A Home Recording Perspective
On the FDP they have a Home Recording page which is pretty informative. However, a lot of the things they discuss involve recording equipment that is priced out of reach of the average guitarist. It will be cool if members of this forum are able to help each other keep it simple. I'm amazed at the sound quality and total lack of noise that digital recorders are capable of.
Where home digital recordering and the Internet will lead is anyone's guess, but I'm looking foward to it.
Any other opinions are welcome!
Re: A Home Recording Perspective
Ray,
Quote:
Originally posted by rayh
On the FDP they have a Home Recording page which is pretty informative. However, a lot of the things they discuss involve recording equipment that is priced out of reach of the average guitarist. It will be cool if members of this forum are able to help each other keep it simple. I'm amazed at the sound quality and total lack of noise that digital recorders are capable of.
I certainly don't mind if people want to write about going into the studio with two or three 24 track recorders synced together, and George Martin producing their next album, with Eddie Kramer doing the engineering!
But back in the 80s, I made fairly decent sounding demos with a Tascam Four-Track, a Shure SM58 mic, a Roland 707 drum machine, two Yamaha SPX-90 effects processors, a Boss mixing board, and a Rockman guitar processor, and a Yamaha synth.
These days, I get infinitely better sound with Cakewalk Sonar XL 2.0, Line 6 GuitarPort, a Tascam US-428 USB mixing board, a Midiman Oxygen 8 USB keyboard, and the same Shure 58 mic. (I still have all of the above gear, which will probably get used from time to time for a variety of sounds), although I'm happy to dump the 707 for loops and SoundFont based drums). Outside of the computer (which can also handle all of my word processing, email collection, Internet surfing, PhotoShopping, etc., etc.), that's probably a grand or so worth of software and equipment--and it's capable of fabulous stuff. if a song sucks, it's tough for me to blame the equipment!
Ed
Re: A Home Recording Perspective
Quote:
Originally posted by rayh
On the FDP they have a Home Recording page which is pretty informative. However, a lot of the things they discuss involve recording equipment that is priced out of reach of the average guitarist. It will be cool if members of this forum are able to help each other keep it simple. I'm amazed at the sound quality and total lack of noise that digital recorders are capable of.
Where home digital recordering and the Internet will lead is anyone's guess, but I'm looking foward to it.
Any other opinions are welcome!
I must hasten to add that ProTools Free is still available. Granted you're limited to W98 or Mac OS9 for using it, but it *is* available. I did a number of song and band demos with it on a Mac and while it had some limitations, you really could record decent stuff with it.
I have an MBox which, while kinda spendy, does a terrific job. However, there are other units available, either USB or pci cards, that give you 24/48 inputs (usually two) for as little as $200.
Now I grant that you have to have enough computer to get the job done but there are easy and inexpensive (even free) solutions for computerized recording.
And once you can do a bounce wwith no generational losses, you'll never turn back.
Re: A Home Recording Perspective
Quote:
Originally posted by rayh
On the FDP they have a Home Recording page which is pretty informative. However, a lot of the things they discuss involve recording equipment that is priced out of reach of the average guitarist.
Try r.a.p sometime! Great info, but not geared toward budget equipment.
I got a thread DOBed on the FDP Home Recording page because I recommended that a user try an inexpensive LDC microphone that was on closeout extremely cheap, not because it was the greatest LDC, but because it would improve the quality of the specific sort of recordings he was doing with a cheap dynamic and it was within his very small budget. It was an effective and cost-efficient choice for this guy and one of very few selections he could afford.
The selection was immediately and roundly dissed by people who admittedly had never tried the microphone, simply because it was inexpensive, and they all started recommending microphones that were several times the cost of the guy's stated budget. I pointed out the folly and irrelevance of these posts and got so much angry abuse from the offenders that the thread was killed.
This is what happens to me nearly every day when I try to help people on these forums who ask questions in good faith. Third parties who have no information beyond their prejudices and uninformed "opinions" shout me down.
Some of the worst offenders from the FDP are over here now doing the same sort of thing to people.
You just put up with this for as long as you can and then quit, which is what I'm probably going to do for a while, I think.
A sort of "Gresham's Law of Participation" takes effect. Garbage posts drive good posts out. I've noticed that guys I know to be real experts don't stay long on these fora - virtually never for more than a week or two except in extremely technical engineering and design discussions that by their academic natures intimidate the ignoramuses from intruding.
Sad...
I wish I could find some more tightly controlled and limited-access discussion groups where this sort of thing didn't happen.
Re: Re: A Home Recording Perspective
Quote:
Originally posted by Bongolation
Man, you crack me us sometimes. I know you don't try, but I just love listening to your stories that start of so innocent and end up with people threatening you with AK-47's.
On a different note, with my Peavey keyboard/PA amp, the only mics that would not cause excessive feedback were the $9.99 Nady SP-1's.
Of course, I just sold the amp and all the mics... They also had a really faint hum, so they did not work for recording.
Re: Re: Re: A Home Recording Perspective
Quote:
Originally posted by photoweborama
Man, you crack me us sometimes. I know you don't try, but I just love listening to your stories that start of so innocent and end up with people threatening you with AK-47's.
That's never happened, and when you know me better you'll understand why. :) Usually it's more a yappy little dog barking its head off kind of thing.
Anyhow, I am just anathema to a certain kind of person and unfortunately it's a type that's very common on online dicussions these days.
I expect that your Nady experience had to do with its low sensitivity and narrow bandwidth. I think I have one of those things around here, too. I got it with some other minor items to fill out a minimum order for free shipping with Musician's Friend a while back. Figured I could use it for something eventually, but I don't think I have. I tested it and don't recall any noise, but I could be wrong. It at least worked.
I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience with the AKG when that kid finally coughs it up.
Re: Re: Re: A Home Recording Perspective
Quote:
Originally posted by photoweborama
threatening you with AK-47's.
That was an exaggeration, but on other forums, it is a possibility...
Re: Re: A Home Recording Perspective
Quote:
Originally posted by Bongolation
This is what happens to me nearly every day when I try to help people on these forums who ask questions in good faith.
Perhaps you might consider your approach. You can come across as being pretty unflexible sometimes.