Music - Recording for posterity
Let's use some of the tech I have to improve my technique, and to gauge my progress
Well, perhaps not for posterity, but it is about time that I start using the technology I have at my fingertips or more than just playing games (n.b.: I don’t play that many games) and begin to use it to help me improve my guitar playing.
Several years ago (probably 2016) I bought a simple 4 channel audio interface. It came with a DAW1 – Presonus Studio One – that got me started. Of course, it also led me to use my Line 6 POD XT as an input.
That led me to buy some low cost monitors (I will not slander them by calling them proper “Studio Monitors”) and in general I wasn’t very satisfied with the results. Mostly it was because I had no discipline, and I was freaked out when the record icon blinked at me to indicate that it was recording. Also, I was practicing maybe an hour a month, if that.
But, also, the Pod XT was not a great interface, and there was enough input lag that made it ridiculously awful to play through (what I really needed was something that was more passive, in that I wouldn't be 30 - 60 msec off in feedback).
Thus, it was disconnected, and put on a shelf.
Enter the Pandemic
Suddenly, I was saving 2.5 hours a day of commute by working at home. I started picking up the guitar every day at lunch time to get back in the habit of daily playing, and soon I was upgrading. First to get an amp that is better suited to my office space (the Fender Super 60 was way too loud for my den). Then having a good, “right sized” amplifier, I went on a tear to build a sound. Pedals of the Overdrive sort, fuzzes, chorus, reverb, delay, and others found their way as I built a pedal board.
Then, one day, I gave up the ghost, and splurged on a lightly used Line 6 Helix. I am still kicking myself for waiting so long to get it. In short, it is fucking fantastic. Of course, on top of that $1,200, I needed better Studio Monitors. The Presonus 4.5” powered monitors that I was using were pretty wimpy when plugged into the Helix. So I ordered up a pair of Yamaha 5” powered studio monitors, and now it frankly kicks ass.
But, the Helix is more than just an effects and amp simulator. It also functions as a USB interface box. So, once again, I could record myself.
But to do so requires the aforementioned DAW.
Step 1: Selecting a DAW
Well, I had a license to Presonus Studio One that came bundled with my original audio interface. But, I will admit that I never used it enough in 2016 to really get comfortable. Alas, while I had a license for an earlier version, to update to the new version would cost about $100. Not too much, but I figured that I ought to look at what else is available.
There are several DAW’s, from Apple’s Garage Band (really, a lite version of Logic) and Logic Pro, to cross platform options like Ableton Live, to Reason, to Reaper.
From what I read and researched, they all do similar things, but they all have their own quirks. It seemed best to choose one and stick with it.
Since in this case, I want to work on my PC, it couldn’t be Logic. I narrowed it down to either Reason or Ableton Live. I chose Ableton not because of the price (although, a $99 “Intro” version is a great price point) but because it came with a 90 day trial, no limitations.
Step 2: My first recording
I am going to admit that it took me way too long to get into recording a guitar track. However, yesterday, I finally got it to work. In the process I learnt a few things.
I figured out setting the Helix driver to ASIO setting. The other direct setting let to an ear splitting echo and signal distortion. But once I sorted that, I was able to play and record.
It took me way too long to figure out how to actually output the sound from the audio channel that I recorded
While the Helix support stereo pass through, it seems to record better on Ableton if I set the audio channel to mono.
All in all, a pretty good start. But it is just a start.
Next Steps
Fortunately, there is plenty to learn. And many resources.
My first dive into the Ableton manual (online) was quite helpful, and it is really very helpful. Fortunately, we are also in an era where the community has built tutorials, recorded them, and posted them to YouTube. I have a couple of series book marked, and it will take 20+ hours to work through them. For another day!
Digital Audio Workstation, software for the creation of music that includes a ton of presets (sounds), and instruments that you can play with a keyboard, or via your QWERTY keyboard on your computer