What's your recording setup and method?

[FatHand]

Yeah probably noise constraints of the home studio make the pods a popular choice. I've got a Line 6 Spider amp in my music room which is great for recording electric guitar, the signal is crisp, clear and easy to record.

I think if you were going for a specific sound then mic'ing up an amp might be the way forward but probably best to save that for a studio that has the level of equipment required. Also as bedroom producers we all have space and money issues.

[Chris]

Also as bedroom producers we all have space and money issues.

I guess that's why I bought a dual terror. Versatile enough to operate at a low enough volume for home practice and recording (just, it's not a quiet amp!) and saves me forking out for a massive amp that I hardly use and a POD type interface for home.

Having said that I did just buy a stupid little Vox headphone amp that plugs straight into the guitar so I can practice in the living room. Bet I never use it.

[Huw]

I just recently bought a Zoom R16. Great bit of kit for a noob like me! It acts as a standalone portable studio akin to the likes of your Boss BR600 etc, but can also act as a USB insterface and even a control surface. Perfect for my needs.

It has 8 mic inputs (albeit probably not great ones), which is ideal for me learning the basics of how to mic up a drum kit, which I can record 'on location'. I can over dub the guitars etc then and there on the R16 or take it home and stick the drum tracks on the computer and use the interface option. I haven't actually done this yet, but that's the plan.

At the moment I'm just fannying about with it, trying to learn how to harmonise, what certain effects do, recording covers and just genrally getting to grips with the thing. I'm using the DAW Sequel - it's pretty dire, but I like the loops available and the way I could mix the loops and live instruments. I just can't get the hang of Cubase. Anybody got any ideas for some more noob friendly DAWs?

The Sum 41 cover for the Kilau CD was one stereo guitar track and like 8-10 vocal tracks. I like to over produce. These were all recorded the nifty onboard stereo mic on the R16. Gotta try and get my hands on some mics to do some more mic placement practice etc. Just got my SM57 at the moment.

I would like to do some drum programming, is this Beatcraft thing free?

I have found that having a recording partner to work with at times can be very useful. Its a great way of learning, you can pick up little tips and tricks that youve learned individually and also good for getting ideas down. Sometimes all you need is someone there to push the record button and stop at the right time or just tell you that it can be done better.

That's a great idea, really wanna find somebody to do this with.

[Chris]

Anybody got any ideas for some more noob friendly DAWs?

Reaper is simple enough that I'm getting results immediately and it's got a 1 month fully functioning free trial. Think it's quite cheap for the licence after that as well (20 - 30 I think).

REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits

[Huw]

Reaper is simple enough that I'm getting results immediately and it's got a 1 month fully functioning free trial. Think it's quite cheap for the licence after that as well (20 - 30 I think).

REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits

Worth a bash I guess! Cheers.

[Sam 45]

Worth a bash I guess! Cheers.

Yeah, the trial is the full version. Pretty cool. They only ask you to pay the full whack if you earning over 21k from audio or something like that.

[Huw]

Since some people mentioned that it was a lot easier to get decent (and a multitude of) guitar sounds from PODs etc, I did a little tone test to try out the in-built mic right up close to my amp. Obviously this mic is meant for people who don't have a clue like me and just shove it any which way, but it actually turned out alright. Now I need to get an external mic that will deliver similar results!

Some pretty howling mistakes, but just to demo the tone.

huw-1 - Tone Test (Street Spirit) on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

[Soda Jerk]

Beatcraft isn't free, but you can get it with a keygen from Torrents. It's very basic, and not very good for doing fills or anything, but it's decent, and the final mix does sound very good. More tweakable than most programs I find. You can change the volume of each part of the kit, and add individual FX on each, which I couldn't do on stuff like Drumsite and Loopstation.

[Guest idol_wild]

When I used to record acoustic stuff, I just played loose, as it's quite difficult to get lost in a click track. I just don't like them.

My set up is about as simple as it can possibly get. Mic into a laptop infront of an amp. Sequenced drums in Beatcraft. I've been recording some droney, melancholy pop music recently, which is just layers of guitar and pretty basic drums. I probably won't unleash it on the world yet though.

Your manner of recording is much the same as mine. As simple as possible, with as little technology as possible. I'm getting a shotty of a Mac soon, though, so my plan is to use Logic and just layer the absolute shit out of the tracks I loop live. No click track, hopefully.

The finger-picked acoustic ones I do will just be recorded with one overhead mic, capturing both guitar and vocal in one take. Overdubs possible but unlikely. Depends on any counterpoint melody ideas that crop up along the way. I will try vocal overdubs depending on confidence levels; I always seem more confident singing and playing guitar simultaneously. Playing the guitar seems to keep me slightly more in tune vocally.

It's really interesting to hear all the set-ups, though, and the varying preferences.

[FOX]

I use:

An acoustic guitar

A microphone

A TASCAM thing (mic to USB)

The back of the acoustic guitar/pringles tins full of coins/smarties tubes/pepsi bottles hitting tambourines for percussion

Pishy 90s headphones

Garageband on a MacBook Pro

... And the guitar is one take w/edits, the vocals the same, then the drums, then the harmonies. Muted/unmuted as needed.

[FOX]

Playing the guitar seems to keep me slightly more in tune vocally.

This.

It seems I can project my voice a ton more while playing guitar at the same time.

[FatHand]

I recently challenged myself to write a track using only my 1988 Yamaha VSS 200 and some effects from Cubase.

I used only the drum beats from its selection, think I used disco and layered parts of the march over the top of it. It has a built in 8bit sampler which allows you to record about 5 seconds of vocal. Was really good fun putting some limitations on the sound sets available for use to create a piece of music, Haven't got round to messing around with the circuit bent patches yet.

Here it is if you want to listen. You may dislike it though... be warned!

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1006236303/165d7c40d447ea0c2718137fd62f2c7b

[free tibet]

I recently challenged myself to write a track using only my 1988 Yamaha VSS 200 and some effects from Cubase.

I used only the drum beats from its selection, think I used disco and layered parts of the march over the top of it. It has a built in 8bit sampler which allows you to record about 5 seconds of vocal. Was really good fun putting some limitations on the sound sets available for use to create a piece of music, Haven't got round to messing around with the circuit bent patches yet.

Here it is if you want to listen. You may dislike it though... be warned!

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1006236303/165d7c40d447ea0c2718137fd62f2c7b

Ha! I just picked up one of those for a tenner in a charity shop, having heaps of fun with the sampler

[FatHand]

Ha! I just picked up one of those for a tenner in a charity shop, having heaps of fun with the sampler

It's nice and crunchy!

[jon]

I've always used my trusty Boss 8 track, but recently it's started to creak and won't burn cds. As a result, I've contemplating making the jump to a computer based setup, but I have no idea what to go for. The prospect of having easy access to multi, multi tracking is ace, but I'm a complete Luddite when it comes to Cubase etc.

[FatHand]

I've always used my trusty Boss 8 track, but recently it's started to creak and won't burn cds. As a result, I've contemplating making the jump to a computer based setup, but I have no idea what to go for. The prospect of having easy access to multi, multi tracking is ace, but I'm a complete Luddite when it comes to Cubase etc.

It's not that hard once you get past the initial learning curve.

Portable is ace to though. Depends where you do most of your recording?

[Chris]

I've always used my trusty Boss 8 track, but recently it's started to creak and won't burn cds. As a result, I've contemplating making the jump to a computer based setup, but I have no idea what to go for. The prospect of having easy access to multi, multi tracking is ace, but I'm a complete Luddite when it comes to Cubase etc.

If you've already got a reasonably up to date PC or laptop then I guess you're most of the way there. Try out some trial versions of DAWs like Reactor or some of the more popular one (and more expensive) ones. There are also a few free ones kicking around.

You can pick up a reasonably priced USB interface (this is the one I bought: TAPCO - Audio Gear with Vibe) and that's plenty to get you started. Most of them come with cut down versions of the commercial DAWs, but I had problems getting Tracktion 2 (which came with the Tapco Link.USB) to work properly with Windows 7 64.

I'm guessing you already have everything else you need like monitors/headphones.

[Jeid]

It's cool to see so many people still using 4/8 Track recorders these days. Kudos.

I could never figure the damn things out!

[Bigsby]

It's cool to see so many people still using 4/8 Track recorders these days. Kudos.

I could never figure the damn things out!

Simple to use once you play with them a bit. Actually reading the manual helps too.

[Soda Jerk]

The finger-picked acoustic ones I do will just be recorded with one overhead mic, capturing both guitar and vocal in one take. Overdubs possible but unlikely. Depends on any counterpoint melody ideas that crop up along the way. I will try vocal overdubs depending on confidence levels; I always seem more confident singing and playing guitar simultaneously. Playing the guitar seems to keep me slightly more in tune vocally.

Same. And if you're recording vocals on their own, you have to hold one of your headphones, like you're singing for Live Aid, and that looks gay.

[FatHand]

It's cool to see so many people still using 4/8 Track recorders these days. Kudos.

I could never figure the damn things out!

I've just got back into using my MPC for recording. That's another way of working again. Took fecking ages to work out the flow of the thing. It's possibly one of the nicest ways of working I've found though, if you have the patience at the time that is. Probably because it's a hardware version of the way I use Cubase.

[Guest idol_wild]

Same. And if you're recording vocals on their own, you have to hold one of your headphones, like you're singing for Live Aid, and that looks gay.

Yeah, that also. I mean, I'm aware that I look pretty gay at the best of times. But I could do without the Live Aid gay look.

[FOX]

Got an 8 track for Christmas two years ago (maybe three now) - after a good two weeks of faffing and manual deciphering I took it back and got a TASCAM instead. I must be a waveform-man or something because Garageband/Audacity was a million times easier.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Live AIDS.

[MikeyEB]

I just treat my 8 track as a glorified tape recorder. Pick a blank track, press play and record and go for it. Then I just adjust levels, mix to one track and record it on to the soundcard on my PC. Apparently there is a mastering function on the BOSS but I have no idea what that actually does.

Actually, what is the best way to mic up an acoustic guitar?