What's the best way to record my music?

Question

I have several software programs like cakewalk pro suite 7 and guitar tracks 3, even as far as sonar pro ed. These things just confuse me and frustrate me to the point that I give up after a while. What is a good cheap multitrack digital recorder? Are they worth the effort? I want to produce the cd myself and I am just looking for some advice. Thanks.

Answer 1

Well, this is question best answered by what you want the best sound out of. Obviously, you want your voice to one thing best exemplified through your tracks considering you put this under singing. Being an amatuer engineer, Ive found that you can use relatively cheap software to get a decent sound. It sounds like you have put all you money into the wrong things, even though having good sofware is very important.



For vocals, the quality of your microphones are essential. Note that I did not say expensive. What you need is a condenser mic (powered microphone) not a dynamic mic ("karaoke mics", "stage mics"). Condensor Mics are best for Vocals and Acoustic Instruments. Dynamic mics are great for recording amps or playing karaoke at the house or being on stage (because they are run through a powered mixer), not good for recording vocal.



You may already have a condenser mic. Great!!! Thats one more thing that you dont have to buy. Here are some tips to dry up your sound. If you are already using a condenser mic and are getting crappy sound, chances are you are not recording in the right type of atmosphere. You need to shut off any source of noise that might be in your room (fans, tvs, radios, anything that makes a subtle noise that you think might give off any lower or higher pitch sounds. Your goal is to ISOLATE your sound. Go look at pictures of sound rooms on Google. They are going to have funny looking materials on the walls and a type of cusions in the corners. The purpose of these materials is to absorb sound (cutting out echoes and reverberation to best capture your voice) Try putting pillows in the corners of your room and blankets or eggcrate on the walls. This will clean up your sound BIG TIME.



Mic position is also very important and varies from person to person. I would also highly suggest for vocalist OR anyone who using mic at all to own a mixer. If you are using a computer, make sure it has either usb or firewire capabilities. Most people dont have firewire. This helps a ton in CONTROLLING your sound.



One last thing, DONT get Frustrated. I know it is easy to. Perservererance is going to serve you HUGE rewards. Experiment with what you have. Tight budgets usually pay off in creativity.



Seth Bialo

Answer 2

The recorded music is much more important, just because so many more people will hear the record than go to the show. Just because they're good live doesn't mean it's okay for them to put out a bad record. A band is much more limited on stage than in studio. The attraction of a live performance seems to me to be the intimacy and immediacy, rather than the actual best music. Dave: What does it mean to "deserve" to be famous? Music is made for its own sake, and if the music is good, why should there be a problem? I don't see why anyone should care how talented a band or musician is. Treating music (or any art, for that matter) like a sport trivializes the entire medium.

Answer 3

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RE:

What's the best way to record my music?

I have several software programs like cakewalk pro suite 7 and guitar tracks 3, even as far as sonar pro ed. These things just confuse me and frustrate me to the point that I give up after a while. What is a good cheap multitrack digital recorder? Are they worth the effort? I want to produce the...

Answer 4

computer recording is the fashion these days,i myself have been on the end of a frustrated computer not doing the things i want it to, and continuously crashing,a lot of the software is overcomplicated to the point of being ridiculous.a lot of mulitrack recorders are becoming the same what happened to a old fashioned tape recorder,if you want your CD to sound the best my advice is to practise your tunes and get down to local studio and get them down it might cost a few quid but the quality will be pristine,or persist with the computer software as you've paid for it,don't give up and let the bastard computer win theres lots of help and forums to give you advice,it took me a few years to get to grips with cubase,but after a while you learn what you can and cant do.if your doing guitar based music just set a mic up and record on 1 track,to get the crux of your idea,and to decide wether its anygood or not, line 6 do a simple recoding sequencer that allows you to record easily with no fuss,just plug in and go, check there web site.good luck my Friend dont give up.

Answer 5

well, i use GarageBand. It come's downloaded on Apple Computers. It's really easy to use, and you can even use the instruments it provides. (yuppers! it comes with instruments you can use, ... kind of like a keybord) all u have to do is push the right buttons on your keybord, and a note comes out! Wa-Laa!! ^-^ hehe...

anyway, if i can use it, you can use it! and im 12!

google GarageBand, or ask an Apple expert if your interested.

Answer 6

i personally like to use audacity.its a free pretty easy to use multi track recording software.if you want hard core effects probably not the best one to use but as far as quality its really nice.also (depending on what you record with)if you use an amp buy a plug adapter to plug your amp directly into your pc mike plug and listen to your playback tracks with head phones.Ive done a whole song with drums,guitar,and vocals like this and it sounded cd quality.well hope that helped some..good luck with your sessions.

Answer 7

it depends...