Recording Software, Equipment?

[jcg]

Hey whats up? I'm new in here myself, but I'd like to suggest using Cubase, with a stand alone PC. This is what my buddy and guitarist has been doing for a couple of years. It really sounds great. I'm going to purchase the same thing that he has, so that I can produce my own stuff in the studio. Cya girl.

J

[zrocks]

I use Pro Tools. Newest version has very nice features. BUT, I am not a home studio. If you want to hear a huge difference in your recording, go to a pro studio. Home studios are great for working out a song but work with a pro to get pro results. My $.02

[chasin_insane]

Reading back it's funny to see how ones ideas and opinions change. Boy o' boy was I confused and looking small potatos back when I posted my original reply to this topic. Yes Reason has an awesome mastering suite built in but it just does not give a song the edge it needs.

So as far as what I do now to record/mix/master here goes:

I use Reason 4.0 mainly for drums. Very flexible and easy to use for this purpose. After I have built the drums the way I like them I export each individual drum to its own MONO .wav at 48khz (max for reson) 24 bit tracks.

I then dump each track into Adobe Audition 3.0 and set the levels for each track accordingly. It is very important to set your drums properly so they will fit into the final mix at the end. Kick and Snare should be set to their own separate busses and everything else can be channeled to another buss and levels set accordingly. (If you have a fast enough computer you can then set all the buss tracks for the drums to one final buss and add the drum plate/reverb) You should also keep in mind to keep the Cymbal crashes low in the mix as they will come out in the mastering. Proper EQ is also important for drums. There are some good links in the 'Mastering' thread about this stuff.

After I get my drums kinda where they will need to be (they will be visited again later in final mixing) I begin recording all the other instruments track by track, part by part until I get what I like. I dont bother to EQ or change any level at this point. I just get the track as tight as I can for my ability (I have developed a lot more patience these days....hehe...).

Once I get all the instruments done and the vocals recorded I go thru and do the usual production aspect of creating a final PRE-Mastered mix. Once the final mix is good and I can hear everything in both MONO and STEREO and have no phase discrepancies I drop the Master level of the song down so that the highest peak of the tune is somewhere around -3db to -6db and mix it down to a PRE-Master wav file.

I save the original mix and move on to the Mastering Rack in Auditions edit view and along with a Phase analyzer and frequecy analyzer proceed to add compressors, EQ'ing, revrb ect until I achieve the desired end result.

Another nifty thing in Adobe Audition is the ability to while mixing you can add effects to individual tracks in REAL TIME. So you can add your drum plate/reverb as you are mixing and you can add a de-esser to the vocals and EQ to the guitars and what-have-you as you go so in your final mix all you really need to do is maybe add a reverb to the mix as a whole and do the usual (Multi-Band compressor, High/Low EQ'ing to taste, final Master Limiter ect).

So as you can see I have grown a little since I posted that reply. I have done an immense amount of reading on Music production and Mastering to understand how to better my sound. Still in the learning stages but I think it is getting better. Reason has just simply become an expensive drum machine for me as my old drums were done on an old Alesis HR-16 drum machine and well, it's just easier to do them on the pc and strum along till its close.


Hope this inspires more to study up and put in the effort required to better themselves musically and spritually and intellectually. Music is art and if you want folks to enjoy, it cant sound like a coffee can in the mud.

[BelovedLife]

I would recommend for home stuff to make it easy and get your ideas and concepts going for arrangements try Garage Band. that means you need a mac book pro. which is awesome.

Then learn how to use pro tools and set up a part of your room with sound proofing nifty mics and a used mixer from craigslist that usually a raver from the late 90's is trying to sell so they can have some cash for their crystal meth addiction.

[Fendicator]

I use Guitar tracks pro to record my guitars, rythm, lead and bass. I also got the free equalizer from Kjaerhus audio they also have a few other VST plugins but there equalizer is really nice and its free. For my drums I used fruityloops. I dont use mics at all so I have no ideah about setting them up. All my guitars went thru my guitar effects board and right into my sound card.

This is basically the poor mans way of doing it .

[Ron_Vogel]

I would go to guitar center, tell them your budget and objectives...then go from there.

I use Sonar, I love it...but I wouldn't expect a novice engineer to exploit it to it's full potential.





Find a system you are comfortable with, and is easy to use. There's nothing more crappy than when you are inspired and want to record something, when you encounter a glitch and have to be your own help desk at 3am!