We're dumb, unexperienced people trying to record. :D

[angeloivan]

Hey if you're actually wasting your time reading this...thank you.
see me and my friend are sort of a two-man band, a vocalist (me) and a guitarist (the friend) and we recently bought a mic thinking that somehow magically we would be able to record songs with it...but obviously it's not that simple! We bought a simple 25$ Unidirectional Dynamic Mic from Radioshack and plugged it in to my PC with his guitar amp using a whole bunch of wires he has. We tried recording with a program we have called Acoustica Mixcraft 4 but had no clue what we were doing. We recorded a couple of vocals, but gave up after we couldn't figure what this huge, low pitched noise in the background was that barely let us hear our recordings...which i recorded in my closet with the mic hanging from a backpack. But anyway i don't know if all this useless information matters... but does anyone have any tips or directions for us? Haha we need serious help with home recording using a PC. Should we get a wire so we don't need the amp? Any easy recording programs that you can recommend? Any type of help is much appreciated! Thanks for reading/gazing through this.

 

[Chili]

Heya, not wasting time reading your thread. Newbie section, you're good here.

But just starting out, you've got a lot to learn. Take the time to read and read more. Lots of reading. First place is to browse the newbies section right here. Most of your questions have already been answered. And mostly, it's going to depend on what you wish to accomplish, how, and your budget.

Probably thre first one or two things you're going to find out is the $25 Radio Shack mic was money lost. Next, you'll learn that you need an interface to the computer. I've heard good things about Mixcraft, so you're good there.

Be sure to check out the tweak guide. Skip over the parts that may not pertain.

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

Good luck and have fun.

 

[angeloivan]

Okay thank you haha I wasn't sure if I should post it here or on the computer part of the forum.

But yes...yes I do have a LOT to learn, I'm 16 and still hoping to find my voice out there. Haha, and we don't want to spend too much unless it's absolutely necessary. And yeah we didn't really know what we were looking for in a mic. But it was one of the cheapest ones and the guy who helped us said it was pretty decent for recording music! But yeah my other friend installed Mixcraft for me because that's what he uses to record sometimes. But I don't know how to work it. But yeah thank you for the advice and the website! It looks informational. And yeah I think that's what making music is about. Expressing yourself and having fun.

 

[Jim Lad]

Hey Bud:
I'm a Mixcraft 4 user but I'm about 40 years older than you are. It's great software, does what I want and is extremely intuitive. (logical)
The only thing I'll suggest is that at your age you may be wise to familiarize yourself with some of the other DAWs too.
Krystal Audio Engine is free, a bit limited but more closely resembles Steinberg's software which most of the popular DAWs resemble for one reason or another.
Mixcraft is designed for folks like me (technically challenged) but does little to help you understand the more popular layouts.
So definitely use it for now but keep your options open.

 

[Dani Pace]

So you have learned one of the most valuable (or should I say money saving tips) lessons already... Know what you want/need before you go shopping, a little research can save you both time and money when shopping for gear.

 

[TimOBrien]

My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

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/04...mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470385421
(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/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/168409-tips-techniques.html

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 that WORK: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)


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 and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

 

[kcearl]

good post by Tim...every month Computer Magazine give away a fully functioning DAW (xt2.5) and a swathe of effects and soft synths..

you're going to need an audio interface, if you still want to go cheap the Behringer UCA202 is adequate to begin with...I use one on my lap top and they come in at around $30...they also come with a copy of Energi XT2.5...

the smallest line6 pod interface the GX studio will also give you vocal preamp software and these are exceptionally good...a friend bought one for $50 off C'List so keep your eyes peeled


try to scour the thrift/pawn shops and pick up an old set of good quality HiFi speakers to monitor on...adequate can be found for $20-$30

read up before you part with any serious cash as quality isnt always reflect in the price of things

welcome aboard