Software recording solution?

[curtisstetka]

My old college roommate out in LA has asked me to help him put together a demo of a song he and I wrote about 20 years ago. He wants me to record the backing acoustic guitar track and send it to him. He's going to somehow dub a vocal track on top of it.

So....

I've already got some decent mics and a mic pre-amp. What I do not have is a means of recording. If one of you chaps could recommend a good software-based solution, that would be keen.

Requirements:
1) Easy to use
2) Multi-track recording capability
3) low (or no) cost
4) minimal hardware requirements - ideally, could get something that allows XLR input to my laptop's USB port

That's about it. What say you?

[Gravity Jim]

Audacity, now for both Windows and Mac OSX machines.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

[curtisstetka]

Sweet! And that's why I'm a proud member of the Gravity Fan Club on facetube.

So what hardware interface should I get?

[elicross]

I don't have a lot of experience with hardware interfaces, but I like my Lexicon Lambda. With two channels, it's got one more channel than I need -- but it's got two XLR inputs w/ optional phantom power, two 1/4" lines in, one 1/4" guitar input up front, 1/4" insert inputs, two 1/4" lines out, MIDI in and out, and a 1/8" stereo jack for headphones. Lots of stuff in a relatively small package (and relatively cheap at $150), and it's all powered by the USB port.

There's a Lexicon Alpha that's a slightly stripped-down version with 1 XLR, two lines in, and 1 instrument input for about $80. I imagine it's as good as the Lambda, but it doesn't have phantom power, so you'd have to take that into account if you have (or plan to get) a condenser.

[Cygnus X1]

+1 on Audacity for a no frills, easy to learn package to get it out quickly.

Hardware?
Depends on how many tracks you want to try to layer.
Latency issues can be a pain no matter what software you are running AFAIK.
That involves both quality of the soundcard and the hard drive(s).

[Wilko]

Audacity has plenty of "frills".
Dude, check out the post processing available.

[Mesotech]

Reaper from Cockos http://www.reaper.fm/ is yet another really nice software package to try. It comes with lots of frills, plus will use any VST's you might have from other packages. I think it's sort of a cross between Cubase and Protools (with a little of each).

You might already have an interface, if you happen to have access to a mixing board. Even a small mixer will do. Plug your mic and preamp into the mixer, then run out of the mixer straight to the Line In of your sound card. This will give you two channel recording (stereo left/right or two seperate tracks), which is more than enough inputs if you're recording one instrument at a time (unless that instrument happens to be drums).

No matter which software you choose, or what type of interface you wind up using, you'll most likely find yourself needing a good ASIO driver to reduce latency issues. In my opinion, there's not much better available than ASIO4All http://www.asio4all.com/ to get the least latency possible. It even works better than most ASIO capable sound cards own drivers. What's more, it even gives ASIO capabilities to non ASIO enabled sound cards. It's also supported by every recording software package I've tested.

With today's available software and hardware, I think you'll find the recording aspect of this project to be the easiest part. You'll probably have more problems with mic placement and mic choice than you will with the actual software.

[CzarSketch]

For hardware, how much do you want to spend?

The M-Audio FastTrack is a good simple, "in-a-pinch" solution and can be picked up pretty cheap. The classic Shure SM57 is a great mic for any occasion and works well with the FastTrack. I've also used the fasttrack with Audacity and it works well.

If this is going to be a long-term setup, from which you intend to expand, I'd suggest any of the Presonus firewire interfaces, starting with the Firebox. I've had really good success with that one, and it has a good amount of I/O and high quality preamps for the price.

Integrated soundcard solutions are generally a bad idea. It's good to get the analog to digital switch before it hits your machine.

[CzarSketch]

OH,

additionally, I think the presonus boxes all come with Steinberg's Cubase LE, which is a VERY capable recording, editing, and mastering suite. It's stripped down from Cubase SX, which is (or used to be, there may be a new version) the industry standard.

[Offshore Angler]

Audacity is fun , but not real DAW package. It's also very latency prone. Reaper is the real deal. No contest. I'm running it no on os-x and loving it. Can't beat the price either!

This is something I did in Reaper over Mats Newmark's backer. I added the synths, flute ( via synth ) and guitar in Reaper.I was particularly impressed with how well all the envelopes for panning and volume worked.
Zombtasia

And our own TaylorNut and worked this one out. He putdown the backing and I added the guitar, jungle noises and dinosaurs in Reaper.
Dinosaur


All in all, I really like using it and I've been very pleased with the results.