Home Recording

[lapetrarca]

Seamus,

Please......no apologies necessary. If you don't ask, you'll never know. Besides.....I'm pretty sure you've a fair amount of knowledge available for sharing upon request as well!

If you look closely, the fretboard is lined. They fill in the fret grooves and level everything. It does help cut the learning curve. My MK is unlined so, it took a while to get used to it.

[SeamusORiley]

Thanks.

Once upon a long time ago, I played trombone, so I had to get used to getting to the right position. By age 14, we switched schools so I no longer played but when I did (high school band), so did a young guitarist a few years older than me. Steve Vai.

The trombone had to slide to just the right spot, but it came easily, so maybe fretless is the way to go in terms of not having to worry as much about getting fret buzz.

On some of the websites, including MF, Sam Ash, etc, fret buzz appeared to me to be the number one complaint in the low price bass guitars.

This seems to be a good place to ask such questions; I appreciate your patience. The goals appear to be understood.

[lapetrarca]

Originally Posted by SeamusORiley

Thanks.

Once upon a long time ago, I played trombone, so I had to get used to getting to the right position. By age 14, we switched schools so I no longer played but when I did (high school band), so did a young guitarist a few years older than me. Steve Vai.

The trombone had to slide to just the right spot, but it came easily, so maybe fretless is the way to go in terms of not having to worry as much about getting fret buzz.

On some of the websites, including MF, Sam Ash, etc, fret buzz appeared to me to be the number one complaint in the low price bass guitars.

This seems to be a good place to ask such questions; I appreciate your patience. The goals appear to be understood.

Steve Vai......how cool is that.

I'm not sure it's due to being inexpensive. I had a Fender BG29 and it had fret rattle as well. I never did try flatwounds on any of my fretted ABG's but, my MK came with roundwounds, as most do, but the fret rattle never went away till I switched to tapewounds. May have to do with the tension or softness of the strings.

In any case, lots of folks have complimented on the tone from my MK in a live setting. Deep and rich. Give my song a listen with headphones.

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by lapetrarca

Here's a crack at my first completed song. Kind of rough but, it's a start! Drums, guitar, bass, harmonica and vocals all by me......

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/53882105/MP3...%20weekend.mp3

Very well done! I like your arrangement and performance of this song, it gives it a whole new life. The recording is clear and the mix sounds balanced to my ears. I enjoyed listening to it very much.

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by napman

Hi Bob,

I had more time to listen to your songs last night and it occured to me that you are just so good in what you're doing. I'm amazed at the experience that you've gathered along the way since you started,

Thanks again and I'll take your advices seriously. For now I'm just trying to TRY anything just to see how it'll come out. I've never thought about using so many tracks (you used all of your 16 tracks!!), but I think I've changed my way of thinking when I read about your way of recording.

I know that I can learn A LOT from you, I also know that I'll gather more experience (good or bad results) while stumbling along my way. There are a lot more to learn such as PAN, EQ, or even control each individual fader volume while mastering the song and many other tricks. In other words, so much more fun to have with this recording stuffs.

I'm so glad that you shared your knowledge and kind enough to offered your ideas and such to us the new comers

Thank you, napman! You give me way too much credit. I'm a low budget hobbyist having fun like so many others here. Much of what I do defies the standard advice offered by the experts who frequent these forums, but I will share what little knowledge I have anyway.

I use a Boss BR864 recorder which provides me up to 64 tracks per song, so 16 vocal tracks doesn't use up whats available. I have never had to use all 64 tracks, but I have used up to 50. I record all my instruments in stereo, so two guitars, a bass, some keyboards and drums will occupy 10 tracks. Add to that the vocals and some accent instruments (banjo, harmonica, etc.) and you soon find yourself with 20 to 24 tracks. I can only manipulate 8 tracks at a time, so I have to mix and bounce 8 tracks down to 2 three times (6 tracks used for bounces) to get all of the 24 tracks into the mix. So, then a total of 30 tracks are used. Finally, I master the final mix to 2 new tracks for a finished product with a total of 32 tracks used. So, you can see how tracks can get used up pretty quickly when multi-tracking.

I am still "stumbling" my way through the maze of home recording. It takes a lot of experimenting in your particular environment to make the best of what you have. More and better equipment can help, but it isn't always the solution or fix for poor recordings! As a hobbyist, I'm in no hurry and I get a lot of enjoyment exploring different ways to get acceptable sound out of the cheap junk I have! So, I hope you find it as much fun as I do, and don't ever hesitate to ask questions of everyone here.

[lapetrarca]

Originally Posted by Bob1131

Very well done! I like your arrangement and performance of this song, it gives it a whole new life. The recording is clear and the mix sounds balanced to my ears. I enjoyed listening to it very much.

Hey thanks Bob!

I've listened to some of your stuff......VERY impressed. I especially love "Summer in the City"....since the first time I heard John Sebastian play it. You do it justice for sure!

To be honest, I was somewhat hesitant to post my song at first after having listened to the recordings of the other posters in this thread but, it had to happen sometime I guess, and everyone here seems genuinely decent so I thought I'd throw it out there for a listen.

Glad everyone seems to like it.....thanks to all!

Encouragement is good thing!

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by SeamusORiley

May I seek opinions from those of this thread? You all seem to understand each other well.

$ is a factor, and as you know, I would like to add bass to the multi tracking.

BTW, I stopped at lunch at yet another store and the 6 string banjo did not have a nice, 'banjo' sound, even though it felt solid, heavy and was $500, used.

Here for opinion? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ht_3720wt_1039

My nephew has a Dean bass like that. It isn't bad at all. I don't know if I would buy it from an unknown on e-Bay or Craigslist when you can buy it new from a reliable on-line store for the same price. For example: HERE

Originally Posted by SeamusORiley

Thanks.

Once upon a long time ago, I played trombone, so I had to get used to getting to the right position. By age 14, we switched schools so I no longer played but when I did (high school band), so did a young guitarist a few years older than me. Steve Vai.

The trombone had to slide to just the right spot, but it came easily, so maybe fretless is the way to go in terms of not having to worry as much about getting fret buzz.

On some of the websites, including MF, Sam Ash, etc, fret buzz appeared to me to be the number one complaint in the low price bass guitars.

This seems to be a good place to ask such questions; I appreciate your patience. The goals appear to be understood.

That's cool...I played trombone and baritone horn from the 4th grade through high school!

IMHO, the fret buzz is due to plucking the strings too hard on acoustic basses. Almost all acoustic bass guitars are notoriously quiet next to a good acoustic guitar, so players tend to play them harder in a futile effort to get more volume. If you pluck a good electric bass that hard, you'll hear fret rattle from it too. A fretless bass won't yield fret rattle, but the action is sometimes higher to maintain string angle due to a lack of frets, which makes them a little tougher to play.

A fretless bass has a nice sound because of smoother slides and slurs that just aren't possible on a fretted bass. You can lower the action, but you will risk less volume due to a shallower string angle over the saddle. Neither fretted or fretless will have much volume...that is why I use an electric bass. An electric is generally easier to play due to lower action, and because it gets plugged directly into the recorder there is no unwanted external noise captured on the recording. Of course you can plug in an electric/acoustic bass too, but if you are going to plug the acoustic bass in to record, then what's the point of having an acoustic bass?

[SeamusORiley]

Originally Posted by lapetrarca

Here's a crack at my first completed song. Kind of rough but, it's a start! Drums, guitar, bass, harmonica and vocals all by me......

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/53882105/MP3...%20weekend.mp3

I hope you and the others here saving these for family, loved ones, grandchildren, etc. I think that many years from now, those who loved you will cherish this. I enjoyed it more the 2nd time around!

I'm listening to the songs posted here, again, with fresh ears...it is enjoyable and inspirational.

[lapetrarca]

Thanks!

I am saving them. In fact, I need to get a little better organized. I've got parts and different versions of songs in several locations. A few hours worth of stuff. Some are unfinished projects and some were strictly for my own education along the way.

It's interesting that you mention that. My dad passed away seven years ago and my mom has left his greeting on her voicemail at home so she can call it every once in a while to hear his voice.

[rdm321]

It’s good to hear recordings made by a group of talented folks who enjoy their hobby. Thanks to all for posting. I find this thread very informative.

I though that I’d post a link to a song that I recently recorded with a couple of friends. It has about 15 tracks, and was recorded and mixed in GarageBand on an iMac. Tracks were recorded one-at-a-time using a cheap dynamic microphone and a low-end M-Audio interface. There are 2 flat-top acoustic guitars (one 6, one 12), an archtop acoustic lead guitar, bass (30-year old Ibanez Roadstar), mandolin, harmonica, a drum loop from GarageBand and several vocal tracks.

The mix isn’t perfect. It needs some compression and the vocals are too loud (although it might be a case of not liking my own voice).
It’s a boy-meets–girl song called “Open Kitchen”.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11666433

[lapetrarca]

Hey rdn321!

Very cool! Is than an original number?

It is fun and I'm learning a lot just by reading these forums and experimenting with different ideas.

It's amazing that amateurs such as ourselves have the ability to create high quality recording right under our very own roof. I'll be 59 in a couple of weeks and when I started my musical journey, if you wanted a decent recording, all the band members would chip in for studio time. Now, you can have a few friends over on a Saturday evening, a couple of six packs and some pizza and turn out some decent stuff.

btw....I'm using Mixcraft 5 which is pretty much the PC version of GarageBand. Easy to use and gets decent results quickly.

The wonders of modern technology!

[rdm321]

Hi Lapetrarca:

Thank you; yes, it's an original.

Yes, the improvements in technology have been amazing (I still have my Fostex 4-track cassette recorder ).

My collaborators are co-workers, and the song was recorded in our warehouse, in a storeroom on lunch breaks. The sound of a freight elevator can be heard at one point - I couldn't mask it completely

I'm 63, hope to retire next year. I plan to do more recording, and fill up the hard drive on my wife's Mac! I encourage readers of this thread to use computers, at least for adding effects and mixing. The learning curve is steep, but the rewards are worth it.

cheers!

[napman]

Hi rmd321,

Just wanted to thank you for sharing your clip here.

Very nice in deed. I found myself smiling while listening to it.

I'm sure I can learn something or even a lot from your clip.

[Bob1131]

Hello rmd321 and welcome to the discussion! I enjoyed your song, very nice playing and singing.

I agree that the vocal is a little too loud. I think that is the result of doubling and panning the vocals. I have found that each of a doubled vocal needs to be 5dB lower that a single vocal to sound the same volume. Multiple sounds are not level or linear, meaning that two sources each at 80dB will produce a total volume of somewhere around 88dB (there is a formula to calculate the result but I forget what it is) rather than 80dB (level) or 160dB (linear accumulation). So, when we record two vocals and pan them they have more volume than one would be at center.

[napman]

Originally Posted by SeamusORiley

I hope you and the others here saving these for family, loved ones, grandchildren, etc. I think that many years from now, those who loved you will cherish this.

That exactly what I had in mind when I retired in 2009. I started to put quite a few different kinds of VDO clips at YouTube just mainly for my grandchildren to remember me by when I'm long gone from the face of this planet. Now I am technically and electronically immortal in cyber space!! LOL