Musicians Roadhouse

I've never done any home recording. Can you guys recommend some basics. Have a laptop but no music software. Been enjoying the recordings you guys have made. Thanks in advance.

I don't post clips often but like to think I have an okay setup. I have a TASCAM US-144 Mk II USB recording interface and a pair of Shure SM-57 microphones, and I use Audacity which is free audio recording/editing software. It's very important to determine your recording latency and configure your DAW with it otherwise you'll never get tracks to align. Not too hard to do, I just played a click track and looped the interface's output straight into the input and recorded a new track, then I could zoom in and see the offset between the original clicks and the re-recorded ones.

There's a PC-based drum machine called Hydrogen I use for drum loops, it's the best-sounding (meaning it actually sounds like a rock/metal kit instead of hip-hop or electronica) freeware I've found but isn't a very stable application.

I like to close-mic my speakers and then pile couch cushions around the front, and usually throw a blanket or two over it as well. That keeps a lot of ambient noise away, and in a small apartment like mine prevents my studio monitors from causing feedback with the microphones. Also my 412 was packed with fiberglass by a previous owner, making it very "beamy" which works well for me. There's very little sound output except right in front of it so it's pretty easy to silence so I can hear the studio monitors over the amp.

the focusrite scarlett interface is a best seller
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... MgodmHsAyw

you need to know if your computer has just usb or firewire too.

the basics-
audio interface
decent monitors & or mixing headphones
plenty of RAM
a good mic unless you have guitar recording software like guitar rig or amplitube.
DAW (recording software) of choice- if you're just doing basic stuff or jam along tracks then most audio interfaces come w/ limited versions or you can get Audacity for free-
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

I use Mixcraft. it's so simple it's funny,doesn't take up a lot of CPU,has loads of extras like fx & guitar/drum/keys/etc. simulators, and we have a great help forum. the tech support is top notch.
http://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/

you can demo it for free for 2 weeks then you can either buy outright,pay monthly,or if you're a student even get a student discount.

Thanks guys. Incredibly useful info.

find something simple to start out with. Something easy that gets you to the recording your music with very little issues.
If just doing guitar, a simple usb guitar interface often is a good choice.

If you are a tone hound then you might want to mic up your amp.
A simple usb mic into a free DAW.. Audacity, or (it's not free but I've had mine for over a year now, and still haven't got around to paying them, and it still works.... Reaper, it has tons of great plug-ins for this software.

for drums I use EZ drummer, but there are lots of good drum programs out there.
Some DAW's have a drum kit, or two that come with them.