BigBeefChief Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 Evening all. Those who know me know that I am what some people would call "retarded". This is true. I've recently decided to pick up the guitar again (mostly to help with my bass playing/theory), and have recently bought a Mexican Tele and Fender Vibro Champ. All is going well, but I want to start recording some stuff on my lap top. I'm not talking Tales from Topographic Oceans, more some crap strumming with plenty of overdrive and overly loud/shoddy bass. Maybe some crap drum loops slung in for good measure. The problem is, I have no idea about home recording. I know there are a few options available. Ideally I'm looking for something with a low investment and simple to use. I've seen Zoom do a digital recorder that also looks like it has a 4 track and audio interface. Maybe this is an option? What is an audio interface? Does the Pope sh*t in the woods? Is a Bear Catholic? A lot of questions, I have none of the answers. I also need advice of the various software thats out there. I suppose what I'm looking for is an idiots guide to home recording really. And believe me, I am an idiot. Thanks you all in advance (apart from Jakesbass - he owes me big time already) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayfan Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 You need one of these. Anything less and you'll be selling yourself short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBeefChief Posted October 2, 2008 Author Share Posted October 2, 2008 Maplins? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassMunkee Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 Hello, Yes, Zoom do a number of different low-cost digital recorders - I have an MRS-4b which is the 4 track version, it doesn't have an audio per se, but saves to SD card and has software you use on the PC to convert the files to WAV format, then you can use Audacity or some such for anything you need, I used to use it a lot and found it excellent value for money, easy to use and very well featured for it's price. Now I use Cakewalk Sonar Powerstudio 660 - the firewire version, which if you can stretch to £250(ish) is I would say the way forward for sure, you'll need a decent PC though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 (edited) Well if you are gonna go down the software route... You will need a sequencer.... there are a couple of free ones out there. You will also need a USB or Firewire Audio interface...no free ones out there. Monitors and / or headphones. Ebay a good bet. AS i said in some other post somewhere. For 6 squids you can get 'Computor Magazine' Which has a free Sequencer [ And it is pretty good ..] And tons of Plugins / synths / Drums synths / Distortion / reverbs / delays /Loops etc... ALL FREE....... Then you just sit in your bedroom for the rest of your life.. Thinking what the f**k do i do with this stuff. Then spending tons of dosh on upgrading. [ Because you think it sounds better..or cos every one else says it does. They are the ones with no ears] This also goes on for the rest of your life. But CM is the way to go for software for starting out. I use Sonar PE7 [seq] with an RME Interface.That is about a Grands worth... A pair of Genelec monitors...another grands worth. See what i mean about spending going on and on... I would use the free software route.. And invest in a good interface [ wont spend more money later upgrading ] Or forget all that and just spend all your dosh down the pub.. Much better. Garry Edited October 2, 2008 by lowdown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 when i get home ill explain what id guess is your best route Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 [quote name='stingrayfan' post='297179' date='Oct 1 2008, 11:53 PM']You need one of these. Anything less and you'll be selling yourself short. [/quote] RIP Townhouse. That studio closed up earlier this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 [quote name='slaphappygarry' post='297526' date='Oct 2 2008, 01:11 PM']RIP Townhouse. That studio closed up earlier this year [/quote] Yeah i know, thats my bedroom studio now... honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 And dont forget this. [attachment=14261:Talent_boost.jpg] Garry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBeefChief Posted October 2, 2008 Author Share Posted October 2, 2008 (edited) [quote name='lowdown' post='297317' date='Oct 2 2008, 10:00 AM']Well if you are gonna go down the software route... You will need a sequencer.... there are a couple of free ones out there. You will also need a USB or Firewire Audio interface...no free ones out there. Monitors and / or headphones. Ebay a good bet. AS i said in some other post somewhere. For 6 squids you can get 'Computor Magazine' Which has a free Sequencer [ And it is pretty good ..] And tons of Plugins / synths / Drums synths / Distortion / reverbs / delays /Loops etc... ALL FREE....... Then you just sit in your bedroom for the rest of your life.. Thinking what the f**k do i do with this stuff. Then spending tons of dosh on upgrading. [ Because you think it sounds better..or cos every one else says it does. They are the ones with no ears] This also goes on for the rest of your life. But CM is the way to go for software for starting out. I use Sonar PE7 [seq] with an RME Interface.That is about a Grands worth... A pair of Genelec monitors...another grands worth. See what i mean about spending going on and on... I would use the free software route.. And invest in a good interface [ wont spend more money later upgrading ] Or forget all that and just spend all your dosh down the pub.. Much better. Garry[/quote] Cheers for this. From what are gather from the above and some PM's from Charic, I need: An audio interface (which I think is like a box with wires coming out of it) Some software (that might come free with said audio interface) A laptop/PC (got that) And I can get drum lops and stuff from a variety of places (online, front of some magazine, in the butchers next to the "special" sausages) I can I also get a cheap dynamic mic to mic up my amp If I don't want to DI straight into the Audio Interface (the box with wires). Let me know if this is right so far, or am i missing the point. Also can anyone reconmend some decent and (more importantly) easy to use software. Been told Cubase is a bit crap. Thank you for your help so far. *bearing in mind how retarded I clearly am about this kind of stuff, can you imagine just how terrible this is gonna sound?!!! I'll have to post it up here for a laugh! Edited October 2, 2008 by BigBeefChief Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 Dont forget the beer and Kebabs... You want it all to smell like some old 70/80's Studio. Otherwise it wont sound right. Garry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBeefChief Posted October 2, 2008 Author Share Posted October 2, 2008 [quote name='lowdown' post='297801' date='Oct 2 2008, 05:41 PM']Dont forget the beer and Kebabs... You want it all to smell like some old 70/80's Studio. Otherwise it wont sound right. Garry[/quote] I'm planning on loading up my "Studio" (read front room) with coke and hookers, and taking 4 years to record 3 demos. I'll probably then hold those demos ransom from a non-existent record company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnt Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 (edited) The way I see it, the key to home recording is: know your signals, and how to treat them right. For example, you generally can't plug a normal passive guitar directly in to a computer. Why not? Because computers tend to have two kinds of inputs: - mic input: for cheap mikes, the kind you'd use for Skype or voice recognition. - line level inputs: for signals from other equipment, that are already buffered (low impedance) and have a high level. A passive guitar has an unbuffered low-level signal that is "high impedance", which means that it has no "oomph" behind it. If you plug it in to a low impedance input, it would be like trying to start a car from a 9V battery: it's too heavy a load on the signal, and the voltage at the source will be drained away. So you need something else to "buffer" the signal, which could be an onboard preamp, a FX unit or preamp with line out, or anything else with an input marked "guitar" - mixer, sound card, or USB-Audio interface. I record through a Korg AmpWorks B unit (see link below), a little box that takes an active or passive bass, runs it through amp & cab simulators & basic FX, and gives me a nice Line Out signal that can also drive headphones directly. I found the guitar version for something like £40 at a show a couple of years ago, so I grabbed that too, even though my guitar skills are negligible. If I was starting out now, however, I might get something like [url="http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=guitarrig3"]Guitar Rig 3[/url]. The state of computer-based recording is pretty amazing these days, but hardware still costs money, and Guitar Rig includes a foot controller / guitar interface that hooks directly to the computer, which does everything in software. Edited October 2, 2008 by bnt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 [quote name='BigBeefChief' post='297770' date='Oct 2 2008, 05:18 PM']Cheers for this. From what are gather from the above and some PM's from Charic, I need: An audio interface (which I think is like a box with wires coming out of it) Some software (that might come free with said audio interface) A laptop/PC (got that) And I can get drum lops and stuff from a variety of places (online, front of some magazine, in the butchers next to the "special" sausages) I can I also get a cheap dynamic mic to mic up my amp If I don't want to DI straight into the Audio Interface (the box with wires). Let me know if this is right so far, or am i missing the point. Also can anyone reconmend some decent and (more importantly) easy to use software. Been told Cubase is a bit crap. Thank you for your help so far. *bearing in mind how retarded I clearly am about this kind of stuff, can you imagine just how terrible this is gonna sound?!!! I'll have to post it up here for a laugh![/quote] You nailed it buddy Some people swear by cubase, I do too.. i swear its crap . Ableton live comes with the AI (audio interface) i recommended earlier, see if you get on with it and try a few others too. Best of luck and ill happily help you through recording too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBeefChief Posted October 2, 2008 Author Share Posted October 2, 2008 I'll have U2 knocking on my door in no time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBeefChief Posted October 2, 2008 Author Share Posted October 2, 2008 ....asking for a cup of sugar and for me to turn the noise down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clauster Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 Should've bought that interface I was selling earlier this week! It'd go lovely with that Bad Monkey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironside1966 Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 [quote name='charic' post='297884' date='Oct 2 2008, 07:18 PM']You nailed it buddy Some people swear by cubase, I do too.. i swear its crap . Ableton live comes with the AI (audio interface) i recommended earlier, see if you get on with it and try a few others too. Best of luck and ill happily help you through recording too. [/quote] I may have posted this before. All of the big name sequences are capable of equal results for the majority of uses, it is down to the user not the software. Cubase is not crap it is just not some peoples preferd way of working, the same can be said of any piece of software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 [quote name='BigBeefChief' post='297770' date='Oct 2 2008, 05:18 PM']From what are gather from the above and some PM's from Charic, I need: An audio interface (which I think is like a box with wires coming out of it) Some software (that might come free with said audio interface) A laptop/PC (got that) And I can get drum lops and stuff from a variety of places (online, front of some magazine, in the butchers next to the "special" sausages) I can I also get a cheap dynamic mic to mic up my amp If I don't want to DI straight into the Audio Interface (the box with wires). Let me know if this is right so far, or am i missing the point. Also can anyone reconmend some decent and (more importantly) easy to use software. Been told Cubase is a bit crap.[/quote] If you want to record mics, you need either a standalone mic pre-amp, or an audio interface with a built in mic pre-amp. If the interface was firewire it could be better than USB, depending on how much you get into it and whether or not your computer has firewire capabilities. Aside from that, you have it spot on. Software is where you have difficult choices to make. I recommend stealing as many different DAWs as possible to see which one you get on with best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggsy Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 [quote name='cheddatom' post='300453' date='Oct 6 2008, 01:29 PM']I recommend stealing as many different DAWs as possible to see which one you get on with best.[/quote] +1! (And shame on you Charic for damning Cubase!) Pro-Tools seems to be industry standard, but I turned to Cubase because it's a doddle. Cakewalk and Logic are both worth a go as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leonshelley01 Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I use a Line 6 GX Toneport as a USB device, which is then run through Line 6 Gearbox (free with the Toneport) for bass, guitar and vocals and finally into Cubase 4 Essential, and I've had some very good results. For the drums, I use GuitarPro (with RSE packs) to program and then record the drums as a wav file and then import it into Cubase. For noodles, demos and even semi-pro sounding stuff, it does the job more than adequately and all for less than £150. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBeefChief Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 Well I bought some stuff, but unfortunately had to deal with these clowns: [url="http://www.dv247.com/"]http://www.dv247.com/[/url] Not only did the website not work, but the smacktards in the web team treat you like a c*** when you tell them that their site is screwed. You even have to email them a screen dump for them to believe you. They then use UPS to deliver it. I've never encountered a bigger bunch of c**ts. They've delivered my gear to an unknown address today. I had 2 contradictory notes pushed through my door by some illiterate retard. When I try and call the c**ts, their offices shut at 8.00pm. Unfortately, I have a job, so dont get home before 8.30, so I'm now £100 lighter with nothing to show for it. I'll call them tomorrow and if I don't get some retard on the phone sobbing his/hers eyes out at how rude I am, then I'm losing my touch. All I crave is simplicity. Let me buy something. Deliver it through my letterbox. UPS c**ts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBeefChief Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 ...and to make things worse, the most likely place they have delivered it to is the shop below where I live. This is sh*t because firslty, they hut over 3 hours before I get home and secondly, they hate be because I'm constantly posting their rubbish through their letterbocks when they're closed after they fill up my wheely bin with their waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Not a good day then Beefy. Onwards & upwards it can surely only get better, until you get the bug & start spending hours tinkering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leonshelley01 Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I hope it sorts itself out for you, but when you are up and running, think of all the fun (and frustration) you'll have putting some tunes together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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