Recording Music
I took a nice 4-night 3-day beach vacation this past weekend at some friends’ bungalow in Belmar. Sunday night, my buddy Brian and I goofed around enough to create a few killer tracks (or at least the beer said it was killer). We took turns playing either a push organ or a snare/maracas setup, while we both made up sounds and harmonies.
As usual, we were upset to not have anything to record with. Is a 4-tracker recorder a good idea? I have an iMac and Garage Band. Should I just use that and get a good microphone?
Comments
You’d need a mixer to sit in between your mic(s) and your iMac, but yeah, it’s the ideal travel studio.
and unless you have some strong desire to record everyone at once, with a decent knowledge of garage band you can even skip bringing the mixer with you.
a friend of mine has recorder several albums worth of material that way and the sound quality is pretty good.
Do you NEED the mixer or is that just a nice thing to have? I really need to spend some QT with garage band but unfortunately the imac is our family computer so when I’m on it the kids are asleep and I need to be quiet, or they’re milling about around me and I can’t really figure out how to use the thing.
I keep meaning and wanting to host an extended, drunken jam/recording session in my basement some time.
dont need the mixer. atleast thats my opinion.
I figured I wouldn’t need it for guitars since I have a couple of different multi effects pedals that could go right in. I don’t always like the sterile direct line sound straight from an instrument, but adding some warmth and reverb to that after the fact is still easier than getting a mic to record well and accurately.
you could always buy one of those usb pianos for around $100. then you could tinker with garage band with headphones on and never bother anyone.
If you’re recording guitars, get a line6 POD and you won’t need a mixer. It’ll be all the preamp you need. However, mics generally need some degree of power to them that the mixer will supply. In addition, if you want any semblance of real stereophonics, you’ll probably want to record just about anything with two compressors. Otherwise, every track you record will be mono.
Yeah, but what is the best way to feed the mixer into the computer? I have mine coming out the stereo output jacks of the mixer and then into what I’ll call a reverse splitter which then feeds a cord into the microphone input. It does the trick but it’s less than optimal and doesn’t get a stereo effect.
Just use the line-in jack, you dummy. The mic jack is mono and has -20db compensation. The line-in jack is 1-to-1 and stereo.
It’s been so long since I set the damn thing up, but I vaguely remember there being a reason why I use the mic jack. Damned if I can remember what it is though. I had gotten one of those USB cord patches and while the system recognized it’s existence and it’s connection it didn’t actually…you kno…emit any sound. Which was a problem.
And that doesn’t answer how you go out from the mixer with 2 cords and into the computer with 1.
If you’re just goofing around and stuff a decent mic will definitely do the job. Otherwise there are a number of cheap, compact mixers out there right now that record directly into PCs or Macs through USB.
I have one and its fantastic because its a one stop mini studio, both ideal for travel or a cramped apartment. You could also probably rip off a better recording program than garage band, which is fairly limited. I have Cubase and it works just fine.
I will just be goofing around, yes. So the 4-track is a complete no-go, huh?
It’s just kinda silly in this day and age. Plenty of people will tell you about how much more creative the limitations make them, and sure the beatles did everything on a 4 track, but whatever. computers are better. There are far fewer limitations.
Paris, I’m as behind the times as they come and I used a 4 track that I had from 1988 until 2002 when John showed me how to use a computer and I couldn’t possibly fathom even considering a 4 track if you have a suitable computer. If you don’t then that’s another story and it’s a less expensive option. But absolutely anything you could do on a 4 track you can do 10 million times more on a computer. Even just goofing around it’s a lot better.
Yea, I mean if you can grab it ultra cheap then why not, it’ll still work of course, but Hutch is right — it’s a bit silly.
Not only will you have less limitations, but just being able to store and transfer music is so much easier.
I got my USB recording mixer for $189 new, and while its not pro-material by any means, it takes a lot of the hassle out of recording. It’s point A to B and done.
Paris said:I will just be goofing around, yes. So the 4-track is a complete no-go, huh?
If you’re just goofing around and not even remotely concerned about sound quality, just use the internal mic on your laptop. That’s how Kuhlen recording our Understanding Nixon tracks.
http://johnhutch.dyn-o-saur.com/Music/Understanding%20Nixon/Unknown%20Album/
(disclaimer: we were really really drunk)