Hello

This thread would be made to discuss the intricacies of recording music. As we know, it is awesome ti make music, but it often has difficulty surviving in its exact form without some way to record it, specifically with music passed on by ear. Classical music largely survived because there was a very specific technique that was required, and there was EXACT notations. However, some genres like Jazz nearly died out completely without the full length record coming along. Indeed, many early blues and jazz styles are completely lost as a lot of it was passed on by ear, and each generation's style changed slightly. 

In the recording process, nowadays, there are a large number of options available, but two of the most popular seems to be an analog recording with a microphone, and hooking an instrument up to some devices and recording digitally. What do you prefer? As well, what equipment do you use for recording both with microphones and digitally? As well, what are your general processes/preferences for each of these methods?

This thread is oriented more towards guitarists and bassists, but can be applied to anyone recording anything.

I prefer connecting the instruments directly to the computer. If a connector output and plugs aren't available, I use a microphone and I connect it to the computer. I mainly use Audacity, FL Studio xxL and Guitar Pro 5. And since my room isn't sound proof, I turn off the electric fan and the air conditioner to reduce the noise as much as possible.

I'm not really into recording. I just record whenever I like so I don't use mic that are used for professional recordings. Mine also doesn't have a noise reduction screen.

Juliet : How do you find L Studio xxL, and what does it do exactly? Also, what sort of microphone do you use, on the rare occasions a direct feed is unavailable.

Out of curiosity as well, what means do you usually prefer hooking up to a computer (say from 1/4inch to 3.5mm, 1/4inch to say USB, a proprietary system etc.)?

FL Studio xxL is the producer edition of FL, it says it's a limited edition, but with torrent sites like demonoid around, it's really easy to have it for free. it's shareware and costs $300 the last time I checked. I got mine from demonoid.

FL studio can record sounds and make music loops. I don't like using premade loops so I make my own from scratch using sound kits. If you're more into using sounds of instruments that are real like guitar, violin, drums.... it's easier to compose using guitar pro. FL is better for producing electronic sounds like synths, but if you want to, you could also use it to compose music using non-electronic sounds.

I use Baogi mic no.001. It's a good mic for recording music but I won't recommend it if you're serious about recording.

And as for the last question, what do you mean?
I use a midi2usb cable, usually to connect the piano, but other than that I always use the mic. 

My band recorded our EP a couple of months ago and rather than make a mess of it we payed a guy we know to record and produce us so we knew we would be left with a good sounding record

recording is the boring part of being in a band in my opinion, but worth it when you got the finished product. 

Don't know what equipment the guy used to record us (there were wires and amps everywhere) but it was all very professional with the right drum mics for me, a few mics on each amp etc the guy is well known around our parts as being a very good producer and has produced most of my towns biggest bands

Something we did do to keep to being experimental was record the songs actually live rather than seperate instruments, and then put the vocal tracks over the top. Getting all the instruments recorded live was a challenge, we even had to pay for another days worth of studio time in order to get the vocals over the top.

As a drummer, after near enough 8 hours drumming straight I was absolutely wasted that first day

Check us out see what you think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEpiH2px2L8&NR=1

Juliet : That midi2usb answers my question. What i meant was that there are a large number of ways to hook any given instrument to a computer or mixing center. 

Little_Grey87 : Ah, so you've been in the recording studio already? I would really recommend knowing a little about the process, as the more complicated your records can get the better off you are to knowing what can do what, as it can save studio time (and money).

Since you're unsure about the equipment used...you said you did all the instruments first then the vocals over it. What did you find the main advantages/disadvantages of this being? 

By the way, it is good that you played for so long because it do significantly increase your chops with the occasional long session with your standard practices.