Recording Songs
BM
Jan 29 2010, 01:56 AM
GMC:er
Posts: 67
Joined: 9-October 06
From: Dover Delaware
Just want some opinions and ideas of how to go about recording.

Currently I do not have any high tech ressources or devices that are truly meant to record songs. I am recording on my computer through a program called Audacity (which does a good job allowing me to mix seperate tracks together). However, I have no way to get them onto my band's Facebook page with a very clear quality.

To get the songs onto Facebook I have to record the song I have already recorded through facebook! haha I know it's wierd.

So what can I do, get or use to be able to enhance my recordings and get them online or on cd's so I can start building my band's reputation?

Thanks for all comments

Connor L

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
"Baptized in a firefight. Hot blood running cold as ice. 44 minutes of target practice. All hell's breaking loose.
Outgunned. Watching the force come to a firefight with a pocket knife.
Getting schooled until they shot Achilles' heel and brought down the beast."
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Bogdan Radovic
Jan 29 2010, 02:27 AM
Bass & Beginner Instructor
Posts: 15.614
Joined: 30-November 07
From: Belgrade, Serbia
I'm not sure what do you mean by recording through facebook? If you have the song on your computer in any audio format - convert it to mp3 and upload to myspace, facebook fan pages etc?

For home recording I recommend getting POD Studio ux1 recording interface (usb) + Reaper (free recording software).

You should be able to get great recordings with that gear.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
For GMC support please email support (at) guitarmasterclass.net
Check out my lessons and my instructor board.
Check out my beginner guitar lessons course! ; Take a bass course now!
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
UncleSkillet
Jan 29 2010, 02:32 AM
Learning Tone Seeker
Posts: 1.525
Joined: 21-January 08
From: Cincinnati, Ohio
QUOTE (Bogdan Radovic @ Jan 28 2010, 08:27 PM) *
I'm not sure what do you mean by recording through facebook? If you have the song on your computer in any audio format - convert it to mp3 and upload to myspace, facebook fan pages etc?

For home recording I recommend getting POD Studio ux1 recording interface (usb) + Reaper (free recording software).

You should be able to get great recordings with that gear.



+1 The man has spoken and he speaks the truth! Head for the light biggrin.gif

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
"Think of a guitar solo as a paragraph. You need a clear beginning, a middle, and an end. Look at musical phrases like sentences, and make sure you break them up using punctuation—or space. You pause naturally when conversing, right? If you don't, you'll bore the listener. The same thing will happen with your audience if your solo is one dimensional. You'll wear them out and lose their attention." —Tom Principato
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
BM
Jan 29 2010, 03:18 AM
GMC:er
Posts: 67
Joined: 9-October 06
From: Dover Delaware
What I mean is I would record the song on Audacity, which can sound pretty good if you do it right. Then I would go on Facebook, go to Record Video, play the recording of my song from audacity, and let the facebook app record it as a "video".

It's complex I know lol.

How much does that equipment you mentioned cost usually?

QUOTE (Bogdan Radovic @ Jan 29 2010, 02:27 AM) *
I'm not sure what do you mean by recording through facebook? If you have the song on your computer in any audio format - convert it to mp3 and upload to myspace, facebook fan pages etc?

For home recording I recommend getting POD Studio ux1 recording interface (usb) + Reaper (free recording software).

You should be able to get great recordings with that gear.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
"Baptized in a firefight. Hot blood running cold as ice. 44 minutes of target practice. All hell's breaking loose.
Outgunned. Watching the force come to a firefight with a pocket knife.
Getting schooled until they shot Achilles' heel and brought down the beast."
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Saoirse O'Shea
Jan 29 2010, 10:47 AM
Moderator - low level high stakes
Posts: 6.173
Joined: 27-June 07
From: Espania - Cadiz province
I think there are a number of things that you may want to consider...

If you want to record your band at a reasonable quality level then Audacity will only go so far. It is meant to be a wave editor and is not really recording software - its recording functions are quite basic.

As Bogdan suggests Reaper is recording software and is free to evaluate but costs 60USD for a license. It operates as a digital multi-track tracking, mixing and recording environment. See here for some intro lessons on how to use it with guitar. (At some point when I have lots of free time I'll add some more.)

As you can already get your sound in to Audacity then I'll assume you have an audio card already set up albeit you may want to check that you're not clipping it. At some stage you might want to consider upgrading your audio card but that depends on what you have, need and want.

Facebook (and Youtube) prefers you to upload your audio/video in a format that it likes - hence why you're going through your 'double recording' bit. Neither use codecs that are audio 'friendly' however - both use codecs that compress the audio in quite a poor way. Best advice here is to minimise compression when you record - and by that I don't just mean turn down any compressor/dynamic processor hardware or software that you may use but also use less amp distortion.

You might also want to look at how you are rendering your music and the file format you save. As you're in Audacity and exporting the audio to Facebook I guess you're using mp3 via LAME. LAME has a tendency to sum an additional 0.3-0.5 dB to the audio. That means if you record your music with the levels near to clipping then LAME can quite easily take the audio in to digital clipping/distortion. So you need to lower your master level to allow for this before you render to mp3 in Audacity.

Alternatively you might want to render using a different format than mp3. Speaking as a mastering engineer, mp3 - although a very common and popular format - does not produce good quality audio partly because mp3 is a lossy, or compressed, format. I guess though that you have to use mp3 due to Facebook however. If you can use any format then for really want good quality you should use wave or some other loss less format and you should take care over how you both sample rate correct and alter the bit depth.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com

Be friends on facebook with us here.

We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes:
Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Ivan Milenkovic
Jan 29 2010, 06:18 PM
Instructor
Posts: 25.396
Joined: 20-November 07
From: Belgrade, Serbia
I recommend that you get UX1 device, it's around 150$, but well worth it. It will solve all your recording problems. You can then download and use Reaper as a free DAW.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
- Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
- Check out my GMC Profile and Lessons
- (Please subscribe to my) YouTube Official Channel
- Let's be connected through ! Facebook! :)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
BM
Jan 30 2010, 04:02 AM
GMC:er
Posts: 67
Joined: 9-October 06
From: Dover Delaware
Wow! Thank you for all that info! But one question. I can't use MP3 for facebook. I don't know why and honestly I just want a nice clean recording on there that people can appreciate. What can I do to have a wider variation of formats?

I just purchased the program Reaper as suggested in a previous comment.

Any advice?

QUOTE (tonymiro @ Jan 29 2010, 10:47 AM) *
I think there are a number of things that you may want to consider...

If you want to record your band at a reasonable quality level then Audacity will only go so far. It is meant to be a wave editor and is not really recording software - its recording functions are quite basic.

As Bogdan suggests Reaper is recording software and is free to evaluate but costs 60USD for a license. It operates as a digital multi-track tracking, mixing and recording environment. See here for some intro lessons on how to use it with guitar. (At some point when I have lots of free time I'll add some more.)

As you can already get your sound in to Audacity then I'll assume you have an audio card already set up albeit you may want to check that you're not clipping it. At some stage you might want to consider upgrading your audio card but that depends on what you have, need and want.

Facebook (and Youtube) prefers you to upload your audio/video in a format that it likes - hence why you're going through your 'double recording' bit. Neither use codecs that are audio 'friendly' however - both use codecs that compress the audio in quite a poor way. Best advice here is to minimise compression when you record - and by that I don't just mean turn down any compressor/dynamic processor hardware or software that you may use but also use less amp distortion.

You might also want to look at how you are rendering your music and the file format you save. As you're in Audacity and exporting the audio to Facebook I guess you're using mp3 via LAME. LAME has a tendency to sum an additional 0.3-0.5 dB to the audio. That means if you record your music with the levels near to clipping then LAME can quite easily take the audio in to digital clipping/distortion. So you need to lower your master level to allow for this before you render to mp3 in Audacity.

Alternatively you might want to render using a different format than mp3. Speaking as a mastering engineer, mp3 - although a very common and popular format - does not produce good quality audio partly because mp3 is a lossy, or compressed, format. I guess though that you have to use mp3 due to Facebook however. If you can use any format then for really want good quality you should use wave or some other loss less format and you should take care over how you both sample rate correct and alter the bit depth.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
"Baptized in a firefight. Hot blood running cold as ice. 44 minutes of target practice. All hell's breaking loose.
Outgunned. Watching the force come to a firefight with a pocket knife.
Getting schooled until they shot Achilles' heel and brought down the beast."
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Bogdan Radovic
Jan 30 2010, 05:51 AM
Bass & Beginner Instructor
Posts: 15.614
Joined: 30-November 07
From: Belgrade, Serbia
QUOTE (BM @ Jan 30 2010, 04:02 AM) *
Wow! Thank you for all that info! But one question. I can't use MP3 for facebook. I don't know why and honestly I just want a nice clean recording on there that people can appreciate. What can I do to have a wider variation of formats?

I just purchased the program Reaper as suggested in a previous comment.

Any advice?


For facebook as I know it, you have to make a musician fan page, there you can ad the music player app and upload your mp3s for listening.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
For GMC support please email support (at) guitarmasterclass.net
Check out my lessons and my instructor board.
Check out my beginner guitar lessons course! ; Take a bass course now!
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
BM
Jan 31 2010, 04:23 AM
GMC:er
Posts: 67
Joined: 9-October 06
From: Dover Delaware
True.

I just created that page today. Then I did a REALLY good cover of Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria. But now Reaper (the system suggested above for recording) won't convert it into MP3 form! Ugh! Who knows a program that will convert it so I can finally get it on the page?

QUOTE (Bogdan Radovic @ Jan 30 2010, 05:51 AM) *
For facebook as I know it, you have to make a musician fan page, there you can ad the music player app and upload your mp3s for listening.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
"Baptized in a firefight. Hot blood running cold as ice. 44 minutes of target practice. All hell's breaking loose.
Outgunned. Watching the force come to a firefight with a pocket knife.
Getting schooled until they shot Achilles' heel and brought down the beast."
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Emir Hot
Jan 31 2010, 05:37 AM
Instructor
Posts: 7.201
Joined: 14-July 08
From: London UK
QUOTE (BM @ Jan 31 2010, 03:23 AM) *
True.

I just created that page today. Then I did a REALLY good cover of Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria. But now Reaper (the system suggested above for recording) won't convert it into MP3 form! Ugh! Who knows a program that will convert it so I can finally get it on the page?

We have just spoken about it in chat room. Glad you sorted it out now.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
Check out my <a href="https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/instructor/Emir-Hot" target="_blank">Instructor profile</a>

www.emirhot.com
www.myspace.com/emirhotguitar
www.myspace.com/sevdahmetal
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Saoirse O'Shea
Jan 31 2010, 12:49 PM
Moderator - low level high stakes
Posts: 6.173
Joined: 27-June 07
From: Espania - Cadiz province
QUOTE (BM @ Jan 31 2010, 04:23 AM) *
True.

...Who knows a program that will convert it so I can finally get it on the page?


Reaper needs the LAME mp3 encoder installed to be able to render mp3s.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com

Be friends on facebook with us here.

We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes:
Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
BM
Jan 31 2010, 05:13 PM
GMC:er
Posts: 67
Joined: 9-October 06
From: Dover Delaware
Thank you Emir! You're help is greatly appreciated!

If you have time and can go on facebook look up Megido and the cover of Welcome Home is on the music player smile.gif

Thanks again

Connor

QUOTE (Emir Hot @ Jan 31 2010, 05:37 AM) *
We have just spoken about it in chat room. Glad you sorted it out now.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
"Baptized in a firefight. Hot blood running cold as ice. 44 minutes of target practice. All hell's breaking loose.
Outgunned. Watching the force come to a firefight with a pocket knife.
Getting schooled until they shot Achilles' heel and brought down the beast."
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Emir Hot
Jan 31 2010, 05:14 PM
Instructor
Posts: 7.201
Joined: 14-July 08
From: London UK
QUOTE (BM @ Jan 31 2010, 04:13 PM) *
Thank you Emir! You're help is greatly appreciated!

If you have time and can go on facebook look up Megido and the cover of Welcome Home is on the music player smile.gif

Thanks again

Connor

Will do smile.gif

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
Check out my <a href="https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/instructor/Emir-Hot" target="_blank">Instructor profile</a>

www.emirhot.com
www.myspace.com/emirhotguitar
www.myspace.com/sevdahmetal
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Daniel Realpe
Feb 7 2010, 06:28 PM
Instructor
Posts: 5.655
Joined: 11-October 09
From: Bogota
QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ Jan 29 2010, 06:18 PM) *
I recommend that you get UX1 device, it's around 150$, but well worth it. It will solve all your recording problems. You can then download and use Reaper as a free DAW.


I think you can do a lot with that

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
Visit my:
INSTRUCTOR PROFILE

"If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music."
Gustav Mahler


Subscribe to my Youtube Channel here
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

Reply to this topicStart new topic
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:

 




RSS Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 12:46 PM