Home Recording Tips
 

I was just wondering what techniques some gossip members use to make their home recordings sound good? I use Cool Edit Pro 2 (Adobe Audition) and I have a bit of trouble making my recordings sound adequate.

cool edit is mostly an editing prog and doesn't sound good for recording to start with. if you want a good free to very cheap multitracker try reaper.com. this is a very good prog for very cheap or free if you find the crack but as it is one guy writing it and not a company i would say give the dude $50.

when you say techniques what do you mean, mic techniques, the use of the software, what hardware etc. everything you use will effect the quality of your sound.

feel free to msn me ------ terminal_pharmacy@hotmail.com

Cool edit does have a multitrack though. As far as I know it is a designated recording program. Oh, and I mean like software techniques.

well the first trick is getting a good sound in to start with, the better the sound the less useless plugins you need to use. i only use three plugins - compression/limiting, eq and reverb.

build an analog studio. you will not regret it.

that is all well and good if you are loaded to the gills with cash and also dependent on what sort of music you are recording

You'll regret the price of reels.

Bluebottle Kiss' double album Doubt Seeds was recorded analog. It has such a nice sound.

I have an analog 4-track. I've never been that good with digital stuff. But if and when I get a laptop, I'll probably also get a recording program, mostly to just upload my music to the computer/net.

My setup sucks, but i usually go straight into my digital fourtrack so it comes out pretty nice when not using any distortion. And audacity, taht's my best friend.

try reaper.com it shits all over audacity

I use Audition at the radio station for making promos, PSAs and Calendars, but I don't think I'd like it much for doing actual music. I don't like the way the effects work particularly, though their o.k. if you just want to put echo on your voice or something simple.

Mostly I use Garage Band now, but I've been perfectly happy with Audacity at times before I got it. I liked Sound Forge a lot too, but it's PC only, which is weird since it's such a Macish interface and style. I've used a few others too, but nothing that jumps to mind as super good. Given a decent sound quality (and they usually are all pretty close to the same) easy to use it's what's important to me.

Really? I 'll check it out for sure.
Thanks.

sorry it is reaper.fm not .com

I'll have to try reaper.com right now i record in a primitive way that works i guess... i have an analog technique and a digital. i have a late 70's Akai 4-track reel to reel for my analog recording, using one mic with the sound on sound feature on i can create an interesting stereo plus tape delayed effect.
since i usually only do guitar or feedback loops with effects i only use one mic, its i think a boom mic from a professional camera and it sounds pretty good, and a take a direct line from either my amp (depending on which one i'm using) or from my last effect in my chain the mic'd channel take precedence and is set around 10 o'clock, the direct signal is slightly lower in the mix and is only in one channel... this is done to get some interesting stereo seperation from recording just guitar. this is run to a yamaha 8 channel mixer and the it is recorded to my akai 4 track reel to reel or a JVC cd recorder. all post editing which isn't much since i try to keep things as simple as i can and since the music is improvised i don't like to mess with it much, is done via an archiac method of using multiple cd players and re tracking different tracks of guitar or whatever...

some good mic is helpful for instrumental recording.

-When I multi-track w/ Audacity, the tracks don't synch up. Is this the program's fault? If so, does a newer version correct the problem (I got mine about a year ago)? Is my computer too slow? If so, does this mean that I'll have the same problem with all recording programs (e.g. Reaper, which I look forward to)?

-Analog vs. digital=warmth vs clarity. Not in every single solitary instance, but usually, I've found. (I'm not talking about ease of use or anything like that, just sound quality.) Trying to get that lovely anolog 4-track squashed-in sound on digital equipment has been a losing battle for me.

Well, I'll jump in this thread and ask here too:
tips for near field studio monitors, pretty cheap, no need for high wattage? digital in would be a nice feature
I was thinking about tapco s5 , not sure about the bass response, though... I'd like to keep it in the 150-250 euros range.
thanks in advance.

i would suggest the yamaha hsm50, these have a very flat frequency response and a based on the famous ns10 monitors that you will see in tons and tons of studios. listen to a whole range of different monitors don't just buy from price. take some music you know well to the shops. there should be no frequencies that really jump out at you. some monitors really have a lump from around 60-150 hz, you do not want this. you want to be able to hear all frequencies at the same strength. the hsm50's are good and flat. do not buy a sub monitor unless you will be doing films or theatre, these are totally uneccesary.

have you tried changing the buffer size in the settings? Audacity is a terrible sounding program as well, so I would generally stick away from it. Audio not syncing generally is a wordclock issue if you are running outboard gear that needs time syncing such as adat machines or or a/d d/a converters, so if you aren't running any of these types of things you probably just need to adjust your buffer, and then try reaper which sounds and is a much better prog.

Yesssss, very good call, after some more research (I've been looking at specs and reviews all day long) those look like the best of the lot with not too high wattage. The problem here is to find a decent shop in my area that carries different monitors to do proper comparisons. Most of them either have just m-audio / fostex stuff or high-end stuff , it's hard to find one with a good "mid range" selection. I'll probably end up trying different models in different places (which is kinda lame) and then buy the chosen ones from an online store...

obviously it is best if you can do a-b comparisons between different models but if you can't, write down what you think about it different ones. m-audio suck fostex are much better usually, stick away from the likes of m-aduio there gear is generally terrible.