 |
GuitarSite.com Guitar News Weekly Edition #134, March 19, 2001 |
|
|
POWERFUL HOME RECORDING by Will Landrum Well, I officially began recording my second guitar instrumental CD last month and I wanted to share some thoughts with you on some things that may help should you also decide to take on this extremely rewarding process. My new disc should be out near the end of 2001. Multitrack recording is the process of recording multiple sound sources either at the same time or one at a time, with the ability to synchronize those recorded sources perfectly in time with one another. Multitrack recording for me is also an incredible composition tool. Unless you can "hear" all of the instruments and music parts in your head, recording your ideas and then listening back to them for "tweaking" is the only way to go. It's part of my daily routine to record ideas one day and then the next day, listen fresh and make mental changes in the composition. Then implement those changes in the current day's recording session and so on. The day by day thing is good because you can easily get burned out after focusing on something for several hours at a time. Listening fresh the next day will allow you to be more objective about your music. Of course, to be able to operate this way, you have to have your own recording gear. Here's what I'm using. It may not seem like much, but I'm able to achieve totally professional recordings. My multitrack recorder is software on my PC. It's called Cool Edit Pro. You can learn all about it at http://www.syntrillium.com but here are some of it's features:
This software rocks! It records your tracks as WAV files on your hard drive and has very powerful editing capabilities. As with my first CD, I'm using a drum machine for all my percussion needs. I decided on the Boss DR-770. This box is Boss's top of the line drum machine. It has a very rich set of features. It's easy to use and has way more drum samples than I'll ever need. I had my first tune programmed within a few days of getting it. Here's more info on the DR-770. So, once I get my tune arranged, that is, what parts of the music are played in what order, I program the drum machine to that arrangement and then record it into Cool Edit Pro with each drum voice on it's own track. (kick, snare, etc...) I don't need to separate the drum voices when I'm just laying down "practice" tracks but I will definitely isolate each drum voice to it's own track for the final recording to give me complete control in the mixing process. Another important piece of gear that I use is a MidiMan 2044 sound card. It has four inputs and four outputs. That means that I can record (in) and monitor (out) up to four sources at once. I pretty much just record one source at a time anyway but I got a higher end card simply for the sampling quality that it delivers. It's also very quiet and clean. I don't think they make the 2044 any more but there are newer and, I'm sure, better cards available now for the same price between $100 and $150. More on MidiMan products here. I also use an IBM clone PC running an AMD 600mhz Duron processor, 128mb of RAM (although 64mb would be ok too), and a 7200rpm 6gb hard drive. The hard drive really should be at least 7200rpm. This allows faster disk access speed for syncing up and playing all of those WAV files in Cool Edit Pro. Also, WAV files tend to be large in size so when I'm done with a tune, I archive it's associated files onto a CD to free up my drive space and safe keeping. OK, lets see...recorder, sound card, drum machine, PC...oh yeah!... Guitar! I still love and use my old Roland GP-16 guitar processor. It's basically a bunch of effects pedals integrated into one unit. It allows me to "connect" any of the 16 effects in any order I wish, to create the sounds I need. Now all I do to get this sound into Cool Edit Pro for recording is output the GP-16 into one of the inputs of my sound card. Cool Edit Pro handles everything else. The effects include distortion, chorus, flanger, delay, pitch shifter, compressor, EQ, noise filters and a few more. Because I don't use a traditional guitar amplifier, I can work on my music using headphones anytime I want without the cops knocking on my door! :-) On that note; I output my sound card (two outputs, one left and one right) into my stereo system so I'm always listening to my music on the type of system that it's going to be listened to on anyway. So I just plug my headphones into my stereo and disable the external speakers if need be. Computer and music technology is incredible. You can record and produce your own CD at your own pace in your own home for a fraction of what it would cost you in a fully furnished recording studio. If you want to look around for more interesting music software, check out Shareware Music Machine. Copyright (C)(P) 2001 Will Landrum and InterFocus Music Article by Will Landrum of http://www.willlandrum.com ******* Other articles by Will Landrum @ GuitarSite.com: SO... YOU WANT TO PLAY GUITAR? Other articles by Will Landrum @ GuitarSite.com ******* Will is helping thousands of on-line guitarists with his all original content web site, free guitar teaching ezine and growing line of instructional software and products. =Master=The=6= is my FREE guitar oriented ezine delivered right to your email inbox on the 15th and 30th of every month. This ezine will help you be the guitarist you want to be. I respond to my subscriber's questions with informative and challenging articles ranging from how to change your strings to mastering the fretboard to recording your own CD! You'll discover new ideas and techniques that will change the way you play guitar forever. FREE! Get it here: http://www.willlandrum.com/masterthe6.shtml
NEW! Over 60 Progressive Rock Guitar Melodic Studies Penned and Recorded by Michael Fath. Immediate Downloads!
NEW! Total Fretboard Knowledge! I'm not kidding! This book is a "Must Have" for every guitarist! Fretboard Flashcards for Guitar and Bass Start Sweep Picking Arpeggios 7 Minutes From Now! Click on the link below for my Cyber-Student discount price of only $6.49 + S&H |
|
|
|
Back To This Week's Contents
Subscribe
|
Archive
|
Find what you're looking for:
