Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Tony: Do you have any recommendations with regard to recording software? I can get a digital recorder but do not have adequate software to take it from there. I am determined to record something worthwhile one of these days and would like to use a software that is straightforward in this endeavour.

There are so many software options now Peter & some in the US that are very established, but I have never heard of. I did a session a while ago involving four studios (my own, a drum studio, Sawmills (Muse, Oasis etc) & Abbey road) & each used a different software package.

I use Cubase SL/SX, which is as good as most & seems to be reasonably compatible with others, but there are many similar packages (Cakewalk to name one of many) that do essentially the same thing. I would look at others around you & see if they are using a common package, as compatibility is a great thing. For instance, if you chose cubase, a CD through the post & you & I could collaborate!

Whichever you choose, I would make sure that you could save the data as wav files. This would at least ensure that you could share files with most other packages, even if it involves a lot of 'mucking around' (studio speak!), I would avoid any package that uses its own proprietry form of saving, as this makes collaboration virtually impossible!

Tony, you are 100% right. Long-distance collaboration is a huge part of my recording process. I use an Akai 16-track, "stand-alone", hard disk recorder. I was thrilled to learn that it can save/load the individual tracks onto a multi-track WAV file. This allows me to, not only, collaborate with long-distance friends, but also, I can expand to more than 16 tracks, using a SW-based mixing tool, while still maintaining the portable recording capability that I have with the Akai, which is very improtant to me.

I have yet to be involved with long distance collaboration.....who knows....Steve, Peter?

I must admit that it would be fantastic to include some friends on the next Carnivores album. On the last album, an engineer friend of mine played a rythm part on one song...not much, but it meant a lot to both of us.

Tony, after we hear each other's stuff (my CD will be done by August), we can assess those types of opportunities. I think I make for a tight rhythm section, you may even be proud of me

If you want screeching, discordant guitar, I'm your man!

I do want that from time to time, I also like a good dive-bombing solo

we use nuendo and pro tools hd, though 40-50% of our operation is analog tape.

I'm going to bring this up again because I'd like to try some home recording and this topic seemed like the best place to ask. I have the computer, now what? I need some kind of program, any recommendations? It has to be easy and intuitive to use but still sound good. Is Cubase the way to go? Next, I'll need some kind of interface between the guitar cable and the computer, right? What am I forgetting? I don't want to spend a ton of cash, but I don't want anything so cheap that it frustrates me. Thanks!

Lindsay...

Hey old friend! I got an M-Audio Firewire 410 with Pro-Tools M-Powered... so far I've found PT to have a pretty quick learning curve and I've grown to love the platform. The only thing about that setup is that it asks alot of your computer in terms of memory, external drive, etc. The sound, however, is absolutely worth it.

If you want to know more, shoot me an email... we haven't done that in way too long!

I use Pro Tools with the M Box. Love it. It's recommended to use an external hard drive, though. Yes, it uses a lot of memory.

Pro Tools is pretty much the industry standard, and you can start with a smaller rig and trade up if you want to. It isn't the cheapest, but...

As for the interface from the guitar to the comp, I'm assuming you don't want to be dealing with micing amps, so something along the lines of a Line 6 Pod could do the trick. It offers a variety of amp simulations and effects, and plugs into your interface (ie M Box or similar). There are plugins that can do the amp sim thing, but hardware doesn't need to be upgraded all the time, and doesn't tax your system.

Pro Tools is fine if that's what you learned on. No matter the software, the hard part is getting past the learning curve but after that, they're all just tools and relatively similar. It's just easiest to keep using what you learned initially.

That being said, the industry sales stats are showing that Sonar is gaining very rapidly and has the strong possibility of taking that "industry standard" title away.

Lindsay, are you on a Mac or PC?

I use a FireWire 410 on a new iMac. I've used protools in the past through an MBox, but just never used even a fraction of the features. For software I just use Apple's Garage Band, along with Guitar Rig 2 (free to demo for 30 days, great program).

The great thing about the software out there is that most of it is demo-able for around 30 days...so as long as you get yourself set up with an interface between your guitar and your computer, you can try out a couple and get a feel for what you like best.

Sorry, I forgot to mention the PC part. Thanks, everyone; I'll try the pro tools and see how it goes. Bob, you may regret the offer! Hope you don't mind "which button do I press now?" type questions.