Help with getting into home recording - what do I need?

owlexifry said:
+1 garageband user over here.

its bascially logic pro lite. i've never felt the need to upgrade (for the purpose of shitty demos, nothing impressive)
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GarageBand is a surprisingly good and is really all any amateur needs. Call me crazy but I’ve always felt that different daws have a different sound even when recorded with the same sample rate and everything I’ve ever recorded in GarageBand had a nice “sheen” too it. Maybe I’m crazy or maybe I always got the recording levels perfect on those. But yes it’s basically stripped down version of Logic.
 
andare said:
AI? No thanks. I prefer listening to the original on a cassette and keep rewinding. It trains your ear and forces you to make creative decisions :)
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My God, it's a program to learn songs. Whatever, not arguing with you, not worth it. Do you. I wish I had something like this 30 something years ago when I learned to play.
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I shared a picture of a cover I decided to do yesterday. I used studio one 6, the few plugins I used were in the box stock plugins. I used RipX to extract the stems and rerecord all the guitars myself. Thought I'd share how simple it can be. I like doing covers to not just learn songs but to learn and understand mixing practices and production techniques.

Live Forever final mix.mp3

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
Guardians of the analog said:
I shared a picture of a cover I decided to do yesterday. I used studio one 6, the few plugins I used were in the box stock plugins. I used RipX to extract the stems and rerecord all the guitars myself. Thought I'd share how simple it can be. I like doing covers to not just learn songs but to learn and understand mixing practices and production techniques.

Live Forever final mix.mp3

drive.google.com drive.google.com
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Dude, that sounds awesome.

I had used Moises before and will have to check this out
 
Guardians of the analog said:
I shared a picture of a cover I decided to do yesterday. I used studio one 6, the few plugins I used were in the box stock plugins. I used RipX to extract the stems and rerecord all the guitars myself. Thought I'd share how simple it can be. I like doing covers to not just learn songs but to learn and understand mixing practices and production techniques.

Live Forever final mix.mp3

drive.google.com drive.google.com
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Dude you sound exactly like Noel!
And Liam!
 
Old thread, but I'll add my 2 cents anyway.

Reaper is a great budget option. It boots fast and isn't too bloated. Great for just recording audio, but can be expanded to do whatever as you have the need. I think it even works with video. Comes with some very usable stock plugins, and plenty of free JavaScript based community ones to get you started.

I'd recommend finding an interface with a channel or two over what you need. A common thing to do nowadays is to record a dry signal straight from your guitar alongside the rest of your rig. This allows for reamping in the future if you like the performance but not the tone.

SM57s and e609 are good all arounders for guitar. A cheaper large diaphragm condenser like the Lewitt LCT 240 is cheap and robust, with better low end response if you need it.
 
Nostradoomus said:
whoa whoa, you guys aren’t using Cool Edit Pro?
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My first daw was Cool Edit Pro 2. I got it in Oklahoma, when I was going to see Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. The opening band was called Squeaky Burger, and one of the dudes was someone I never met- I traded cassettes of Phish shows with him on some forum. I think my friend I drove with had a cell phone, and told us to meet him at some hipster vegetarian dive bar. That’s when he handed me the Cool Edit Pro CD. It kind of blew my mind- it was an upgrade from Sound Recorder and a 4-track.
 
Fama said:
Since you're on Mac, I vote for Garageband to start with. You can look at other DAW's later on. Logic is a great option on Mac, I use Reaper but I'm on Windows.

I pretty much agree with all the other stuff said here too, although FWIW I've done all my recording, mixing and mastering on headphones (I do check with the living room speakers though, which are not great either), and feel like the quality is good enough for me.

One thing I would focus on more than others is that you get a good workflow down that helps you get stuff recorded. Having a low barrier to firing up a session and recording something valuable, because you get more done. Sometimes you might not feel like doing it if the barrier is higher (you need to move stuff around or plug/unplug things, for example).

Like others said, don't stress about having fancy plugins, complicated tools or mixing techniques. Panning and levels does a lot, add a little EQ and you're cooking, a bit of compression (although it can be tricky as a beginner) and reverb, and you can get a really good result. Especially if you're not recording drums - but that is a whole another can of worms anyway.
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This is a really great point. One that I need to work on.
 
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I really like this. 1 main stereo mic input and 4 open XLR/ts inputs, expandable to 6. So, it's kind of like a very portable 4-6 track recorder/mixer.

I bought it for field recordings and sound collage. The 32 bit float allows recording very quiet sounds and quite loud sounds without needing to adjust mic gain for clipping. So it is really great for recording drums and practices/jams.

I'm no recording/audiophile but sure beats the pants off the built in MacBook mic under a pillow into garage band for drums
 
Late to this, but fwiw/context I work in audio production for a living but don't have particularly strong opinions about any of this stuff. Honestly, just whatever gets you up and running the quickest is the best choice.

Interface: the only thing I can say is that at the prosumer level, everything is basically going to be about as good as everything else. There's no real world practical benefit to a presonus over a motu over a focusrite over an EVO over an SSL. MOTU are good about keeping their drivers updated, but I also have a 15yo presonus in a box that worked the last time I plugged it in. Just stick with something USB and you'll be fine. I have RME and UAD stuff. I would happily buy RME stuff in the future, I will never buy another UAD interface. People love the audient interfaces, their EVO line is super affordable and by all accounts is really well made. Looks sharp too! If you're interested in recording multiple instruments at once in the future you could look for an interface in your price range that supports ADAT i/o. That would let you add an extra 8 (or more) channels in the future without having to buy a new interface. Behringer make a perfectly cromulent 8ch ADAT expander for about $200.

DAW: if the only person you make music with and record and work with is you, then (again), everything is going to be about as good as anything else. If you have IRL music pals that are more experienced than you, then just use whatever they use so you have some nearby tech support. Otherwise, reaper is great, and there are amazing tutorial videos that will answer any question you have in patient detail by Kenny Gioia over on youtube. You can make any kind of music in any DAW, but some DAWs lend themselves to certain things over others. Logic is popular with people doing orchestral stuff, protools is the industry standard in traditional recording studios, ableton is popular with people working in electronic and experimental genres. Reaper is popular with people who don't want to pay for protools. Garage Band rips, FL studio still rips, long live Reason. I use audition every day for work and I can safely say you don't want to record music in audition. If you're a linux guy, ardour is still out there going strong!

Mics: 57s and 58s are great, probably you can find one for free somewhere. If you're going to the store and buying new, look at sE mics - the V7 is a workhorse dynamic that is less expensive than a 57 and doesn't do some of the things that people dislike about 57s. The V7x is an excellent option as well - it's marketed as an instrument mic but it sounds great on a lot of voices as well. It's quite similar to a beyerdynamic M88 (which is an excellent microphone and a strong contender for the best 'if i could only have one mic' mic title).

This is maybe not helpful, but I'm always stoked to talk about recording.
 
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