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Original message:489 days 10 hours 29 minutes ago

+ 2

Member: Ruge

54
WebCred

I have an American Fender Strat, a small 15 watt Marshal Amp and a V-amp-2 pedal, which I use often with headphones only. I know absolutely NOTHING about home recording but I would love to give it a shot. What are the absolute minimum things that I need in order to get started. My "man room" basement isn't big enough for a pool table but I carved out a corner area for my make-shift studio. I have my gear and a computer. What else do I need? Would like to keep it simple. I get lost in all the fancy jargon thrown about.

Let me preface this by saying I'm an intermediate player. I really enjoy playing. I've had a guitar lying around all my life and I always will. The last six months or so I've been trying to get to the next level. I upgraded my guitar, amp and I even took a few lessons. I’ve spent a fair amount of time recently improving my playing ability (learning notes on the fret board and getting a basic understanding of music theory, etc. ). I feel pretty comfortable with my chord play up and down the fret board but I still have a ways to go. Right now I’m trying to get a handle on the modes.

That being said, I'd love to play some tracks of my own and then play work on some solos over these tracks and record those on top. Just basic stuff but I think it will be a lot of fun and something I can build upon down the road.

While I have a captive audience, the other thing that throw out there:
Slowly but surely things are starting to make a heck of a lot of sense to me based on what I've learned recently. (what sounds good in a progression, scale relationship, etc.). What I don’t have is any rhythm to my playing. I always seem to play at the same speed/tempo. Are there lessons/exercises or suggestions that would help me get a flow in to my playing. I'm hoping that playing along some tracks might help me slow down a bit and find a groove.

Thanks very much........

My gear recommendations:

Reply:489 days 7 hours 42 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila

+ 3

2685
WebCred

Your best bet is to start with direct recording. I know that there are a lot of folks who complain about this and that they can't get their tone right and recording direct blows compared to recording the amp/cab with a mic. This is very true in home recording setups, but it's quite different in the studio. In the studio direct lines are clean and pristine. I'd dare anyone to tell me if a recording was made direct or through an amp in the studio environment.

To record direct, you will need a storage device. This is probably going to be your comp. You will need a multi-track recording program. The sound card on your comp will provide the interface for input and output. Use the LINE IN, to plug up and not the MIC input. Your guitar puts out a line signal and plugging it into the MIC input can damage the card. You will also need a cable to convert your 1/4" guitar cable to a 1/8" mini plug. You can get such an animal at radio shack. This would cover your basics.

I would suggest adding a small, inexpensive, mixer. This can plug to the ins and outs on your sound card, (adapters required,) and allow you to plug in your guitar at the mixer. Those small input jacks on most sound cards are OK until you start using them a lot. They can break easily, and wear out even faster, so making all your connections at the mixer and connecting the mixer only once to the comp makes sense here. Depending on the mixer you choose, (getting one with control room outs is a good idea,) you can plug your computer speakers into the mixer as well so you can listen while you play. Or mute the speakers and use the phones output.

I'm not into computer recording, so I don't have a program suggestion for you. Zombre has some favorites and you can ask him. I'm a DAW guy and buy units designed to do nothing but recording. The BOSS recording units like the BR1600 are great for what you're trying to do. They have built in effects and guitar inputs and are portable, so, IMO, beat the crap out of putting it all on your comp which, in a couple years, will be outdated forcing you to buy new recording stuff, while the DAW will hum along, doing what it's designed to do, until it craps out.

My gear recommendations:

"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where theives and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side..."
http://www.cleargravy.com

Reply:489 days 7 hours 30 minutes ago
Member: Ruge

+ 2

54
WebCred

Thanks Xark, great stuff. Seems like no matter what topic/thread I posted I always seem to get great feedback from you. Will be anxious to get Zombre's thoughts. THanks again.....

My gear recommendations:

Reply:487 days 6 hours 4 minutes ago
Member: HughBris

+ 1

10
WebCred

We reinvented our band room, got rid of some things, some things got rid of themselves, electronic suicide, and members finding other things to do.

Here's what we are using now, and it's far from fancy.
SM 57 on the Jensen cabinet for guitars.
3 Nady drum mics, toms, snare, kick.
Some old Peavey mic I bought in 1990 for $50.00 on the bass road cabinet.
Fostex Model 450 recording board we bought a couple weeks ago for $145.
Echo Layla 8 channel interface for the computer we bought as a group (be real careful doing "chip ins", just a word of warning) for $700 in 1999.
Old Gateway 450 Mhz, 512 RAM for recording/playback only, too slow to do much editing.
Cool Edit Pro recording program that came with Layla.
We play in a room 10'x20', half full of equipment used, and not used. I think it was 96 F inside (I love the way things sound when traveling through a few feet of sweltering heat, and humidity), the day we did Groove 3.
It was fun.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=587872&songID=5633198

My music recommendations:

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