I. The First Steps // JAN 11th

Welcome fellow tonebase academists! 🎧

This is the place where we will talk about the first lesson of our recording course. Please use this thread if you have any questions concerning the workbook or general questions concerning the first steps!

 

Click here to access Session 1: The First Steps // Jan 11th (Live!)

Find the other sessions here: Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5


Make sure to download our DAW of choice using the link below:

http://reaper.fm/

The DAW is free to use for 60 days. After that, you can still always prolong the evaluation period. Though a little bit daunting at first, the routing is pretty straight forward once we get accustomed to follow the signal flow!

 

Download the first workbook here


I will post the answers to the questionnaire on Jan 17th! 

After the livestream, submit your assignments by replying to this thread!

 


Answers to the questionnaire:

 

What is a DAW?

  • digital audio workstation like Reaper, a place where you can record, listen, and edit audio that is either being recorded or imported. Items in the arranger window reference files on your hard drive, so working within the DAW is (generally) non-destructive. 

What is the difference between a USB-Microphone compared to a microphone that is connected to an audio interface?

  • An audio interface converts analog voltage into discrete digital values for recording and vice versa for monitoring and playback. While an audio interface requires a microphone to record changes in air pressure, an USB-Mic usually comes already equippmed with some kind of AD/DA converter (aka audio interface). Since a computer usually can handle only one interface at a time, professionals use audio interfaces that have a multitude of digital and analog input and output channels.

What describes the Polar Pattern of a Microphone?

  • A microphone's polar pattern describes its sensitivity for sounds arriving from different angles. The most popular polar patterns for music are cardioid, omnidirectional and figure of eight, though every polar pattern or directionality is being heavily used in professional productions in order to to achieve either spaciousness and enveleopment or speration and directivity.

 

See you tomorrow for "The Edit"! 🧙‍♂️

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  • Hi Mircea,

    Please provide me the link of the video tutorials regarding the "Rercording for Guitarists Course".

    Thanks,

    Ricardo Paz

    Like 1
      • MirceaTeam
      • Head of Guitar
      • Mircea
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Ricardo hi Ricardo! Here are all the links to all 5 livestreams:

      All links will also be provided in the respective dedicated threads for each livestream.

      Like
    • Mircea Thanks Mircea!

      Ricardo Paz

      Like 1
  • Hello Martin,

    thank you for offering this workshop.

     

    I tried to set up iRig Acoustic Stage (a pickup microphone) with Reaper, but couldn't get it to work with the ASIO4All driver - the microphone is recognized as an USB audio interface but the ASIO configuration looks like this: 

    I tried to deactivate all other input devices, but the iRig is always displayed like this, so I guess it simply won't work with ASIO.

    What is the "second best" audio setting for recording in Reaper? :)

    These are my options:

     

    Thank you.

    Best regards

    Susanne 

    Like 1
      • martinTeam
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      • martin.3
      • 3 yrs ago
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      Susanne Hi Susanne, I have never used asio4all since my soundcards always came with their dedicated drivers. I found this step by step guide for setting up iRig with Asio4All in Reaper, please try to follow these along, I hope that helps!
      https://guitargearfinder.com/guides/record-guitar-in-reaper/

      Seeing that your iRig is marked as "unavailable" maybe it got connected as standard device, then you can try to go to the windows sound preferences and try to disable them there, maybe it will be freed up to be used with the asio4all drivers. But to be honest, I am speculation.

      However, I will prepare .wav-files for the second workshop, so that everybody has enough material to work with, when we go into editing madness! 🧙‍♂️

      Like 1
    • Deb Covellnull
    • Long term hobby guitar player and one time guitar builder
    • Deb
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Martin, thanks for the first session on the recording  course, it was great but way to fast for me, and just to let you know I am having trouble with my set up. On the windows computer I didn't seem to have any sound coming through, so couldn't hear you, was doing some stuff on recording on the windows, but listening and watching you on my I pad so as 

    I have a  Samson USB go mic, I have both Mac Air 10.5 and Windows 10 computers, so 1st  question, which computer would be the easier to use, 2nd question -is Reaper the DAW to use with this Samson product, is it possible to give me a quick run through on how to load the mic and Reaper,  step by step and is there any special order required, can I really be so dumb?? Hope you can help me, ciao Deb🙂 

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      • martinTeam
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      • martin.3
      • 3 yrs ago
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      Deb Covell I'd recommend using the asio4all drivers and set your usb-mic as an input within the asio4all interface . Since these mics usually don't come with an output, you probably need to sed your headphone jack or your internal speakers as an output, I believe that this is possible with the asio4all driver.
      It should look something like this, just wit hyour Samsung USB mic instead of the iRig: https://guitargearfinder.com/guides/record-guitar-in-reaper/

      However, it's probably easier to set it up with your mac, I think you can simply select your USB-Mic as your input and your headphone jack as our output (should be called "built-in output" or something like that).

      Like 1
  • Hello martin ,

    Thanks again for the insightful session yesterday.

    For the first assignment, where multiple takes of certain musical piece are to be recorded, does it matter how they're organized in Reaper? On one track in different bars, or on different tracks? I've noticed Reaper even has a feature called "takes", when it's showing different takes of same piece in the same track, but that probably requires good learning to be correctly used.

    Thanks a lot.

    Like 1
      • martinTeam
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      • martin.3
      • 3 yrs ago
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      Slavik Lavryk Already diving deep into Reaper functionality, I like it! 🧙‍♂️ However, the take lanes are a bit tricky to work with as this function typically only works when everything has the same rhythm. "Comping" is the workflow that is associated with different takes on different lanes within one track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zyld5BicWQ

      I would usually record all my takes on one track one after another, so it is easier to navigate between them! If you have them on separate tracks, you would always mute the other tracks in order to listen back to a take.

      Like 3
    • martin Thanks for the session and looking forward to the rest of them This Q&A anticipated my first question. 2nd one relates to 1 track or 2 for stereo recording. I have Tascam mobile recorder with stereo mics. Should I capture L and R on separate channels as mono or is it sufficient to use 1 stereo channel. I'll try both anyway

      Like 1
    • Mark Edwards Seems better on 2 tracks

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      • martinTeam
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      • martin.3
      • 3 yrs ago
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      Mark Edwards I like to have them on separate tracks, because I am more flexible down the road of post processing. But sometimes having them one track saves some time later on as well, especially when you want to edit both tracks with the same settings of a compressor or an equalizer. But I wouldn't say that one workflow is better than the other one. 

      Like 1
  • Thanks Martin!

     

    Very interesting live session. I wont be joining the next live sessions as its 3am where I live but I'll definitely check the recordings!

     

    I use the Scarlett Solo interphase with a cardioid mic (AT2020) and Garage Band usually but I already installed Reaper. Excited to try and learn new stuff! Sadly, Stereo recording is out of the question with this interphase ( Should've gotten the 2i2🙉!!) but I'll still explore with different mic positions. 

     

    This might be a dumb question but if recording with 2 mics isn't available right now, would doubling the track be a workaround to try and create a similar effect?

     

    Thanks again!

    Like 1
      • martinTeam
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      • martin.3
      • 3 yrs ago
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      Phil Meissner that is not a dumb question at all, this is a technique that is being heavily used in pop and rock music, because it creates a surreal wideness of your rhythm guitars! Actually, I did a cover with a student of mine (it was his idea, not mine, haha, but it got featured by a very popular German youtuber, which was nice exposure), I used this technique quite a lot in this track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DSgilXd5fc

      It will not sound like a stereo recording, as you cannot play exactly the same twice (they said something like that about Freddy Mercury, that he was able to sing two passages almost identical)! But the effect is very interesting, try it! (you won't hear this in classical recordings though)

      Like 2
    • martin  Thanks for your quick answer!

       

      I didn't know that song. Fun cover😎, I get what you mean. I'll definitely try it !

       

      Never heard that about Freddie Mercury but he was an amazing singer and showman, that's for sure!

       

      However, to get the most out of your course I borrowed a TASCAM DR 70 and another mic,  AT2035.  Not the same reference but that way I can record in stereo and just upload the files to Reaper. The main difference is that AT2035 comes equipped with a switchable 80 Hz high-pass filter and 10 dB pad, AT2020 doesn't. I'll just keep them off. 

       

      If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

       

      And thanks again!!!

      Like 1
      • martinTeam
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      • martin.3
      • 3 yrs ago
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      Phil Meissner Yes, keeping the built in equalizer is generally a good idea if you don't use the mics for live amplification! And there is nothing wrong with recording yourself with an external recorder an then implement the audio files.

      I explained the process of dragging and dropping (and turning stereo files into mono files) right here!

      Like 1
  • Hi Martin, I have an AKG p120 microphone and an Oktava MK-012-01, what configuration and distance do you recommend?🙂

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      • martinTeam
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      • martin.3
      • 3 yrs ago
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      Giuseppe Gasparini Try to space them roughly 20cm apart and point them towards your bridge a little bit from the side and higher than your soundhole at a distance of about 1-2m depending of the acoustic of your room! In Reaper, pan one mic to the left, the other one to right and see listen how it sounds :)

      Like 2
    • ivan paolonull
    • amateur guitarist
    • ivan_paolo
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Ciao Mark I've linear pcm recorder Tascam dr-100mkII but it seems to me thta I can't use s it as a microfone with Reaper, am I wrong?

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      • martinTeam
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      • martin.3
      • 3 yrs ago
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      ivan paolo It seems that the Tascam DR-100 MKII cannot be used as an audio interface. However, you can still record yourself on the Tascam and then simply import the files from the SD-Card onto your hard drive and then just drag&drop them onto your Reaper timeline!

      Like 2
  • I am a user of the Cakewalk by Bandlab DAW. Is it necessary for this course to download reaper, or can I Use CW as well?

    Like 1
    • Peter Laman Ok I see you already answered this question!

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      • martinTeam
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      • martin.3
      • 3 yrs ago
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      Peter Laman Awesome!

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    • Brooke
    • Brooke
    • 3 yrs ago
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    Hi and thanks!

    You are very knowledgeable on this very detailed/technical subject.  A lot of great information and explanation.  Great job! 

    Like 1
      • martinTeam
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      • martin.3
      • 3 yrs ago
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      Brooke thank you! :)

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    • Brooke
    • Brooke
    • 3 yrs ago
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    Thanks your a wizard at all this!

     

    1. how do I tame some of the low boominess I get on certain notes in playback?

    (single usb mic, cardioid, 24 inches on axis, at the bridge, classical guitar) 

    2. can it all be eq'd out after, or should this be mostly fixed in the setup?

    3. suggestions for recording video to a track in parallel, separately?  

    4. Can I take a video recording and edit/fix the sound to it in reaper?  

    Like 1
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