What recording software do you use?

William T. Anderson · Post by **William T. Anderson** » Thu May 04, 2006 2:39 am

Cubase is one of best possible choices, only drawback is its not designed for people new to recording and mixing. Pro Tools is the other option for serious users, these are the top two IMO but for new users Audicity will do just fine until a feel is developed for mixing and mastering and most won't need to going beyond it. The BIG thing to learn is that with Audicity and Cakewalk and Fl Studio, Cubase and Pro Tools is the subjects of VST's and VSTi's.

VST - Virtual Studio Technology, these are "effects" that can change the way your audio file or sound bit sounds. Some VST's to look for are reverb, delay, compression, flanger, distortion, stereo enhancer and so on. There are hundreds of them and all do differect things. Reverb will be a basic one that will go well with whistle/flute type sounds. YOu must have the VST Enabler plug in and thats found here...http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/fa ... st-enabler

Here is a link for a free vst reverb called "Room Machine 844 that will work with Audicity, oh its for windows or macs...
http://www.silverspike.com/?Products:RoomMachine_844

VSTi's - Virtual Studio Technology Instruments, these are simulated instruments that work on your pc. Don't be fooled these are really amazing in todays tech world and are in many instances better sounding that what most musicians could pull off in the studio at $200 + for a session player. These "instruments" could be keyboards, guitars, basses and "sampler" that can take one recorded note from any percussion or instrument and play it in all keys and lengthen and shorten the timing for that note adding much to that sample to really give the feeling that it is a real musician recording when its just you with one note and "writing" the track via your sample...
Here is a link to a free VSTi and you can use it with your free Audicity...
http://www.espace-cubase.org/anglais/pa ... e=freevsti

Oh and for those who don't have the free audio recording software Audicity here is the link for that...http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

If you have any questions just send me a pm and I'll do what I can to help. I've been recording and a musician for over 25 years so if I can save you some time and money I'd be glad to do so...

Bless ya,

WTA

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:02 am

Magix Music Maker (sequencer)
Magix Music Studio (soft studio)
Audacity.

Also use an old Korg Pandora mini FX unit, but that is hardware so just mentioned as an aside. Makes mandolins sound mental!

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:05 am

I love some of my VST plug ins.

My faves are a great comb filter and a virtual theramin!

Bretton · Post by **Bretton** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:15 am

William T. Anderson wrote: ...

Thanks William! Lot's of good/interesting info.

-Brett

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:34 am

I use Adobe Audition and a small powered mic from Radio Shack, and I plug directly into the computer's mic jack. This gives pretty good results, but when you go direct like that, you're limited by your computer's sound card. I would like to have something like an Edirol UA-101 so I can go to my computer's USB port and bypass the sound card completely.

Tip: For a "fatter" sound, record each part twice, then pan one of them left and the other right for the final mix.

pop · Post by **pop** » Thu May 04, 2006 1:25 pm

Bretton wrote:
William T. Anderson wrote: ...
Thanks William! Lot's of good/interesting info.

-Brett

What e sed

shadoe42 · Post by **shadoe42** » Thu May 04, 2006 2:53 pm

everyonce in a while it always good to google free VST plugins and see what is new out there. Some really good stuff for free.

Slayer · Post by **Slayer** » Thu May 04, 2006 9:17 pm

I use Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 for midi, and Cool Edit Pro 2.1 for recordings/mastering.

dfernandez77 · Post by **dfernandez77** » Thu May 04, 2006 9:31 pm

Sony Soundforge 8.0

Parkwood · Post by **Parkwood** » Fri May 05, 2006 9:03 am

I was previously using Cubase SX3 but now I have Pro Tools LE/mbox. The quality of the (Focusrite) mic pre-amps is superb and the software is a breeze to use. You can make very smooth edits and the bundled plug-ins are far superior to the VST ones. Another neat thing is that the mbox will phantom power 2 mics off USB, so it's truely portable!

I'm still using Cubase to record/sequence on projects where I have Reason in the background providing virtual instruments.

nomadicfu · Post by **nomadicfu** » Fri May 05, 2006 10:10 am

Software:
<ul>
Gentoo Linux - http://www.gentoo.org
Ardour - digital audio workstation - http://ardour.org/
Jamin - Audio mastering - http://jamin.sourceforge.net
Audacity - for smaller samples and messing about
(all software is Open Source and free)
</ul>

Hardware:
<ul>
Creative Sound Blaster 24-bit Advanced (192KHz)
Behringer Eurorack MX 602A mixer
MXL-992 Cardoid Condensor Mic
</ul>

Chiffed · Post by **Chiffed** » Fri May 05, 2006 11:55 am

I've used ProTools (too big and scary for my work), Logic (was very nice, flexible, good on Macs and PCs, and my students liked it) but I'm using Cubase and Audacity now. Outboard, I use an AT dynamic for vocals and strings (I'd rather have a medium diaphram condenser) and a Barcus Berry Wind Instrument System mic for winds. It's a nice little condenser, but a little weak on the lows; the plus is, I get to use the same rig on stage and in the 'studio'.

I want to upgrade from Finale to Sibelius for notation, but not today.

DavidT · Post by **DavidT** » Wed May 17, 2006 7:48 am

I have a fairly recent PC running XP with USB ports and the standard 1/8" stereo mike input on the sound card, and two SM57's (lowZ).

Assuming I were going to use Audicity, what hardware (mixer?, preamp?) would I need to do simple demo-type recording?
Other additional software (besides VSTs)?

Wynder · Post by **Wynder** » Wed May 17, 2006 8:16 am

Now, I don't know too much about stage/mixing electronics, but you'd probably just need a small board with a built-in preamp -- setup the mikes, grab a 1/4" to 1/8" converter to run a cable from your board into the PC and record away.

DavidT wrote:I have a fairly recent PC running XP with USB ports and the standard 1/8" stereo mike input on the sound card, and two SM57's (lowZ).

Assuming I were going to use Audicity, what hardware (mixer?, preamp?) would I need to do simple demo-type recording?
Other additional software (besides VSTs)?

ShadowBG625 · Post by **ShadowBG625** » Wed May 17, 2006 12:06 pm

Yeah, it'd definitely be Audacity, as well as Anvil Studio.