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McCoy Pauley posted:I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the hardware you list above (although I do have a Launchpad X), but on the Ableton issue, you don't need to subscribe to anything just to mess around with drums in Ableton. You get a copy of Ableton Live Lite with a Launchpad ( and probably some of that other hardware -- it seems like a pretty common add-in with a wide range of music hardware). Lite is free to own and use forever -- no subscription. You can also purchase or upgrade to other versions of Live (you can buy any of Intro, Standard, and Suite, and you can upgrade Lite to Standard and Suite at a discount). All of those are one-time purchases, not subscriptions. There are sound packs you can pay for (and free ones as well) -- and I dunno, maybe there are packs one subscribes to? -- but you definitely don't need to pay a subscription fee to use Ableton Live. Rupert Buttermilk posted:It's only a MIDI controller (as in, it doesn't generate any sound on its own) but I swear by the Korg Padkontrol. Oh my god, I love it so much, especially paired with a good software drumkit, like Addictive Drums 2. No subscription required. Thank you both for your input, I will look more into these two options! Glad to know I was misunderstanding things when it came to the subscription stuff.
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Dec 10, 2019 21:13
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I'm wondering if it might be time to explore a new set of monitors. My KRK Rokit RP8G2s are about twelve years old now (and the RP10S sub is a couple of years younger). Aside from a bit of a scare a few months back that turned out to be a dirty contact, they still sound fine to me, but I'm wondering if they've actually degraded and I just haven't noticed it. People love to poo poo on the Rokits but I think they're fine monitors - of course, I haven't done much mixing on them in a few years, only playback/editing/mastering DJ sets. Now that I'm going to start (read: take another stab at) seriously writing and mixing my own tunes, I wonder if an upgrade is in order... Thoughts on this? Is degradation a thing? Is my sub going to suffer the same way the mains do? If I like the way the Rokits sound, should I check out the higher-end VXT models some have recommended to me? If it makes a difference, the style of music I plan to dive back into is mostly D&B/Jungle, Breaks, other styles of bass music and some House.
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Dec 14, 2019 01:12
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I had a pair of rockit 8's for about 6 or 7 years. The only reason I bought new monitors is because I started to have a consistent buzzing in the left monitor. So unless you're having an issue like this, save the money cause those speakers are perfectly fine.
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Dec 14, 2019 03:31
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Crossposting from the Small Questions thread because y’all might be better equipped to answer some of these questions. To clarify, the stuff I’m recording are basically existing songs from iTunes/Amazon Music/Youtube and the like, to HOPEFULLY split them up into easier-to-hear components, for the end purpose of arranging/transcribing them for other instruments more accurately than if I just play a whole song and try to pick every instrument/part and every note out with my ears alone. Pokey Araya posted:
Now, I’m assuming I need to use a microphone to record songs into this Melodyne thing, and that I need to use a mic of a certain quality to make Melodyne’s job of splitting up a song’s various parts easier. Are there any particular mics that are better suited to this than others, or will any mic work as long as it isn’t super lovely? And is there anything else I should consider getting to improve the quality of my recordings so the splitting and sound quality are better? Also does my computer need to have any particular specs? I can’t recall the exact make of my current computer, but I believe it’s a Dell Inspiron with a 4th-generation Intel i5 or i7 processor. I got it in January 2016 and replaced the hard-drive with a 500GB SATA SSD that I also can’t remember the exact make of, but it was the most highly recommended make by the PC-building goons in SH/SC at that time (I think I can look up the make in my system settings; if I find it I’ll post it here in a bit).
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Dec 14, 2019 06:58
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If you're literally just pulling tracks off iTunes or whatever then you shouldn't need a mic at all. Just take the file, possibly convert it into a WAV or whatever other format Melodyne requires, then import it and go. I haven't used Melodyne myself so take that with a grain of salt but it shouldn't be complicated or require a microphone. If you plan on actually recording stuff at home you'll need a mic and an interface (SM-58 and the current model of Steinberg 2-channel interface is a good starter kit) or a good USB mic (dunno).
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Dec 14, 2019 08:01
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just upload your songs to melody.ml or splitter.ai and you can get automatically separated tracks.
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Dec 14, 2019 14:40
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Has anyone encountered DPC Latency issues on a windows PC while doing recording? I recently got a new ThinkPad P73 to replace a very old Windows Desktop,and I'm testing it out while I'm still in the return window to see if it will work for me. I'm mostly recording guitar, bass, and digital piano into Cubase or Ableton using a Steinberg UR44, rarely more than 4 tracks are once, and not usually with crazy effects chains. I kind of want the laptop form factor so I can easily set the thing up near where those instruments are in my house. Prior to getting it I was reading a lot about DPC Latency issues, and the first thing I did when I got the laptop was run Latency Mon, which showed some bad spikes on a few drivers from time to time. But I've been recording with the thing a lot over the last week and I can't say I'm detecting any issues. At least, nothing sounds wrong to me in the recording. So I'm wondering if this means DPC latency isn't going to be an issue given my setup (maybe the UR44 and its drivers?), Or maybe it really isn't an issue despite what LatencyMon said. Or maybe I'm just not listening for latency in the right way. If anyone has experience with this, are there any tests within a DAW I should be running to basically stress test for latency issues in an actual recording scenario? My primary concern is only discovering some weird latency problem after the return window, after it's too late to return the laptop and just build a desktop machine.
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Dec 14, 2019 15:13
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You can try lowering the asio buffer size and see at what point things go crazy while recording as many tracks simultaneously as you expect to ever do. Then see if the latency you can get without cracks an pops and interruptions is acceptable for live input monitoring for the type of material you're recording with the effects on it. But let me tell you that if you actually were having DPC latency issues, you wouldn't be in doubt but instead would be pulling out your hair in frustration right now. It's not a subtle thing.
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Dec 14, 2019 15:34
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McCoy Pauley posted:Has anyone encountered DPC Latency issues on a windows PC while doing recording? Are you monitoring your input while recording? If your input monitoring sounds in time with what you're actually playing and it's not loving up your ability to keep rhythm with the song then your latency is fine.
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Dec 14, 2019 16:01
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Thank you both. I think I've made myself nuts on this reading too deeply into computer building threads on Gearslutz, and the bad numbers I saw our of LatencyMon were making me not trust my ears. I mean, it's not like I'm running a studio here, I'm recording myself on guitar/bass/keyboard, and maybe at most two other people, and the new ThinkPad I got has, for a laptop, a pretty beefy processor and 16GB of RAM (soon to be 32). And I'm using a UR44 for everything, which seems to have pretty good drivers. So maybe this will just be something where my use case won't encounter latency problems.
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Dec 14, 2019 22:28
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This is sort of a hybrid question, but since I'm looking a for a better quality system than I'm using now, I figured here might be better suited than Serious Hardware since the Venn diagram overlaps a lot. I play computer party games with friends who live in another state. I host the game and video conference, sharing my computer screen. I currently use Skype's screen sharing feature. My main problem right now is that both groups of people need the computer audio to play the game. We also use voice communication channels through discord. They feedback into each other like crazy. I can hear their game audio (which is just my audio on their end) and they can hear mine. How do I fix this teleconference nightmare? Do I need to get monitor headphones for everyone? There has to be a solution that's a little more casual, right?
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Dec 17, 2019 15:53
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Everyone needs to be using headphones and push-to-talk. Anything else when playing online with voice communications will cause problems.
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Dec 17, 2019 17:14
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Hello dead gay comedy subforum, I thought here might be a good place to receive some guidance. I'm a hobbyist musician, I write songs mostly on guitar and have performed in some small bands here and there, but I've never really recorded anything before. The only audio equipment I have at home is a condenser mic, a soundboard with a missing XLR cable, my acoustic guitar and a few amps/peddles. My bands have always been ephemeral in nature but I've never stopped making music, and it's occurred to me that I have at least full album's worth of songs that I've kept in my head for the last 10 years. And that some of those songs might even be kinda good! And as I'm getting older I've come to realize that I would really regret never recording them all in some capacity. The thing is that I'm really quite clueless as to how I'd get started. I've given up on trying to recruit a band. The people that I've played with have all been flaky for one reason or another, plus I'm getting too old to just have some dudes over my house drinking beer and not accomplishing much of anything. I know some music theory fundamentals but I'm not really talented enough to learn or record all the instrumentation I would need by myself, and my own guitar skills are extremely basic. I could start small and focus on making an EP of just my guitar and vocals, but I'm not even really attuned to modern recording software beyond edits in Audacity. I could like... apply for a fellowship or residency that would allow me to pay actual session musicians to help record my project maybe? But that seems like a real longshot. I guess I'm just asking for some guidance before I throw $2,000 at a bunch of home recording software only to find out I'm really lacking in time and/or knowledge then give up 1.5 songs into recording. But I've got all this beautiful music in my head with french horns and accordions and poo poo that I would someday want the world to see! What do you think I should do?
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Dec 18, 2019 01:36
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exquisite tea posted:Hello dead gay comedy subforum, I thought here might be a good place to receive some guidance. I'm a hobbyist musician, I write songs mostly on guitar and have performed in some small bands here and there, but I've never really recorded anything before. The only audio equipment I have at home is a condenser mic, a soundboard with a missing XLR cable, my acoustic guitar and a few amps/peddles. My bands have always been ephemeral in nature but I've never stopped making music, and it's occurred to me that I have at least full album's worth of songs that I've kept in my head for the last 10 years. And that some of those songs might even be kinda good! And as I'm getting older I've come to realize that I would really regret never recording them all in some capacity. Reaper https://www.reaper.fm/download.php?from_reaper=1 USB interface ie https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071W6YVDR/ref=dp_cerb_1 sounds like you got a mike, maybe get an XLR cable a couple months of playing around and watching Youtube videos you will need effects and softsynths eventually, so start here http://www.vst4free.com/ make sure you go into a category and sort by rating. Once you get comfortable with this (seriously, there are millions of youtube videos) you can re-evaluate what exactly you want to do and decide where to spend money. also note that when Reaper's timed trial period ends it will nag you for a license but won't actually change any functionality. I just grabbed the first interface that came up, by the way, this thread or the interface thread will have actual recomendations (I use an old presonus)
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Dec 18, 2019 05:04
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what's the difference between one amp signal recorded with a mic, and the studio guitar sound? i know that sounds loaded, but almost every guitar signal i've ever heard sounds more wide and open, while just a raw and even eq'd one track signal sounds muddy and focused in the mid-range. doubling helps, but it's still not there entirely. do i need to triple? quadruple?
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Dec 18, 2019 05:27
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Recording distorted guitars is actually an extremely precise art and the difference between an amateur's attempt and a professional engineer's is not a simple answer.
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Dec 18, 2019 08:04
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Yeah, there have probably been books written on the subject. My attempts never really got beyond "point a 57 a little bit off-center from the cone and pray" before I got a Two-Notes Captor and started simulating the cab and mic on my computer. One way to get yourself started experimenting is to DI the guitar before it gets to the amp. After that you can either gently caress around with an amp/cab sim on your computer or use a reamp box to send the signal back to the amp and gently caress around with mic placement/amp settings.
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Dec 18, 2019 08:31
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d0grent posted:Recording distorted guitars is actually an extremely precise art and the difference between an amateur's attempt and a professional engineer's is not a simple answer. i don't actually mean distorted! i just mean the clean channel out of a hot rod deluxe.
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Dec 18, 2019 09:48
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landgrabber posted:what's the difference between one amp signal recorded with a mic, and the studio guitar sound? i know that sounds loaded, but almost every guitar signal i've ever heard sounds more wide and open, while just a raw and even eq'd one track signal sounds muddy and focused in the mid-range. doubling helps, but it's still not there entirely. do i need to triple? quadruple? By studio guitar sound what do you mean?
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Dec 18, 2019 16:08
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A lot of people DI guitar into the interface and then toss it into GuitarRig ( a plugin you can get to work in almost any editing software) to get the sound they want. Not saying it's the best idea but it's good for bedroom producers.
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Dec 18, 2019 23:56
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NC Wyeth Death Cult posted:A lot of people DI guitar into the interface and then toss it into GuitarRig ( a plugin you can get to work in almost any editing software) to get the sound they want. Not saying it's the best idea but it's good for bedroom producers. I'd agree. This or an emulated output from your amp are good options for amateurs (like myself). I've been pretty happy with the results from GarageBand and there are plenty of FX to play with too. That said, I certainly see the value in learning the art of recording with microphones. What is your setup like, landgrabber? Have you tried experimenting with the microphone's position and proximity to the amp?
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Dec 20, 2019 22:19
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A question: My wife is working at an office that used to have Podcasting room where she could record audio. They've recently done away with the Podcasting room, and until she finds a new office to record at, she (and everyone there) are stuck using the conference room. She's having a hell of a time with the echo in the room, does anyone have any suggestions about how to reduce it? One caveat: she can't keep anything in the conference room permanently.
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Dec 20, 2019 23:57
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We Got Us A Bread posted:A question: Mic stands with rugs or jackets on them might help. Really, you want to disrupt the flat area where sound bounces best off of.
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Dec 21, 2019 00:16
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Pre-Ampsim chat: The bass guitar is as important, if not moreso, to a studio tone as the guitars are. Seriously. Add a bass track (even if it's just a midi one, there's freebie instruments out there) and suddenly even the rattiest guitar recording will sound better. Actual ampsim chat: I finally found a balance I'm happy with for my rhythm tracks, one panned out wide each side with a trebly tone, one centre panned with a middier, muddier tone so it doesn't all disappear when played off a phone or whathaveyou. I've been using Toneforge Jason Richardson a lot recently. There's a bunch of negative opinions out there- "it's too muddy" "sounds weak" However it's very much a "studio" plugin. It's not intended to replace the roar of a massive stack, and imo very few, if any, plugins can do that regardless of intention. I'm using the same amp settings (plus a generous boost at 3k using the post eq, which is where the real toneshaping lies with this amp) for all 3 of my channels, but changed the cabinets so whilst my bright sides tones use the JST cab (which is I reckon is a mesa, it doesn't say), the middle channel goes through the much darker, honkier PRS cabinet which is blended in at a lower volume to fill out the sound and the spectrum. Its a careful balancing act, the more channels you add the more clarity you lose and I've found three is right for me. The more tracks you have, the less gain you need. Recording is an additive process, what sounds like a great tone on its own could very well vanish once combined with other instruments and layers, same as when playing live or jamming with others. Everything has its own frequency 'space', a lot of times it's the cymbals that make a song sound bright (I won't be patronising about what a bass does  ) so you could well need less treble than you think. Unless it's you have a metalzone in which case dime everything on the fucker. There's some exceptions to the rule, Smashing Pumpkins had something crazy like 60 tracks of guitar on Bodies and that song sounds incredible. Rammstein have used in excess of 20 guitar tracks for choruses and again, sounds massive but tight (in no small part due to the crazytight playing of Landers and Kruspe). NonzeroCircle fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Dec 21, 2019 |
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Dec 21, 2019 00:30
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not related to anything i was talking about but i have a really crummy USB 1.1 audio interface. seriously, it's compatible with macOS 9. art usb dual pre. thinking about getting a 3rd gen focusrite 2i2, will that improve latency without ASIO? since i think it's usb 3
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Dec 21, 2019 03:29
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Looking for a recommendation for adjustable height speaker stands for my Yamaha HS7's. The time has come to move them off of my desk to make more room for other gear and I'm having a hard time finding decent advice on the right size & brand of stands to get.
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Jan 1, 2020 02:47
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Recording a few pieces I wrote with myself on flute & clarinet. Anyone have any tips/tricks- esp for EQing.
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Jan 12, 2020 18:00
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If I'm looking to replace my little Korg Volca mixer and also to find some kind of sd recorder like a zoom does it make more sense to shop for some kind of all in one mixer that does recording? I'm thinking probably 8 channel.
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Jan 12, 2020 20:04
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Get the R8 or R16 imo, you can record direct to it or use it as a pc interface and mixer
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Jan 12, 2020 22:17
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R8 only records two channels simultaneously iirc. Where the R16 does 8. Also as standalone mixers these require a relative lot of menu diving. Obviously because the R16 can record the channels separately, there's plenty of scope to tart things up later on a computer if so desired.
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Jan 12, 2020 22:51
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Would getting a better audio interface for recording electric guitar improve the sound, or is that solely down to the guitar itself? Both my guitar and interface were very cheap, and sometimes they really sound it
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Jan 13, 2020 08:59
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Flipperwaldt posted:R8 only records two channels simultaneously iirc. Where the R16 does 8. ah yeah, that makes sense I think... It looks like they also have effects built in which would be nice to apply reverb to drums and such. I'm mostly going to be recording synths and a drum machine with an occasional bass guitar and it'd be nice to have enough channels to break out different drum machine voices. Are there any other brands that offer something similar to the r8/r16 that I should be taking a look at?
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Jan 13, 2020 17:03
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Zoom is the most economical I’ve seen. Above that in the 600-1000$ range there’s tascam and presonus offerings that are really nice Zoom Livetrak 12, Presonus studio live, tascam model 16
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Jan 13, 2020 17:47
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Paperhouse posted:Would getting a better audio interface for recording electric guitar improve the sound, or is that solely down to the guitar itself? Both my guitar and interface were very cheap, and sometimes they really sound it What are you using for modeling? If you’ve got something even halfway decent I’d be surprised if a new interface helped much. The guitar might make some difference, but again I wouldn’t think it’d be dramatic.
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Jan 14, 2020 03:30
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Usually when people complain about interfaces it's either software issues or ground loop or other noise problems, I've never heard of one outright sounding bad. Not saying it's impossible but I'd look at the rest of the chain first.
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Jan 14, 2020 22:38
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Crossposting from the drum thread, as everyone there is still all  about Neil Peart:Any general recommendations for a single ~100$ USB microphone for recording an entire drum kit? Right now I'm just using a Tascam DR-05 suspended above my head on an extra boom stand and it works "okay" for what I'm doing, but it doesn't have USB pass-through and will only record to its internal memory, forcing me to mount it as storage to copy the files over to a PC. My goal is to get something USB that I can plug into a Raspberry Pi and just record with Audacity or something. Something else I've thought about, the Tascam records in stereo, but I assume most single microphones will only produce a mono recording? It looks like you can 'convert' mono to stereo by copying the track a few times, pushing one L and one R and playing with the frequencies you boost or dip. Since I'm trying to capture an entire drum set is there any significant advantage to trying to keep a stereo recording setup, or would a higher quality mono file be better to work with as a base?
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Jan 15, 2020 01:50
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What is your recording goal? Because mono drums is pretty boring to listen to in a recording, difficult to place around your kit without some compromises and your budget is really not realistic for anything beyond that (I wouldn't be looking at usb mics for drums in 99.99% of cases and the other option is a zoom or tascam that does record to usb that I -think- is out of budget, I'd have to confirm). If you just need it for practice review, mono is ok (but not as good as the tascam), and any usb cardiod mic will do the trick (some just have better drivers than others). If you're trying to make an album or video with it I mean it'll work but probably not be satisfactory sounding compared to the tascam which is already not doing it for you. Duplicating the mono isn't really worth doing imo because no eq change is going to make it that much better than just the mono eq'ed. Recording with your tascam in stereo is preferred but your placement options are limited because you can't move the two mics on it seperately. It's kind of a tough request.
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Jan 15, 2020 06:20
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Hello knowledgeable gear heads — I’m looking to get some actual monitors for use in home recording and mixing. What kind of price range can I expect for something reliable and good for home recording needs? Any recommendations that have worked for you?
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Jan 15, 2020 18:05
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$200 can get you a really nice set of powered monitors I’ve used the LSR 305 in the past but have downsized to the 104 and I’m really happy with the space / wiring savings
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Jan 15, 2020 18:30
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A MIRACLE posted:$200 can get you a really nice set of powered monitors Is that including a sub or would that be more on top?
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Jan 15, 2020 19:00
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