So how did YOU get into recording?

[wjgypsy]

We all know that we love recording. It brings us joy and happyness (man in crowd: "skip the hallmark crap Zeke!" ) anyway, how did YOU get into the Recording World? For me: When i was real little (7-10) I played around with the tape recorder on my boom box. Then i heard of "the Beatles" (some 30 years before my time,) and their lead guitarest George Harrison, God rest his soul, Inspired me to learn the guitar. I already new how to play drums from an old kit i got for christmas a few years back, and then i began to record my self, playing along with a beatle song on my boom box. Later that year, One of my brothers gave me a Musicians Friend and then i decided that i was going to be famos ( ) and needed a little studio to record my songs (that i had begon to write) So, in late 2001, my mom bought me a fostex XR-5 4-track tape recorder that i messed around with until christmas, when i got a computer, mixer and a mic. Then in may, the computer crashed and i went for 5 months without recording and then in october of last year, I had saved up enough money to buy me a Fostex vf-16. and here i am.

Enough about me. What about YOU?.........

 

[scottboyher]

As a songwriter in Nashville I needed a way to get my ideas on tape. I started with a Fostex 4 track and went up from there. I also enjoyed recording with friends and getting some ideas on tape. I have come a lllllooooonnnnnggggg way from the old Fostex..

My sound today is 1,000,000 times better than that of the Fostex days but ironically my writing has almost stopped..

 

[jonobacon]

I got into recording as a mere requirement to get my music recorded in history.

I first started out with a cassette player in my mum and dads stereo; making mock radio shows and what not. When I started listening to Iron Maiden I then learned drums and also started playing guitar. As I started getting in bands and playing more my mum and dad bought an old Yamaha 4-track for my mum to use for her kareoke (she is an awesome singer). I managed to nick it and take it to my bedroom where I recorded my guitar on it.

As time went by I saw Cubase on the net and decided that I wanted to get it for my PC. A few years passed as I dropped off and on with interest and I finally got it. I then bought a mixing console (Studiomaster) and when I moved into my own place with my girlfriend decided I had the room to set a studio up properly. I now have it upstairs.

the idea of a studio has always exited me - it's a place where I can go and be creative and everything I need has it's place. It is also a place where I have absalute control of the music - something that doesnt happen in a band.

I am by no means a huge recording buff - I am getting more into it though, but I would be lost without my studio, and I am using it to record my first solo album.

Cheers,

Jono

PS, you can see pics of my current setup at http://www.seraphidian.co.uk/studiopics/

 

[wjgypsy]

My sound today is 1,000,000 times better than that of the Fostex days

Same here dude.

 

[TexRoadkill]

I started on home casette players in highschool in the late 80's and worked on up to a 4track casette. I took some classes in college for Electronic Music in '90 and learned sequencing using Vision on a Mac.

About a year ago I decided to get back into it after a few years hiatus and my savings account will never be the same.

 

[wjgypsy]

Hay Jonobacon,

Nice studio man!

Texroadkill,

What do you use to record now?

To see my studio click on the little "www" icon at the bottom of my box.

To here some of the things that i have recorded go to: http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1775&alid=-1

 

[TexRoadkill]

A few months ago I bought a Radar Nyquist 24 and a Soundcraft Ghost. I'm just now getting everything dialed in so I can have some bands come over and do some real recordings.

I've heard some of your stuff before, Zeke. You're definately off to a good start. Keep rockin!

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Started by using 2 cassette decks to do sound-on-sound back in my teens........ just kept getting more and more into it from there!

 

[Henri Devill]

Started by using 2 cassette decks to do sound-on-sound back in my teens........ just kept getting more and more into it from there!

Ditto on the sound on sound as a teen..Then I stoped..Just did live work and studio for about 10 years{as a player}..Got a Yamaha 4 track had it for a year or so ..had alot of fun with that setup! Then I got into live work again..Got sent to Florida to gig some.When I got here in the late 80's{Florida}The band would do "sessions" at FullSail.. I did about a thousand hours of "sessions there in a very short time.We'd go in after a gig and get out about 7:00 or 8:00 am .Thats when I really got the bug..When some one else was trackin' I just sit there in the control room and suck it all in!The tracking was pretty bad{students} but I kinda got a free education almost{don't know sh*t}..LOL..There was alot of very good Instructors/Engin. at the time..If you are in Florida and can do some of those sessions, as a band it can be a great learning experience..


Don

 

[RideTheCrash]

Hey Zeke, nice cover of Get Free, me and my band do that. Yeah...no offence re-cut the vocals, low in places (2nd verse) and scream harder! Lol, I've screamed that song to the point where my voice is usually shot when we jam. I put it on my computer and someone downloaded it off Kazaa from me, whoops.

 

[chessrock]

Worked at a Public Radio Station doing news and weather. Funny how I learned about editing; on my night shifts, I would have to record satelite feeds of Marian McPartlands' Piano Jazz to 1/2" reel, to be aired later in the week. Sometimes I would be so tired from working and studying (was taking classes at the time), that I would nod off and miss the very beginning of the satelite feed . . . so I figured out how to splice the show's intro from one of the previous weeks on to that one to cover my ass. And where she would say "Today's guest is" I would even edit that from a section later on in the show, and so on.

The station manager caught one of my edits and actually said something to the effect of "God edit." So I got a lot of extra work doing tape edits . . . something I'd never want to have to go back to.

From there, I started doing the "multiple bounce" thing on the reel-to-reels and DAT recorders after hours, and made a few "so-so" recordings.

 

[crosstudio]

as a teenager i was playing rhythm guitar for an Open Bible Church.

the lead guitar player's nephew got a keyboard for christmas that had this thing called MIDI in it.

so we sat and figured out how to record keyboard parts in MIDI, so we could be a two man band. before long we wanted to record the guitar and vocal parts too.

eventually, i got a MIDI enabled casio drum machine with hard set drum sounds and 4 sample pads capable of sampling up to two full seconds of sounds.

THEN the MIRACLE happened!!!

my stingy dad who never bought me much of anything built me a 286 desktop and bought me Cakewalk for DOS. I striped a track of my 4-track tape deck with Midi Time Code and that was it... hooked for life!

 

[muzakal]

How did I get into recording... hm...

Well, there I was - punch drunk, and with the biggest headache I'd ever had staring at a girl who swore she was 18 - all in the middle of the atlantic.

Wait, that's how I got married - sorry 'bout that, let me work on the recording story.



-muzakal

 

[Cyrokk]

When i was in 4th or 5th grade I got a tape recorder for my birthday. I had a blast recording farts, peeing in the toilet, my friends' bad jokes, and putting on little tape "radio" shows..

Then in 6th grade I joined highschool band playing trombone and found out that I excelled at the instrument.. Two years later I found Led Zeppelin and started playing guitar.. A few years later I discovered drop D tuning (via Steve Vai in DLR's "Damn Good", predating grunge by six or seven years) and my writing skills reached new heights.. At that point I knew exactly what I wanted: A home recording studio to produce my songs from start to finish.

Cy

 

[wjgypsy]

Yeah. i remember now. I also did little "radio" Shows. I actulliy convhenced my friend that it was a "real" radio show

He's smarter now.........

 

[TexRoadkill]

I forgot when I was real young a friend had one of the vinyl record recorders. You had to do it right from the beginning because there was no way to rerecord. It was right before regular casettes came out during the 8track casette days. Anyone else every use those?

 

[SS454]

A friend of mine had a Tascom 4 track, and it looked really fun to play with, so I got one and never looked back.

 

[A Reel Person]

Started @ 13 learning to play guitar,... hack-self-taught guitar.

By age 18, I got the urge to do tape-on-tape cassette overdubbing of my jams,... & I was hooked on recording. Tape-on-tape overdubs were of a horrible sound quality, and hiss up to there, but I had gotten the recording bug. At that time, I used to live, dream & drool over the "new" Tascam 144 Portastudio, then a fabulous new invention for musicians & songwriters, a self contained 4-track recorder & onboard mixer. Sweet.

FF to age 21, when I was finally able to afford a real recorder, the then "state of the art" Tascam 244. I got the 244 and still have it to this day, and despite a couple bouts of maintenance, it's still a mint piece of gear, and still records & sounds great.

Then, within a year, [82-83] I got a new guitar [Ibanez Blazer] and new bass [Peavy T-40], plus a handful of accessories, and was pretty well set, musically & with studio-gear. I've always had a "keep it simple" ethic I've followed in the studio, and a few good pieces of gear was all I needed.

Very soon after that, [about 1983], I scored the "new" Tascam 38 1/2"-8-track & "new" Tascam M30 8x4x2x2 mixer. I did many 8-track productions, considering my budget limitations and the $45/reel tape cost, which was a considerable expense at that time. Now, I consider tape cost a minimal expense, as compared to everything else, but I still have those old archive reels from the '80s.

My 4th piece of gear was not until 1997, when I scored a "new" Tascam 424mkII, my second Portastudio recorder. By then, I had developed a need to be able to run NORMAL speed cassettes in my 4-track, to enable me to overdub on some raw stereo jam tapes that were made in a normal-speed cassette deck,... PLUS, the fact that my 244 was then serving as a PA/vocal mixer for my live-in-studio jams, and I needed the second 4-track cassette Portastudio to continue recording on 4-track cassette.

Since then, I've acquired a ton of gear, mostly used Tascam gear off Ebay, and have filled my home-studio with about every choice piece of Tascam gear I could have imagined. At a certain point, my gear acquisition went beyond the "practical use" aims, and became a "collection" of gear, all of which still serves a practical recording use in the studio, not to mention the 17 guitars, 4 basses, piano, & tons of mics & accessories I've accumulated over the last 20 years. Actually, most of my gear was acquired at a moderately "normal" pace, until about Y2000, when I started acquiring gear at an accellerated pace, & now the home-studio is jam-packed with great gear, the likes of which I could not have even dreamed about 20 years ago.

I've been hooked on home-recording for over 20 years, and it's been a lifetime of fun & pleasure. Music & home recording is just plain fun, and now I think recording serves as an important archival tool to document a musical & personal growth, set onto tape, & etched into history.

 

[A Reel Person]

Above is a partial view. Here's another view,

 

[A Reel Person]

3rd view...