I would like to try my hand at recording, but am not sure where to start

[Dinosaur David B]

While I can agree with a lot of what Bytor said, don't forget that there are various quality levels of MP3, and you can also output AIFFs for download which are CD quality.


As for using amp sims and PODs instead of micing a real amp, that depends on your situation. Personally, I have thousands of dollars worth of amps, mic pres, and mics I've acquired because I like their tonal character. I've worked for years at getting tones I want. For me, it makes sense to capture those tones with a mic. Plus, I can record as loud as I want. It would be ludicrous for me to bypass that gear for a $200 amp sim.


But if I were in in iGouger's situation where "my only tools at disposal are my Made in Mexico standard Fender Stratocaster, the solid-state Fender amp it came with," I'd certainly be more receptive to things like amp sims, because my other options are very limited.


And as I said initially -- and it coincides with Bytor's "talent and imagination," the quality of your songs and performance will always be paramount.



That said, I still don't think mixing on headphones does you any favors in the short term or long run. Your initial savings in $$ will cost you a lot of time in re mixing. Time IS money, and recording music is a HUGE time sink.

[Bytor]

I agree about AIFFs Dave but most people have no idea what that is or how to... :neutral:


A couple friends of mine operating with elements I suggested above.. This is a random track i picked.. hope it's a good one


http://indiemusicworks.com/2012_B_C/?song=16556


http://www.scuffhamamps.com/

[Dynagod]

To quote another artist from another art-form:

"Classical forms dull your creativity, condition and freeze your sense of freedom. You no longer “be,” but merely “do,” without sensitivity. "

I've found time and time again that ignoring convention is the the fastest path to treading new ground.


Granted, and I will never say otherwise, it doesn't hurt to know the rules before you break them!


However, I for example use close guitar cabinet mics like Sennheiser E609's, engineered and used for the capture of high gain amplifiers at the cabinet face at ludicrous volumes for their total opposite use like ambient acoustic recording to achieve what, in my mind at least, ends up being amazing tonal capture!

Whenever I've tried to do what was recommended ad nausium I've almost always found that what sounds right to ME is the ONLY thing that matters at the end of the day. Just because something works for artist A does not mean it will work for artist B, or you or me.


Cost is, and never will be a guaranteed avenue to great sounding sound capture and reproduction.


Your hands, ears and taste will always rise above the limitations of your rig and audio capture gear.

[eduardoritos]

For free...


https://www.meldaproduction.com/MFreeFXBundle

[Eclipse II]

I recently started on this path myself. My setup is Windows based (I use a Surface laptop 2).


For interface, I went with a Focusrite Scarlett Solo.


For my DAW I chose Reaper. It’s free and it also has a really good online community for help.


Finally I went and bought the Mercuriall Reaxis amp plug-in. This basically models a Mesa Boogie Triaxis and has some great sounds. I also downloaded the free MT Power Drumkit drum VST.


After a a few teething problems I set it all up and am impressed with the overall setup.


Apart from my laptop I spent approx £160 for the whole setup.

[Dr Nick]

Jumping on this thread - for the past couple of years I've had to write a song for a kids club style thing (Church related - don't hate me!)

I'm in charge of the live music, so I lead the band, and we also try and have a theme song that the kids dance to.

Previously we've just stolen a recent popular song, changed the lyrics, recorded vocals over a backing track, and done. But that got expensive, so last year I wrote something, programmed everything apart from the guitars and vocals, and it went down very well.

THIS year I decided to use real instruments. Came up with a Nile Rogers-y thing.

So I played the guitar, bass and a bit of keys, my older son drummed (recorded at his college studio - Glyn Johns mic-ing method, my youngest played keys, my daughter...watched...and now I'm at the mixing stage.

And discovering I have NO CLUE how to EQ/mix drums.

Especially kick drums.

Only got Garage Band, so I guess my options are limited.

So any advice most welcome!

[Dinosaur David B]

Check out some of our resources like this that point to some of the Recording Revolution videos:


http://dinosaurrockguitar.com/node/943


http://dinosaurrockguitar.com/node/985