Introduction to Home Recording!
By popular demand, we will explore the very first steps of home recording together! 
We will look at recording with a smartphone and actually get that recording up on YouTube in order to share it on the forum, but also will be looking to record directly onto your computer with the free digital audio workstation Reaper, an audio interface and a microphone! 
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!
- What questions do you have on this topic?
- Any particular area you would like me to focus on?
Forum questions will be answered first!
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Martin
I've two questions:
1) Is there any advantage of recording directly with the ZOOM H4N acting as a sound card via Reaper or recording first with the H4N and then loading the wav file on Reaper?
2) Can better results be obtained by simultaneously recording with H4N and Tascam MK100Dr and then with Reaper to treat the files one as right channel and the other as left channel, adding the recordings?-
Blaise Laflamme Thanks, so far
I have registered with my mobile and then uploaded to YT. Now I'm curious and I'm trying to record the ipad and a crosstour at the same time with the cell and the H4N, then pass the audio on Reaper to synchronize, for now without making any changes with eq etc. then with the pgm on win10 I put title and finally using DaVinciStudio edit the video
to get it with multi-camera effect...
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ivan paolo for sure you can combine multiple audio sources in your DAW project. What I usually do is starting both my MixPre6 and all my cameras one after the other, then I can match which section to synch. I don't know about DaVinci but FCP has the option to create sync clips, then you can use the export of your DAW for the audio, and also multi-cam clips, where it syncs all your videos of the same session and provide an easy way to change angles wherever you want.
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ivan paolo Hi Ivan! Sorry, I kinda forgot that you posted these questions before the livestream!
1) It just depends what workflow you prefer! I prefer to have everything directly in the computer since it is easier to play back files and to try edits, this is why I prefer to record onto my computer. But Blaise Laflamme workflow is better when you want to immerse yourself into performing and just get some good recordings, maybe in a nice location!
2) You can absolutely mix those two different recordings, best thing is to try different options! You could use the H4n very close and and the Tascam further away for example!
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This is the test upload I did during the stream!
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Martin I was not aware you were left handed on the guitar
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Blaise Laflamme I am a man with many talents, haha
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Martin that'd be cool if you can manage to flip the guitar as you play
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I was I'll and could not attend. Was this recorded somewhere, so that I could yet see it? I am completely lost and a true beginner at home recording (I've only my Android smartphone), so this would be a huge help!
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Todd Berry *ill
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Todd Berry Hi Todd, this is recorded and still accessible under "Past Streams" under "Live Sessions"!
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Hi Martin,
Quick question. What is the difference between normalizing a track at -1db true peak verses using a limiter like FabFile L2 to bring up the overall level? I'm trying to figure out what is the best practice: normalize and then use limiter if needed, or limiter only?
Rick
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Rick Lord Hi Rick, important question!
I copied that from a forum because it explains it so much better than I could:
Limiting is a dynamic process. One feeds a signal in and compresses it, ie. squeezing out the dynamic range values between the loudest and softest levels of the signal. That should make the signal quieter, so there is usually a make up gain knob. Limiting is simply an extreme form of compression, usually considered at least 10 to 1 ratio.
Normalizing is an off line process, where the loudest part of a signal is identified and the ENTIRE track volume is then raised so that loud part is still loud, but constrained by whatever the user sets as the loudest signal. Say your track's loudest moment is -3 dB. You raise that to -.3 dB, and the rest of the signal is raised by 2.7 dB too. The dynamic range hasn't been squeezed or compressed, just transposed louder. Normalizing doesn't raise your average level usually as much as limiting, since quiet sections are still much lower than the loudest.My process is usually that I analyze my signal for the loudest part and set my limiter in way that it reduces max. 1-3db, since in classical music I want to retain as much dynamic range as possible. If I would want to make the signal louder, I would usually do it via a compressor instead of a limiter as it is much more gentle (even the fab filter limiter can distort very quickly).
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Rick Lord This workflow gives me a bit more flexibility, but using the normalize function in Reaper ist just sooooo easy if you just want the maximal loudness with maximal dynamic range, which is why I wanted to include it!
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Martin Thank you Martin for the explanation. I'm going to experiment a bit with both normalization in Reaper as well with the FabFilter Limiter plugin. I find it all quite interesting and creative. I'm going to review the excellent recording course you published for TB. Thanks again for the livestream, I always learn something new.
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Rick Lord Awesome, happy that I could help you! I am planning on doing at least one livestream per month on Recording Audio and Video!
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Martin that'd be great, you give so much valuable tips... thanks for planning on doing this.
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Blaise Laflamme They are also just a lot of fun to do, haha
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Martin fun for you and invaluable for us... best match!
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Martin, My day job is getting in the way with the time, I just got the Scarlett 212 and some mics. No headphones as of yet. We will be able to watch later?
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Peter YES! The livestream is archived and re-watchable, let me send you the link here and via a private nessage:
https://app.tonebase.co/guitar/live/player/introduction-to-home-recording
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Just a quick note that you can also edit video in Reaper, so to synchronize you can import the video file into the Reaper session and drag it till the sound waves match. No need for shortcut/DaVinci.
Not only that but you import multiple sources (say you use a few cameras) and edit, or even automatically create those grid videos. Like this thing below is all Reaper.
I know, Reaper is awesome! :)
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kito Oh Reaper is absolutely fantastic! But I always hesitated to do video in Reaper, I watched a tutorial on that once and I figured that I would be just much quicker in a dedicated piece of software! How are your experiences compared to other video software solutions?
Did you produce that video??
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kito wow that's great Kito! thanks for sharing this
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Martin I can't compare as I have no experience with video editing (iMovie on the phone doesn't count), the UI just looks too intimidating. So finding that I can reuse Reaper for simple tasks was perfect.
I produced that video if you can call this producing. Attaching screenshot of the session. All videos go under the VIDEO folder. The ability to slice video just like audio tracks is just perfect. So I sync the audio and video (by moving video media items in time) and then turn the volume of the video down (muting is not the same, it just doesn't display the video).
Then there's a "Video processor" plugin you add just like any old plugin. See second screenshot. The video processor has only 20-30 things it can do and one of these things is "Grid of videos". It automatically draws the grid with the video items that exist at any time. In my case you can see how it starts with 1 video, then split screen, then 2x2 screens and so on. Magic :)
So yeah, drawbacks... not as powerful as specialized video software I'm sure. But benefits... simple, reusing your editing skills, free, stable (I've not experienced any crashes) and keeping things together in one project. I hope others find it as useful as I did :)
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Just another example of what's possible in Reaper: I added images of the score as the video goes on using the "Image overlay" option in the Video processor plugin
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
