Starting Computer Recording

[Rebecca]

Hello. I want to start recording on my computer. I want to be able to SEE and point and click on the actual soundwaves. I don't know exactly how I'm supposed to do that.

- I am under the impression that I need a multi track (i want more than 4 tracks) recording/mixing program for my PC. suggestions?
- I cannot plug a guitar anywhere into my computer- what step am I missing here? some sort of external mixer, right? i have a fostex fd4 but no discs and i think it needs a disc to act as a mixer to a computer. what else can i use? and where does this external device plug into my computer?
-what formats do these computer programs record to? do you store the sound on HARD DRIVE SPACE or a DISK? do i need to buy another drive like a jazz drive or something?

So, any help would be greatly appreciated! Especially very detailed easy to understand info.
Thanks for your time,
Rebecca

 

[drstawl]

Check out Dragon's explanations at the main site. The scaly one has got it covered.
Trust me!
Figure out how many tracks you need to record at once. This will point you toward the right hardware.
Get some sort of pre-amp for your instrument level sources. This can range from mixers to tape decks to dedicated pre-amps or even the infamous POD! Any of these will plug into your computer with the appropriate cable.

 

[drstawl]

Check out Dragon's explanations at the main site. The scaly one has got it covered.
Trust me!
Figure out how many tracks you need to record at once. This will point you toward the right hardware.
Get some sort of pre-amp for your instrument level sources. This can range from mixers to tape decks to dedicated pre-amps or even the infamous POD! Any of these will plug into your computer with the appropriate cable.

 

[dobro]

Some answers to some of your questions.

1 Software - there's loads of multitrack software available, at all sorts of prices (see the forums at the bottom of this bbs, for example). I use Cool Edit Pro from Syntrillium, which does what you described, and n-Track Studio is also highly praised, and cheap. Surf up prices on the web.

2 Plugging into the computer - you need one of the good audio soundcards, which have jacks to plug into. Some soundcards have an break-out box, or patch box, to plug into. The more channels to plug into, the more expensive the card. How many channels are you going to be recording at the same time? Most people, however, plug guitars and mics and stuff into a mixer first, and from there into the soundcard. More flexibility and control.

3 Storage - the wav files that the computer creates when recording music take up *lots* of disk space. Megabytes for a short song. Common opinion on this page is that the best storage approach for the dollar, yen or franc is one the CD-RW drives, which store data on 650 megabyte re-recordable disks. And depending which drive you get, you can also burn CDs on it (which are not re-recordable).

All of this noise is expensive, so you would do well to spend time before you spend your money, getting information before you get gear. Both the search facility at the top of this page, and the main site (homerecording.com - run by a dragon!) are ace ways to get valuable information about all this. "My mama told me...you better shop around."