TommyK Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 The local library is offering free-ware software classes. I'll be attending Audacity and I think, Ardour. Anyone have experience with this? Are there some particular things I should ask about so I'm not going into this cold, but I'm going into it cold anyways. What are your thoughts about microphones, etc? These is a 2.5 hour presentations. Tell me the difference between Audacity and Ardour. It appears Ardour is a more advanced form of Audacity. Would you recommend I down-load Audacity and play with it before the class? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowdiddley Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 The local library is offering free-ware software classes. I'll be attending Audacity and I think, Ardour. Anyone have experience with this? Are there some particular things I should ask about so I'm not going into this cold, but I'm going into it cold anyways. What are your thoughts about microphones, etc? These is a 2.5 hour presentations. Tell me the difference between Audacity and Ardour. It appears Ardour is a more advanced form of Audacity. Would you recommend I down-load Audacity and play with it before the class? I use Cubase so I'm not familiar with either program but I would go ahead and download it, if for nothing else you can become familiar with the general options and controls prior to go to class. As for mic's I use the old standard, SM-57's & SM-58's. Works for me, ymmv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 FWIW I use GarageBand and a Fostex 4trk cassette unit. Nothing saturates or has the warmth of tape. It can also be a noisy format. Nowadays formats are irrelevant. It's what is most comfortable for you to use. Depending how heavy you want to get into recording, here are my general items. 1. Learn all you can about microphones; different types, brands, pickup patterns, etc. Become a mic geek. This is the most important gear for any recording setup. A 10k tube preamp ain't gonna mean nothing if you're recording an acoustic guitar with an SM58 through it. First thing I do when I check out a studio is look at their mic collection. 2. Learn the art of mic placement. And it is an art. 3. Learn to trust your ears. Hard lesson to learn that only comes from experience. 4. Optional - offer to record bands for free to get some experience tracking and mixing. 5. Not optional - have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenced Fred Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 FWIW I use GarageBand and a Fostex 4trk cassette unit. Nothing saturates or has the warmth of tape. It can also be a noisy format. Nowadays formats are irrelevant. It's what is most comfortable for you to use. Depending how heavy you want to get into recording, here are my general items. 1. Learn all you can about microphones; different types, brands, pickup patterns, etc. Become a mic geek. This is the most important gear for any recording setup. A 10k tube preamp ain't gonna mean nothing if you're recording an acoustic guitar with an SM58 through it. First thing I do when I check out a studio is look at their mic collection. 2. Learn the art of mic placement. And it is an art. 3. Learn to trust your ears. Hard lesson to learn that only comes from experience. 4. Optional - offer to record bands for free to get some experience tracking and mixing. 5. Not optional - have fun! Huge plus one for this. It might seem weird, but different types, brands and pickup patterns can make a huge difference when you compare them side by side. I am in a music recording class, and the class is BS, but I am learning a lot by being able to test out different types of mics, set ups, etc. If possible, find a community college and see if they have a recording class. Mine is one of the most expensive with 129 per credit hour per semester for a 3 credit class. It's less than 400 bucks and you get to play around with all sorts of gear. Mic placement makes a huge difference. Adding a foot between the amp and the mic instead of close micing (right up to the cab) makes a much fuller better sound. Your ears are the most important thing, and like Evol said, trust them and try to record other bands if possible, or sit in when they record if you can. Listen to recordings you like, and try to emulate it. Then pick out recordings you don't like and try to emulate it. You will learn what works, and what doesn't very fast Also, I use Garageband, and all the recordings up on my purevolume account (www.purevolume.com/oddmanout3) are into garageband using a Blue Yeti mic (highly recommended for its usability. USB plug in, good quality, and 4 different mic patterns. can be had for 100 bucks new off of amazon.com) Decent sound, and I am looking to expand my mic locker soon (SM57s and an SM58) not sure on interface yet Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky scott 29 Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 I don't know anything about it. But now, I know where's there's a person I can find out about it though.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 I use Audacity... I've had some relatively high-end commercial stuff and don't see much difference in quality or ease of use. Audacity also has plenty of plugins available. The "difficulty" with it is in installation and adding various plugins. No problem for the geek hidden in my personality but it is rough for some folks. The only weakness in ways is that you have to separately download an MP3 encoder to use that format. Much of the rest is kinda what you get used to. It works well enough to run through a laptop "on location" too. Never used the other program. I run a mike and guitar for solo stuff through an A-E amp, then use the line out to go into the computer via an inexpensive USB interface. With my current computer I don't have a line noise problem that I did have with another machine with the same setup. One advantage is that in effect you have a monitor (the amp itself) to hear what the blend is like. I'm certain a "line out" or "stereo out" on a pa also would work well. My main advice is that if you're doing solo stuff with guitar and vocals, have somebody else keep an eye on the record side. You can do it yourself but it kinda takes away from concentrating on what you're doing. I do my recording pretty much to see if I think I'm going too fast, too slow, too redundant on instrumental sides of it, too complex - you know the drill. Frankly I don't hear much diff on most speaker systems I have available regardless of the mike being used. I think that's more likely if you're miking amps or doing a direct "in" than if you do the combination thing as I do either with a guitar amp or pa. There's some loss in moving stuff around and I don't try for studio quality, but here are some examples of recording for practice purposes: http://www.youtube.com/user/mddiv m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabba2203 Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 I've used Audacity before, not a bad app. I am going to have to check my public library itinerary, that's really cool yours is doing that. Enjoy that! I wonder what I've been missing..... :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschory Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Audacity is great for a free app, and I know a lot of people who use it for a lot of reasons. I used to do a bunch of recording and editing for a podcast chat show in college. Reliable, works well, gets the job done, and does just about everything I could ask it for. We were using an M-Audio interface and I think some MXL mics at the time, but again this was a college chat show. Recently bought a Digidesign M-box mini, which came with Pro Tools. I'm running a Sennheiser e609 in to that to mic a little 1x12 cab I have at home for recording demos. That set-up has been working great so far. Pro Tools is a bit over-hyped, but I still prefer it for a couple of reasons. The first is that I find it a tad easier to work with than Audacity and other programs I've played with. That's entirely personal preference though. The other programs did their jobs wonderfully, but Pro Tools seems to be set up better for the way I prefer to work. The second is that it makes it easier for me to do a lot of pre-production stuff on my own. If I can bang out a guitar scratch track or even a completed guitar track at home, and then just take the Pro Tools project with me to the studio, it save me time and money. So definitely take the Audacity course, as I think you'll find it a great app to use. To echo what others have said, become a mic nerd and learn all you can, and above all, have some fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Anyone have a link to start learning about Mics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Shure used to have a great, detailed, informative "how-to" on their website. Lots of reading... I was studying mic placement and there was more than I ever wanted to know there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hall Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Pro Tools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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