Home recording noob

[Sheriff Cunt]

Hey guys,

I've decided i want to get in on this home recording caper but i have no idea where to start, any help would be appreciated.

Downloaded Reaper so dont bother plugging it too hard nosaj and cdtbeast

[cyanide_christ]

It depends what you're wanting to do. If you want to learn about the fundamentals of sound so you can become a real sound guy, then I would suggest doing  a course such as the waapa course which I am graduating from this year. You're not going to make a living out of it in Perth if all you want to do is record metal bands. You might have a chance if you have an interest in sound in general and look at other areas, for example live sound, film and tv sound, theatre sound etc etc.

If you just want to demo your own music then I suggest you just get a cheap 2 channel interface and get ezdrummer or addictive drums or superior2.0 to create drum tracks.

[Damo]

Ad, come see me at work, Ill run you through it. There doesnt have to be much to it.

[Sheriff Cunt]

It depends what you're wanting to do. If you want to learn about the fundamentals of sound so you can become a real sound guy, then I would suggest doing  a course such as the waapa course which I am graduating from this year. You're not going to make a living out of it in Perth if all you want to do is record metal bands. You might have a chance if you have an interest in sound in general and look at other areas, for example live sound, film and tv sound, theatre sound etc etc.

If you just want to demo your own music then I suggest you just get a cheap 2 channel interface and get ezdrummer or addictive drums or superior2.0 to create drum tracks.

My main aim is to just record myself initially but hopefully over time accumulate enough knowhow to record decent sounding demos for my bands at little to no cost

[dparker]

It depends what you're wanting to do. If you want to learn about the fundamentals of sound so you can become a real sound guy, then I would suggest doing  a course such as the waapa course which I am graduating from this year. You're not going to make a living out of it in Perth if all you want to do is record metal bands. You might have a chance if you have an interest in sound in general and look at other areas, for example live sound, film and tv sound, theatre sound etc etc.

If you just want to demo your own music then I suggest you just get a cheap 2 channel interface and get ezdrummer or addictive drums or superior2.0 to create drum tracks.

My main aim is to just record myself initially but hopefully over time accumulate enough knowhow to record decent sounding demos for my bands at little to no cost

I'd recommend the TAFE course I did too, Chubba... Cert IV in Music Technology (Production) or whatever they call it now... it wouldn't be as comprehensive as a WAAPA course, but it's still good... a vital truth the lecturers championed, is that the only way to progress your learning about recording and mixing, is to do your own research, and pretty much trial and error. For example, read up on FX/plugins like compression, delay, distortion, reverb, chorus, EQ, etc, and mess around with them until you get a feel of what sounds good to your ears.

[cyanide_christ]

Well I'd argue that there probably isn't much point in studying fx if you don't know what comb filtering or proximity effect are for example. Or what the difference is between a dynamic mic, a condenser mic, and a ribbon mic.

Best to learn to walk before one can run.

Audio In Media by Stanley R. Alten is a good book in that it covers a lot of things without getting too complicated so for the most part it's generally pretty understandable.

[dparker]

Well I'd argue that there probably isn't much point in studying fx if you don't know what comb filtering or proximity effect are for example. Or what the difference is between a dynamic mic, a condenser mic, and a ribbon mic.

Oh yeah for sure... I'm not really expressing it as well as they did, but what they were getting at (which may seem fairly obvious) is that you have to throw yourself in the deep end, rather than sit back in a chair and think the expertise will come to you on it's own... that, and don't go to SAE.

[Nosaj]

Well I'd argue that there probably isn't much point in studying fx if you don't know what comb filtering or proximity effect are for example. Or what the difference is between a dynamic mic, a condenser mic, and a ribbon mic.

Best to learn to walk before one can run.

Audio In Media by Stanley R. Alten is a good book in that it covers a lot of things without getting too complicated so for the most part it's generally pretty understandable. FUCKIN PROTOOLS!!

[goat]

Well I'd argue that there probably isn't much point in studying fx if you don't know what comb filtering or proximity effect are for example. Or what the difference is between a dynamic mic, a condenser mic, and a ribbon mic.

Best to learn to walk before one can run.

Audio In Media by Stanley R. Alten is a good book in that it covers a lot of things without getting too complicated so for the most part it's generally pretty understandable. FUCKIN PROTOOLS!!

I keep hearing the Ol "fucking pro tools" thing. Dude that lives with me keeps saying the same thing.
Is it that bad??
I use Spewbase with 0 hassels.

[Damo]

I run ProTools on a clean pc (no games, internet, antivirus, etc installed) and it works fine. In fact, Ive never had a problem with it.
There is no grey area with protools though - it either works or it does not on pc's. Always look on the digidesign website to ensure you have compatable hardware/setup.


That, or invest in a mac and go Logic 9, which is awesome.

[dparker]

I don't mind Protools for tracking, it does that well, but otherwise I'm not a fan... aside from the proprietary restrictions, I hate MIDI in Protools too.

I've heard heaps of good things about Logic 9 too, but never seen it in action.

[cyanide_christ]

Damo, I disagree. The problem with Pro Tools mostly seems to be its intermittency. At the moment I have a completely stable system but in the past I've had issues with it sometimes working, sometimes not working, and that seems to be the most common complaint amongst its users. Things like DAE errors upon startup - sometimes they occur, sometimes they don't.

Luckily I no longer have such problems and it runs pretty damn smoothly for me.

My gripe with Pro Tools at the moment is the lack of support for its pc users who wish to upgrade to the latest OS. Windows 7 beta version has been out for a  couple of years, and surely they'd have been working with Microsoft prior to its release in order to make things work but they still have not released a supported Windows 7 compatible update. That gives me the shits because they seem to get their shit working with Mac OS updates within microseconds of them being released. Also, all other recording software seems to not only be compatible with Win7 but also 64 bit versions.

Still, I love using Pro Tools. To me it's just really intuitive. Everything on it seems to make sense. It's simple but effective.

[dparker]

My gripe with Pro Tools at the moment is the lack of support for its pc users who wish to upgrade to the latest OS. Windows 7 beta version has been out for a  couple of years, and surely they'd have been working with Microsoft prior to its release in order to make things work but they still have not released a supported Windows 7 compatible update. That gives me the shits because they seem to get their shit working with Mac OS updates within microseconds of them being released. Also, all other recording software seems to not only be compatible with Win7 but also 64 bit versions.

It's annoying too, because it supports the fallacy that Macs are automatically and undeniably superior for media applications.

[Merlok]

how the fuck do u get ez drummer to start 

installed and cant start it

[Nosaj]

You need a host program. Either load it with Your Daw or get Toon Track solo.

[goat]

how the fuck do u get ez drummer to start 

installed and cant start it

what software are you using? eg Cubase, Pro tools?

[Merlok]

ive been using a free one called vsthost.

i got ezdrummer to work

but when i play my guitar through it there is a fraction of a second delay and i cant figure out how to fix it   

its driving me nuts 

[goat]

not exactly sure with vst host, but you should be able to find something on "Latency" somewhere in help.
thats what is giving you the delay. you need to change your "buffer" size to smaller increments. eg; if its currently 1024, then change it to say 256 or 192. the smaller you get it the less the delay.

only thing is, if you go too small then youll get audio dropout which equates to popping and staticy sounding noises which is just your computer telling you it needs more ram. sometimes it can just down right crash, but thats normal if the latency is too low.

what are your compy specs?

[cdtBEAST]

Hey guys,

I've decided i want to get in on this home recording caper but i have no idea where to start, any help would be appreciated.

Downloaded Reaper so dont bother plugging it too hard nosaj and cdtbeast

Go buy the book "Mixing with your mind" by Paul Stavrou, it will be perfect for where you are @ right now.
I have lent my acoustics book to VAL at the moment.  F. Alton Everest Master Handbook of Acoustics. It is awesome but will turn your brain to mush hahahaha just ask VAL

[Merlok]

not exactly sure with vst host, but you should be able to find something on "Latency" somewhere in help.
thats what is giving you the delay. you need to change your "buffer" size to smaller increments. eg; if its currently 1024, then change it to say 256 or 192. the smaller you get it the less the delay.

only thing is, if you go too small then youll get audio dropout which equates to popping and staticy sounding noises which is just your computer telling you it needs more ram. sometimes it can just down right crash, but thats normal if the latency is too low.

what are your compy specs?

all good, i forgot i had reaper installed. figured it out in a couple hours!

managed to record a half decent song opening for my abysmal guitar talent

[Damo]

My gripe with Pro Tools at the moment is the lack of support for its pc users who wish to upgrade to the latest OS. Windows 7 beta version has been out for a  couple of years, and surely they'd have been working with Microsoft prior to its release in order to make things work but they still have not released a supported Windows 7 compatible update.

Apparently, it takes 6-12 months to properly test the systems they are passing, which could explain why there isnt an official pass for win7 yet.

[goat]

not exactly sure with vst host, but you should be able to find something on "Latency" somewhere in help.
thats what is giving you the delay. you need to change your "buffer" size to smaller increments. eg; if its currently 1024, then change it to say 256 or 192. the smaller you get it the less the delay.

only thing is, if you go too small then youll get audio dropout which equates to popping and staticy sounding noises which is just your computer telling you it needs more ram. sometimes it can just down right crash, but thats normal if the latency is too low.

what are your compy specs?

all good, i forgot i had reaper installed. figured it out in a couple hours!

managed to record a half decent song opening for my abysmal guitar talent

fuckn cool man. keep that shit crackin.

[Merlok]

JESUS CHRIST

how much ram does reaper suck   

might need to get more ram 

[Nosaj]

I think Simon might have covered that in another thread.

[Metallifux]

I run ProTools on a clean pc (no games, internet, antivirus, etc installed) and it works fine. In fact, Ive never had a problem with it.
There is no grey area with protools though - it either works or it does not on pc's. Always look on the digidesign website to ensure you have compatable hardware/setup.


That, or invest in a mac and go Logic 9, which is awesome.

been using PT since 6.8 and am about to upgrade my system, its a bit hard to look up official compatible hardware when there listed hardware is like 5 years old and you can't even buy it if you actually wanted to! If i hadn't invested in a PT interface i would have given up on PT long ago, they simply don't seem to care enough about the home user. I'm no tech expert but am halfway through a degree in electrical engineering and still find it hard to understand the garbage PT users have to go through to get a stable system. You pay over a grand for a Software/hardware product it should just work!