Recording

AcousticAl
Posts: 0
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:10 pm
Status: Offline

Mon Dec 07, 2009 6:28 am

jayswett wrote:
This product may be another option for you:

Buyer beware in this one, Jay. I read a few reviews on the link and they didn't seem too happy with it.


jayswett
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:44 pm
Status: Offline

Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:16 am

Oh. I see what you mean. Sounds like those with Vista operating systems need to be careful.


jayswett
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:44 pm
Status: Offline

Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:18 am

AcousticAl wrote:
I have an elec/acoustic, so I can go direct to my computer via the 1 cable that I described in that post Gary quoted.
Al,
To clarify, you have one cable (I presume that is a 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch cable) that goes directly from your acoustic electric to your computer? No amplifier, no modifying hardware of any kind? I will check out Gary's post.
Jay


heyjoe
Posts: 0
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:26 am
Status: Offline

Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:21 am

jayswett wrote:
Audacity is a free download which has been mentioned several times in the forum. I believe it allows multitracking. I haven't figured it out completely yet. The price is right.
You can multi-track in audacity, if you go to edit, select preferences, there's a tick box at the bottom which says "play other tracks while recording new one", tick the box and off you go.

Also, if you have an electro-acoustic, you can use 1 cable from the guitar, into your pc, and thats all you need, thats how I do it.

Hope that helps.

Joe


leeson
Posts: 0
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:42 am
Status: Offline

Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:54 am

Wow,
That was a big response by everyone. Thanks. I have a plain old acoustic without any wires. Sounds like Audacity can work if I can get the right mic. I have a PC running Vista.
Bill


Catman
Posts: 0
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:51 pm
Status: Offline

Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:41 am

I would consider the mic input of a computer to be low quality; the analog-to-digital converter on that input on any normal computer is ultra-low cost and low resolution and I personally would consider it sufficient for speech only. Any mp3 generated from the mic input is limited by the mic input--you can't improve it by raising the sampling rate of the recording.

An external recording device will have a higher quality analog-to-digital converter, and with this type of device the limiting factor is the recording format and/or bit rate.

That being said, it all depends on the intended audience of the recording and your budget. If the you are recording for YouTube, then maybe the mic input is good enough. If I was recording a play-along track for my own use, I wouldn't rely on the mic input.

You pays your money and you takes your choice :)

David


jayswett
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:44 pm
Status: Offline

Mon Dec 07, 2009 12:45 pm

leeson wrote:
Wow,
That was a big response by everyone. Thanks. I have a plain old acoustic without any wires. Sounds like Audacity can work if I can get the right mic. I have a PC running Vista.
Bill
In that case, sounds like all you need is a USB mic. I think you can get a USB mic of reasonable quality for 30 or 40 dollars. My local Best Buy store did not have one, which surprised me, so later today I will check the online world.


bigmo
Posts: 0
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 8:43 am
Status: Offline

Mon Dec 07, 2009 3:50 pm

Lot's of great responses and thanks to everyone. I guess what I was really getting at, now that I think about it is this.

My goal in music is ultimately writing songs. Playing is great but I really love to write.

I can have simple song demos made from my songs for a couple hundred dollars each from an outsourced vendor. Since I do not intend to pitch to these demos to the 'music stars' or the top performers, these simple demos will be more than adequate for a performer or a band to listen to.

However I thought if I could record my songs directly onto my computer I could play with them and work on them as long as I wanted to. My songs never seem to be finished lol!

If I get good at my home recording then I can if I choose, produce the demos myseld thus saving me time and money during the creative process.

If I alter the song it's a piece of cake to go back to my original recording and change what I wish from my home with out another demo production.

So that really was the ultimate intention of my question.(uggh, sorry it wasn't very clear) Just trying to figure out ways to tweek my creative efforts to simplify the process. Thanks again everyone for your responses.


Post Reply Previous topicNext topic