First Recording - It's Alive!

Poststructural Pub
1

Re: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=47423

Well, it took me long enough. First I had to get my computer and the Audio Interface to talk to each other nicey-nice. Which took a week.

Then I did some testing just of regular audio and sample clips. I found out the Master Out potentiometer was messed up, as well as one other multifunction switch. I returned the t.c.electronic konnekt 8 audio interface - great reviews, lousy in person. I don’t give electronics a second chance.

I dished out a few more bucks to get a Yamaha GO46 FireWire audio interface. I like Yamaha equipment. It worked flawlessly from the start and does 192 bit sampling of audio inputs.

I did one or two cheesy tests, then took a deep breath and made the first decent recording on y new digital audio workstation.

No excuses, it’s me in my beginner Irish Whistle player fashion:
• Playing a new style (all Delrin head) Reyburn Low G;
• Recorded on a single Audio Technica AT2020 Condenser Microphone;
• Through a Yamaha GO46 FireWire audio interface;
• Using Sonar 6 (with a smidge of reverb post effect).

Here’s the recording:
http://www.beancurdturtle.com/Whistle/Dawning01.mp3

Time to dig into the tutorials and books and learn Sonar 6.

2

I love that tune. You are having way too much fun with all that equipment. I am again, very jealous.

I must go find something to offset the greening of my complexion. :smiley:

3

Keep recording. It is a good way to improve.

All that gear seems like overkill for your needs. However, if you enjoy it, and can afford it, have fun, that is what matters most.

4

If it was me sitting alone with my whistle, I’d do it like I did before; with a good WAV editor (Sony Sound Forge 8 ), and a good condenser mic for computer use (like a Blue Snowball or the MXL V6).

However, I’ve a flock of amateur musicians in my family and among my friends. And then there’s the brother that gigs regularly. When recording a couple guitars, lead and harmony vocals, and what have you - it’s better to have something that has a bit of quality and flexibility.

I already had a really nice computer setup to meet the needs of my day job (technology project management) and for my side job (digital photo and graphic production).

Pro-audio is a bit like whistle WHOA. You can get sidetracked collecting stuff you don’t need. In my case I’ve got 2 quality mics, the interface to get them and a couple instruments into the computer (with no latency), the tools to deal with the stuff on the computer, and a nice set of studio monitors for the mix. That’s a good baseline for a decent setup for what I’ll deal with a couple times a month.

5

Daniel, the audio clip sounds good. I have problems with digital audio computer programs. I have a couple of nice microphones, a mixer-preamp, and Home Studio and Audacity on my computer. I usually end up getting thoroughly confused in the process of trying to record something. I start out with good intentions, but after several trips to the help menus, I end up getting out of the recording mood and find myself asking the larger questions like, “Do I really have anything worth recording?” It is a comforting thought to know that I don’t have to depend on performance and recording to earn my livelihood. Everything seemed so much simpler when all I had to do was to connect my microphones to the front of my tape deck, stick in a new cassette tape, and then start recording. I could handle that just fine.

6

Why is the level so low? There’s about 17 dB of headroom there.

7

You are so clever! I was going to mention that and apologize. But then I thought. “Heck only the experienced folks will notice, and they will note that I’ve less than 4 hours experience on this rig and cut me a little slack.”

There’s fundamentally two reasons:

  1. I was fiddling around with another tune beforehand. One mostly in the high octave and more energetic with a more powerful whistle. It’s been cut from the mix.

  2. I’m still greatly ignorant with Sonar. I could have normalized or adjusted it somehow - but I haven’t discovered that yet. Would have been duck-soup with Sound Forge.

I just wanted to muddle through a couple tests before I turned to the manuals and tutorials. I bought Sonar 6 Power, do you have any other suggestions?

8

Nice. Good for a freezing cold morning.