I still have all my hardware recordings (25+ years) not so with stuff I recorded on DAW
Last edited:
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Where Do I Start With Home Recording?
- Thread starter P. Aaron
- Start date
Home recording is not just for creating new music.
I use my PC laptop with Scarlett and Reaper to learn/relearn tunes. With the Moises App, I can isolate the bass and other tracks from recordings.
Sure beats the old days of dropping needles on records
.
I use my PC laptop with Scarlett and Reaper to learn/relearn tunes. With the Moises App, I can isolate the bass and other tracks from recordings.
Sure beats the old days of dropping needles on records
.
If I didn’t already have Pro Tools for ye olde day job, I’d probably just go with a Focusrite interface into Garage Band (or Logic, which is cheap and an intuitive step up from GB). Get a large-diaphragm condenser like a TLM-103 (or even an AT4033) and get to work!
Honestly, if you're gonna go Garageband, just get Logic and get on with it. Logic is a true professional application (Been my bread and butter for over 20 years, so I'm biased of course). Logic's interface and workflow is way more intuitive if you have any idea how traditional recording gear works. Garageband frankly, is kinda weird, and awkward.
EDIT: I would also add, that if you do eventually want to use your DAW in a professional capacity, my advice is go either Logic or ProTools. They are by far the most ubiquitous in the industry (including film and TV). As for music production, it used to be a ProTools world for some time, and us Logic guys were mostly electronic music cats (the thinking was ProTools for audio, Logic for MIDI), but they've both had all that functionality for years now. I know as many producers and composers using Logic these days as PT.
Last edited:
Make sure you backup. Don't be a person who goes into a panic when a PC or local disc goes bad.
There are many actually cost effective plans that mix local and Cloud backup, and automatically back up for you.
There are many actually cost effective plans that mix local and Cloud backup, and automatically back up for you.
Nothing wrong with them! One can get great recordings, and the all-in-one format can be a great way to avoid compatibility issues of separate hardware and software components.
Also, to be candid, I’m not up to date on the latest options, so my comment was based on prior experience that might no longer be relevant.
Anyway, my experience was I was a devoted Roland VS Series digital recorder user back in the day. Had the vs 880, 1680, 2480 and loved them. Had many many songs in them, in their proprietary format. Then Roland stopped supporting them and abandoned the products. Raw waves could be exported and mixed on other daws, but it was starting over, and I wished I had just gone with separates.
My experience with the format is is less future-proof than separate pieces that a user can update as needed.
That said, it’s entirely possible I’m talking out my *#%
It’s entirely possible I’m talking out my *#%"Nothing wrong with them! One can get great recordings, and the all-in-one format can be a great way to avoid compatibility issues of separate hardware and software components.
Also, to be candid, I’m not up to date on the latest options, so my comment was based on prior experience that might no longer be relevant.
Anyway, my experience was I was a devoted Roland VS Series digital recorder user back in the day. Had the vs 880, 1680, 2480 and loved them. Had many many songs in them, in their proprietary format. Then Roland stopped supporting them and abandoned the products. Raw waves could be exported and mixed on other daws, but it was starting over, and I wished I had just gone with separates.
My experience with the format is is less future-proof than separate pieces that a user can update as needed.
That said, it’s entirely possible I’m talking out my *#%
Possibly
I use both, a Zoom R20 for portability and a desktop or laptop for increased manipulation.
It’s entirely possible I’m talking out my *#%"
View attachment 5141052
Possibly
I use both, a Zoom R20 for portability and a desktop or laptop for increased manipulation.
Well, to those just tuning in, talking and flatulating are two, distinctly, different things!
Some years ago i tried briefly to use Reaper: for my strained eyes the interface was impossibile to manage....
And i found it counter intuitive........ as (for me) Logic, Garageband, Cubase, etc...
I read no mention of the DAW i use exclusively since many years: Ardour.
If it works for you, that is all that matters...
What does this reply would mean?......
It works for me, but my advice to the OP is "give it a try". Maybe it could work also for the OP, or maybe not.
Sorry, I do not have any experience with "Ardour" but, anything that works is good as far as I am concerned.
Even though I posted about current hardware recorders, I do think for beginners software is cheaper. Just because it may have a zillion features noone is forced to learn how to use them all.
Because prices on drives and memory cards fell over the years, all modern recorders record WAV files and most can go up to 96k/24 bit. SD cards are what all the current recorders I'm aware of use. Pop the SD card into a card reader to archive the WAV files if revisiting the song (in either the recorder or a DAW) is ever needed.
D
To be honest I don't remember exactly what I did. I would probably have to revert to the default settings to see what I was missing. I remember spending a LOT of time tweaking the setup though, and some of the stuff I did was hidden rather deep. I googled a lot and used the Reaper forum. There are LOTS of ways to tweak the setup, Reaper is a very "deep" DAW with lots of options if you're not happy with the default setup. I found solutions to almost everything I wasn't happy with.
But this was based on MY preferred workflow, after years of using other DAWs. For all I know my setup could be WORSE for someone starting out with Reaper as their first DAW. It was definitely my impression that Reaper has a slightly steeper learning curve than many other DAWs though. With Cubase, ProTools and even Sonar I always felt like I could go straight into a session and have everything I needed at my fingertips from day1. Not so with Reaper, I needed some time to figure things out and tweak the setup a bit.
Actually, I remember ONE small thing I did. I wanted a mute-button on every individual audio clip. There's a box you can tick somewhere for that. This made my transition from a different DAW easier. Others may not find this necessary at all of course.
I think I also had to change a setting somewhere to automatically mute a previous take when doing punch-ins? But it's been a while so I'm not sure if I remember this correctly.
I think most of the things I changed were related to editing behaviour but I honestly don't remember any details. I just remember I was FAR more happy with Reaper after tweaking the setup a bit. But like I said, this was for MY preferred workflow after spending years with other DAWs. I guess I might simply have been "Cubase-ing" Reaper a bit...
Which wouldn't necessarily be the right thing for someone starting out with Reaper as their first DAW.But Reaper is a VERY "deep" DAW with LOTS of possibilities for personalization.
Thanks for the response! I have not used other DAWs, so I guess I'll go with the defaults unless I learn more...
I learned a lot with You Tube "best reaper tutorials"...
That's how Guided By Voices works on a lot of their earlier work. Isolation Drills was a much more in-studio production.
