I'm actually excited about recording something!

Mr 9finger

Digitally Challenged
But I've never really did it, so that's going to be the hard part. The kids were watching a movie tonight, and me being me and tuning out on a kids movie, I hear some theme music. I sat there and thought about for a minute. Listened to it again and thought, "That could be pretty cool if toss some gain on there and thicken up a few parts."

Now I've been sitting here for the last 3 or 4 hours just fiddling around with it. The tune itself isn't that hard, but to thicken it up in the places I want, it's going to take a little work. I'm not very good at knowing which notes are what on the fretboard. So I'm going to pick and poke around the board until something I like pops out at me.

After listening to it a few times, the intro can start off nice and smooth. Clean or maybe a lower gain setting. Then as it picks up, pile on the gain and some chorus and/or delay...Then in the middle, there's a real good line to just stomp on the wah and give it a real nice vocal quality.

I'm really excited about this. Nothing has really inspired to pick up my guitar and really do anything with it in a long time. I'll few problems piecing the tune together and get to that sound in my head, but the recording thing has me bothered. I'm probably going to have to do multiple tracks since I don't have a looper. I don't have mics or a mixer, so that's out as well. The only thing I really have to do this with currently is the iphone apps that are ampkit and amplitube. That's going to be a real pain in the arse.

If you guys have any tips or clues to help make the recording part easier, please feel free to point me in the right direction! If you guys think it might help, I can probably afford to pick up a cheap Pod or something else if there's a cheaper alternative. I see you guys talk about amp and cab sims for a PC, but I have no idea what they are or if my laptop can even handle it lol!

C'mon fellas! Hook a brotha up!
 
Re: I'm actually excited about recording something!

I use a POD GX for doing simple tracking here at home, and I like it just fine. They're about $80, connect via USB, and comes with POD Farm so you get plenty of amp/cab/effect models.

For the actual recording I just use the native Garageband on my iMac, but there are several options for the PC too.
 
Re: I'm actually excited about recording something!

I use a POD GX for doing simple tracking here at home, and I like it just fine. They're about $80, connect via USB, and comes with POD Farm so you get plenty of amp/cab/effect models.

For the actual recording I just use the native Garageband on my iMac, but there are several options for the PC too.

That sounds a lot better than what I was looking at lol! I was looking at the Digidesign ElevenRack. It's supposed to be almost as good as an AxeFX and comes with ProTools, but I think both are a little over my head in complexity and price right now.
 
Re: I'm actually excited about recording something!

dont get the expensive stuff if you just wanna record (not jam on it for audiophile purposes)

novince audio engineers are not gonna have much luck with great gear for years, the learning curve is steep and you just wont see the benefits of high end gear really in your novince mixes, YMMV tho
 
Re: I'm actually excited about recording something!

Don't mean to be discouraging but as a complete PC recording novice with a poor learning curve lol, I'd say everdrone is spot on..

I got a line6 UX1 a few months ago & have'nt been able to do much with it since. I can get it to record stuff using the bundled Gearbox sims, but it does'nt sound or feel great/real to me. Also... I downloaded Reaper based on recomendations here, but I just could'nt get it to do much apart from record with the UX1. Went way above my head and I got rid of it 4 days later. There are'nt any really basic tutorials "for dummies" out there. I'm back to Audacity now and record with my portable handeld recorder's mic...the good news is I'm finally happy with the way my recordings sound (ie ..pretty close to what I hear when I'm playing through my cab)

...as for a complete full band-type proper "song" recording ..still have'nt a clue lol.
 
Re: I'm actually excited about recording something!

There's a difference between doing some simple tracking and attempting to make a studio quality mixed/mastered recording. I get the impression that Brent is just looking to record some ideas and have fun, for that end a simple USB interface and some models are great.
 
Re: I'm actually excited about recording something!

Turn the gain down, " more than you may like," and double track the guitars?

It does make a difference.
 
Re: I'm actually excited about recording something!

I want an "axe fx III" for my audiophile purposes! saving teh $$$ scratch till they come out 5 years from now, I bet my recording skills will be a lot betta by then; also I hope to set up my room for better acoustics one day as that helps mixes a ton
 
Re: I'm actually excited about recording something!

There's a difference between doing some simple tracking and attempting to make a studio quality mixed/mastered recording. I get the impression that Brent is just looking to record some ideas and have fun, for that end a simple USB interface and some models are great.

AJ is spot on with this. I'm not looking to make pro studio quality recordings here. Just trying to get my feet wet and try some new ideas. Just translating what I'm hearing in my head, to my guitar, and getting that to come out of amp is going to be problematic enough at this point. Once I work through that and get it smoothed out, transferring it to a recorded medium is going to be cake.
 
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