• From: Stockton-on-Tees UK
  • Registered: 2010-07-22
  • Posts: 146

Topic: Song Recording

Looking for a little advice please guys.  I want to record a song I have written - it's in the songwriting forum called An Audience of One.  I have a few problems with this

1  I have only an acoustic guitar

2  I have 2 microphones  and an amplifier from my days running karaoke.  Will these be OK to use for recording purposes?

3  I have been looking around for a means of recording the output and have been begging around my friends for some kind of recording device to no avail.  I inherited a lot of gear when my best friend died and I have been going through it and discovered that it includes a fairly modern reel to reel recorder which has an attachment called a Xitel Inport which would seem to connect to a PC via usb.  I belive there is an input I can connect to my amp.  Would this do the job or would the quality of the recording be of really poor quality?  What effect would background noise have on the quality?

4  Another option would be to perform the song at my local pub and record using a video camera but I have never tried to perform a self accompanied song in public.  If the karaoke sounds bad you can blame the equipment, if my guitar sounds bad it's all down to me. 

5  Once I have got the recording made how do I share it with other Chordie members?  Are there free places where it can be uploaded?

Sorry for so many questions at once but I am an absolute beginner.


PS There was a huge bonus came with the reel to reel - there are 11 boxes of tapes (around 120 tapes in all) which contain a project my friend was working on before cancer took him far too young.  He was compiling a history of country music over the last 100 years and WOW.  Some of the stuff I have dipped into is tremendous and is by a lot of artists I have not heard of or may have dismissed due to my own ignorance.  I have months of listening ahead of me before I decide whether to continue Billy's work and bring it to completion.  He also has a number of his own compositions on one tape that he has sung unaccompanied and I would like to record some guitar backing to them to present to his widow as a CD.  Ambitious for a newbie but hey the grey matter still works well enough.

Ian

All things good to know are difficult to learn.
Greek Proverb
  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,865

Re: Song Recording

Hi bolleauxp sorry to hear about your friend,there is a few options open to you to get recorded one is simple a web cam with a microphone to record this on video if you decide to go this way you will need a video converter there are several free ones the best is any video converter you have to put up with a beg sheet each time its activated which go's away but it works great I have had one for over 3 years so the next thing to do is convert the video to wmv format and use the windows movie maker and put together a video for upload,next a place to upload get a free myspace artist account or band account so you can upload your video there or mp3 of the song if you decide to just record it

to record this song you can use the reel to reel but you will need a Y chord with a 1/8 inch stereo jack and 2 rca jacks on the other end just plug those into the reel to reel "outs" left and right and plug the 1/8 inch end into the mic input on the back of your computer its usually pink colored next download Audacity a free and easy software from the web once you get it setup open the program on the right is a picture of a little microphone there's a tab next to it click on it and a drop down menu appears at the bottom of the list is "monitor input" click on that and when you push play on the reel to reel a red indicator will move to show you there's sound coming in if there is rewind the tape to where you want to start and click record on the screen its located to the left and its red after recording click the rewind on jump to start button its similar to a tape machine there's a stop,record,rewind and jump to the end control after you record you will have to edit the start and process it to a mp3 I can guide you that far I used to have several Audacity tutorial videos but there no more if necessary I will make another for you but get the software first into you computer
1.any video converter (its free that's the name of it) if you just want to make a video
2.Audacity from sourcefordge.com (its free) get back to me when you get this far smile

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Russell_Harding's Website

  • From: Stockton-on-Tees UK
  • Registered: 2010-07-22
  • Posts: 146

Re: Song Recording

Thanks Russell
Got the Audacity installed.  Have been doing some reading up on this Citel Inport which is, according to the blurb, a means of recording vinyl, cassette tapes and reel to reel tapes to a PC,  The inbuilt processor automatically converts the input to mp3 format and does not use the PC soundcard at all.  I have downloaded the any video convertor in case I can summon up the necessary to perform in front of an audience.  My techie friend supposes he has everything needed to produce a video on PC but he is holding me to ransom and will only do it ig I perform live.

I would really appreciate that tutorial for Audacity if it's no trouble.

Thanks for your help

Ian

All things good to know are difficult to learn.
Greek Proverb
  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,865

Re: Song Recording

Ian I am a little confused if the thingy automatically converts to mp3 format how do you plan on getting this data into your PC? that's where the Y chord comes in handy to plug into the back of your reel to reel and into your PC to transfer the data and if its in mp3 format I dont understand why you would need Audacity I would like some more information on this before I undergo making a tutorial as it may not be needed, you may already have all the necessary gear to do this. keep me posted if you need the tutorial I can make it but check with your techie guy and ask how this mp3 data gets into your PC it has to go thru your sound card or usb port someway smile

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Russell_Harding's Website

  • From: Stockton-on-Tees UK
  • Registered: 2010-07-22
  • Posts: 146

Re: Song Recording

Sorry Russell

I misspelled the name of this gizmo it's called a Xitel Inport and is basically a nondescript little grey box which has 2 phono connections at one end and a usb port at the other.  The phono leads ovbiously connect to the outputs on the reel to reel (or any other aux device by the look of it) and then the box connects to the PC via usb.  From my interpretation of the spiel on their website it appears that the sound is processed inside this little box and converted to mp3 on transfer.  I will try the thing out over the weekend and post the results.

Thanks

Ian

All things good to know are difficult to learn.
Greek Proverb
  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,865

Re: Song Recording

aha! so the music go's round and round oh oh oh oh  >  oh oh and comes out of the box into your documents as an mp3 very clever but it looks like you may have to put some kind of program disk that contains a driver device to tell the pc what to do unless there friends and can reconize each other smile

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Russell_Harding's Website

  • From: Western Oregon,US
  • Registered: 2008-07-22
  • Posts: 2,498

Re: Song Recording

Ain't these new electronical thingies wonderful? 

The cool thing about the USB interface is that it often will identify itself to the operating system and then the appropriate driver is either loaded from the library (within Windows) or it will run home to Mama (the internet) and search for it there.  Just to be on the safe side though I'd be sure to visit the Xitel home webpage and see if it is possible to gather up a copy of the driver for your operating system and install it prior to plugging the thing in, so you can be assured that it will be recognized and operable.

Been having issues with this new version of windows myself with not having updated compatible drivers for all my devices....
getting by on bare-bones sound etc.  a real pain.

Sounds like a cool device though and would appreciate a short review on it if you find time and inclination.

Take Care;
Doug

"what is this quintessence of dust?"  - Shakespeare
  • From: Stockton-on-Tees UK
  • Registered: 2010-07-22
  • Posts: 146

Re: Song Recording

Hi guys one or two points on the Xitel.  It is literally plug and play - no drivers required.  The only downside is that it doesn't create mp3's without its add on software which is called LP Ripper so I have had to use Audacity to convert my files but it is an option to use while I am getting up and running.  It's an amazing way to get all of your old media (cassettes and vinyl) on to your computer.  You can connect any sound device with a phono connection.  That would be everything sorted if I had a good clean recording to transfer. 
A problem I am having is with the reel to reel recorder.  I just can't seem to get the guitar recording right.  I think it may be something to do with how I am setting up the microphones but I am hardly an expert.  When I gave up being a kj about 5 years ago I donated a lot of equipment to a friend and microphones and stands were among them.  I have retained 2 Peavy PVi omnidirectional mikes (obviously not top of the range) and am having to jerry rig stands for them.  Is the problem that the type of microphone is wrong for recording the guitar or is it the position of the microphone that is affecting the recording on the guitar side?  The sound is fuzzy and full of hiss.

Hope you can help

Ian

All things good to know are difficult to learn.
Greek Proverb
  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,865

Re: Song Recording

fuzzy and full of hiss when is the last time you cleaned the tape heads? it could also be the cables or mic's themselves I would look around for a inexpensive acoustic pickup for the guitar so you can go direct into the reel to reel even with less expensive mic's you should be able to get a fair recording.

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Russell_Harding's Website

  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,865

Re: Song Recording

this is what you need to get a clean sound forget the box and go direct from the reel to reel to the back mic input on the pc and use audacity to produce the mp3
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032J … 7KTGNH482P

if you need a video tutorial I will make one for you on how to produce a mp3 with Audacity

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Russell_Harding's Website

  • beamer
  • beamer
  • THE METALIZER. Naughty Rocker Boy.
  • Offline
  • From: WASHINGTON ST
  • Registered: 2006-07-29
  • Posts: 2,811

Re: Song Recording

I found this series and web site on you tube.  It has been really helpfull and I think addresses some of your basic questions,,,   http://homerecordingstudio.com.au/

then just start checking all the vids out. Some are crap by kids, some are teenagers with a good talent for building a basement  studio but have little Vocabulary and sware too much lolol, but I was impressed with what was built. 

There is a mountain of info, you just have to filter out what you dont need.

“Find your own sound.  Dont be a second rateYngwie Malmsteen be a first rate you”

– George Lynch 2013 (Dokken, Lynchmob, KXM, Tooth & Nail etc....)