In need of a comparitive setup to Garage Band

kamikazimunkey · #1 07-13-2010, 03:22 PM

Hi Guys,

I think I've finally been bitten by the bug or recording! I've started to play with a few of my friends for fun. I have always played mostly by myself, so I sort of want to tighten up playing within the music and also just have recordings of my progress. I was fooling around with a friend's MacBook the other day and I got onto Garage Band. I had quite a bit of fun with it and was wondering what kind of setup I would need to get the same results. After reading around a few of the topics, it looks like I would need a program to mess with the tracks and a mic at least. I've got a couple questions that I think will point me in the right direction.

1) I'm looking for a program that is about as easy to use and feature rich as GB. So far I've seen Audacity, Acoustica MixCraft 5, and Reaper suggested. What do you think compared to GB?

2) On mic, I can't stress enough how beginner these recordings will be. All I would like to do is maybe record a rhythm guitar track and then record a lead guitar/solo track over the top of it. It will all be done with Acoustic Guitar. I guess if I had to put a price range on a mic, it would be around $100 at most.

3) I see people recommending an interface to go between the mic and the computer. Is that necessary for the quality I'm trying to achieve? I really just want to be able to sit at the computer and see the track being recorded and then stop it and move to the next track.

Thanks guys for all your help!!

Herb Hunter · #2 07-13-2010, 04:18 PM

I take it that since you are asking for a GarageBand equivalent that you have a PC? I find Audacity to be an easy to use program with the features most people need. However, I'm not aware of any program that is comparable to GarageBand for ease of use. It enables novices to more quickly produce good, listenable recordings than any other program with which I'm familiar.

An additional advantage of Audacity is that it is free and available for both Macs and PCs so if you ever wanted to collaborate with someone on a recording project, you could be assured of compatibility.

kamikazimunkey · #3 07-14-2010, 10:13 AM

Yes, I do have a PC. Thanks for the quick response. I tried out Audacity and it seems like it is probably enough for what I need it for. I've got another question regarding the mic side of things. I was thinking about getting a H2 for recording some stuff I do with friends. I know the H2 has a usb interface. My question is can I double the H2 as a recording input for when I want to record something on Audacity. That would kill two birds with one stone I think.

Herb Hunter · #4 07-14-2010, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamikazimunkey

Yes, I do have a PC. Thanks for the quick response. I tried out Audacity and it seems like it is probably enough for what I need it for. I've got another question regarding the mic side of things. I was thinking about getting a H2 for recording some stuff I do with friends. I know the H2 has a usb interface. My question is can I double the H2 as a recording input for when I want to record something on Audacity. That would kill two birds with one stone I think.

Yes, I have used the H4 as an interface for recording on my laptop running Audacity and the H2 will provide that same functionality. The principle difference being that the H4 allows one a choice of the built-in microphones or any external mics one may have. With the H2, one can only use the built-in microphones.

GaThumper · #5 07-17-2010, 08:30 PM

I've never seen Garage Band, so I'm not sure what might be comparable, but I've used Band In A Box years ago and it was pretty cool. I've also used Jammer and it wasn't bad either.

Google search turned up Mixcraft 5.0 touted as very much like Garage Band, and it can use Garage Band loops. May be worth looking into, price is reasonable.

TrakAxPC was also mentioned as a possible substitute for Garage Band.

Good Luck!
James <><