Newbie to forum and recording

barryd

Hello.  Im new.  Just found this forum and it looks great.

Ive been playing both electric and acoustic guitar for forty years or more now.  Well I say playing, some may say its mainly making lots of noise.

I am semi retired now and since I have had more time I have started getting into recording stuff just for my own entertainment really and to annoy friends etc.    I'm totally clueless when it comes to gear and the tech side of playing but i am looking at the best ways to record the stuff I do and make a half decent job of it.

At the moment at home I have a PA and a PC which I used with a line out of the PA To record tracks in the freebee Software Audacity.  I have sort of got my head around that and the results are kind of ok but I am looking to be able to improve on that.  One thing I struggle with is getting the sound that actually comes out of the PA to sound as good when recorded.  This is especially noticeable with acoustic recordings.  You can tweak things to an extent in audacity but it has its limits.  Same goes for vocals as well.

So what is out there?  What sort of gear and software / hardware to I need to be looking at to take things to the next stage?  Hopefully without having to spend a fortune?

horse

I suppose you need an audio interface of some kind for the pc, to use instead of the pa and pc line in. What will suit you best will depend on what you want to record, eg do you have a mic for vocals and acoustic, do you use an amp or modeller etc for electric?

Winny_Pooh

Budget? Whats your upper limit?
Recording what? Guitars, drums, bass, vocals?

octatonic

Welcome to the forum.
There are as many options as your budget allows- it is pretty deep and you could spend anywhere from £500 to £5 million to equip yourself to record.

Generally speaking the more you spend the better quality you get, but the law of diminishing returns also applies.

As above ^^^ are you recording acoustic instruments, are you recording with other people or alone?
Do you want to record acoustic drums (this can get expensive).

barryd

Thanks for the welcome and replies.  Its just me on my own at home.  I use backing tracks and play both electric guitar and acoustic as well as vocals.  Some stuff will just be me and the guitar, some guitar and vocals and some with backing tracks.

At the moment I just import the backing track mp3 into Audacity then record each guitar track via the line out to the pc via the amp and then the vocals.  I then mess about with each track as much as you can.  Add effects etc then eventually export the whole thing as an MP3 single combined track.

I always record alone.  I havent really got a budget but if I had it wont be much.

PolarityMan

So first thing is a small audio interface. 2 channels will do you fine and you want one that has a hiZ input for instruments and can supply phantom power. All the major players provide something in this ballpark so I would loom out for anyone second hand deal over setting your sights on a specific model.

Next up you will want a condensor mic which will improve the quality of your acoustic guitar and vocal recordings significantly.

For electric guitar I would look at tracking directly into the audio interface using an app sim VST such as amplitube or scuff ham sgear. The other option is using a dynamic mic on a real amp but I find that a bit of a faff for home use.

Audacity can be used as a multitrack but if you want to get I to the production side more you light want to pick up a full in DAW software. Reaper is cheap and has an unlimited free trial so I would start there.

Finally at some point you will probably want to swap your PA for monitor speakers so you have a more accurate representation of what you are recording and mixing.

Winny_Pooh

No budget? An Audix i5 (because too many sm57 fakes) or equvalent sennheiser into a Focusrite or m-audio 2 channel interface into reaper (unless you are broke and audacity works for you)

spark240

As suggested Most small interfaces would do for you , M audio, Focusrite, Presonus, are a few but there are others. I would love to suggest the  Presonus daw but I think it may a bit complex for a starter. I agree to swap the PA monitors for powered monitors....oh. And I assume you have a decent set of cans.

Ben8010

Search on youtube for "JustNick How to record guitar". Its a really helpful video on getting started.

As for DAWs, I'd always recommend trying the free trials of cubase, reaper etc, etc. and see which one you like best. They all essentially do the same thing so the best way to find which one suits you is to try them hands on.

barryd

Many thanks for the replies.  Sorry for not responding but we are away in our motorhome at the moment and I lost internet connectivity for a few days.

Lots to research and look at then!  At the moment it all sounds double Dutch to me as its all new and a learning curve.  Still it will keep me out of trouble over the winter.

Just bought an old early 70's Keller Spanish guitar off ebay with fitted pick up which is sat at home waiting for me so Ill need to add that into the mix of recording stuff as well.

When you talk about an interface are we talking about a physical box that sits between your instruments / amp and the PC?  Ill watch the video!  Cheers

Ben8010

barryd said:

When you talk about an interface are we talking about a physical box that sits between your instruments / amp and the PC?

Yeah

spark240

Like this...or similar.

https://www.studiospares.com/Studio-Gear/Audio-Interfaces/Presonus-Audiobox-USB-Interface_328430.htm?CAWELAID=120173110000110731&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=21236301156&CATCI=pla-66883070461&catargetid=120173110000154407&cadevice=c&gclid=CjwKEAjwps2_BRC5jduHor-h8xESJADGT-LtwQ-wHZhdAQ2lve0QRINxB9XGCZWpsXq-PeNHAwN-DRoCCWfw_wcB

Ben8010

@spark240 Exactly like that

MagicPigDetective

I'm new to this and also trying to get my head around it.

It looks like things have changed from a few years ago, when you usually needed to make sure that your PC had a decent soundcard. Do I take it that with a DAI, the PC's soundcard/chip is not that important? When it comes to choosing a PC/laptop for music recording, are there specs that are needed?

spark240

MagicPigDetective said:

I'm new to this and also trying to get my head around it.

It looks like things have changed from a few years ago, when you usually needed to make sure that your PC had a decent soundcard. Do I take it that with a DAI, the PC's soundcard/chip is not that important? When it comes to choosing a PC/laptop for music recording, are there specs that are needed?

Really depends what you expectations are and how much you intend to record, personally I would avoid laptops unless you need to be mobile, I chose a Mac mini which doe the job for me, although an SSD is a good idea.  my experience has been get as much Ram as you can and, min. i5 processor, 

barryd

Thanks again.  I tend to use a laptop as my day to day computer but I read before I think that they are not ideal for recording due to all the compact circuits etc.  I have a Windows 10 PC but its getting on a bit.  I work in IT though (well semi retired now) so that side of it is easy enough to sort.

spark240

I find the laptop screens just too small for my failing eyesight !

Fretwired

@barryd .. look at the Steinberg UR22 MK2 .. you can get one for around £90 and it will allow you to record guitar, keyboards, vocals and so foth. Check out this review .. fast forward to where its used to create a track.

GavRichList

Focusrite Scarlett Solo is great too. 

barryd

Thank again.  Still away so not online all the time.  I watched the first two JustNick videos so I kind of get how it works now

He mentioned Audacity as not being the best of software and also mentioned Reaper but when I looked at a Reaper demo they recommended Audacity to work alongside it as an editor.  So is that because the Reaper software will record better but Audacity has more editing features?  Is there a better tool than Audacity in general that does everything?

Nick was also recording guitar using a mic draped over his amp.  Sometimes I record alongside a backing track.  What is the best way to do this?  I would import the backing track into Audacity then use the line out of the PA into the PC to record the guitar track into Audacity with the backing track playback coming out of the PC speaker system.  Is using a mic better or could I plug the line out of the PA into the input of the interface or indeed the guitar straight into the interface?  With a Mic I am going to get sound recorded in the background from the backing track output.

Sorry if these are really numpty questions.  I know nothing! . 

stratman3142

I've never, in my 9 years of using Reaper, needed to use a separate editor. Where did you see that comment about also needing to use Audacity as an editor?