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I want a basic recording program/studio. I need help

descendent22

descendent22

Jul 29, 2015
1,543
924
39
Connecticut
#1
I’m looking to start recording some material. I always have these ideas but I lose half of them from forgetting. Also I’m not in a band currently and I’d like to piece together a whole song. I’ll lay down the bass obviously and some guitar work and vocals but idk what I need. As far as a program goes to use on the laptop or Pc what should I go with? Something that’s simple cause I’m not the greatest with computers. I don’t have a crazy budget and I’m trying to keep stuff simple.
 
#2
You need an interface, and the upside for you is that most interfaces come with some basic DAW software.
Plugging in a USB interface is pretty easy. Minimal fuss and drivers. However, because pirating is such a big deal in the software world, everything has to be registered online through often grueling processes.
DAWs (recording software) are a little more complicated. There is always a bunch of registration garbage that goes along with it. Make sure you remember your account names, password, email address you used, etc. Write it all down and keep it somewhere safe.
Then there is using the stuff. Nothing is intuitive about recording software if you have never used it before. Whatever you end up with, spend some time on YouTube watching tutorials.
I bought a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 that game with Ableton and some free plugins. I love the interface, Ableton Live, not so much. It's design is too different from other DAWs out there. However, for you, that doesn't matter much.
The most full featured and free DAW our there is Reaper. You can use it in "evaluation mode" pretty much for ever if you don't mind sitting through the "Hey, wanna buy this?" pop ups.
 
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#3
For quick idea catching, the old Tascam portastudio tape units are all pretty great in that you don't have to burn up valuable memory-minutes waiting for your computer to boot up and then scroll through menus. Their digital DP series are also pretty cool and offer more flexibility in a quicker-than-a-computer box.

That said, I haven't used one in years and have been using AcidPro with a tascam US-1641 to sequence program samples, track full band, and multi-track just myself on bass, keys, drums, and guitar... but it took a far longer time to learn than the old four and six track tape machines. Really great for composition.

If you can find one of the blue six track tape machines in good working order WITH a power supply, man you've struck gold AFAIC. Power on, click the timer, push track selector button, press record.
 
#4
i think https://www.talkbass.com/members/socialleper.147047/ summed it up well. while i lean towards another DAW (pro tools) for most things i agree that reaper is the best bang-for-buck DAW software available. another of its advantages is that it uses less processing power than many other choices = most computer setups can easily handle reaper.

OP: good luck with your choices and good luck with your projects! :thumbsup:
 
#5
descendent22 said:
I’m looking to start recording some material. I always have these ideas but I lose half of them from forgetting. Also I’m not in a band currently and I’d like to piece together a whole song. I’ll lay down the bass obviously and some guitar work and vocals but idk what I need. As far as a program goes to use on the laptop or Pc what should I go with? Something that’s simple cause I’m not the greatest with computers. I don’t have a crazy budget and I’m trying to keep stuff simple.
Click to expand...

What do you currently have, equipment-wise? What computers and or tablets do you have right now or could justify purchasing to do music on? How many tracks do you think you'll record at once? One, two, three...or more? That'll help with specific recommendations.

Also a better ballpark for you budget would help.

But in a general sense you'll need the following:

1. audio interface
2. computing environment
3. data storage medium
4. Amplification (headphones or studio monitors).

At one end of the spectrum, this could exist in a single handheld device (eg. Zoom) and at the other end of the spectrum, could take up an entire roomful of equipment.

Most of us are down near the low end of the spectrum - if not handheld, self-contained devices - we're using tablets, computers or laptops running multitrack recording software ("DAW" = digital audio workstation) and connecting our instruments using an "audio interface". Then send the results to headphones or studio monitors. There are many possible solutions in this space but I'd say that a significant proportion of hobbyists have invested anywhere between $200-$2000 to get a setup that works for them.

At the lower end of this scale, you could use a computer/laptop/tablet you already own, free multitrack recording software (eg. Reaper, Garageband, etc) and a sub-$100 audio interface where you can record one or two tracks at a time. Budget $100 for headphones. This is a useful setup for capturing ideas, recording simple songs.

At the higher end of this scale, you could buy a music specific computer (eg. iMac/MacBook Pro or PC equivalent), a multi-in mult-out audio interface (100's to 1000's of dollars) and go for the not-free multitrack recording software (eg. Logic, ProTools, etc). Headphones and studio monitors are required. This is reuqired for producing more elaborate songs with software instruments, loads of FX, recording multiple tracks at once (eg. drums), etc.

My setup: iMac (used: $500), MOTU 828 MkIII interface (used: $350), Logic Pro X ($200 new). I have lots more peripheral stuff but that's the core of it all.

And then it goes up from there to the high end professional end of the spectrum.
 
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#6
Pro Tools First is free and has most if not all the facilities a home recorder / songwriter might need. I prefer it too most of the value oriented DAWs out there. Familiarity is probably one of the key attributes to any DAW, and when you’re starting out, all DAWs are equal in that respect.

I found Reaper to be like working in a Linux app that got ported to Windows. And it’s not free.
 
#8
Audacity as your DAW.

Any M Audio or Tascam interface.

As far as mixing, you’ll only be as good as your reference speakers, so quality reference monitors and monitoring headphones go a long way. But they are an expense. Listen to your work over multiple sound sources.
 

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