdated computer (P3 500)
2) A secondhand Soundblaster sound card with full duplex capability ($25) to replace the half duplex stock card in the PC (whatever PC you’re using probably already has a full duplex card built in)
3) An old AKG dynamic microphone that I got as a Christmas gift (I’m guessing ~$40)
4) Cheap-o recording software called DataBecker Music Center, which I bought at Future Shop ($30), the free ones listed here are probably just as good or better
5) Programmable drum software called PC Drummer Pro ($30), bought off the net—if you’re just strumming acoustic tunes maybe you don’t even need this
6) A crappy old DJ mixer that some friend left at my house when we were teenagers—used it as a makeshift preamp to boost the mic signal to the sound card
7) Home theater headphones, stole from my parents (probably ~$30)
8) Guitars, assorted cables

Of course, everything I did with this was completely “solo”—recorded layer by layer and mixed (i.e., I had no capability of recording simultaneous separately mixable tracks, which didn’t matter because I was alone with one mic anyway). If single inputs don’t cut it, you’ll need to spend a bit more money on a multi-input audio interface.

I know most of the guys here are probably laughing/cringing at this list but I did a lot of work with this poor-man setup, and had tons of fun in the process. Yes, the authenticity of the drum sound was questionable, the sound card and “preamp” caused a bit of low-level hiss and the finished songs had a “lo-fi” feel to them, but even still some of the work turned out good enough that friends and family were requesting CD’s for themselves and listening enough to actually sing along to the songs and give me detailed feedback, which helped immensely.

Bottom line is I learned a lot in those days—in particular about what I couldn’t do within the constraints, which helped me more clearly identify where I needed to spend money when it became available.

What I’m getting at is I’m no world class songwriter or musician and yet I was still able to get something done with almost nothing. That’s the beauty of PC based recording. If you would like some better perspective on what results I was able to eke out of this abysmal setup, maybe I could upload some examples so you can judge for yourself whether you think it’s worth your time. It would give me an excuse to walk down memory lane.

Best of luck!