Retro Recording Techniques
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@pooka Jan 2022
After trying to puzzle it out, I've settled on how I'm going to do FAWM this year. Last year I recorded everything on my swish new(ish) computer and, when I put the album together, it all came out quiet. I can barely hear any of the songs when I listen on my iPod.
So I've gone back to the setup I had when I recorded my big album "Cherries" in 2019. I'll line in my electric drum kit, electric guitar and microphone (for vocals and anything else) to my old laptop (which I've had since I was 18), record everything on there and mix the songs using Cool Edit Pro 2.0.
Why this archaic way of doing things? Well, simply because it's what I'm used to. I'm used to Cool Edit, I have my instruments that I'm familiar with and my old laptop has three audio jacks - headphones, microphone and line in - so it's easy to switch between then all when I record.
Is anyone else still doing the same thing for recording and mixing they did decades ago, or is it just me? -
@fuzzy Jan 2022
Oh yeah, definitely.
Still using the same laptop I started FAWM with twelve years ago.
I'm still recording with the same copy of Audacity I downloaded twelve years ago.
I've updated my mic once since then, but otherwise it's still 2011 for me, recording-wise. -
@doeeyes Jan 2022
@pooka I don't know how you did it, I started on Cool Edit Pro in about 2005? ish? Since then I've been buffeted through so many different DAWs and computers, not really through choice but because the industry demanded it.
My first move was to Cakewalk 4, and after it got rescued from the scrapheap by Bandlab, I've come back to it and never felt more at home. Free is my favourite number :)
But I'm wondering why your 2021 album was quiet, did you master it yourself? Would be good to compare the 2019 one, maybe it just needs a good finalising compressor/limiter to put a donk on it -
@pooka Jan 2022
I master all my albums myself, with the possible exception of You Are A Card! (2018), which was mastered largely by @morti.
I think the main problem with my 2021 album is that it was entirely done on my new laptop using headphones, and I didn't test it on any other media. I could simply up the volume of all the tracks manually, but I haven't gotten around to bothering yet. -
@scottlake Jan 2022
I usually DAW it up but last year my fave song of mine was just recording into my iPhone singing at he piano
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@gubna Jan 2022
I'm still using Cakewalk Sonar 8.5 producer which I purchased new in 2009? It's lasted through two computers.
I record various things here and there over the year that I barely add to. Mostly it's been the workhorse for FAWM the last four years. I kinda treat it like an advanced tape recorder. I do also use a zoom H2 and my iphone to record things here and there. Sometimes they're good enough to use as is. (or maybe I'm just lazy). -
@jwhanberry Jan 2022
@gubna Sonar 8.5 was Sonar at its best. I recorded an album with it in the early 2000's. I've moved on since then but it was a goodie on an XP machine.
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@dzdandcunfsd Jan 2022
I felt old when a few years ago I saw a video that was supposedly using "old school recording techniques" He mic'd his amps and ran them through a mixer and into a DAW adding multiple tracks there while using a drum machine for the drums. I guess as opposed to all software? I'm out of touch... and quite happy there.
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@airbagtester Jan 2022
I have some 4 track cassette recordings from back in the 90s (converted to .mp3 now of course). If I knew then what I know now! Back then it was just point one mic this way, and point the other one that way... no isolation, not really stereo :D No compression, no mastering.
Each year I say I'm going to get one of those old Tascam 4-track portastudio cassette recorders but I don't :( I do have a digital Tascam 8 track though, maybe I will try some DAWless stuff on it.
It's hard to get away from the computer. I can capture the sounds in good quality .wav format on my digital recorder or analog on a cassette, but then what about punching it up with some compression so it's louder? Heck, I don't even mean that crazy wall of sound compression for radio - just a bit louder. Maybe one louder. -
@ufug Jan 2022
@airbagtester same here! I'm still so stuck in portastudioland that I rarely punch in (never got it the habit since it required three hands) or edit takes.
Mess up? Rewind and record it again! -
@headfirstonly Jan 2022
I have a Korg 32-track digital recorder that I completed several FAWMs with back in the day. I still use it if I'm having latency issues because I've thrown too much stuff at my DAW. I render what I can out as a stereo WAV, import that on to tracks 31 and 32, and then record whatever I like on the rest. No detectable latency whatsoever, and very satisfying from a tactile point of view.
