Re: Portable recording / music making options

TD wrote:
My current home studio setup includes:
Linux / Ardour workstation (also running Hydrogen for drums and Muse for MIDI)
M-Audio Delta 1010 rackmount audio interface
Proteus 2000 and JV-1080 rackmount sound modules
Behringer MIC100 preamp
Behringer V-Amp rackmount
Brian Moore i8.13 MIDI guitar with piezo

I'm going travelling soon and will take my laptop and guitar with me. I'd
like to be able to continue to compose and record demos out there. I can
install Ardour and Hydrogen on my laptop, and get hold of a 1-port USB audio
interface by M-Audio or similar. So that will cover the recording hardware
side and drums.

I was going to get a V-Amp 2 (non-rack) to take with me, but then I wondered -
I know there are a lot of weird and wondeful devices out there that offer
effects, amp simulation, and maybe more as well, geared towards portable
music-making. Perhaps with some or all of:
Drum machine
MIDI sequencer / accompanier
Recording ability

So, if you were going to travel a bit and wanted to record some music out
there, what devices would you look at taking with you and why?


My object is to have to carry around as little as possible, and just be able to capture ideas - not make final products...all of the below (except for my guitar) will fit in a laptop briefcase or a backpack.

I pack a Macbook Pro, an Olympus LS-10 (for live two tracking with friends, and a couple spare SD cards), a couple of cables (guitar/mic to USB), a guitar, a mike, some headphones or earbuds, and some software. Quite a bit of software.

That works mighty fine for me...Garage Band for starters, and Audacity. I get the most use out of those two, but I also have Cubase LE 4, and a ton of freeware onboard...along with using iTunes to catalog/database both my practice tracks and my recorded mixes.

For noodling, I've used an acoustic guitar to lay down basic guitar tracks and then put a digitally synthesized sound envelope (a Marshall stack, bass, etc.) over them to hear effects/mix...Garage Band works fairly well for that for noodling around.

You don't have to use a Mac, there tons of cross platform stuff out there...I'm just a Mac addict and find lots of very useful freeware around for audio stuff on a Mac...you can find just about anything I've mentioned for PC, other than Garage Band. I haven't even stratched the surface on my arsenal of audio freeware...

I have Griffin guitar/mic cables -

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/instrumentcables

....at least they used to make one for guitar - 1/4" to mini - but I can't find a link. But those are out there...for use to the laptop's mic input.

These are also very handy -

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate

Then there are direct XLR and 1/4" to USB ones -

http://www.soundtech.com/products/home-recording/

I don't have any of these, but I think I'd like to have a couple in my arsenal.

If you're a Line 6 fan, POD Farm looks like a useful plugin for tone generation for any DAW package like Garage Band, Logic Studio, Ableton, Cubase, or such -

http://line6.com/podfarm/

Otherwise you could just use a Pocket POD, POD X3, or some such - I like the X3 for it's ability to process guitar, bass, and vox in one unit...and mix and match in two independent channels - including twin amp rigs, if you like.

No need for an actual drum machine - iDrum is a pretty powerful software drum/sequencer...and cheap - like under $50 when I bought it. You can also record/sequence recorded samples with it, which I didn't realize when I bought it. Comes with several kits, a few more free ones are available on the manufacturer's site, and more are available commercially. Or if you have a drum machine that you like, you can sample single hits from it and build your own soft-kit...or do the same with a keyboard - or any live instrument or found sound.

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/idrum/

....oh - and a big portable USB hard drive (or two)...7200 rpm, 500 gig at least, if you're active at it, or also have/use a video camera.

Surprisingly, some pocket still cameras also do a pretty fine job of capturing audio. Might want to experiment with that...in which case a Mac again has some video editing capability using iMovie, right out of the box.

--
- Rufus
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Suspension mounts: useful or unnecessary?
    ... Think of an acoustic guitar. ... >resonates and amplifies the sound. ... ISO thread is over when the "cement drum" comes up? ... COULD be an ISO mount! ...
    (rec.music.makers.percussion)
  • Re: Queen tribute
    ... All the guitar parts were done using my Burns Brian May replica, ... The song has aspects of both Queen's recorded version and various live ... One little thing - the first two drum before the song really gets going - ... All I know is that I really liked the sound of the guitar. ...
    (alt.guitar)
  • Re: Fruity Fuckin Loops
    ... guitar player;-) ... My workaround was "extract" drum pieces from real songs and import ... easier to extract exactly the sound you want. ... secret is to adjust the time of the wave sound to fit your drum line. ...
    (rec.music.hip-hop)
  • Re: Queen tribute
    ... All the guitar parts were done using my Burns Brian May replica, ... The song has aspects of both Queen's recorded version and various live ... One little thing - the first two drum before the song really gets going - ... All I know is that I really liked the sound of the guitar. ...
    (alt.guitar)
  • China Drum Microphone - OEM Drum Microphone Manufacturer
    ... China Drum Microphone - OEM Drum Microphone Manufacturer ... CASES & BAGSMULTI GUITAR CASES & BAGSRESONATOR CASES & BAGSROUND BACK ... STRINGSACOUSTIC SINGLE STRINGSACOUSTIC/ELECTRIC STRINGSBASS GUITAR ...
    (rec.aviation.ultralight)
Loading