Recording at home...

Just a little update... a friend has asked me to put some of her poetry to music and I acquiesced. So I have gear out and am now wondering how I can record into Garageband from the PA amp.... I've got a rhythym guitar track (12 string electric), drum track,( ballad-y at about 110bpm), bass line, organ wash (Hammond B3 patch on the synth) and a piano part (Rhodes electric) and may even have a guitar solo sorted out (Westone Raider 2/APII LC440). I need to get this into a Mac, via some sort of interface: you blokes know anything about this stuff?




looking in from the side door...



...cases... still stacked under a tarp!!



... where the (very rusty) magic happens!



... the guitars. When this was taken, the GT Bass, strat, LC440, Pantera and VS-696-12, though the strat
and the Pantera have been put back and the Raider and my Rat are on the stand. Plus I have the lap steel out...

Geez Loueez, yer a one man band!!
Way too ambitious for this old dude.

As for getting the vocals into the computer, can you not go directly from the PA amp to the Mac? (not from the mic)

Maybe call Trevor Rabin... he does this sort of thing all the time.    

Glad you had the opportunity to do this, put your skills and creativity to work!  What style is the music?

I'm no virtuoso, Barry; just a meddler! As I said, my guitar playing is quite rusty, so can you imagine just how shonky and inadequate my keyboard skills are!  
Anyway, yes, there is an RCA stereo line out but I still need a USB interface so I'm looking around.

Chad, this first one struck me as a ballad type of thing when I read it out loud - it is a touch trite lyrically, but you can't argue with the 'heart on the sleeve" style! So, it is a ballad at 110bpm, with melody cues from the 50s I-IV-V-VIm tunes with a little of the English girl torch singers thrown in. 12 string electric on neck pickup, humbucker as a rhythym guitar playing full cowboy 
chords with a touch of phasing for colour. Bass is just a basic I-V bounce, with small descending and ascending runs in the turnarounds. Organ is very much wa-a-ay back in the (projected) mix and is the B3 patch - not a lot of it, just a little colour in the choruses, and the piano is just a sequence of arpeggios over the turnarounds with a few big chords to accent various sentences - nothing too major. Solo is really just the III position chords played as partials on the Raiders' bridge pickup with a touch of EQ boost to cut through, with a chromatic run over a G chord to slide back into the song... I had a bit of a play with the lap steel for the solo and may go that way yet, as a steel guitar with a touch of overdrive is über cool!!
Vocals are mine - unfortunately - with my womenfolk doing some doo-wop, ooohs and aaahs and if I can talk her into it, I may get Lucy to do the lead vocal as my voice ain't really a ballad-y one....
Loads of fun....

RCA to USB adapter: LINK
Just ignore the white (video) line. Lots around.

corsair wrote:I'm no virtuoso, Barry; just a meddler! As I said, my guitar playing is quite rusty, so can you imagine just how shonky and inadequate my keyboard skills are!  
Anyway, yes, there is an RCA stereo line out but I still need a USB interface so I'm looking around.

Chad, this first one struck me as a ballad type of thing when I read it out loud - it is a touch trite lyrically, but you can't argue with the 'heart on the sleeve" style! So, it is a ballad at 110bpm, with melody cues from the 50s I-IV-V-VIm tunes with a little of the English girl torch singers thrown in. 12 string electric on neck pickup, humbucker as a rhythym guitar playing full cowboy 
chords with a touch of phasing for colour. Bass is just a basic I-V bounce, with small descending and ascending runs in the turnarounds. Organ is very much wa-a-ay back in the (projected) mix and is the B3 patch - not a lot of it, just a little colour in the choruses, and the piano is just a sequence of arpeggios over the turnarounds with a few big chords to accent various sentences - nothing too major. Solo is really just the III position chords played as partials on the Raiders' bridge pickup with a touch of EQ boost to cut through, with a chromatic run over a G chord to slide back into the song... I had a bit of a play with the lap steel for the solo and may go that way yet, as a steel guitar with a touch of overdrive is über cool!!
Vocals are mine - unfortunately - with my womenfolk doing some doo-wop, ooohs and aaahs and if I can talk her into it, I may get Lucy to do the lead vocal as my voice ain't really a ballad-y one....
Loads of fun....

Sounds like a hit...

Barry wrote:RCA to USB adapter: LINK
Just ignore the white (video) line. Lots around.

Oddly enough, I remembered that I'd done some video capture off old VHS tapes eons ago with some sort of device, and given that I throw nothing out, was sure I still had it so went looking... I did indeed! It is an easyCAP with 3 RCA out - red and white for audio left and right and yellow for video, plus a Super VHS output. I can't see any reason why it won't work, so I shall try it on the old Mac!

Thanks for the heads-up, man!

Westbone wrote:Sounds like a hit...

Nah, mate - just a favour for a friend.... but it has been all kinds of fun, I have to say!

I have 2 of those John. Still haven't got around to re-recording the old videos and digital tapes!

Should work just fine.

You taught me something, John.  I had never heard of English torch before, had to look it up!

Chad, happy to broaden your horizons, mate! 😆 Dusty is my favourite, but I like 'em all!!

Crikey John... there be effect pedals in them thar' hills!!  

I had to go pull ours quick to check and see where we were not matching up.    

John and Steve are Boss Men!  

I need a pedal board shot... mine's simpler, though.

Ha!! I'm a Roland fan-boi, me...

All you could get "in the old days" in southern NZ when I started out were Boss stompers... so that's what I've got! With the exception of the pitch shifter and compressor, they're they're all old buggers!!

Have you got enough distortions there, Steve?!  .... and scoop those mids!

corsair wrote:...Have you got enough distortions there, Steve?!  .... and scoop those mids!

Let's just say one of those boxes is set up for my bride and one is for me.

I'll let you all sort out who's is for who... 

Just a tiny update on this one...

... I've been discovering shedloads about home recording on Garageband once I got my little USB interface - a Digidesign Mbox2 which I got for pennies because it doesn't have the accompanying mixing/recording software which I figured seeing as I was going to be using G/band was something I didn't need anyway! I downloaded the basic Mbox drivers, and "Whacko!" ... off we went!

Anyway, having the kit set up for live performance isn't very comfortable at all for solo recording into a computer!! I now have a small mixer and the Mbox set up on the desk - away from the computer because of some kind of hum that was being emitted when they were side by side - and connected via the USB cable. I have miked up the bass amp and the guitar amp but DI'ed the vocal mikes, the synth and the drums, which, incidentally are all plugged into the back of the Mbox and are easily switchable from Microphone to DI or Line in via a push switch on the front panel. Recording levels are set at the computer, and as long as the clip light doesn't come on too much on the Mbox, then you're golden!
Stereo feed out to the PA amp which is being used as a monitor amp via the Mbox, which also gives me a headphone jack with volume control. The monitor also has a volume control and there is a separate mix pot.

I have the guitars I may need in racks and stands - let's see now; GTBass, Greg Bennett electro-acoustic, APII LC 440, Vantage X-99, Spectrum ST telecaster, Corsair Avenger, Vantage elec. 12, Electra X-195 and Spectrum Series II. Of course this list is non-exhaustive and I can dig out all kinds of other crap should I feel the need!! I'll say right here and now that that Electra and it's weirdy-McWeird pickup set up are a bit of a revelation at this recording malarkey....

I've done away with the pedal boards and found that the small ME-30 multi does the job as well, and isn't anywhere near as intrusive in the workspace. (Look at me, with a recording workspace!! What a plonker!! )

I'll go and take a photo shortly and bang it up for your perusal, but I'll tell you, multi tracking stuff on your own is a bit of a trial - at least for me! - but, gee; what fun is being had!



...overview. Computer just out of shot at the left; it's my old iMac.




...guitars.



PA (monitor) amp with Boss ME-30. Flash-as amp stand, eh!!



New toy. Just an oldish USB interface but new to me, and a lot of fun. Quite a  useful bit of kit, really; quite versatile.



From the door. I have discovered that singing whilst seated - the mike has an orange windsock and is obscured on it's gooseneck just behind the lamp -  is baddy-McBad and that, for me, at least, I've got to be standing to get full value from the voice. However, this is OK for scratch vocals...

Yikes! Looks like you're having fun Johnny.
Best not have too much more fun or you'll need to get a bigger shed!

Here's how things are now, with a little experience...





Spectrum GTBass, Greg Bennett electro-acoustic, Vantage X-99, APII LC440, Spectrum MX, Spectrum ST Telecaster. Elfa 100W MOSFET bass amp, Legacy 30W valve amp. SM58 mikes...






Foldback wedges run by a Wharfedale PA amp, Commodore lap steel behind and Alesis QS6 synth. Boss ME 3 on the floor beside the keyboard sustain pedal; drum pedals to the right. SM58s on the mike stands.







The business end of the operation... mixing desk with Alesis drums, M-Box 2 interface and Apple Mac running Garageband. The drums and the keys are DI'ed and everything else is miked up. All guitars go through that floor unit...



Much fun is being had....

Rock on you crazy Kiwi!

I should mention, too, that when I first started this recording thing, I mentioned it to Don, who then sent me a Zoom R8 console which he just happened to have in a drawer and which really looks the goods and I'm quite sure would do a superb job, but just looking at the instructions gave me terminal ball-ache; it seems very complex to this old bloke, eh!!

corsair wrote:... terminal ball-ache...

Had that a lot in High School. 

....still at it, fellas!! That SM-10 on the bench has gone doggo, bugger it all!! Currently having some fun recording stuff that I always wanted to cover in bands but was over-ruled! "Matthew & Son" here... 

You know, it occurs to me that most of you are northerners and are thus in the grip of winter. It is coming into summer here and we've just had visitors from NZ in the form of an old bandmate of mine...



Hugh and I at the boards. Note the shorts and shirts  ....and the fun and smiles being had!!



Moi at the computer. Note the shorts, shirt AND jandals!!


 
I took them out for coffee at my fave coffee shop which is right on the beach, and of course Lorraine and I both had to have a paddle in the lovely, warm Pacific!




.. the view from our table across Platypus Bay to Point Vernon. Did I mention that it's lovely and warm here?!?

I'm well envious.

We're near the water but today it's 3°C. Less when you factor in the 32 Km/h wind chill! The water is a beautiful "ice" blue, and whitecaps everywhere, but you'd freeze yer arse off today if you ventured in.

Gotta wait another 6 months for it to warm up again. *sigh*

(swine warm John)