Restarting and could really use some advice

  • Thread starter Thread starter LimoWreck
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LimoWreck

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Let me start by professing my ignorance.

I am a singer/songwriter/pianist. A few years ago I dabbled in computer recording. Before that I did 4-track stuff on a portastudio. Recently, I suffered memory loss due to a medical procedure so I have forgotten some of what I knew.

When I started using the computer it was pretty laughable. I was using a free demo of "Internet Tape Deck" and a "Dragon Naturally Speaking" mic (designed for dictation for the disabled). I had to play my piano with one hand and hold the mic/headset in the other. Still, I have recently stumbled upon these recordings and I am impressed by them... they are way better than what I got off my portastudio.

So, anyhow, I am looking to get back into computer recording, but I am not sure where to start. My internet searches have only served to further confuse me. I have some questions if you don't mind answering.

1. What multi-track program would you suggest for recording primarily piano (Roland ep9) and vocals on a Windows computer?

2. I was reading an advertisement for a recorder that claimed it was better for female voices than male voices. I am a woman... are some recorders gender specific?

3. What should I be looking at for a sound card?

4. Is there an internet site with info for beginners that is not sales-driven?

5. Recording software, soundcard, patch chords... what am I forgetting?

I deeply, deeply appreciate any advice you could offer.

Thanks so much.
 
1. check out n-track studio at www.fasoft.com. It's almost as easy as a portastudio, and really good to learn on.

2. no. Some mics work better for certian voices, but recorders just record whatever is sent to them. They don't care what it is.

3. Something easy to use simple to set up and get going for now. Look at the cards made my M-Audio. They have several configurations and you can learn alot just reseaching products and figuring out which works best for you.

4. You found it.

5. Basically, to start on a computer you will need the soundcard/interface, a preamp (which some of the soundcards have built in, again look at the features on them), A microphone, a cable between them, Monitors to listen to what you're doing, and cables to connect those.

Hope it helps get started anyways.

H2H
 
he beat me to it...i was just about to reply to you with the same responses actually :)

Also look for a soundcard that has MIDI in so you can hook up your EP9 (at least I'm assuming it has MIDI out. I'm not really familiar with that model). M-audio makes the Delta 1010lt which has MIDI hookups and mic hook ups (plus a bunch others which you might find useful). That should all give you a nice little start. Good luck. :cool:
 
Hard2Hear... Thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction. I love research and I love it better when I know what to research. :) I thought the male/female voice thing sounded a little odd.

Benny... it does have midi... but I guess I don't understand the concept of midi. I have never looked into it because whenever someone has me listen to a midi file it sounds computer generated... like really complex atari background music. Maybe they are just doing it wrong? Am I wrong about the midi thing?
 
MIDI is more like data transfre than music. If your keyboard has midi, here's how it would work.

You'd hook up the midi out of the keyboard to the midi in on the soundcard, and the in to the out. You could record the MIDI (data)tracks to a recorder, then when you played it back, it would actually send a signal to your keyboard and play it for you. Where this really somes in useful is if you want to edit what you just did in any way. You can go in and change the MIDI data on the track and then play it and it will play like you want on your keyboard.

MIDI is confusing, it took me for ever to get it figured out when I was starting.

H2H
 
H2H... would that create an artificial sounding recording? I mean, I know it's an electric piano, but it's a really nice one. I really want my stuff to sound like someone is playing it... How does midi work with sustain?
 
By the way, the reason it sounded computer generated on your friends computer was because thats exactly what it was. The same MIDI data files are being played, but instead of being sent to a keyboard (or a sound module), it was being sent to a little module in the computer to make noises. Its not exactly set up to sound really good cause thats not the main use of most computers.

That MIDI signal is just a generated data signal, and it can be sent to lots of things, keyboards, synth modules, lighting controllers, recording consoles. It's just a way that information is sent back and forth between music related devices.

Hope that helps some,
H2H
 
You know those old piano rolls that player pianos had? Creating a midi track for keys is very much like creating the piano roll that the player piano reads. It will sound exactly like you were playing it.

MIDI also keeps timing information as well as sustain pedal or modulation wheel changes. It's all in the data.

H2H
 
Actually, that makes a lot of sense.

Kind of like transmitting the same written document but altering the font depending on the output device?
 
I have a program on my computer called fruity loops... not sure where I got it from... I think it does midi.

So, to get an authentic sound, would play into the computer, edit on the computer, play edited music back on the piano while recording onto the computer?

Thanks for answering all these questions, btw.
 
that's exactly what it is. all it is is a programing language really. the sound you will finally record to is the exact sound you get out of your keyboard already. what you're doing though is writing it down in the computer so you can go in and edit certain notes later, copy parts, etc. this way you dont' have to be a perfect player to get a perfect recording.
 
yep you got it. the MIDI language goes to the computer, you edit it, and send it back out to the keyboard where your analog output of the keyboard goes back to your soundcard and records it as real audio
 
yes very much.

For example. I am a fair keyboard player. So I will pick a sound so play on my Roland unit. I will record the MIDI (which is recording my piano key hits and releases, sustain pedal offs and ons, and any modulation wheel changes) then I will go back in the file and correct where I messed up, or want to make a change. VERY much like spellchecking a document. Then I will play the file back to the Roland unit. I can change which patch (or sound) on the Roland I want it to use, I'm not stuck with the sound I was using when I was recording. Thats kind of the beauty of using MIDI. Then once I know what sound I want to use and the playing parts are just right, I play the MIDI track while recording the sound actually coming from the Roland unit. Now I have my keyboard tracks printed to audio.


Make sense?

H2H
 
You guys have helped me so much. I never considered midi anything that could be useful to me.

My horizons are expanding.
 
limowreck i would suggest you check out the demo of powertracks .
the midi sequencer is superb and includes notation and midi editing and tons of other midi features as well lets you record 48 audio tracks.
all for 29 bucks. just try the demo from pgmusic if you think im lying.
if you want to record your piano (eg grand piano) using a microphone
then you will need probably a condenser mic plus a mic preamp.
eg for cheap cad gxl plus say a dmp3. or maybe use a cheap yamaha mg mixer. youll also need a good sound card in your pc that can (i assume your using a windows pc) pick up all the nuances of the grand piano.
for cheap you could try an maudio sound card.
 
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