Recording in simple English please

[Rotor]

Back "in the day" we used to record on a cassette deck either using the built in condenser mics or a remote mic.
( I was never into recording enough or rich enough for anything else.)
Now I read the recording section and the only acronym I recognize is USB.
I know what one of those are, the rest is gibberish to an old guy like me.
I simply don't have the vocabulary.
I have been able to grok that there are such things as USB mics, that one would use for say talking to the guy you are about to kill in Call of Duty or Halo, but I think I'm at the point that I want to record some stuff so I can share it with you guys.
That is a huge leap for me as those that read my intro thread will understand.

So.... On a wicked tight budget, and in very simple English, what do I need to do to get sound waves into this black box that is my PC?
BTW I know I've got a good sound card in there.

[bigG]

No help there from me, Rotor. The last serious home recording I did (also WAY back in the old days), we used two Sony stereo open-reel tape decks and bounced tracks back and forth. By about the fifth overdub, the hiss became unlistenable, so four tracks was maxed out! :thwap

[t_ross33]

1. Skip the soundcard and get yourself a good USB mic. USB can carry more information a lot quicker than the basic line-in or mic input on your soundcard and make for better sounding recordings. Also helps reduce "latency" - your computer needs a certain amount of time to process the information you are sending to it and then to reproduce it so you can hear yourself. It's almsot impossible to monitor yourself in real time, and the lag between the input and the processed output signal is called "latency". Samson (http://www.samsontech.com)has a pretty good selection at reasonable prices, but there are other cheaper mics out there.

2. Download a free DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) such as Audacity. (Bonus, some mics will come with "light" versions of software such as Cakewalk, Sonar etc)

Everything after that is pretty much plug and play.

Good luck!

[deeaa]

What T_ross said...spend some time to learn a basic DAW...you get stuff like Cubase LE with soundcards etc. That's the most important thing. Cubase etc. programs are real simple but there's some points especially with some hardware that need tweaking...I've set up a dozen DAW systems for friends VERY un-computer oriented, and an hour or so of instruction has been enough to steer them to making multitrack recordings no problem.

It matters not how you get the sound to PC; if you have a nice soundcard with real inputs, just stick a mic to it...but I'm guessing it's internal in which case a mic is not the way to go without a mixer in between - so USB mic might be an easy start,

[Rotor]

Thanks guys, I actually thought USB was only headset level voice.
A little info to start me down the right path is exactly what I was looking for.
You guys rock. :thumbsup

[syo]

Hello Rotor. I have some questions. What are you looking to record? Just guitar or also vocals and perhaps other instruments? How much can you spend? As you said you are on a "wicked tight budget" some solutions may be more doable for you than others.

For example, if you just want to directly input your guitar via USB and record, there are basic solutions for about $20-$60. For example, this is can be had right now for $40:
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCG102.aspx
(edit: Sorry, listed wrong product before)
Recording software is included.

If you want to use microphones as well, you will need at least a USB audio interface (what you need to get sounds into your computer) with proper Mic/Line inputs. For about $100 you can get something like this:
http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/hardware/ci1/ci1_start.html.
In addition, you'll need a mic(s) to go along with it. Recording software is included.

Or if you just want to do the modern (and much better) equivalent of recording to a cassette deck, you can get a field recorder which records to SD cards with which you can easily transfer data to your computer. Prices, about $150 and up. This is a decent one for about $150:
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodid=1916
Has stereo mics and does a decent job for "live" sound.

These are all very basic solutions but can get the job done, depending on what you want to do. All would be considered very cheap for recording. One can easily spend many thousands of dollars for a decent home setup (both God and my wife know that I have...:dance). There are tons of options out there and I have just thrown up three examples of the most basic. Also, your computer is also an important part of the process. The faster the better and at least twice the RAM listed in the minimum requirements for whatever products you may choose.

But if you can give us more of an idea of your needs and budget, I'm sure you won't be short on recommendations...:D

[Rotor]

Thank you syo, of course I would love to have the resources to do a whole Pro tools setup with large numbers of plug ins (See I actually do know at least one DAW. My friend out in Seattle had one of those but he never explained any of it to me.)
That first option looks to be about in my current price range. and yes I can't carry a tune in a wheelbarrow while singing, But I want to do the mic type thing so I can record that live sound so maybe option two might be more where I want to go. I'll just have to save for a while and Christmas is right around the corner and my wife actually still loves me enough to put out that much for a special gift
All I am looking to do is record some guitar licks to do several things:

Hear what I sound like.

Share some incomplete songs of my own with you guys so maybe I can get some suggestions on where to take them from my stopping/stuck place.

Share some of the stuff I'm happy with.

Lay down some rhythm tracks to play lead to.

And mess around with a little post production.

...And again you guys are awesome in your helpfulness.

[FusedGrooves]

Thank you syo, of course I would love to have the resources to do a whole Pro tools setup with large numbers of plug ins (See I actually do know at least one DAW. My friend out in Seattle had one of those but he never explained any of it to me.)
That first option looks to be about in my current price range. and yes I can't carry a tune in a wheelbarrow while singing, But I want to do the mic type thing so I can record that live sound so maybe option two might be more where I want to go. I'll just have to save for a while and Christmas is right around the corner and my wife actually still loves me enough to put out that much for a special gift
All I am looking to do is record some guitar licks to do several things:

Hear what I sound like.

Share some incomplete songs of my own with you guys so maybe I can get some suggestions on where to take them from my stopping/stuck place.

Share some of the stuff I'm happy with.

Lay down some rhythm tracks to play lead to.

And mess around with a little post production.

...And again you guys are awesome in your helpfulness.

It maybe a bit more expensive than running the afore mentioned products but a Loop station might also work well for you. If your PC etc is setup where you play then I guess you can just use that and the software as your looper....

I'm a bit of a Boss man myself, but there are other Loop stations available and as far as Boss equip goes not the best for transferring onto the PC, unless you have the RC20 or RC50 (the cheapest RC-2 is still very good but you would need an interface aswell to transfer to PC, whereas the other 2 models will output to PC).

I'm not much into recording myself for post production etc, mainly to record myself playing to practice/improv against. To share on Youtube I will go the Video route but again that's an even larger expense :(

[Rotor]

Thanks for your input FG, I kinda thought of the vid route as far as sharing, then I tried to upload 100MB of offroading vid the other day from my camera to PC to youtube and that process took about an hour even with highspeed. sort of like trying to watch a youtube vid with dialup...:thwap

[FusedGrooves]

Thanks for your input FG, I kinda though of the vid route as far as sharing, then I tried to upload 100MB of offroading vid the other day from my camera to PC to youtube and that process took about an hour even with highspeed. sort of like trying to watch a youtube vid with dialup...:thwap

Hmmmm.....yeah I had my old Mini DV cam (tape) that would take ages to transfer onto PC. I was going to look at the new gen camera's that allow instant uploading to Youtube but yeah they aint cheap.....

The loop station for me is the best way. I can instantly play/record/overdub and practice over my own backing tracks - there is the function to load other backing tracks on there via WAV or MP3 files....also contains drum patterns which have helped my timing and improved my playing a fair bit.

A prb with a loop station pedal is that you will still need the software to mix post recording. Drum patterns are not exported which is a RPITA. I've gotten around this by recording everything onto 1 'phrase' then playing/recording via Mic back onto another empty slot but yeah ROYAL PAIN IN THE PROVERBIAL.

I generally don't bother...once my looper goes on I drift into improv until I fall asleep LOL

Once last thing that's helped me is recording a single strummed chord, then practicing all the scales/modes against them to hear how they sound. Then recording 2 chords, doesn't have to be complicated at all, simply to hear how different scales sound against diff chords and/or when changing to and from certain chords.....makes learning fun again :)

[sunvalleylaw]

My first recording was my guitar through a cable with an adapter into the sound card of my computer, into garage band. Connect, hit record, and then do so. I have since added a usb interface (Toneport) so I have more flexibility, can use mics, etc. But it is still pretty basic. T-Ross has it nailed for the Windows world.

[Rotor]

FG- The longer time was from PC to you tube ... maybe my ISP was busy that night???
I have a drum machine in my RP100A and you are very right, it has helped me with timing a huge amount. I usually keep it on a very simple metronome type beat, and work to stay in time with it. On that note, if I went the USB mic route, then that drum would transfer along with the guitar simply, and simple is my watchword at this stage.

Working with one chord at a time or a very simple chord progression is a large part of what my intent is in this venture. On those rare occasions when I have played with others, and I ask them (Or they volunteer) to lay down a rhythm track, they almost never stay with one thing long enough to let me develop a lead to it. They are all over the fretboard changing key and just about the time I've figured out something that sounds okay, they are off to somewhere else. Or in the case of a couple of my more advanced friends they want to do songs that they know and I don't. so again I have to try to come up with something in real time, and that is a huge challenge too.

[Rotor]

Okay the research is now complete (I think....)
this is what I came up with:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/MXL-MXL-990-USB-Powered-Condenser-Microphone?sku=271009
If anyone has an opinion I'd love to hear it before the wifey orders it.

[oldguy]

I guess my only concern, after reading the reviews, are the people who bought it saying you can't hear yourself singing while recording, you can only hear it when you play it back. I don't own one, though, so I really don't know. Just something I noticed in the reviews.

[deeaa]

Interesting, I would suspect that is a driver/software issue though...you'll probably just need to use software monitoring.

[Rotor]

I guess my only concern, after reading the reviews, are the people who bought it saying you can't hear yourself singing while recording, you can only hear it when you play it back. I don't own one, though, so I really don't know. Just something I noticed in the reviews.
I saw that comment too, but since people PAY me to NOT sing I guess that won't matter too much... LOL.


Interesting, I would suspect that is a driver/software issue though...you'll probably just need to use software monitoring.

I suppose that sending the signal to a different DAW might solve that. There must be one out there with a monitor function.
Regardless the wifey says I can have it under the tree. :thumbsup