I have a question for TheAbstract (or anyone else who feels they can answer it). My friend and I have a band, he plays the bass, I play the guitar and sing. We're both in college right now and we've wrote a few songs and want to record an EP soon. I want to see what the music sounds like all together by making a CD. Let me just say right now WE ARE NOT PLANNING ON SELLING THIS CD. That said it doesn't have to sound studio quality or anything close to it. Now that you have the background, off to the questions.

First of all I have a laptop, and reading some of this thread (don't have enough time to read it all so sorry if you've already answered a question like this) it seems the computer needs a line in jack, which my laptop lacks, it only has the headphone and mic jacks. Would I be correct in assuming I cannot record on the laptop? If not we could record on my friend's pc. I believe it has a soundblaster sound card in it. We definately don't have enough money to buy any special mixers or mics. We have a vocal microphone and can get any recording software needed. If a new sound card is needed, what would be a cheap one that would work for these purposes? Also, will a vocal microphone work to record with? (it has both the big jack for plugging into amps and the headphone size smaller jack) If not, what microphone should I get? We are planning on recording each instrument and vocals seperately, that in mind, which program would be good for recording and mixing this? Also, which program could be used to insert drums into the mix?

Once again, this is not intended to be sold or sent to record labels, it's for me to listen to and see how it sounds, when we want to record the cd we will be using a friends recording studio.

Thank you very much in advance!

what's the best mixing program?

[QUOTE=slimsunny34]I have a question for TheAbstract (or anyone else who feels they can answer it). My friend and I have a band, he plays the bass, I play the guitar and sing. We're both in college right now and we've wrote a few songs and want to record an EP soon. I want to see what the music sounds like all together by making a CD. Let me just say right now WE ARE NOT PLANNING ON SELLING THIS CD. That said it doesn't have to sound studio quality or anything close to it. Now that you have the background, off to the questions.

First of all I have a laptop, and reading some of this thread (don't have enough time to read it all so sorry if you've already answered a question like this) it seems the computer needs a line in jack, which my laptop lacks, it only has the headphone and mic jacks. Would I be correct in assuming I cannot record on the laptop? If not we could record on my friend's pc. I believe it has a soundblaster sound card in it. We definately don't have enough money to buy any special mixers or mics. We have a vocal microphone and can get any recording software needed. If a new sound card is needed, what would be a cheap one that would work for these purposes? Also, will a vocal microphone work to record with? (it has both the big jack for plugging into amps and the headphone size smaller jack) If not, what microphone should I get? We are planning on recording each instrument and vocals seperately, that in mind, which program would be good for recording and mixing this? Also, which program could be used to insert drums into the mix?

Once again, this is not intended to be sold or sent to record labels, it's for me to listen to and see how it sounds, when we want to record the cd we will be using a friends recording studio.

Thank you very much in advance![/QUOTE]
Get an external sound card from amazon.com

[QUOTE=slimsunny34]I have a question for TheAbstract (or anyone else who feels they can answer it). My friend and I have a band, he plays the bass, I play the guitar and sing. We're both in college right now and we've wrote a few songs and want to record an EP soon. I want to see what the music sounds like all together by making a CD. Let me just say right now WE ARE NOT PLANNING ON SELLING THIS CD. That said it doesn't have to sound studio quality or anything close to it. Now that you have the background, off to the questions.

First of all I have a laptop, and reading some of this thread (don't have enough time to read it all so sorry if you've already answered a question like this) it seems the computer needs a line in jack, which my laptop lacks, it only has the headphone and mic jacks. Would I be correct in assuming I cannot record on the laptop? If not we could record on my friend's pc. I believe it has a soundblaster sound card in it. We definately don't have enough money to buy any special mixers or mics. We have a vocal microphone and can get any recording software needed. If a new sound card is needed, what would be a cheap one that would work for these purposes? Also, will a vocal microphone work to record with? (it has both the big jack for plugging into amps and the headphone size smaller jack) If not, what microphone should I get? We are planning on recording each instrument and vocals seperately, that in mind, which program would be good for recording and mixing this? Also, which program could be used to insert drums into the mix?

Once again, this is not intended to be sold or sent to record labels, it's for me to listen to and see how it sounds, when we want to record the cd we will be using a friends recording studio.

Thank you very much in advance![/QUOTE]


you need to buy a jack transformer thingy from radio shack or somewhere. you'll need a 1/8 to a 1/4, or the other way around...im not too sure. i bought a transformer a couple of weeks ago and plugged in my guitar, and mic directly into my laptop and started recording using a software demo. But the problem is, when you plug it directly into the laptop, there will be a delay from the time when you strike the strings, to the time the computer picks it up because the computer cannot process the information that quickly. To avoid the delay, you will need a soundcard, but unfortunatelly, there are no soundcards for laptops. So your best bet is to use your friends comptuer unless you dont mind the dalay. I've tried recording with the delay because i also have a laptop and find the dalay to be VERY annoying.

[QUOTE=Splig]what's the best mixing program?[/QUOTE]

[In my opinion,] Pro Tools.

just a wee sound card related question :)

an external I/o box? Thats a box you can plug leads such as guitar leads into right? If not please let me know.

Also

Im lookin for a soundcard with 3 (at least) mic inputs. My budgets sorta low so that soundcard you mentioned way back at the beginning is sorta out my league. Cheers if you can help.. hope i wasnt a little to vague :S

A question
I've just started setting up a small home recording studio, i'm using:
My computer w/a standard soundcard(mic in, line in, output), adobe audition
Alto L-16 16 channel mixer w/Grahphic Equalizer and Effects
2 x 100w ashton unpowered speakers and a ashton PM4159 4 channel powered mixer
Fostex X-12 Multi-tracker and I can rent any mics i need cheap (Drum Mic Kits and S57s/58s)

My band has a few ****ty amps but we will run through the mixer now as it will be SO much easier so i wont bother posting that. I also use a KORG AX100G multi-effects pedal.

My question is how is the best way to be setting this up? I only just bought my mixer about 2 days ago and it's the first one i've ever really used, i have a vague idea but i'm not really sure. I'm getting a MIDI interface cable in a few days as well. What i would like to know is how do i get my mixer hooked up to my speakers so my band can hear what we are playing and hook it up to my computer/multi-tracker to record at the same time? My idea is go directly into my line in then out where my speaker output is on the sound card only i don't know which output to use on my mixer! lol. If anyone has any tips on using a mixer it would be greatly appreciated as i really only know how to make it sound the way i want just by changing my highs and lows until i get it to sound close to what i want.

Any help would be great thanks

[QUOTE=Flik]just a wee sound card related question :)

an external I/o box? Thats a box you can plug leads such as guitar leads into right? If not please let me know.

Also

Im lookin for a soundcard with 3 (at least) mic inputs. My budgets sorta low so that soundcard you mentioned way back at the beginning is sorta out my league. Cheers if you can help.. hope i wasnt a little to vague :S[/QUOTE]

Too add to that - Would it be best to get a mixer and link that into a soundcard with one input? Seeing as a good mixer has a few inputs (and more features) and you get a resonably decent one for under 100 quid? help me out please :)

Oh! Also - Monitor HEADPHONES ??? are they just good as speakers.. I mean they're a WHOLE lot cheaper.

This is kind of for guitarists..
Would it be possible to run a mic through a PodXT, and then get good sound quality recording through its usb thingie?

Oh and a cable question... Does anyone know a site where you can see information on how you solder two different cables together, so I don't have to buy an adaptor?

I record on my computer using Audacity, and had a quick question about mics. The one we use right now for vocals is a 10 dollar phillips universal mic. It doesnt really pic up sound that well, it comes out extremley crappy. My question is pretty much whats the cheapest mic that can get near studio quality vocals (not neccesarily guitar or drum stuff). Another question is what are dynamic and condenser mics, and what would be the pros of each, and is a specific one of those supposed to be used for vocals.

I'm having a bit of truble with recording programs. I've downloaded cakewalk, but I cant seem to figure out how to work it. I can record and all, but I can't figure out how to "mix" them. I want to layer two recordings but I can't figure out how. Whats the easiest program to use out there which will let me do that?

Um from my understanding, you need monitors just to hear how your music sounds from a nuetral output. So really you don't need huge monitors, just some headphones and maybe your band could listen to what the final mix sounds like on the monitor (headphones) and if it sounds good, then it will sound WAY better on a normal stereo.

Thanks for all the information. That's really helpful!! Very nice of you to lay all that out for us! :thumb:

hey, theabstract, some great stuff you got in this lesson. at the end of the last one you said youd put i printable version but i looked around the site for it (and yes, i did use the search function for all the people who were about to ask,) but i couldnt find it. so if it were possible could please you put one up? thanks.

Thnx for the guide, very informative

Problems with POD XT Guitar Sound recording Line Direct
 

Hope that fits in here:
We want to record a song for a Sampler at home. We use Cubase (don´t know which version).
We use a Line 6 Pod XT for recording guitar.
the problem is: while it sound quite good at clean and low distortion sounds, the high pitch effects used for metal or nu rock don´t sound quite realistic plugging line-direct into the pc. used with an amp - i use an H&K Warp 7 - it sounds nice, but line-direct it´s quite weak - without pressure and with too much -let´s call it - hissing.

as the sound sample site of the official line 6 site (listen to it:[url]http://www.line6.com/podxt/listen.html[/url]) also offers only quite weak high pitched sounds, it seems to me that it is impossible to emulate a good (modern) metal sound with the POD XT.

what is your opinion and advice? or could you create more practical sounds for that (metal-)purpose? if yes, how?

thx.

[QUOTE=theabstract][U][B]LESSON 1[/B][/U]

[U]SoundCard[/U]
The souncard you choose really depends on how many different sources your going to record at the one time. Soundblaster make really great cards for home recording. If your only recording one thing at a time, then you can use the sound card that comes with the PC. If your a 3-4-5 piece band then I would sugest the Sound Blaster Audigi 2 platnum external card. They Have 5 inputs and are great for bands!
[/QUOTE]

I disagree here. I dont think the SoundBlasters are decent for recording at all. Slightly better would be E-mu cards which are manufactured by Creative Labs I believe. I owned a low end model of the E-mu line and found that they gave a better performance over the Audigy's ect..

audigy= 48/96, line ins, mic ins, 5.1 outs, midi in/out...spdf in and out and digital optical in and out...what the hell else could you want for 500 australian dollars?

oh i assumed you know what all the little flashy lights and buttons do...and that your not retarded

oh yeah and since your an expert, re-write the whole thing for me man, i didnt put in any effort or anything dude

I do a bit of messing around at home with music when I'm not with my band, so I know a wee bit about getting it done on the cheap. I'd suggest:

A fast PC - this is a must.

A copy of Buzz ([url]http://www.buzzmachines.com[/url]), which is a FREE software studio that has hundreds of FREE plugins of it's own, instruments and effects - and it can also utilise VST plugins a la Cubase. Buzz can record out to studio-quality digital sound as well as direct to an .mp3 or a .ogg file. Be warned though, this one takes a lot of learning, and the interface isn't to all tastes, but it is free and is one of the most powerful music production applications around (I'd say the most powerful, but I've been using it for years so I'm biased). If you do get it, get one of the big packs that are FREE and come with nearly every available plugin and extension included, including "Overloader" which extends the abilities of the normal Buzz package and is, once again, FREE.

Check out the [b]natural studio[/b] site at [url]http://www.naturalstudio.co.uk[/url] - they have a few good FREE soundfonts, including an absolutely [b]blinding[/b] (and huge) Pearl Export drumkit soundfont with at least 12 velocity levels for each drum, and up to 20 for some of them (for the newbie, that means it has many different samples of each drum hit at different levels of power so that you can make a sequenced drum track sound more natural). The guys there have also done some pianos and a bass guitar. I don't tend to use their bass guitar much, as I use:

refx Slayer VSTi - now this costs money. Not much, but some. However, it can achieve quite an accurate representation of a guitar or bass, with a bit of tweaking. There are loads of options to mess about with, including different string models, adjustable pickups and body type, chainable fx "pedals" to set up your own virtual pedal board, and a few of the major amp types are simulated. Feedback-based effects can be utilised quite realistically, once you know a bit more about what you're doing. If you've got a real bass and/or a guitar, and don't have the money for a decent amp or lots of pedals, you can run your instrument direct through Slayer and take advantage of the amp simulator and virtual fx pedals as well, without using the simulated guitar modelling (which, while very good, is never going to replace the real thing, though it's perfectly okay for an unadvenurous bassline or two, which is what I tend to use it for).

Another tip for cheapskate musicians - the free sfz soundfont player VST plugin (available at [url]http://www.rgcaudio.com/sfz.htm[/url]) plays pretty much any size of soundfont (well I've not had any trouble with soundfonts that are hundreds of MB in size and I'm not exactly running it on a supercomputer), and it has such features as adjustable reverb and (as far as I recall) you can configure it to allow a range of randomness, in order to "humanise" the timing and velocity of each note and make it that more natural sounding. It can also run the soundfonts direct from disk rather than having to store the whole thing in memory if it's large.

I could go on like this hours, but that's enough to keep you busy for months/years. And with most of the stuff I just listed, there's no need to rip off a poor programmer - they're giving their stuff away for nothing. Enjoy...

hey...i downloaded that buzz machine program...i'm going through the help things to learn how to use it...i'm still confused though. if i had a mixer and a producer program like buzz machine, what does that allow me to do? can i combine my own recording with sequences i make on the computer?

Buzz can be used to do almost anything, but I tend to stick to making backing tracks full of sequenced instruments, which I render to a wave file. Then I load that wave file into a multitrack editor/recorder - like Audacity, which is FREE (go to [url]http://audacity.sourceforge.net/[/url] for further details) - and that's when I record/edit guitar parts and vocals.

You could plug in a guitar, send it through the Slayer VST plugin and record a guitar part direct to hard disk inside buzz, but I have a old, crappy soundcard with a high latency so there's too much of a lag for that to work well for me. It might work for you though, I don't know what hardware you're using. Any decent sound card less than 4 years old would probably suffice, depending on the drivers you use.

I've aimed my software picks at those who are trying to make music with a mixture of faked instruments and real ones because they don't have the cash to record or the ability to play everything themselves. If you want to record a whole band playing, my picks are probably not going to be ideal, but you might get some joy out of them.

hi, im a drummer, and my band and i are recording, but i was wondering what kick mic is better for recording and live,the Beta 52 or the Audix D-6?

Hi,

Nice thread dude, very helpfull. I do a little bit of home recording myself and I would like to ask you some questions.
But first, here's my usual setup.
I record guitars through my amp (Peavy Triple XXX) with a 15$ mic about 2 cm from the upper left speaker. The mic is plugged in a 4 track Tascam tape recorder which is connected to my notebook from the headphones output (1/4) of the mixer to the mic input (1/8) of the PC.
For bass I use the same setup, except that the amp is a bass amp, obviously.
For drums I use Fruity Loops, and I got a pretty decent samples kit (would like to have more toms and cymbals though).
For vocals I use my brother's SM-58 through the tape recorder to my soundcard mic input.
I use Cool Edit Pro 2 to mix and master the whole thing.

Here are some things I've recorded I think sound pretty good.

[url]http://fileserv1.soundclick.com/fastk9/HiE/evilernie+seasonsintheabyssfullnovox.mp3[/url]
[url]http://fileserv5.soundclick.com/fastk9/HiG/evilernie+nightcrawler.mp3[/url] (no bass there)
[url]http://fileserv6.soundclick.com/fastk9/HiD/evilernie+angryagainnovox.mp3[/url]

On the last file I used a different amp micking technique, as I used two mics, one for the upper left speaker and one for the lower left speaker, lined to 2 different inputs of the tape recorder, balanced and sent to my PC input.
I think the guitar sound on this last one is pretty wicked. Oh and the bass is a little of tune, sorry about that.

I would like to know :

Do I do something wrong?
Could I improve my overall sound quality?
How to make everything sound closer?

I also have a little issue with Cool Edit's noise reduction feature.
It cuts off the noise pretty nicely, but sometimes it creates a little space noise....if you don't know what I am talking about I'll try to give you a sample of that sound.

Thanks :chug:

Hey guys, been awhile but I'm glad I popped back in. Nice to find out about soundclick.com. in the previous post. The critic in me would say that there was a guitar part in the beginning of the first song that was a little too loud, nad the bass drum was too quiet, but sounded pretty good. The timing in the drumtrack is too mechanical, but I dunno of any programs that allow you to shift events ever so slightly to remove that effect tho. I have been having fun in the yahoo messenger chatrooms (guitarplayers rooms,) it's fun to play for a crowd and listen to others.
Been writing backtracks using fruityloops and cakewalk to play along to and just been having a blast. I guess it's about time to record something original!

what's a good external sound card?

Hi there. I'm new here and this is my first post.

I didn't read thru this entire thread, only the first couple of pages, and I think all the 'guides' posted were great.

I don't know if this guide has been posted or not, but I thought I would psot it, since it contains in-depth information on just about every aspect of digital recording you could ever want to know.

[url]http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm[/url]

My friend just recently got some recording hardware called M-Box and it hooks up to his computer. It's around $450 if I recall and he is really impressed with it.