Musician's thread?

[indecks]

So we did end up firing the drummer, and I replaced him. We held an audition yesterday with a guy named Frank to play the guitar. He was kind of a reserved type guy, but added a real nice rhythm sound to what the lead guitar was playing.

I think we're gonna stick with him. It's funny. The band now consists of two 35 year old guys (me and the bassist) and two mid 40s guys. And we're a punk band that mixes surf, hellbilly, and bluesy rock. We're gonna get tons of weird looks at punk shows, it's gonna be awesome.

We even got a msg from a band last night on Facebook asking us to open for them next Wednesday. I dont know if we're ready for a show with a new guitarist, but who knows.

[indecks]

Am I the only one that updates this thread now?

We have a new video up, which can be seen here. I made the video too. I've never used pinnacle before so all things considered, it came out pretty well!

[dunpeal2064]

That video came out sounding pretty great man! What did you use to record it?

I've been playing every day, and I am getting to the point where I come up with at least one riff I really like each time I sit down. So, now that I am at about a dozen riffs/starts to songs, I need to figure out how to work what I am comng up with into full length songs, and then find a better way to record, so that I could at least see what people here think of it.

[Ziggy]

Do you record your riffs as you come up with them? I try to record most of my better stuff, unless I'm being lazy. Because when you don't record it, you'll eventually forget it and then it's lost forever. Even if you don't form a full song, it's worth recording just the one riff.

If you want recording tips, let me know exactly what you're wanting to accomplish. Never having any money, I found ways to record and getting the best bang for you buck. Or spending no bucks at all, when possible.

[dunpeal2064]

That is actually what I am doing right now. I'll jam until I hit a sweet spot, and then I'll grab my phone and turn on the camcorder and record the riff. When I am too lazy to do this, I almost always forget what I was playing.

My main goal right now is to just record the single instrument, through my amp (its a combo modeling amp, with effects built in). I'm not too worried about quality right now, as I mostly want to get the stuff recorded for myself, and so I can show some friends what I've been working on.

I did get a ProTools as a gift, but its the vocal pro tools. It came with a recording mic, but I'm not sure how it would record a guitar, and I'm pretty new to all this stuff, so ProTools looks pretty intimidating.

I've only been at this for maybe 6 months now, so there is a LOT to learn So, any help you could ofer would be greatly appreciated.

[indecks]

That video came out sounding pretty great man! What did you use to record it?

I've been playing every day, and I am getting to the point where I come up with at least one riff I really like each time I sit down. So, now that I am at about a dozen riffs/starts to songs, I need to figure out how to work what I am comng up with into full length songs, and then find a better way to record, so that I could at least see what people here think of it.

Thanks!

We used two Cisco Flipshare cameras for the video, and our lead guitarist has a TASCAM audio recorder...thingy. We use the sound from that, and I sync it up with the two different camera angles

[Ziggy]

I've only been at this for maybe 6 months now, so there is a LOT to learn So, any help you could ofer would be greatly appreciated.

I know how intimidating software like Pro Tools can be. If you want something easier to use, maybe check out Audacity...

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

It's free. I haven't used it a whole lot, actually I have barely used it at all, but it did seem really easy to use for simple recordings. I downloaded it a year or two ago just to check it out. I messed around with it for a few minutes, it seemed pretty good. People seem to like it.

If your amp has a line out or headphones jack, you could just run that to the line in on your PC. No mics needed.

[dunpeal2064]

If your amp has a line out or headphones jack, you could just run that to the line in on your PC. No mics needed.

Snap, it does have a headphone jack (and I think a Line In), I didn't think to use that to record directly. I wouldn't be able to get audio out of the amp while recording this way though, right? Or, could I do something crazy like run the headphones to my pc, and then run that audio back into the amp with my Line In?

[SpoonyBard]

You won't get audio out of your amp while the headphone jack is in use.

You can also pick up a 1/4" -> USB cable to run right into the PC and use cabinet modeling on there. I've never been a big fan, but I know some people that absolutely love the sounds they get that way.


Those little USB mixers are great too, live sound + recording device in one box. And relatively cheap.

[indecks]

Just an FYI, I blew my sound card up when I tried to plug my amp into it's line in. And it was just an 80 watt amp at the time.

Spoony's right. Get yourself something like an MAudio FasTrack, or a Presonus FirePod. I've got a FasTrack and it works great for what I do with acoustic stuff.