Topic: Home Studio Recording

I am a new member of Chordie and have been entertaining a home studio for about 12 years.  I started with Cakewalk Home Studio and an old Packard Bell computer.   Not enough memory and disk space but I did manage to complete my first album after losing everything I worked on except for the mixed masters.    I have been playing 40 plus years in local bands on the weekends mainly as a bass player but I did do a few years as rhythm and small bit keyboards.
   The album, "Initial Series - White Rock”, from which I have written all the material and played all instruments with the accompaniment of  a Alesis 16 drum machine. 
It was released through Distrophonix on December 2010 after I had remixed and added some tunes.   I got away from the studio because I upgraded to Music Creator 3 and could never get anything to work right, then updated PC and latest version of windows but nothing ever would function properly.  I have since upgraded to a HP 6000 Pro and running XP Pro software and everything seems to be working great.   I have actually revisited one of my instrumental songs "Country Folk" and even added lyrics.   Who says you can't sing instrumental songs smile
Any who this is a sample of my latest revisited work and working on more!
Would appreciate any feedback, questions or recommendations about my work.

Rich

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

Rich as a first time poster adding links to CD's is not allowed, after you have shown some interest in Chordie and participated in discussions we have a Chordie market forum where you can post this information. keep in mind it will take more then just a few posts and any youtube link that has a link to your website where buying is an option will be deleted as well and may get you a ban and so you know I removed your links.

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Re: Home Studio Recording

Russell  I appoligize I did not know that....  I shouldn't have mentioned "links to where they are for sale", which you might want to remove that whole line also.  That was not my intention in the first way.  I thought people could listen preview of my songs for feedback and discussion of the quality.  Live and learn!    Did you listen to anything before you deleted? 
Live and learn!
----------------------------------
PS: Mom always said; Growing old is not for the weak!

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

It's OK.  You're more than welcome to share your expertise but we've taken a really hard line on commercial posts.  What happens is we get a bunch of brand new accounts that log in and say "I agree!" and then provide a link to their eBay purse store or something like that.  That tends to relax a bit as people become "regulars" though, and we know they aren't just here trying to raise money, but are instead genuinely sharing their work.

I don't think your intent is as a scammer, though, and I am very interested in your Cakewalk expertise as the DAW discussion here seems to be centered around those that use Audacity (almost everyone) and those that use Reaper (me.)  smile   What does your current setup look like?   There is a lot of interest in low cost home recording setups here, so that kind of input is always welcome.

New meat in the sausage is always good!

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

Re: Home Studio Recording

Rich I did listen its my responsibility to follow up on members links and decide if there spamming I am concerned about your website as it offers an option to purchase you might concider removing it for the time being,at least till after you have posted 25 times then put it back and offer your CD's in the Market Forum.

richeverman wrote:

I am a new member of Chordie and have been entertaining a home studio for about 12 years.  I started with Cakewalk Home Studio and an old Packard Bell computer.   Not enough memory and disk space but I did manage to complete my first album after losing everything I worked on except for the mixed masters.    I have been playing 40 plus years in local bands on the weekends mainly as a bass player but I did do a few years as rhythm and small bit keyboards.
   The album, "Initial Series - White Rock”, from which I have written all the material and played all instruments with the accompaniment of  a Alesis 16 drum machine. 
It was released through Distrophonix on December 2010 after I had remixed and added some tunes.   I got away from the studio because I upgraded to Music Creator 3 and could never get anything to work right, then updated PC and latest version of windows but nothing ever would function properly.  I have since upgraded to a HP 6000 Pro and running XP Pro software and everything seems to be working great.   I have actually revisited one of my instrumental songs "Country Folk" and even added lyrics.   Who says you can't sing instrumental songs smile
Any who this is a sample of my latest revisited work and working on more!
Would appreciate any feedback, questions or recommendations about my work.

Rich

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Re: Home Studio Recording

No SPAMMING here.   Trust me.   You can not buy my music from my website. To be truthfulll nobody buys my music sad   The website stays or I go.   If I get time tomorrow, if I am not booted,  I will will get into a discussion with Jerome and list what I am currently using and my experience with the Cakewalk and where I am now with recording.  I have a Tascam 564 I just use as a mixer that I bought out on the East coast and paid dearly just to find out two weeks later it was old technology and they were marked down 60%...   I have explain my DAW setup I have now.   I really cheated but it works!

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

Share your setup right here.  There are a lot of us who are interested.  We all record using different apps and/or devices and it is nice to see how someone else does it.  You probably have some great ideas that some of us haven't thought of.  Throw it on the table and we'll go on from there.

You can see all my video covers on [url]http://www.youtube.com/bensonp1000[/url]
I have finally found happiness in my life.  Guitars, singing, beer and camping.  And they all intertwine wonderfully.

Re: Home Studio Recording

Rich you are not in any danger of getting "booted" we welcome new members who contribute there experience and advice and new songs and artists so hang in there and welcome to Chordie smile

richeverman wrote:

No SPAMMING here.   Trust me.   You can not buy my music from my website. To be truthfulll nobody buys my music sad   The website stays or I go.   If I get time tomorrow, if I am not booted,  I will will get into a discussion with Jerome and list what I am currently using and my experience with the Cakewalk and where I am now with recording.  I have a Tascam 564 I just use as a mixer that I bought out on the East coast and paid dearly just to find out two weeks later it was old technology and they were marked down 60%...   I have explain my DAW setup I have now.   I really cheated but it works!

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Re: Home Studio Recording

Pete!   I had a little time and listened to a couple of videos on your link and the mikes you use on your system are hot!  I can't believe how loud and clear it is.   Right on!  I am going to try to write down all my equipment before I go to work and give a list!
Thank you so much for letting me share!

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

First I would like to thank everyone for letting me chat with you all.   I haven’t had time check out a lot what is available on the forums but have listened to some good music and singing from Pete and Russ.   I have mentioned I have been a weekend musician for quite some time and after getting “right sized” by my 25 year employer I had some time and tried to take my music hobby to a different level.   

Previously mentioned the Tascam Portastudio 564 which turned out to be a dinosaur and was cumbersome to use but it makes a great use as a mixer board.   Moving to a digital audio workstation with Cakewalk Home Studio 7 was an experience using but with the computer I had,  it didn’t last long.    After getting a few tracks down it would spit and sputter and then it died.   I lost all my work except for the mastered wav files I had saved.  Being a novice on DAW I did not realize all the tracks were saved and took up lots of storage.  If you have 8 tracks you have 8 files.   And if you clean up your data files you loose all tracks.   The work I have been doing on my new system I have already had over a GB of files.  My old computer did not have the memory or the hard drive space.  But it did have a Creative Labs soundcard I had installed that worked well with the line in from the line out of the 564.
As I updated computers and Windows software nothing ever worked well and the built in soundcards always didn’t satisfy me to even try to work at it.  After five years I finally decided to hit it again and I purchased the Music Creator 3 software that would run on current Windows 7.   Then my power supply died and I got disinterested again….
I have recently picked up a HP 6000 Pro with Dual Processors and 3 GB memory and I put two 250 GB hard drives in it and loaded full blown Windows XP Professional w/Service Pack 2 (not an OEM version) and then updated SP3 and another 560 MB of updates I finally loaded Creator.   The trick I use as an interface is a version of Roxio LP to MP3 software.   Along with it came a USB cable with two RCA plugs that I patch to my line out of my 564.   The Music Creator 3 software allows you to pick your drivers and since I did not load the HP audio drivers the only thing is sees is the USB device.   The USB cable also has a mini jack that I plug my powered desktop speakers into.   After a few more upgrades of Adobe Flash player and Java I got everything to work on the computer like YouTub and Windows media player.   The reason I bought the Roxio was to convert .wav to .mp3 and it does an excellent job with that.   Also has an editor you can play with to enhance or cleanup your audio files before converting them to MP3.  You can also edit the song tags.

I hope I haven’t bored you yet?  What an introduction to my setup and where I am now!!

HP 6000 Pro with Dual Processors -  3 GB memory  - two 250 GB HD (directed music data to be stored on 2nd HD)
Tascam Portastudio 564       -  has 6 inputs as mixer and I just use the line out to the USB Roxio box (RCA to RCA)
Alesis Nanoverb                   -  18-Bit Digital Effects Processor I loop in the 564.   ea channel (reverb, delay, chorus, etc.)
Alesis SR16 Drum Machine -  stereo channel on the 564
Yahmaha DX27 Keyboard   -  mono channel on the 564
Digitech RP3 Guitar Processor -  stereo channel on the 564
Bass guitar                             -   mono channel on the 564
Microphone                            -   mono channel on the 564


One thing I miss and I have ordered a USB midi cable convertor to PC.   Computers with soundcards on the motherboard do not offer Midi connection as the computer I have now.   Cakewalk had some awesome keyboard sounds that I could load on my DX27 and I am sure the Creator 3 has some.  Not sure what I will run into here!

Again I hope I haven’t bored you!!!
Rich

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

How do you like the SR16?  I primarily use software drum kids (iDrum as a VST plugin or Reason Redrum as a MIDI channel into Reaper), and I have a control surface to "play" them physically,  but it's not really all that satisfying.  I've wavered between getting one of those electronic drum sets with a MIDI output, but they are kind of spendy, but a beefier drum machine might help.

And since you're using the Tascam as the mixer, are you recording all tracks separately, or just the master?   I recently bought a Behringer X2222USB mixer and was a bit upset when I learned that I only get the two master channels off of the USB, rather than the 24 channels I get coming into it.

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

Re: Home Studio Recording

The SR16 is fine.    I have never got the midi to work through my keyboard but when I get the cble I might try.   It has ..I think..40 some patterns and inside each pattern you can change the drum kit.  The beat is about the same but with different percussions or kits.  I usully pick a beat and go from there.  It has a fill button or foot swith jack,  I made one.  Also a switch to start and stop.     The fill adds drum rolls and different patterns in the beat.  I have used this as intro going in different parts of a song.   As far as programming my own beats I haven't tackled that but one can.  Almost need a pad because the buttons are what you would have to select i think.  But I am not a drummer. My brother is! 

The Tascam I have everything plugged in (volume down) and only do one track at a time.   Got 24 tracks I can turn on one at a time on the Creator3.
You are wondering how I put down 8 to 10 tracks in a song?   One at a tme!!   I can play back everything together as I build.   When done, select  tracks and export to a wav file.   I usually start with percussions and rythm   or bass both on the first track to start. 
The stuff I am redoing now I lost all my track so I import the original stereo track. (oh yeah, each of the 24 tracks on the Creator 3 are stereo and you can adjust the volume after you have recorded to help with the mix)   Find the drum track.   Record it with the original and rebuild everything.  This way I have one instrument on each track.   I have even did that with seperating the bas and percussions by building two tracks off the first I did like.  That is if the drum track is OK!  Does this make since.   I wish I had written down what I had use before, like drum pattern, kit, and since I don't have my DX27 midi looped through Creator or Cakewalk then,  it had a killer Rock Organ I can not replicate on the DX27.   I am anxious to see what the midi cable I ordered will do for me.

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

Now that I have discussed what  I do, how about letting me know what everyone else uses.   I would be interest in the video recording aspect or your home studio setup.

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

Rich my video setup had to conform to the size of my studio apt. I have three cameras a HD Fugi 16 mega pixle and a HD logitec C920 for HD vids I also use a Kodak easyshare its only 8 mega pixels but has a great sound.For recording I have a Boss BR-8 digital 8 track I use a Silvertone bass and like you a Alesis SR-16 drum unit my main guitar is a Strat with a set of Slinky 09 to 42 for acoustic I have a Hohner electric and a Houndog dobro,Yamaha keys and for effects Boss ME-50 and a Boss RC 20XL loopstation.Hendrix wah.My mic's are Sure SM58 and SM57 and a Sonic I have two video programs the main one is Pinnicle HD 15 for greenscreening and PIP and TrakAX pro I use the free Audacity program to render to MP3 and a handy converter the free Anyvideo converter my lighting is improvised but effective I am looking to buy a good recording mic but in no hurry. that about covers my gear. smile

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Re: Home Studio Recording

Very good.   I just noticed an older post of Pete Benson about the link to his mics he uses.
http://www.guitarcenter.com/MXL-990-991 … 36-2761879   I don't know what he paid but $99 is cheap.  I had commented on hot or ambient if that is the word I am trying to discribe.  On my computer speakers they were so loud and clear.
  I too use SM58's.  The problem is I can only sing in the key of "L".   Least it sounds like "L" smile 
My next problem to tackle are studio speakers.   I am just using my cheap desktop speakers now and it is hard to mix.   I usually have to burn a CD and listen it in my Dodge Truck to see how it sounds..

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

I noticed that last link didn't work
http://www.guitarcenter.com/MXL-990-991 … 36-2761879

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

I have another question.  How big, file size, are the videos you upload to Youtube?

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

I like my dual mics.  They plug into an Alesis USB mixer, 4 channel, but I am getting ready to make the jump to an 8 channel with internal effects.  My video is all captured on Logitech C920 HD Webcam.

You can see all my video covers on [url]http://www.youtube.com/bensonp1000[/url]
I have finally found happiness in my life.  Guitars, singing, beer and camping.  And they all intertwine wonderfully.

Re: Home Studio Recording

Yes.  They sound awesome in your videos.  I have not used webcams at all.   Can you select the audio source or driver to be used with the camera?
Before I got my system back working I was considering this
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/249195.html
I don't know when these came out but recommneds Windows2000 and XP.   Vista or Windows 7 it probably would run.

In my late teens I had a drug problem...now in my sixties all my problems have a drug.

Re: Home Studio Recording

That MXL-990 can be bought as a set along with an MXL-991. It's a perfect little setup for recording acoustic guitars in stereo.  I believe that is the setup Pete is using.    Within my band we have two of these packages.  They're our primary go-to set when we want to record an idea or something.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi … ndt_rdir=1

Can't be beat for that price.

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

Re: Home Studio Recording

The file size is around 250mb HD I have roadrunner turbo speed it takes only a few minutes smile

richeverman wrote:

I have another question.  How big, file size, are the videos you upload to youtube?

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Re: Home Studio Recording

richeverman wrote:

Yes.  They sound awesome in your videos.  I have not used webcams at all.   Can you select the audio source or driver to be used with the camera?
Before I got my system back working I was considering this
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/249195.html
I don't know when these came out but recommneds Windows2000 and XP.   Vista or Windows 7 it probably would run.

That thing is cool!   

I use Macs for recording so driver issues generally don't effect me (Core Audio rules) but I would be shocked if Vista or Win7 was unable to run an XP driver.     Since it ships with Stienberg Cube, and Stienberg also specified the ASIO format that most new computers are shipping with, including Win7, that it should work for you.

You could always ask their support department if the drivers are compatible, though.  Those guys are always happy to sell more stuff.

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

Re: Home Studio Recording

you can select the mic source the driver could be designated but I am unsure of how to do it smile

richeverman wrote:

Can you select the audio source or driver to be used with the camera?

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Re: Home Studio Recording

Russell_Harding wrote:

you can select the mic source the driver could be designated but I am unsure of how to do it smile

richeverman wrote:

Can you select the audio source or driver to be used with the camera?

I have a very cheap web cam (12 bucks),  but it has a option in "setup" to choose its USB mic or Line.  I have not used it to make a vid, but for skype sessions, I run my Berhinger studio mic to my Berhinger 802 mixer and then from the outs to the line in on the sound card.  This way you can tweak the EQ for what is going into the vid or skype.

I would like to add my Welcome to the loony bin also.  This is the greatest site you can find for guitar.  I would also like to mention that if you watch the general forum, you will see on occasion, Skype jams.  There are a few people who have the premium accounts and can host up to 10 people for what is basically a campfire jam where each person takes a turn playing a song.  We all hear some music, give encourragement, some helpful suggestions, and just a bit of laughter and beverages. cool big_smile

I am probably the most inexperianced and bargain bin home studio guy here,, most of it baffels me, I bought Cakewalk 3 about 4 yrs ago (at least I think its 3) loaded it to my laptop and gave up.  same with reaper.  I just need someone working beside me to get it all.  I read and read and it just doesnt connect all the dots.  So I also use audacity. I  would also like to learn about the vidio stuff Russel talked about for my son to use.

I would like to hear your music. You can send the link to me by sending a e-mail.  Once again WELCOME

“Find your own sound.  Dont be a second rateYngwie Malmsteen be a first rate you”

– George Lynch 2013 (Dokken, Lynchmob, KXM, Tooth & Nail etc....)

Re: Home Studio Recording

If we can figure out a way to share computer screens, I'd be happy to do virtual Reaper tutorials.   I just bought the full version of Reason 6 for MIDI stuff, and it's killing me!

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]