Quote:
Originally Posted by KevWind
N
And thus I am also unclear what you mean by "The DAW model was based around" "using virtual instruments or recorded tracks synched to clips."
|
My guess is that this comes from the way I see so much instruction these days focus on virtual instruments and loops. Those of us who grew up before DAWs and watched them evolve think of them as being audio recorders that roughly emulate hardware recorders, and we've watched as all kinds of new features have been grafted on -and we think of those as added features, which they are. But read a current tutorial on Logic or GarageBand, for example, and they usually start with loops and samples, and virtual instruments. I've seen books that never even mentioned creating an actual audio track and recording a real instrument until like chapter 15!
I took a college class on Logic a year or 2 ago on a lark, and found it quite amusing. I learned a lot of things I didn't even know existed in Logic, like the whole Ableton-like live looping feature. I also learned that I was the only person in the class that actually played and recorded an instrument! Everyone else was just cutting and pasting loops.
To the OP, I think you can simplify things by focusing on what you are trying to do, and ignore the other 99 percent of features in these tools that aren't meant for you. I'm not 100% sure what you are trying to record. But on the assumption that you're just playing guitar and trying to record it, you can break it down into a few steps:
1) Setup your hardware and configure it. This can be tricky, since everyone's gear is different, but it usually "just works" on a Mac. Connect some interface via USB, and set it as your interface in your DAW. Sounds like you're trying to use a looper and iRig, which is itself a thing to untangle and have working before you even worry about recording. Hopefully, once you get this setup, it's done and you never have to think about it again.
2) Record. This should be really simple. I'm not sure why, but people do run into trouble with this. In most DAWs, create a track, "arm" it, and hit the record button. Start playing. That's all there is to it! if you want to overdub, create a 2nd track and do the same thing, while listening to track 1.
3) Edit/Mix/Master. This is where it's easy to go down a rabbit-hole. There are hundreds of plugins that you *could* explore. But you don't need to, and definitely don't need to all at once. Learn to add a little reverb, and you're 99% of the way there.
There is a learning curve to all of this, and no matter what, you'll probably never learn all of it, but you don't need to learn much to make some good sounds.
I heard a thing on a Fretboard Journal Podcast the other day I really liked. The guy said whenever he found himself frustrated by something, he'd stop and ask himself "what would this be like if I was having fun?". So just take your time, do simple things that work, and incrementally add some new stuff "for fun" once in a while.
If you have specific issues that are hanging you up, someone here can probably answer the question.