AFTER MY LAST ATTEMPT I'D LIKE 2 PICK EVERYONE'S BRAINS AS 2 HOW "YOU" RECORD YOUR MUSIC.
TECHNOLOGY IS MOVING SO FAST IT'S A BLUR OF EXPENSIVE STUFF .
I REMEMBER AN EDITION OF 'GUITAR PLAYER' mag. where they got Prince 2 talk about his gear.What blew me was that initially He uses a reel 2 reel player then , gets Digital.There's so many ways to go about recording & if you've got the money you can pick & choose,& even fuck up big time.Any way, tell a little about what works 4 u.

Example: 1. Tape / line in to comp.( i used 2 have 'CAKEWALK'), EDIT. BURN, RIP TO MP3.

2. Never done it. (Except with cakewalk). HDD Recording.(in those days my Computer was 2 slow.)

Let's get tech., and share ideas .

I like to compose and record my music using HD recording on a computer. It gives you so much more flexibility and creative freedom than tape recorders, and besides, it's a lot cheaper (esp. to maintain).
I hardly use MIDI, except for drums. I used to use MIDI a lot, but I found that recording everything live creates much more 'feel'. Besides, my Rhodes and bass guitar don't have MIDI sockets on em
When I were to record my song 'for real', I'd consider replacing HD tracks, track by track, with recordings done with a good tape recorder (rr of course re-record everything with good musicians).
Especially live drums sound a lot better on tape due to its natural tape compression, but also vocals and electric guitars benefit.
Especially acoustic guitar I'd probably leave digital, cos I think it benefits from the dynamics of the digital domain. I'd probably leave synths and stuff digital as well.
Obviously this would be time consuming, but I think it would be worth it.

Very, very low tech. A crappy Casio keyboard. A broken bass guitar held together with Duck Tape. A few decent guitars. Ancient effects pedals. A sprinkling of public domain drum loops and sound effects...

My methods are:

01. Record the song normally on a recorder (sometimes a regular 4-track, sometimes a HD recorder);
02. Isolate "good" bits from the single tracks, plug a line-in into the PC and record pieces into Goldwave;
03. Trim the bits and pieces in Goldwave (or any wav editor) until they loop seamlessly;
04. Create drum loops using Fruity Loops;
05. Arrange percussion and instrumentation loops in Making Waves - its a great sequencing program, I can't rate it highly enough;
06. Mix the rough track, record it back (in stereo) onto two tracks of your recorder, add any extra embellishments (if necessary) and isolate the good bits from this;
07. Bung it all together in Making Waves and add equalisation / compression on the final mix.

All tracks were recorded in The Cloud9 Mission home studio consisting of a AMD Duron 800MHtz PC with Cubase VST, Logic Audio & Cooledit software, a Boss GX-700 Digital Guitar effects rack, a Yamaha MA10 Preamp, an Alesis D4 electronic Drumkit with roland pads, a Yamaha QY70 sequencing unit, a Korg 5XD sound module, a 6 piece Yamaha Stage Custom Drum Kit, Zildjian Cymbals, Tama Pedals, a Squire Stratocaster, a Les Paul Special, a Music Man 5 string Bass, a Korg X5D Keyboard & a Jupiter Tenor Saxophone.

I used MTV Music Generator on my PSII.

I make the beats and all that shit on there.....

record to video cassette / or main scource (AUX to VCR)

wire from VCR conncting to LINE IN

Record from computer.


Then from there..if i wanna playkeyboard, or vocals.....

record them while the WAV file is playing

then put them in the right spot where day 'sposed 2 go.

paisleypark4 said:

This just blows me away every time you type it out. Your stuff is so amazing.

-----

I just bought a new board and will have a PA with drum mics this weekend.

What I've been doing is plugging the bass into the board and running mics infront of the drums and guitar amp, then mixing everything on the laptop with Cakewalk/Sonar.

Once I get the new board up and mic the drums, the plan is to write out the song (working on structure) and then build it in layers but with a live sound.

I started out mainly working with midi back in 88, in high school, mainly writing instrumental pieces. My lyrics were in a folder and I would record melodies for them on a portable tape recorder. It wasn't until late 99 that I was able to bring both together and write songs. I think midi nowadays means you don't need a synth, but back then you hooked your synth up to the computer, hit record and played each part. I dunno, I get the feeling sometimes when I mention midi that people imagine me with a mouse, clicking and drawing notes on a screen...

Anywho. In 99 I arranged the music for 4 songs on an OLD Mac SE30. Then I went out from the keyboard (Korg N364) to record on 2 tracks of a 4 track I borrowed. Then sang into a reverb unit and into the 4 track. Those demos are on my soundclick page.

Now I record on my PC, digital audio for vocals and my friend ocasionally comes over to play guitar. 600Mhz AMD Athlon & Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 is what I use. I have yet to get/learn mastering software. I don't have any amps or mixers. In order to monitor myself when I record vocals, I have to sing through my tape deck and go out from that into my soundcard (ISIS). The rest is a little confusing... I go out from my receiver into a 4 track so I can hear myself sing along with my music and adjust the levels so I can monitor myself. Anyway, that's how it's done for now. I need to buy a GOOD mic, a mixer and a reverb unit.

Because I'm not a professional and I do this only as a hobby, I record this way: Digital Recorder/Boss BR-864. Audio input cables from 2 Yamaha keyboards (PSR-530 & DJX-1) that run direct to the digital recorder. Guitar cables run thru a cheapie guitar processor (for Peavy Strat and Ibanez 4 string bass) and direct to the digital recorder. Microphones are run direct to digital recorder. Output of the digital recorder is run through a Phillips CD-R recorder to burn the music to disc. Disc goes into computer and uploaded on Soundclick.

Eventually when I get the right USB cables / Midi cables and such, I'll figure out how to do it the "right" way.
[This message was edited Fri May 7 9:24:53 2004 by psykosoul]

I've decided to go back to analog, recording into my Tascam 688. I'm about to start recording live demoes with my band (finally reunited the funk thing) and it's just mics into a15 yr old 8-track recorder.

After fiddling with Digital recording for two years, I'm just not too happy with the lack of control I have over the process. The digital recorder I have has limited eq on each track, (just hi and lo) and the in-board effects are not too great.

So, really, the decision to go back to analog is more due to the limited features on my digital recorder. And I still refuse to go to using a computer to record. I don't have the money to develop the DAW I would want to have, and I don't have the patience to learn all the programs again.

So I'm gonna go hard core - get a mic pre-amp or two, another SM57 or two, and just record live instruments onto analog tape.

in many different patterns but the most colorful recordings come from
our dreams.


b. jesus
using The Electric Purple

otan said:

You advised me not to go digital and now I see why. I definitely understand what you're saying about the restrictions of a digital recorder. But before I box it up and go back to analog, I've got to get my money's worth out of this damn digital doohickeymajig.

psykosoul said:

Oh don't get me wrong - it's awesome for a notebook, awesome for capturing concepts and ideas - it's a LOT faster and a lot easier to deal with. But when you're trying to go into something that'll go for radio/final CD quality, you may find that box a bit limiting. I'm not saying it will make you sound bad. Not at all.

Just saying, when you're mixing down and you think, "man, if only I could use a delay AND a chorus, AND some reverb on this one track" you might be frustrated. Not that I've ever used all three at once, but you get my point - an old Tascam 688 has the send/return plugs for effects, which means I've got to pony up for some outboard effects. And all sorts of other things.

It's sort of like ordering a sushi special, where you get 8 of whatever you get, or ordering your sushi one at a time... more control over the dinner, but you better hope you know what you're ordering - cuz there's no way I'll eat that puffer fish thing.

I initially thought the digital box I had would render the Tascam 8-track obsolete, but, the Tascam can record 8 tracks simultaneously, I can vary the tape speed (helloooo Camille) and I can flip the tape over for my backward masking satanic messaging. Can't do any of those things, EASILY, with a digital box.

But, I CAN record a demo easily on the digital box. Now that I've got enough songs, I want to try to start polishing them up for a CD that I might one day, maybe, hopefully, pretend to put out.

How I record is by a wing and a prayer...

My computer is a 2.2 GHz machine with a Gig of RAM, and external recording module that interfaces with a PCI slot and wasn't supported beyond Windows 98. Cakewalk Sonar for the recording phase, then either Steinberg Wave Lab or Logic Audio for the mastering process...

And the whole damn time I pray that I don't get the "Blue Screen of Death" before I save what I've done.

Add to that a shitty microphone, a Yamaha Motif, Ensoniq EPS 16+, an Ensoniq VFX, a few guitars... and hey-- I'm off and running! Who needs to go to the studio anymore?

--Julian--

www.soundclick.com/julianchristian

at home:
PC 800 MHz with 512 RAM with M-Audio Audiophile 24/96
Cubase SX for the recording, WaveLab for mastering
SM-58 as a microphone, through a Behringer mixer to the computer and back.
Roland MIDI controller and a Yamaha e.piano
Fender Telecaster through Digitech RP2000 multi effect.
used to have an Ensoniq TS-10 synth, but sold it.

In the studio:
Cubase SX with a Nuendo card with 24 I/O
Amek Amgela II console
Neumann, AKG and shure mic's.
Focusrite, Manley, Millennia, Lexicon, TC Electronics and DBX outboard.
Yamaha NS-10M as monitors.
Mackie 824 as midfield monitors.
B&W as mastering speakers.
Yamaha U-2 upright piano
Kurtzweil K2500 Keyboard
Korg Trinity Pro 76 Keyboard
Gibson Les Paul Studio guitar
Fender Stratocaster
POD XT Pro guitar multi effect
Fender tube guitar amp
Marshall Tube guitar amp
and...hmm...well, I probably forgot something.

otan said:

- Otan....I am a begginer at recording techniques, but I would like to say I like your sound a lot. I downloaded ´Turning my demons a loose´ and loved the guitar sound of it. Your version of ´Life can be so nice´ is real good too.

Slave2daGroove said:

MUCH Love man MUCH love!

I'm recording in my buddy's basement studio...
Kinda cramped, but a lot of nice stuff!!!

its straight audio captured thru an automated console into a huge hard drive....

One instrument at a time...
Kinda time consuming but its a big challenge for me this time around....



I'll have to contact him to get a run down on what's in there...





Jshua

[This message was edited Mon May 10 9:59:01 2004 by Styles]

GustavoRibas said:

Thanks a lot Gustavo. Right now I'm kind of at a plateau - where, I can't get the sound any better - which is not a bad thing, it DOES sound pretty good, but I'm torn - I think live drums, and live guitar amps would push the music farther in the direction I'm trying to go... and no amount of PODs or drum machines will give me what I'm looking for. I'll probably hang on to the Zoom cuz it's great for knocking out ideas and really fleshing them out, in peace and quiet for the rest of the house!

My goal for this new house is to build an isolation booth good for a tiny drum kit (kick, snare, hi hat and a crash/ride maybe) or a guitar amp, or vocals. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks!
[This message was edited Mon May 10 11:04:56 2004 by otan]

Yeah, i know what you mean.

This is what I *HAD* in my studio:
* PC with Ensoniq Paris with 20 in/20 out 24 bit
* Tascam M16 (16 track analogue on 1'' reels the size and weight of a washing machine)
* Soundcraft 2400 replaced later by a Soundcraft Ghost
* AKG Solid Tube (da BOMB!)
* AKG C3000
* Digitech tube compressor
* 2x Behringer autocom
* 6x SM57, 2x SM58
* 1x D112
* 2x condenser mikes I don't remember the name of right now
* 6x headphones + amps
* Noble & Cooley drum kit
* Spirit Absolute II nearfield monitors
* Some effects processors, 6 noise gates, some more instruments and mics and a whole shitload of cables and stuff I forgot I dont want to bother to all write down right now

Right now I have:
* A PC with cubase SX and reason
* A 'skytronic' mic (a sennheiser ripoff)
* fender JP bass guitar
* Hohner arbor MX1 bass guitar
* fender rhodes
* Roland D5 synth
* Fender bass amp
* QuadraVerb GT
* Zoom bass effects proc.

But I'm still having a ball with what I have now
[This message was edited Tue May 11 15:11:28 2004 by erikd]

I just clang my triangle and hum along

Sorry 3 or 4 too many beers. but it made me laugh.

I turn on my keyboard and sequencer.
Then I punch in beats and instrument parts.
Then I arrange them so they sound good - feel good - and dont compete with each other.
Then I mix the music inside my keyboard.

Then I dump the music down to 2 tracks of stereo on my 8 track.
Then I either write the lyrics on the spot - or get some poetry I wrote.
Then I sing melody and harmonies - over and around the music.

Then I mix and master inside my 8 track.
Then I dump onto my computer.
Then I do a final mastering tweak.

Then I convert to mp3 and throw it up on my site.

www.pbphonehome.com



Peace,

PB.

My writing partner and I are separated by a few thousand miles (Cali & Fla).
So, the last Tribal Disorder project was recorded live between gigs in whatever studios we could get into (Fla, Bogota).

What i've been doing on this current Tribal Disorder project is sequencing the basic grooves in Sonar 3 (Calkwalk). Then exporting a mix of that to a stereo wav file which gets imported to 2 tracks of a TASCAM 2488. Then I record guitar ideas onto tracks of the 2488 either direct, mic'd amps or via the Johnson J-Station. Whenever I could get away to Fla with all this "stuff" (audio mix to CD, midi files, etc.), the tunes would get recreated and recorded with live musicians in a studio.

To lessen the downtime between projects, we've setup an FTP site where we can transfer files with ideas quickly as he's got Sonar also.

The FTP process may work for those of you that also have "long-distance relationships" with other musicians.

Hope this helps,
tA

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

Tribal Disorder

sacredwarrior said: