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  #1  
Old 12-07-2019, 07:55 AM
chrismitchell chrismitchell is offline
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Default Cheap Home Recording

My setup is very cheap. I have a MacBook, a Samson meteor mic (small usb mic), my guitars, tonewood amp, and a small acoustic amp. I have 4 songs I want to record as best as I can and put them on the interwebs. What is a good way to record and where is the best place to upload (SoundCloud, band amp, etc...). Let me know!
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Old 12-07-2019, 07:59 AM
Scott Whigham Scott Whigham is offline
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What is cheap to you might be expensive to someone else. Need more info at least about budget otherwise you might get people recommending $1,000 mics (comments like “And buy a pair - little more expensive up front but will save you tons later”).
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Old 12-07-2019, 08:09 AM
chrismitchell chrismitchell is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Whigham View Post
What is cheap to you might be expensive to someone else. Need more info at least about budget otherwise you might get people recommending $1,000 mics (comments like “And buy a pair - little more expensive up front but will save you tons later”).


The items listed is what I will use
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Old 12-07-2019, 08:13 AM
Scott Whigham Scott Whigham is offline
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Originally Posted by chrismitchell View Post
The items listed is what I will use
Okay, well, I don’t know how to use that info to determine your budget for new gear so I’ll just let others chime in. Lots of helpful people here with tons of experience - I’m sure you’ll get some great advice.
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Old 12-07-2019, 08:22 AM
chrismitchell chrismitchell is offline
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Originally Posted by Scott Whigham View Post
Okay, well, I don’t know how to use that info to determine your budget for new gear so I’ll just let others chime in. Lots of helpful people here with tons of experience - I’m sure you’ll get some great advice.


All I’m looking for is whether to use GarageBand, or something else that’s different. And what service to use to upload so I can share. I’d like to say that the gear is what is is! Thanks for the reply.
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Old 12-07-2019, 08:32 AM
DCCougar DCCougar is online now
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Originally Posted by chrismitchell View Post
....I have a MacBook.... All I’m looking for is whether to use GarageBand, or something else that’s different.....
Yeah, you might as well use garageband since it's (probably) already on your MacBook. Do a little research on how to use it, plug in your mic, hit record, and play! Not sure what else you need to know....

If you want to do any multitracking, you'll want to get an audio interface "box," like a Scarlett or something, to cut down on the latency (recording time lag).
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Old 12-07-2019, 08:39 AM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chrismitchell View Post
My setup is very cheap. I have a MacBook, a Samson meteor mic (small usb mic), my guitars, tonewood amp, and a small acoustic amp. I have 4 songs I want to record as best as I can and put them on the interwebs. What is a good way to record and where is the best place to upload (SoundCloud, band amp, etc...). Let me know!
I believe you're asking specifics about recording and where best to post your resulting work, and NOT asking for recommendations about further eqipment purchases.

That said, you already have "better" equipment than Bruce Springsteen used to record his Nebraska album. It that example, using a Teac 144 portastudio and a pair of SM57 mics, it becomes obvious that the real necessity for successful home recording comes from (1) personal talent, and (2) using what you have effectively.

Sit down with your mic, open Garageband and play around with recording. Learn by doing, and read up on what you need to know. A good set of headphones might take you far with being able to properly monitor your results and making some choices about what sounds the best, working with what you have.

Don't underestimate the value of selecting a quiet spot to lay down your tracks, it's probably the number one obstacle to creating listenable material.

There's tons of information on the web about recording, so there's no shortage of help to get you the best possible results.

Woodshed a bit and make the best tracks you can and be satisfied with your results. You can always choose to continue recording, polish your talent, and even spend more on hardware.

The important thing right now is to simply do what you can and get it posted to Soundcloud (or wherever you choose to post your tomes...).
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Old 12-07-2019, 09:06 AM
chrismitchell chrismitchell is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rudy4 View Post
I believe you're asking specifics about recording and where best to post your resulting work, and NOT asking for recommendations about further eqipment purchases.



That said, you already have "better" equipment than Bruce Springsteen used to record his Nebraska album. It that example, using a Teac 144 portastudio and a pair of SM57 mics, it becomes obvious that the real necessity for successful home recording comes from (1) personal talent, and (2) using what you have effectively.



Sit down with your mic, open Garageband and play around with recording. Learn by doing, and read up on what you need to know. A good set of headphones might take you far with being able to properly monitor your results and making some choices about what sounds the best, working with what you have.



Don't underestimate the value of selecting a quiet spot to lay down your tracks, it's probably the number one obstacle to creating listenable material.



There's tons of information on the web about recording, so there's no shortage of help to get you the best possible results.



Woodshed a bit and make the best tracks you can and be satisfied with your results. You can always choose to continue recording, polish your talent, and even spend more on hardware.



The important thing right now is to simply do what you can and get it posted to Soundcloud (or wherever you choose to post your tomes...).


Is band camp a good platform for uploading individual songs?
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Old 12-07-2019, 09:16 AM
jim1960 jim1960 is offline
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Is band camp a good platform for uploading individual songs?
I don't know of any reason why one platform is better or worse than any other. That said, I also don't know why you want to limit yourself to one.
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Old 12-07-2019, 09:16 AM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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Garageband is free and will likely run on your MacBook fine. You have a mic. You can presumably play and sing. There are other free or low cost options, but GB can be presumed as capable of what you want to do without adding any cost.

There are of course a lot of ways to improve things, but you've expressed that you want to get started with what you have. You'll need to learn at least basic GB functions. I think there are a goodly number of free resources to help you learn how GB works.

What kind of recordings are you envisioning? Just solo guitar and voice? If so,. you don't need to learn too much about how GB works. If you want to add more to your recordings, GB offers options in that regard, even with no additional equipment. And you could (if you want) add a second vocal (harmonize with yourself) or additional, overdubbed guitar parts if you own some headphones or even earbuds. You could also decide to record your guitar and voice in separate passes. All these other options are more complex, but offer lots of possibilities, but when getting started you can (and maybe should) start simple. I'll assume solo guitar and voice recorded simultaneously.

If so, your next task is to find a location to record and place your single microphone to best capture a good balance of your guitar, voice and room. For best quality don't rush this step, and when you find it, note it so you can repeat it. To a significant degree quality of your performance and material can trump recording quality, but doing the best you can doesn't hurt.

Where to host your recorded material is another question. People do different things, and from other threads recently here those that offer recommendations seem to have strong opinions about this choice. I'll let them weigh in on this. Not really my area as I use methods that have a (low) cost and may not apply to you if you are seeking to minimize cost.
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  #11  
Old 12-07-2019, 09:44 AM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chrismitchell View Post
Is band camp a good platform for uploading individual songs?
I don't use any of the hosting services other than Youtube, so I can't advise you. You can post your audio with a title image on Youtube as an alternative to using audio-only websites.
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Old 12-07-2019, 09:50 PM
reeve21 reeve21 is offline
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Does your Macbook have the music memos app? If so you can post directly from it to Soundcloud. This is dead simple.


If you want to do any processing you can send it to Garageband from music memos, and then to Soundcloud or anywhere else you like.
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Old 12-09-2019, 08:40 AM
MikeBmusic MikeBmusic is offline
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Bandcamp is ok for posting your music because you can post full resolution (i.e. WAV or FLAC) versions and listeners can choose what format they want for downloading. You can also set pricing (or make them free).
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