recording and getting a professional sound from home

[trainwreck orchestra]

hi, yo, greetings :wave:

i am almost totally ignorent about recording except recording through a mic into a recording program or pluging my guitar in the back of my computer through an effects pedal, however, i have noticed alot of people on the forum and elsewhere are able to create an almost band quality recording from home.

i would like to know how exactly to get a decent recording quality.
drums are not a problem, but i need to know how to make the guitars sound decent, not as if they are live.

the programs i have are:

Cakewalk Plasma (i got this free in a 'Guitarist' magazine)
Acoustica Beatcraft
Acoustica mp3 Audio Mixer

i would like to know is if these programs are enough to record a decent, professional sounding composition. if not, what do i need to download/buy in order to produce a decent CD quality recording?

i would love to be able to create music like this sort of recording:

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=484811

by 'Garfo' which seems to be perfect as though it was written out on the computer and not recorded through a mic (?)

....but more technical like Meshugga, psyOpus, martyr, SikTh etc etc

ive got all the riffs and solos and wot not in my head and recorded down, i just need to put them all together and make them sound like they have been produced 'properly' so no notes are wrong and the sound is good etc

another thing, is in professional recordings, when they record the guitars and stuff, how do they get it note perfect and tone perfect etc etc

ive heard about virtual instruments; is this what they use? and could i use one...

....or do they record the instruments and edit it and change the pitch and everything to correct wrong notes and can this be done at home?

please tell me if my hopes are 'too high' lol but if not, any help would be appreeeeeeciated greatly!! :chug:

sorry if there are other threads about this :smash:

[Ethan.]

Adobe Audition maybe?

[trainwreck orchestra]

sounds gooooood. does anyone have any examples of what they have done with adobe audition, preferebly using beatcraft for the drums?

[crazyguy832]

I can't show you anything with a full band, but this is something I did with just my voice with Audition:

Before Edits: http://media.putfile.com/Before-32

After Edits: http://media.putfile.com/After-41

As you can tell, I cleared up extra distortion and noise in the background, made it sound better, added a chorus effect and a nifty echo.

But, yeah, with some careful editing, you can do some SWEET stuff in Adobe Audition (or Audacity, for that matter). It just takes time to get used to the program.

[trainwreck orchestra]

yeah i can hear the difference, really creepy lol

i want to be able to do that sort of thing with my guitar as well as correcting wrong notes. but i think i need a new mic as this one:

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n122/trainwreck_orchestra/DSCF1336.jpg

is definately not the best audio capture device in the world!!

[crazyguy832]

^^^
XD

If you're stuck on using one computer mic, you could expect to spend anywhere from $30-$100 depending on how high of a quality you want. Personally, I use my mic 95% of the time for voice acting, so it's not like I need a very fancy setup to record an entire band (although, if I did, it probably would work OKAY for, say, a rough myspace demo song or something). It was a $50 Logitech headset and, as you can hear, it was great quality. A $50 mic will just be better.

For doing that with guitar... correcting wrong notes? Eh, I'd say no. There are some programs you can do that with, but something like Audition? Eh... I'd say possible but incredibly hard. What you can do is stuff like clearing static (HUGE problem with cheaper mics), bad pops, fizzles, feedback, and the like pretty easily.

Oh, also... most of the things you can do in Audition you can also do in Audacity... Audition's just faster, better, smarter, and nicer (and has a lot of extra stuff).

:p

[trainwreck orchestra]

thanks, thats helpfull. i guess i just need to experiment and play around a bit and ......er...... get a better mic lol :smash:

do you know anything about virtual instruments? like how to program them and how they work? i have the reason demo to expariment with

[Phototropic]

sounds gooooood. does anyone have any examples of what they have done with adobe audition, preferebly using beatcraft for the drums?

http://www.myspace.com/dustvine

Recorded everything on there with adobe....used Garageband to program the drums though

All I did, editing wise was EQ on the bass, everything else is raw

[trainwreck orchestra]

the guitars and drums were really good, but the bass made it a bit crackly i think? i might look into garageband for the drums cos they sounded real, or did you record them live?

im away for 2 weeks now so keep em comin!!

thanks :chug:

[Phototropic]

I programmed all the drums in garageband yeh

[Mispeled]

Yeah, Garageband is a good program, it also has built-in effects that sound decent, although not the best interface for adjusting them.

Like Phototropic said it's great for drums, but it also can do a good variety of things with synths, organs, and pianos.

[DannySmith]

Firstly, I don't think it has a huge amount to do with the software, or equipment for that matter.

It's about taking care and time over it. I've got a friend who wacks out a song within 3/4 hours, parts are distorted, parts are too bassy, muffled, out of time e.t.c.

Carefully process each and every wav. Do one thing at a time.


Secondly, practice helps. The quality of my latest songs are so much better than the older ones. I'm not using anything different, I've just learnt what works and what doesn't over time.

Here's an example. The first recording was made last year sometime. The second recording was made a little while ago. Using the SAME equipment. And theres plenty of ways I could think of improving the second recording now that I didn't think of at the time.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bas/oldvsnew.wma

A total beginner can play a Gibson SG with a DSL100 with a rack of effects. Joe Satriani would still kick his as$ with a Squier and an MG.


I only create my recordings as demos though. The real thing will get done in a studio. Quality I can never beat. Technicians that actually have a clue what they're doing unlike myself.

[Phototropic]

Yeah it just takes practise

The first recordings I banged out on a 4-track were just a few guitars

Then I used drum loops and played over that

Eventually you get up to planning beforehand which takes up to a week to get the click tracks and edit the drum tracks,and generally line everything up before a record button is even pressed

Also re-stringing is a must, if you ain't gonna re-string, prepare to have a muddy, weedy sounding demo

[Vitriolic Rage]

For guitars, you'd be best buying something like a Line 6 POD, or Behringer V-Amp