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November 2011
Posts: 44
Location: Mexico City | Hello,
I need to record a song. I will play a guitar, and sing. My home is near to an avenue, with lots of noise.
I will use Roland ac33 amp, and shure head microphone. To record, I have macbook air, and h4 recorder. But I don´t know how to record directly to a device, is it possible?
I wonder if can connect a cable directly from ac33 to either macbook air, or H4
May I record and then after I cancel the noise of cars with a software?
Thanks in advance for the help |
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December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | you will need to probably get some sort of interface.
as for canceling out the noise I doubt you can do that.
but you can try your best to isolate the vocals and instruments to minimalize it |
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Posts: 4042
Location: Utah | Leo, the normal procedure would be to run your mics and instruments through an interface box, which then connects to your computer via USB. You would run a recording program on your computer, usually called a Digital Audio Workstation program, or DAW. There are many many different DAW programs out there, but your Mac should have Garageband on it. Garageband is a very good DAW.
Your Zoom H4 can connect via USB to your computer. So you have all you need to record right there. (You could also just record onto the SD card inside the H4 and then transfer it to your computer.) I haven't ever used an H4 so I don't know how precisely you do either of those things. According to Wikipedia you can connect the H4 via USB to your computer to record into a DAW, and that is how I would do it. You can also connect your mic to the H4 via the large jacks on the bottom.
Using your H4, you are probably restricted to one stereo channel recording at a time. If you have, for example, one guitar and one vocalist, you could do this two different ways. One way is to set up the H4 to capture both the guitar and the vocalist at the same time. The downside is that you are stuck with the mix you get at the time of recording. If one or the other is too quiet (or makes a mistake), you can't fix it later.
The second way would be to record one at a time. First record the guitar track. Then record the vocal track. Then you can work with each track in Garageband.
In general, adding effects is usually done after recording. Reverb, echo, EQ, etc. An electric guitar can (and usually is) recorded with distortion (fuzz or overdrive), but other effects would be added in later.
I sometimes add a little compression to acoustic guitars at the time of recording using an optical compressor, because I like it better than most software compressors.
Another method you could use is to record it in the H4 using the "4 Track Mode". According to the owner's manual you can record one track and then play it back while recording another track. So this is just like using Garageband but doing it inside the H4. Then you would export it to your Mac into Garageband for final editing and production.
For an acoustic guitar I would use the H4 stereo mics, placed about 6 inches from the strings near the 12th to 14th fret. Probably pointing slightly towards the body of the guitar. This is a pretty good sweet spot for recording Ovations. In front of the sound hole is ok but not as nice usually. Move the mic position around and listen to it until it sounds best to you.
If you plug your Ovation directly into the H4 you will not get any street noise in the recording.
One more method which you might be able to use is to plug your Ovation directly into one plug of the H4, and your Shure mic into the other plug. Then either record onto the H4 or via USB into Garageband. If you record the guitar into one track and the Shure mic into another (for vocals for example), you would have two independent tracks you could then work with. One downside is that the Shure mic will probably pick up the guitar somewhat, so the vocal track will not be pure. But it might work ok.
If you don't have a manual for the H4, there's an online one here http://www.manualslib.com/manual/515697/Zoom-Handy-Recorder-H4.html |
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Posts: 4042
Location: Utah | It sounds like you are new to recording. I highly recommend the free online course from Berklee College of Music at Coursera.com . https://www.coursera.org/course/musicproduction They run this course every few months.
Here is are a couple of short homework videos I did for that course. The first one demonstrates different mic placements around the guitar. The second shows some things you want to do getting your computer and DAW ready for recording. My version of Garageband doesn't seem to have setup menus that I can find. If you can adjust settings in Garageband or whatever DAW you use, you'll want to change them to what I show in the video. Plug in your H4 to the mac via USB before you start this process.
http://youtu.be/0fdNWNx5byI
http://youtu.be/vfC41ebAZ7Q
There are free DAW programs out there which are quite good. You can use Garageband but I am not familiar with how much tweaking you can do with it after recording the tracks. Garageband is the typical Apple program which isolates the user from all the nitty gritty details, which is fine for many uses. I use Logic Express which is a full featured upgrade from Garageband (the current version is Logic Pro). Audacity is free, and a lot of people like it very much.
Eliminating traffic noise in your recordings is going to have to be done at the time you record. With a lot of work you might remove some of it later, but probably not much of it. I have a soft foam couch in my music room which I stand on end and place the mic near it to block sounds from behind. Another technique is to put soft foam around the inside of a box or crate leaving only one side open for the mic to point out of. This will isolate noise from the back and sides of the mic.
Edited by FlySig 2015-03-09 9:57 AM
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Posts: 848
Location: Canada | FlySig - 2015-03-09 8:55 AM It sounds like you are new to recording. I highly recommend the free online course from Berklee College of Music at Coursera.com . https://www.coursera.org/course/musicproduction They run this course every few months. Wow, thanks for sharing this. I was not aware of this site but sure looks like a lot of interesting stuff. I think I will sign up for a few courses soon ... I recently acquired a nice smartphone (LG G3) and was thinking of using that to try recording some audio and video. But if I wanted to step it up and record something (acoustic guitar and vocals) that can be modified using a DAW(Windows platform) then what do I need in terms of hardware to get started?
Edited by d'ovation 2015-03-09 11:00 AM
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Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | As others have dealt with the mechanics of the recording.. the only "street noise" you'll worry about is on the vocals. If you are using an directional mic, you can probably find a way to point the mic away from the noise and maybe even put some sort of barrier between the now back of mic and the noise. A little background noise between phrases can be just deleted. If you record the guitar, get it right, then lay down the vocals, it will be much easier and it will likely sound better. Plus you have the freedom only limited by the amount of cable you have and how creative you are. Frankly if the road noise is a real issue, and you can't find a bathroom or closet or anywhere to get away from it, pick up your laptop and mic and head elsewhere. Someone elses house, an empty conference room at work... whatever.. Maybe even set everything up in your car, drive to a parking garage that's normally empty on a weekend... sing in the car. If the garage is quiet... sing in the garage. Great reverb. Showers are good too. |
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Posts: 486
Location: Suisun City, Ca | We used noise cancelling mics in the military a hundred years ago. It basically records sound from two close directions, including directly at your mouth, then electronically subtracts them to get pure, noise-free. I'm sure there is something out there better now since this was the late 70's... Hmmm, let me see... http://www.guitarcenter.com/Heil-Sound-PR-22-Noise-Rejection-Microphone-104990395-i1399091.gc?country=us¤cy=usd&isfullsite=1&source=4WWRWXMP&kwid=bingproductads-plaid^26593250490-sku^104990395@ADL4GC-adType^PLA-device^c-adid^3645655980 (Wouldn't let me insert hyperlink) |
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Location: Utah | merlin666 - 2015-03-09 9:54 AM
But if I wanted to step it up and record something (acoustic guitar and vocals) that can be modified using a DAW(Windows platform) then what do I need in terms of hardware to get started?
You need a USB interface device. Something like one of these. I have both, with the M-Audio being newer and better, though for the price the Lexicon is an adequate unit.
M-Audio M-Track http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MTrack
Lexicon Alpha http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Alpha/
You plug your guitar directly into the box, and then connect the box via USB to your computer, either PC or Mac works with all of these. You can plug a mic into these boxes as well, though the Lexicon does not have phantom power (the M-Audio does).
That's it for the hardware. It really is that simple. Then you need a program on your computer to record with. Think of it like the old fashioned reel to reel tape recorder and mixer desk. You plug your hardware in, turn on the tape recorder and hit the RECORD button. Once you get your track recorded, you can use a mixing console to adjust volume, panning, plug in EQ or other effects, and mix it all down to one output track. Audacity is a free DAW program which gets a lot of very good reviews. Garageband is usable on a Mac, but is somewhat limited. Beyond that there are many programs available for purchase. On a Mac I really like Logic. On a PC I really liked the Cakewalk brand.
As far as a computer, anything less than about 10 years old will probably be workable. |
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Posts: 6994
Location: Jet City | I would highly suggest taking a quick course as well, possibly just on Garageband as many other courses will be non-specific towards the hardware/software you use. It'll discuss everything you need to make a song and it will be compatible with the system you have. They used to be offered at Apple stores if one's nearby, or there are several online options. I myself used Peachtree books to learn Garageband and Logic... The same books Apple uses in their paid certification courses. And also, there's really nothing 'simple' about it if you want a good end product. Everything comes into play... hardware, software, microphones, recording levels, EQ-ing, track levels in the mix, adding effects, etc. Listening to a bunch of internet hacks like us is probably the last thing you want to do.
Edited by Damon67 2015-03-10 3:56 PM
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Posts: 811
Location: Thredbo, NSW, Australia | I've done some live recording for friends using a few older desks with only analogue RCA outputs and running them into my laptop.
I've also recorded off my own desk, which has a USB connection. This makes things very easy.
I have trouble setting the levels with the older desks and RCA outputs. Does anyone know of a good RCA to USB / Analogue to Digital converter? |
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December 2006
Posts: 6994
Location: Jet City | I have one of these, but it's probably overkill for what you need. This one is a midi and audio interface... as well as a bunch of other things. It's USB. It has RCA and you can even change the settings and connect a turntable. Edirol is a Roland product. They probably have something less robust that would work fine.
Edited by Damon67 2015-03-10 4:24 PM
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Posts: 887
Location: Always beautiful canyon country of Utah | Me no wants ta record me cause me sounds too bad!! |
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Posts: 811
Location: Thredbo, NSW, Australia | damon67 - 2015-03-11 9:21 AM
I have one of these, but it's probably overkill for what you need. This one is a midi and audio interface... as well as a bunch of other things. It's USB. It has RCA and you can even change the settings and connect a turntable.
Thanks Damon, as you say, it's probably overkill for my needs. I'll keep looking for a simpler solution. |
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November 2011
Posts: 44
Location: Mexico City | Wow, what a bunch of good advice!! Thanks to all specially to FlySig. I may take a quick course, and decide between all the options, what´s the best for me. Very grateful for your answers |
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