Simplicity: does it still exisit?

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blindjoedeath

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A little background before my question/rant.....I'm 51 years old and have been playing guitar and lute for as long as I care to recall. I have experience in recording that is several decades old. I know how to record in an analog environment. Since I record one or two acoustic instruments at a time, with minimal multitracking, I always used very little in the signal chain. ( Less is more, purity of signal, etc..... ) I know how to get a really good punchy, alive sound, that sounds good (to my ears at any rate...)

Fast forward to the present day. (Even "fast forward" is a dinosaur of a term...) I'm trying to embrace the digital world of recording with my macbook. I started with garage band. This software is wanting me to choose click tracks and barlines and all sorts preloaded stuff that is, ultimately, useless to me as I try to record a single track of acoustic guitar. There seems to be so much crap stuffed into the signal chain and no way to get rid of it all.

SO my question is this: Is there a software package that will simply record what you play into it, without offering me several hundred prepackaged ways of distorting it? It there anything that mimics recording onto tape, without all the "helpful" barlines and clicktracks and amp models that are of no use to me? Is there anything that is a blank slate that will allow me to add the very few effects (compression, reverb?) I need and not overwhelm me with endless tweeks and gimicks?

I know this sounds sort of like grandpa simpson, but, seriously, is there any simple recording packages out there that sound good?

Thanks......
 
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I myself find Cubase quite simple in that respect. There is a bit of initial setup with any DAW to get routing of input/output channels. A stand alone recorder might be a bit more straight forward.
 
I have experience in both Adobe Audition and ProTools, and initially they both do not "add" things the the signal chain. You have the option to work with inserts and sends, but they are not "pre-populated" with preset effects or anything to make it supposedly sound good. I have never worked much with Garageband, but from what I have seen and heard, that program is designed for people with little to no audio experience and try's to do alot of the work for you. I know you can make it so it is more audio person friendly and take most of that out, I am just not sure how.
 
It exists. You've just started off on the wrong path.

Garageband (while it may have other functions) is primarily designed to be a point-and-click song/backing track/jingle builder.

All those apple loops are designed in such a way that any numpty (or child) can pick a time sig, a key sig and a style, then have a professional sounding track.

Most, if not all, professional DAW software will work the other way. YOu just open a blank sessions and record what you want.

Pro tools, for example, has the option of setting time/key signatures and clicks and all the rest, but if you don't wanna use it, you don't use it.
By default there are no effects in place. You choose what you want, if you want anything.

As far as emulating tape, there are plugins that are meant to do that, but from what i read, those who love tape just love tape. You might be one of those guys who'd prefer to have an 8 (or more) track mixer and reel to reel, but all your outputs are recorded to digital for editing?

Examples: Cubase, sonar, reaper, pro tools, logic, adobe audition. All of these let you record what you want with no effects, and also offer you the option of adding effects tec.
Hope that's useful.
 
jimmys69 said:
A stand alone recorder might be a bit more straight forward.
Click to expand...
I know you said you want to use your Macbook, but digital standalones represent a good half way house between the analogue workflow /"hands on~ishness" and the digital precision and speed /editing.
But to be honest, any computer based DAW is going to require a leap of imagination from you and a new way of negotiating the steep learning curve. Then you get acquainted and soon it becomes like brushing your teeth. It becomes simple before you realize that it is.
 
It's well known that garageband and lute players are mutually exclusive...

Get a "proper" DAW or standalone, and learn from there. Ain't that hard if you konw how to do it on tape...

They all sound the same, that is, they have no sound at all. Or shouldn't.
 
When older friends (I'm the same age) ask me to recommend a recording computer, software, etc etc, I ask what they plan to do with it. If they just want to record some songs at home for their own use I recommend that they buy a stand alone digital recorder like a tascam DP03 or if they want something bigger a tascam 2488, Roland/Boss make a few as well. They have all the recording on board, you don't have to worry about being computer literate and they just let you get on with the recording, like a modern Cassette portastudio without the cassette.

I usually say to get the recorders with built in Cd burners so that you can do it all without external burners / computers.

Alan.
 
arcadeko said:
Try this REAPER | Download

or for something even more simple, but not quite as easy to mix with Audacity: Download
Click to expand...

+1 on Reaper..I'm a few years older than you and know how you feel... I struggled thru some health issues awhile back, I had to sell off all my analog gear to pay for doctor bills,etc...I wanted to be able to still at least continue writing songs so I figured the cheapest way would be the DAW route..I knew I'd only get one DAW because I knew the learning curve was gonna be tough. I picked up Reaper and to my suprise, I've actually learned quite a bit about it..!.I'm able to record tracks/mix,etc. and even though I don't know the Reaper program as most experienced techies do, I'm getting some songs worked out..!..I'm planning on getting me another analog set up hopeful sometime next year, but I think I'll use Reaper/'puter to track and just come out of the 'puter into an analog console/outboard for mixing..Since I'm a minimist person about track count anyway, I just use Reaper as an analog recorder. I probably don't use more than 24-32 tracks for a song.! ( I know, I know.. I have unlimited tracks.(lol)..Good luck
 
There are a million youtube how-to videos for all the DAW programs.

Since you have some experience in recording, even if it is all analog, all the DAW concepts are basically translations from analog, so I guess you could say they are analogous :p
 
Also looking for new yet simple

I'm looking into a Tascam DP-03 for those same reasons, more or less. Research it on the web first or drop into your local music store for a peek. Go to Tascam's homepage. I'm not able to post a website link yet or I'd give you the direct page to click to for the DP-03 overview, etc..
 
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