Home recording w/Garage Band

Howdy y'all,

I've finally set up my basic home studio, and I'm ready to record! Now I just need talent and inspiration. 😀

But I was wondering if anyone has had any experience recording with GarageBand. For those of you who have never used it, it's a simple digital audio workstation with a few neat effects built in. I'm going to try using it first before installing Cubase because I really want this studio to be a sketch-pad of sorts, of course it would be nice if I could record something that only required minor modification afterwards. 🙂 I'm currently running GarageBand on a 2.4 GHz Mac Book Pro, and for the interface I'm using the E-Mu USB 0404 box. I also have an Apex 460 large diaphragm condenser mic (a nice sounding tube vocal mic), and various electronic and analog instruments (some will go direct in, some MIDI, some miked).

Anyone had experience with GarageBand or the E-Mu USB 0404? Or just have some home recording tips in general? Thanks. 🙂

Originally posted by PBE6
Howdy y'all,

I've finally set up my basic home studio, and I'm ready to record! Now I just need talent and inspiration. 😀

But I was wondering if anyone has had any experience recording with GarageBand. For those of you who have never used it, it's a simple digital audio workstation with a few neat effects built in. I'm going to try using it first befo Band or the E-Mu USB 0404? Or just have some home recording tips in general? Thanks. 🙂

Hi, i got an Emu 1616m, but i run adobe audition on a P.C, and sadly i have not had any experience with Macs. what would you like to achieve from your studio? there was a thread on this forum, very recently, entitled, drum machines/synths etc, it had some excellent points and there was a poster that also did his stuff on a Mac book, although he was advocating the use of loops and samples.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Hi, i got an Emu 1616m, but i run adobe audition on a P.C, and sadly i have not had any experience with Macs. what would you like to achieve from your studio?

I'm really just interested in getting ideas sketched out with full instrumentation and vocals, but if I can get good or excellent sound quality at the same time then why not? It'll make the re-recording process a lot easier. I just bought my first Mac because everyone told me how easy everything is, but every machine has its peculiarities to work out and Macs are no exception.

Last night my brother came over, and we recorded the chorus for a song idea he had. Unfortunately, neither of us is a drummer so that part of the bed track was kinda wonky and we didn't take the time to fix it However, at the end of the session we both discovered the loop function that allows multiple takes, so I think we can get grooving a lot better next time. Of course, I'd also like to learn how to input some pre-quantized drum sounds/loops to make recording the bed tracks easier.

The E-Mu 0404 looks a lot like a stripped down version of the 1616 (or rather, the 1616 looks like a much improved version of the 0404). How do you like the Hi-Z inputs? That's basically what I'm using for everything, and it sounds decent enough for vocals and guitar right now. Which instruments do you record direct, and which ones do you mic? Do you usually end up miking an amp for the guitar?

i'm a Pro Tools man myself, but i wish you success and enjoyment from your new home studio.

Originally posted by Blackamp
i'm a Pro Tools man myself, but i wish you success and enjoyment from your new home studio.

ProTools would have been nice, but that would have just shifted the bottleneck to my recording equipment...plus, it was a little pricey at the time for the Mbox w/ProTools bundle.

Originally posted by Blackamp
i'm a Pro Tools man myself, but i wish you success and enjoyment from your new home studio.

Any home recording tips? It's pretty much a one-man show at this point.

Originally posted by PBE6
I'm really just interested in getting ideas sketched out with full instrumentation and vocals, but if I can get good or excellent sound quality at the same time then why not? It'll make the re-recording process a lot easier. I just bought my first Mac because everyone told me how easy everything is, but every machine has its peculiarities to work out and Macs ...[text shortened]... rd direct, and which ones do you mic? Do you usually end up miking an amp for the guitar?

wow, sounds awesome, as regards the Hi-Z, as you are aware, its designed to capture a broader range of frequencies and thus emulate a mic'ed (spelling?) guitar, i am of the opinion, that you need 'air', between the microphone and the amplifier, but, if you are just sketching then the hi-z is fine! if you follow the debate earlier, you will see that a poster was advocating samples, composing on a keyboard and using samples to emulate the actual instrument, that also is fine, for it seems that many samples are of an excelling quality, but still, i think that you can tell the difference. its a total learning process, learning to source the sound properly via microphone placement, types of microphone, cutting frequencies in the mix to make sure everything 'fits', equalisation, using effects, post and pre recording, learning to use compression etc etc etc, experimentation is the key, do not be afraid to try things out and discuss it with others, sonhouse is really great, he has a lot of good advice. what software did you get with your Emu, did you get virtual mixing desk?

Originally posted by PBE6
Any home recording tips? It's pretty much a one-man show at this point.

given your drum issues - which i also have, not being a drummer either - i found that a book of drum grooves helped a lot when programming drums. one useful book was '1001 Drum Grooves' by Steve Mansfield, where you can get ideas for everything from punk and speed metal to funk to tango to reggae to bossanova.

the advantage to using a drum machine over a live drummer is, of course, that you only have to punch the instructions into a drum machine once😉

i also have Reason, which might be useful to you for arranging backing instrumentation drums, bass, synth etc. perhaps GarageBand already includes this - i don't really know much about it. i don't know either if there's a version of Reason compatible with GB or what the equivalent s/w might be.

Hi, which drum machine do you use? is it easy to use and how do you record it? is it direct to sound card? reason i ask is that i need to use loops, which are ok, but it takes ages to sequence them and manipulate them.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Hi, which drum machine do you use? is it easy to use and how do you record it? is it direct to sound card? reason i ask is that i need to use loops, which are ok, but it takes ages to sequence them and manipulate them.

Anyone use iDrum? I just found it on a web search, it seems like a simple software-based drum machine. I like simple, I like software based, and I like free! Gonna give'er a try tonight...

its only for you Mac noobs, is there no justice!

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
its only for you Mac noobs, is there no justice!

I've only had the Mac for 2 weeks! I still feel much more comfortable on a PC than a Mac (ejecting programs? what the hell is that all about?!?), but I'm waiting for the WOW factor before I decide which one will receive my smiles, and which one will receive e-lashings.

with garage band, what do you get by way of filters, effects, plugins, etc? is there a virtual mixing desk included?

Maybe RHP home music makers should share their stuff with each other.

Originally posted by FMF
Maybe RHP home music makers should share their stuff with each other.

I shall, once I find the fader that turns down the SUCK. 😀