Home recording with reaper help!!

Discussion in 'Beginner's Q&A Forum' started by untouchable, Jul 12, 2011.

  1. untouchable

    untouchable New Member

    Hi
    Im a 23 year old guitar player and i make own comp and remakes etc etc..Im currently using reaper..Im not really familiar with all these things but I'm trying my best to learn..Im not getting the kind of sound i expected..any help..anything better than what it currently sounds like would be great..Ive used a Zoom 505 II for these recording..Oh yeah incase i manage to get a better sound id like to get vocals on some of these tracks..Anyone interested is welcome..Open to all genres of music.. Heres the link..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coiV0FkwFG4

    Cheers ,\m/
     
  2. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    How do you record? You have any soundcard/interface? I dont think Zoom has a USB input.. Tell your current setup
    No idea bout reaper but if you're very new to recording than better use Audacity.. Its a freeware and very user friendly..
     
  3. alpha1

    alpha1 I BLUES!

    I have tried Audacity - but I have two hitches with it:
    1. Suppose you record track 1. Then record track 2 while track 1 is playing - both the tracks do not line up well. There is some gap/latency. Of course this was long time back (I guess 5-6 years back). It must've improved by now.

    2. I couldn't find how to do this simple operation: Get a track (import or record). Cut a segment of it. Paste it in another track. Invert the phase. And place it with slight delay.. Anyone can guide me with it?

    For the most intuitive and simple ones: I think I found Fruity loops and Adobe Audition the best for "home studio" purpose.
     
  4. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    Even i have not used audacity thoroughly but:
    1. I dint face any latency as such with Audacity.
    2.a. You can just import the track
    b. Cut the desired the portion.
    c. Go to projects menu -> New Audio track
    d. Paste the portion.
    e. select the portion again.
    f. Goto Effects-Phaser... I donno wat to do here exactly.. maybe you need to shift it by 180 degrees..
    g. For delay.. Effects-> Echo ->Put the delay time..

    I donno if it'll work... Just guessing..
     
  5. untouchable

    untouchable New Member

    I already used audacity and i find reaper way easier to record. My audio device is an ASIO driver..My zoom 505II doesnt have an audio interface..This may sound crude but ive just plugged my BC rich to my zoom and the output to a converter jack into the mic port of my laptop..Its a Lenovo Z460 if that helps..a frnd told me to either buy an audio interface or a processor with an inbuilt interface..other than that i program the drums and bass etc..run them in reaper and layer the guitars in..Theres no problems with clipping either..its just that the guitars sound very distant rather than what i would have expected..sorry bout sounding so vague..and thanks for the reply..
     
  6. untouchable

    untouchable New Member

    im also using rock cables so theres no added gain or extra noises..i think its just cos of the zoom..And about the duplicate thread..i selected it before the whole page could load..sorry..
     
  7. alpha1

    alpha1 I BLUES!

    Can you shift the track clip left/right?
    I couldn't find that.
    Distant?
    This needs a clip now.

    Most ppl's guitars sound distant because they put in way too much reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, flanger etc.

    Audio interface is not going to change the sound. It only improves the A/D resolution, clock jitters and signal-to-noise ratio.
    None of these things should be important to you if you are not cutting out a commercial CD.
     
  8. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    Yes that's one restriction i also observed. But why do the cut paste thing after all... Just select the part of track you wanna process and do the post processing on that.. Its not the best way though.. Lemme see if i figure out a proper method to do that..
     
  9. alpha1

    alpha1 I BLUES!

    Ok I managed to do it yesterday night!!! HOORAY
    Its totally non-intuitive - but I expected something as basic as cutting the clip and moving it here and there as a pre-requisite to be called as an editor.

    You click on the track/clip, and click on the time shift icon. And then you drag the clip.
    If you have already selected multiple tracks, then you need to press shift along with dragging, otherwise both the tracks will be shifted together.

    So the features are there in Audacity - just that its not as intuitive as Adobe Audition (I used 1.5). Just drag and select and do whatever you wish to do with it.
    I don't get it why there is no RIGHT CLICK menu on audacity.


    Now I need to set-up ARDOUR the pro-tools of Linux world.
    The freaking thing utilizes Jack audio server and configuring it up is like completing an engineering degree.
     
  10. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    Oh yes.. That was simple.. Thanks for letting me know.. might be helpful in future..
     
  11. Keoraf

    Keoraf Keyboard Player

    Why not using more professional progs. Cubase SX 5 and Adobe Audition 3. Adobe Audition is one of the best audio progs you can get. Cubase Sx is all in one, editting audio is really simple as you can do almost everything you want to do. Also adding the effects is very simple as you can hear realtime what you are doing. And there are lots of VST-plugins you can use to get the best results ever. All those progs are downloadable via most of the torrentsites!
     
  12. alpha1

    alpha1 I BLUES!

    Well in any case I have pretty old Adobe Audition 1.5 (which was next release after Adobe acquired Cool edit pro).
    So it is pretty simple to set-up.


    Cubase and other's (pro tools, and its ilk) I wouldn't touch with a barge pole - the complexity of the thing just kills any desire to record.
     
  13. Keoraf

    Keoraf Keyboard Player

    At least you could give it a try. In my opinion, when talking about recording, once your audio settings are done well, recording with Cubase is alot easier than Adobe Audition. I'm using both progs. Maybe it looks complex, if you want to do "difficult" things then perhaps you are right but for recording audio it's really very simple. Cutting, dragging, moving etc. is lot easier. I only use Adobe Audition for "cleaning" my recorded audio tracks, i mean making them noise free, normalising etc., cause some things are easier with Adobe Audition. Also mastering ( i'm not a professional, i don't no how to master a track the proper way, i just do what i think should be done) is easier with Adobe.
    In my opinion Cubase SX 5 has one negative point, you will need a good PC, i mean powerful processors and enough RAM installed, at least 4GB! But the best thing of Cubase is, you are able to make, compose a song from the first note till the song is finished. All my songs i composed, arranged fully with Cubase SX.
     
  14. Samm

    Samm New Member

    The YouTube link is so awesome man :O
     
  15. thehundredthone

    thehundredthone Well-Known Member

    @untouchable: You need to make the guitars louder in the mix. That's why they're sounding distant. Also cut some of those mids, there's almost no high end in your tone. Maybe that's what you're going for but it makes it sounds like a blanket was put over your amp.

    @alpha1: I use Logic Pro and it's really easy to use for basic home recording. Audacity is also great, it's not as intuitive but then it's primarily a multitrack recorder, not a DAW.
     
  16. alpha1

    alpha1 I BLUES!

    Both need to check out Reaper then!

    I simply hate making all these bus connections and stuff (cubase , ardour, perhaps the new Adobe audition, pro-tools etc).
    The software should be intelligent enough to understand that I have an audio card. And it has one line-in, one mic-in.
    Two speakers out. etc

    Similarly while creating a MIDI based programmed track - all I should do is create the "piano roll" - rest it should take care on its own.
     
  17. Keoraf

    Keoraf Keyboard Player

    I never mentioned Reaper isn't good. To be true, i never worked with this software, as i already said, i work with Cubase and Adobe Audition, a while ago i tried Reason, but i don't like that prog. If you really think its the best for you, you than certainly should go for it!
    Just wanted to make clear that Cubase isn't that complex as some people are thinking it is, cause the main things people are willing to do, recording, editting, effects etc, is really simple, you just have to spend some time to get familiar with the software!
     
  18. thehundredthone

    thehundredthone Well-Known Member

    With the software I've worked with, those bus connections are usually not required unless you're doing more advanced recording, where you want to group channels, record dry/wet signals separately etc. Even the MIDI files, I've only had to drag them onto my track arranger window and they load up, with the relevant instrument in most cases.
     
  19. alpha1

    alpha1 I BLUES!

    ^you mean logic pro?

    Keoraf - i don't think there is any software which I find really convenient. Even this reaper ain't that "easy"!!!
     
  20. untouchable

    untouchable New Member

    thanks..glad you liked the video..
     

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