Quite a few of you people here on MBH appear to make your own recordings, either with pictures or without. Very snazzy at times. What would you say is the absolut most basic, the absolute simplest way to go about doing this, preferably using the computer? (I now have a "new" one, or at least less ancient than the former and, so I´m told, this time with an improved sound card.)
The problem is that I´m totally ignorant in the tech department. Totally. A pityful idiot. And there´s very little hope for me as it seems since it gets worse by the year. This is just something I have to accept and I rely almost completely on help from my friends when it comes to troubleshooting techno stuff. (You youngsters don´t understand this, I know, think it´s posturing, but it´s a brute fact of my existence.)
Should I just accept my fate and skip the computer entirely and buy a cheap Zoom instead -- I´ve been told that they are rather intuitive; or anyway less conter-intuitive than many others -- or are there ways (shortcuts!) for us retards to bequeth our lousy harmonica playing to posterity via the computer?
Any insights, or links to websites, welcome. And I repeat like a drunken parrot: nothing can be too basic.
I grew up when we used cassette players to record our stuff: you pressed "play" and "rec" and there you went. Of course that´s un-acceptably simple for the digital age but just maybe there´s somebody somewhere who´s taken "user friendly" for what it should mean?
JD is on the right track by suggesting a Zoom Q3HD or similar. With the Zoom you get good sound with your video. Transfer your vids to your computer through the supplied USB cable and upload to Youtube. Done. I have a Kodak Zi8 with an external mic port. It has surprisingly good sound as is, but I have the option of using my Zoom H2 audio recorder to capture the sound. ----------
It would help to know what your goals for the resulting recordings are: YouTube? Practice and playback? Recording demos? Cutting an indie album?
I've been slowly building my own home studio for the purposes of making better YouTube videos, recording demos, and perhaps eventually one day making an indie album (probably several years down the line). I've not got a lot of money or space to play around with, so I've been getting a lot of my equipment on craigslist, with some strategic purchase. I'll list what I currently have, and what I think I need to acquire below:
Currently have: 1) USB mixer (Alesis Multimix 8FX USB): 8 channels, 4 mic preamps (with phantom power), two stereo fx sends/returns, on board reverb/delay fx, RCA two track in/out, ultra-low latency stereo USB connection to computer.
2) A pair of stereo matched small diaphragm condenser mic (Behringer C2's) for true ambient stereo recording
3) A good dynamic microphone (Behringer XM8500)
4) A variety of other vintage dynamic mics
4) A good multifx/amp simulator (Zoom G3)
5) A stereo digital recording unit (iKey G3)
6) Cables (XLR, 1/4" TRS, 1/8" TRS, RCA) and adapters for interconnects (many types)
3) A better digital recorder or i/o interface for my android phone/tablet
4) Some way to do live percussion (foot stomper, etc.)
5) Decent studio monitors and/or better headphones 6) A dedicated computer for my DAW (digital audio workstation)
7) An actual studio space where I could leave this stuff set up
8) Talent ;)
Here's my two cents about a few things:
About being tied to the computer. Don't rely on your computer's sound card, no matter how good it is supposed to be. They aren't that good, and there will be latency. You need a decent audio interface. I suggest buying one that is also a fully functional mixer, because you are going to want that too. Eventually, you will want a dedicated computer for your DAW. That's a good place to start, but eventually, you'll want the flexibility to do recordings in other places with out a lot of set up. A good quality stereo digital recorder or digital i/o interface for you smart phone will become something you will want to buy. Buy a better one than I did. I wish I'dhave bought a Zoom or a Tascam instead of the iKey. The iKey sucks.
Video making: For a long time, I'd made videos on a crappy digital camera. Both the audio and the video quality from it sucked. Then, I started mixing into the computer via USB, and using the web cam. The audio quality got MUCH better, but the video quality still sucks. I just got a new smart phone with a good camera built into it, so I'm experimenting with recording via external mic into the phone. I'm hoping to eventually increase the quality of the video without sacrificing the audio.
Final thoughts:
If it were me starting all over again, I would take the advice of the above posters, and buy a Zoom or a Tascam recorder first thing. That is something you will ALWAYS have a use for, even if you really catch the recording bug and start to build a bigger studio. If YouTube is your goal, get the Zoom unit with the built in camera, or get a nice camera with a mic input (like mrDo&so). THEN, when you've figured out this system, and you want to do more sophisticated multi-track recording, THEN and only then, get a USB mixer and some good mics, and start to set up a computer-based recording studio.
I have recorded for youtube use for some time now and with every new video I lean closer to getting me a mixer board, even though i haven't got room for one. I now use a sm58 to my videocam for accoustic sound. Which clips a lot. And for electric I use a sm 57 to ampkit Link to iphone. Which just doesn't sound good enough (yeah, you right it could be my chops)!
I say do what Isaac suggested. start with a zoom and you can go with a full scale later if you feel the need.
Eller hitta någon som kan lite av det där och kan hjälpa dig att komma igång... Fast det kan vara lättare sagt än gjort... ---------- Pistolkatt - Pistolkatts youtube
you can download Audacity to record on PC,its free.i think you can do up to 8 tracks, mabey more.i do stuff with a drum machine,than i put bass, than guitar.than i`ll do vocals,and harp. all ypou need is a mic and a box.i use rfx-300 zoom.i use this for testing recording and it comes out alright...
i'd get a zoom q3hd. you can probably do this with your computer (assuming it has a camera), but the zoom would also let you record gigs, jams, etc. once you have one, you'll find lots of uses for it.
"The problem is that I´m totally ignorant in the tech department. Totally. A pityful idiot. And there´s very little hope for me as it seems since it gets worse by the year. This is just something I have to accept and I rely almost completely on help from my friends when it comes to troubleshooting techno stuff. (You youngsters don´t understand this, I know, think it´s posturing, but it´s a brute fact of my existence.)"
Preach on, Brother Martin. Preach on. You get a hearty "Amen" from me.
Martin, If you have a new all in one computer it probably had a decent sound-card for listening to music installed but it probably won't be of much use for recording. It will have the small 1/8" plugs and no ability to use a regular microphone. I would suggest a M-Audio Fast Track Audio Interface with Avid recording studio included. You can find these on ebay for $50-60 used and they are very simple to hookup and to use. The have one plug on the back that plugs into a usb port on the computer and on the front a XLR input and instrument input and a headphone input. Doesn't get much simpler than that. It comes with it's own software that installs easily and the Avid studio recording software that's pretty simple to use. You'll be recording in no time.
Martin, I think the Zoom Q3HD might be a good solution for you. It is way less complex and intimidating than computer based solutions that do the same thing. But, you have to transfer your videos to your computer to edit them or upload them to YouTube. The Zoom comes with software that makes this easy, but it's editing capabilities are limited. There will come a time not long after you start using the Zoom that you will want more editing power. There are lots of good choices out there.
I bought the audio-only Zoom H4 about a week after it first came out several years ago. An outstanding device, but I sold it when I got the Q3, and I sold that when I got the Q3HD. I have lots of more exotic recording gear but it gets used less and less. The Zoom products are good for what we need most of the time.
If you get the Zoom I'll be happy to help you figure it out.
I use a Blue Yeti USB microphone. I had a few problems with a hiss, but I sent it back and the new one works great. It's about $100. There are cheaper models that will work just as well. Mine has some extras, like a headphone jack on the mic, volume/gain/mute, and 3 pickups, so I can chose from 4 stereo settings. When I got it we were doing more straight live recording and less track by track recording, so I wanted the option. I haven't used it much. I pair that with Audacity, a free web program. It works pretty well, but there is some weird glitch with the driver, Audacity, and other sound programs. I have to keep switching playback devices, and doing weird things like unplugging the mic to listen to my speakers (the computer tries to play through the headphones.) The setup works well sound wise, and track recording really seems to be the way to go, especially if you are like me and going to mess up take after take. :)
The driver issues drive me nuts sometimes though. I really need to sit down and read both websites and find the solution before I wear out all my USB sockets. I imagine other, simpler Blue mics, without the headphones, probably work better, since you can always buy a chord long enough to plug the headphones directly into the computer. I do like using the computer. There are tricks I've learned that really require being able to blow the sin waves up, to clip out background noises (darn apartment living) and stuff like that. Most of the stuff is pretty intuitive, or at least easy to fix if you screw it up. It's got an 'undo' button. :)
I'm still having some mastering issues where it sounds great in Audacity, and great as a .wav file, but when I compress it to an MP3 it sounds lifeless.
All that said, USB microphones are pretty useful for lots of things, like Skype, and if you don't go for all the bells and whistles they are pretty cheap, and if you have a decent computer Audacity is a great free solution.
I have to say the advice about considering what you actually want to use the recordings for is the most important. I've been tinkering with home recording for about two years and have assembled a very small rig. Sonar software, Roland dig/audio interface, microcube, shure 565. I started with Audacity and it is a great starting place which can produce some excellent results. It's a good way to learn about how to manipulate sound files.
I then bought the Sonar recording package as I wanted to get into some midi sequencing. I won't lie, the learning curve is extremely steep. Everything has multiple L/R click functions and you can change the parameters of anything and everything. But once you get a small hold of the way it works it gives you a huge amount tools and choice. I don't play keyboard, I write my midi parts using the free Musedit program on music stave. I think if pushed I could lay down a basic 12 bar blues with bass, drums, keyboards, and an audio guitar in about 30mins. (The great thing is once you've got the notes written down you can make them sound like any instrument!) Blues for a bagpipes, ukulele and harpsicord trio anyone?
Like most areas of music, 50% of the confusion arises from the jargon used. (You're probably already thinking "What the hell is midi sequencing?")
Many thanks guys, this is really appreciated. I will save and peruse these posts very carefully ... but already see a certain drift towards the Zoom.
My ambition is very modest, I should have made that clearer. Just passable YT-videos, or soundfiles.
@JDHoskins: Yamaha is definitely off my list. I am on grounds of principle opposed to the death penalty, but for people writing/translating/overseeing machine translated manuals, i could be tempted to make an exception. With the money the electronics companies are making it´s downright shameful they can´t put out acceptable manuals.
@isaacullah: you are terribly advanced! Waaay beyond where I´m aiming to go, but I see your advice and take it to heart.
@Pistolcat: jo du har rätt, och hade jag inte haft en kompis som hjälpt mig med teknikjävelskapet hade jag fortfarande suttit med skrivmaskin! Men förhoppningen är att hitta ngt så jag blir aningen självgående. Du är väldigt avancerad, ser jag, och snygga saker också!
@Frank, Yes, that was a borrowed Canon camera -- it was fairly simple to manipulate but neither a whole lot of memory nor sound.
Some of you mention Audacity. It´s supposed to be easy. Sorry, been there, tried that. Went over my head. Too advanced. It´s a shame but that´s the way it is.
You don't say what your computer is, If it's a laptop it probably has a built in mic. If you want simplicity and you have windows, you'll probably have a built in sound recorder already. Use that and the built-in mic. The sound wont be hi-fi, but probably plenty good enough for what you are trying to do.
Glad to have helped Martin. For your needs with the way you've assessed your comfort/skill with computers, I will say that you should either buy a) Zoom Q3HD, or b) a decent digital camera with a good internal mic (hopefully stereo).
If you decided to go for option B, you will also be able to use the camera as a camera to take still photos on vacation or whatever. I've been told that the Canon IXUS 220 HS (http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/canon_ixus_220_hs_review/) is a great option for this, as it has a pretty good built-in stereo mic, takes great photos, records HD video, and is a little bit cheaper than the Zoom. This will be all you need to achieve your current goals. Hope that helps!
EDITED TO ADD: Trade offs between option A and option B above: Option A gives you better AUDIO quality, with the sacrificing of the video quality somewhat. Option B gives you better VIDEO quality with the sacrificing of the audio quality somewhat (but perhaps not as much as the sacrifice in video quality of option A, and is also able to be used in more contexts). ----------
@isaac my thoughts almost exactly. If he wants basic either a digital camera or even a phone would suffice just for posting on utube
Why are people making all sorts of complicated software suggestions when he admits he is a bit of a luddite? ---------- "Come on Brackett let's get changed"
@martin: just for the record, i don't think anyone ever claimed audacity was easy. great tool, very powerful. but easy? not really.
for the basics of amplifying levels and cutting up a recording into individual tracks it's not bad once you've figured out how to do what you want. but the figuring out how is a problem. maybe if i get a chance i'll try and do a video showing how i do that.
and of course audacity is just for audio. for video, oy, i have no idea what people use. i'm a linux guy, so i don't know 'bout pc or mac software. in theory, imovie should be easy, but i find macs to be incredibly intolerant of anything outside of their own little closed ecosystem, including pretty much every video file i'm tried to play on a mac.
@tookatooka: The computer is ... whaddyacallit ... a "non-portable" thing, "stationary"? I´m using Windows, XP -- so no built in mic. But I bought a Sony mic some yrs back with a diffuse intention of using it for something basic /w the computer, and I don´t know, maybe it will suffice. (Gonna ask a friend about this.)
@isaacullah: Yes, I´ve been looking at those Canons (a lady close to me have one) and they are great -- but the memory aspect was, at least on that one, rather drab: you had like two, three minutes to film, then basta. (But I suppose that can be helped w/ additional gear.)
@Garry: Well, actually it was a guy on Harp-l who claimed Audacity was easy -- and he was very helpful to me, so not patronizing in any way, but easy means different things to people. It may have been you (?) who once told me that you had worked in the software industry and that you had something like a "grandma theorem": "If granny can´t find her way ´round the stuff we´re making -- make it simpler." That´s exactly my position. That´s "easy". (Excusing my prejudices towards grandmothers.)I gave away! a Sony home studio yrs ago, just because I couldn´t understand it ... (Turned out the recipient couldn´t either, so now it´s just gathering dust.) We are very slack in our demands towards the electronics industry in terms of user friendliness and that and the digital revolution are creating gaps in our societies that are just unacceptable. This is becoming a problem of democracy: some people can´t participate. (Here in Sweden you can´t go to the effing bank anymore, granny is supposed to do it all "on-line", but she has a scant notion of what that entails so there she´s sitting with her bunch of bills and not a single computer in sight.)
yeah, that could have been me with the Grandma Rule. i am keenly aware that i'm an outlier wrt to technology (30+ years at bell labs will do that to ya), and that i therefore cannot trust my judgments about what constitutes "easy". i do think i'll take a whack at that video; maybe that will help someone.
The big problem with Audacity is the silly LAME codec that for some sort of copyright you have to download separately from the rest of the program if you want to export MP3's. Once you have that, it can be as simple as plugging in your microphone, selecting it from the menu, and pressing record. The problem is, it's got all these other neat buttons that you feel compelled to press and all of the sudden you have 32 tracks and are trying to figure out where in the room acoustically is the best place to record clapping sounds. :)
I have had some pretty decent recordings on the microphone built into my Canon Power Shot. I've heard some decent recordings on mid-range cell phones too. There are even apps that let you do tracks. It's not as good as a dedicated audio device, but they aren't bad. :)
@Nacoran, it took me months to work out the lame mp3 conversion thing, some kid on youtube explaind it and i had about 200 attempts to get it converting to mp3, i think all the folks at harmonica boogie wished i never figured it out, but on a serious note its quite a good little recording gizzmo thing, easy when you know how tho.
On my Mac I use a programme called TapeDeck. Very cool little programme which looks and works like an old cassette recorder. You can't multi track with it, but it's ideal for simple recording ideas or practice sessions.
This was done with a SM58 plugged into the back of a dell computer with XP on it...I used an adapter on the end of the mic cable to fit the little mic plug of the computer. I used the 58 to mic a small tube amp and I think it was recorded with windows movie maker, I can't remember exactly...I did use a plug and play logitech web cam.
@Martin: Actually, the time that you can record on any digital camera (be it a Zoom or a Cannon or what have you) is ONLY limited by the size of the SD card you put in it. I imagine your friend has a really tiny little SD card (like only 64mb or something). These days, you can buy an 8GB SD card for less than $10. With a card that size, you could probably record until the batteries died, and then put new batteries in, and record until those died too! :)
@garry: I'm a linux user too. For video, the best non-linear video editor is kdenlive. If it's just trimming and adding audio, however, I use avidemux. Between the two of those, that's how I make all of my vids. For audio, I too mainly use Audacity, but a REALLY nice (dare I say PRO level) DAW is available FREE for linux, mac, AND windows: Ardour. It's truly multitrack, and incorporates basically everything that any pro-level DAW has. Ubuntu multimedia studio is also a pretty darn sophisticated DAW for linux. I've dabbled in both, but since I don't have a true multitrack audio interface (most of the affordable USB interfaces are only stereo due to the USB 2.0 protocols), and since I don't play in a band with multiple instruments, I haven't really found I gain anything by using a true DAW. ----------
@isaacullah: some of the digital cameras i've owned stop recording video after exactly 3 minutes. really stupid feature. if you're paying attention you can hit the button again and record another, then glue them together in post, but it's a nuisance.
i've played with ardour a bit, but never got very far with it. problems recognizing devices, crap like that. i have little tolerance for sysadmin these days.
i use openshot for video at the moment. it's ok, but it's tedious to mark up a gig video and have to save each track separately. i'd love to do what i do with audacity: mark all the tracks and have it export them all to different files. do the ones you mention do that?
i'd also like an alternative to audacity that would let me apply effects and hear the difference in real time. audacity's model of "select a piece, tweak values, click apply, wait, then try and remember what it used to sound like vs what it sounds like now" is pretty useless.
For this one I used an inexpensive plug and play logitech cam with Video Pad Video Recording Software and a 50 dollar Lexicon Alpha desk top recording studio to power the mics...
Basically it boils down to how much money you want to spend & remembering that what you buy today will be old technology in no time.
I try, but it's difficult, to adopt the adage of 'keeping it simple' & that 'less is more'. It certainly is getting easier, cheaper, more compact and very portable to produce recordings that are of very good quality. I think that some of the apps available for ipads & android devices will, if not now, provide the means to record high quality.
I'm in my 70's & technology for me is brain food. Love it, but have great difficulty with it. As a youngster I grew up with the wind up gramophone, the ice chest & the outside dunny. Martin, if I can work this stuff anyone can.
But were I just starting out the following items would be in my kit:-
1) Audacity & Lame. Great basic 'free' recording & editing program. I have in the past 6 years installed it onto 2 PCs and a Laptop. Before commencing installation I print out instructions from both sites, highlight each point & follow them to the letter.
2) Zoom recorder. I have the H2 Zoom which is fantastic but has been replaced by a newer model. Any recordings done in Zoom can be easily uploaded into Audacity for editing and converting to MP3's. Use the Zoom anywhere.
3) Blue Yeti Mic. Fantastic piece of gear ie a USB Condenser Mic enabling recording direct into computer/Audacity. A powerful and very sensitive mic that requires total noiseless work environment. Great for Skype sessions plus I use it when doing webcam vids. With the Blue Yeti I have found that it handles vocals really well & tends to warm them up however with the harp I have found the exact opposite as it accents the higher frequencies. I dampen them down by using my harp via a Fireball Mic through an RP155 pedal to a Cube amp & then through the air to the Blue Yeti. Vocals are direct.
4)With movie production its endless. But a simple configuration is to use a decent Webcam like a Logitech C920. If outside a simple camcorder or even some still cameras are capable of limited video shoots. On your computer if it is eg Windows it will have a 'Windows Movie Maker' included & it is a good start for editing.
Don't be put off by technology ie tackle it head on. ---------- HARPOLDIE’S YOUTUBE
@garry: I hadn't ever heard of that 3-minut thing! that's crazy! I know some cameras used to have a "youtube" setting, where they would turn off after 10 minutes....
Yeah, ardour may have issues if you try to connect via pulseaudio or alsa, but if you use JACK, you can get it connected to basically anything. Including MIDI stuff. I haven't fooled with it too much, since, like I said, I haven't really needed that much functionally. I got it to play along nicely with mt usb mixer. How long has it been since you last tried it? Perhaps your issues have been fixed since you last tried...
I used to use openshot too, but I find kdenlive to be much more functional, and less buggy. openshot used to crash on me all the time. The latest version of kdenlive is much improved over the version I used back in Ubuntu 11.04, but I'm not sure if it does exactly what you want. It does save it's projects in a very similar format as Audacity does (an xml "base" file, and folder full of constituent stuff used in the project: vid clips, audio, transitions, title overlays, etc). Is that what you mean? Anyway, I think you'll really like it if you give it a shot...
If you want to hear effects in real time, use JACK-RACk or Rackarack, which are both live guitar fx "racks" for linux. You can route your audio into you computer, through a series of digital fx, tweak parameters, and play live in real time as if it's a pedal board. A lot of the same fx can be added into audacity as LADSPA or VST plugins, so you can note which settings sounded good, and use them... I like rackarack better (better interface), but JACK-RACK might have more inter-functionality with Audacity plugin fx... ----------
@Aussisucker: Thank you. You´re obviously a bit older than me -- but I´m not sure you´re correct in concluding that anyone can do what you can: you may have a tenacity that is not universally spread. Anyway, I sincerely applaud your attitude and thank you for the input. However, that effing Audacity has proven a bit too much for me and I´m slightly reluctant to return to it: I get so bloody mad when I realize that I don´t understand, when the manual is incomplete/poorly written, and when I find myself having to GUESS what to do next. Always wrong. It shouldn´t be that way and it´s very taxing on the balance of my bodily fluids.
Blue Yeti sound really interesting, though! Will check it out.
I set my hopes to the Zoom, I think, many recommendations here.
Meanwhile I shall play around a little bit more with that camera I used earlier and, as isaacullah suggests, see if there´s a need of a new memory card to add to that Canon.
@tookatooka: I think it´s called Power Shot or some such thing. Perhaps they´re all called that ...? It belongs to a lady sometimes in my prescense, but I´m sure she´d applaud it if I upgraded her memory card. The one time I used it I found it rather, well, easy: you pressed "video" (or whatever) and there you went.
But my OP here implied a quest for a just slightly higher level in the sound quality department, just slightly; depicting my gloomy Swedish features are most decidely a secondary issue. (But of course it´s fun to see what you people look like when you put up your stuff.)
Martin, do not write off Audacity. Although sometimes tricky to install, it is a good 'free' multi track recording /editing suite. As I suggest make sure you print out hard copies of the instructions & follow them to the letter. Access to a younger brain can be of help. My young pre teen grandchildren run rings around me with their intuitive knowledge of computers. Getting their help.... well a bit of bribery helps.
@Aussi:"Access to a younger brain" would be my only hope -- or to another brain: the most computer savy friends I have is 65! (But he´s a real wizard.)
Just yesterday this guy showed me how to make a simple recording w/ Windows stuff. Now, if I need two tracks (and that´s about a minimum: a capella harmonica just goes this far ...) I´ll simply HAVE to learn how to handle an editing program of sorts. Maybe another stab at Audacity .. but when I read what Nacoran writes here above I tend to lose hope: "LAME", "codec", "download separately" -- I feel a headache coming on right away.
#Martin. I think more than enough suggestions and ideas have been given to you through this forum. Let's face it, whatever we say, you have a very handy excuse or get-out.
I think your best bet would be to forget it and just find some kind soul who will do everything for you. It may cost but it doesn't look like you have many other options available to you.
@tookatooka: That may very well prove to be the case. But as I said, at least I´ve now learned to use Windows sound recorder (wasn´t tough, and it´s a start anyway)-- and I´m becoming more and more convinced that a Zoom would be an interesting thing for me. Maybe Audacity -- if I find the assistance.
Yes, the notion of a kind soul helping me is very present indeed. Luckily I´ve got one, otherwise I´d be far from where I am even now in the cyber world respect. Some of us are really under-priveliged. And as I´ve said, I´m very grateful for all your suggestions. It may take a while for me to digest it, but don´t think I´m brushing off anything by just saying "nah, impossible"; if it comes out like that I´ll blame it on my poor English.
@Martin. Sometimes we just have to face it, we can't be good at everything and some times it's best to leave it to the experts so we can excel with the things we are good at.
I wish we could have helped more but trying to coach via a forum is really, hard, time consuming work especially if the person at the other end spends a lot of time just scratching his head. :)
@tookatooka: You have helped, in a big way! Rest assured that I´ll save every post above for future reference. This is a great forum with a very swift, generous and diversified responsivity; but of course there are some tricky aspects of learning things this way that can probably only be overcome by a hands-on situation. (Or, gasp!, a revolution in the software/electronics world, towards genuine user-friendliness. Wouldn´t that be a nice way to spend some of the profits they are making from our eager purchases of their gadgets?)
What makes things really difficult is the unfathomable depths of my ignorance, most people with some experience of "computers", in a general way, find this hard to take in. In the end, though, that´s my problem. Or OUR problem, ´cause we are legion.
Understand @Martin. It doesn't help that English is probably your second language. English is the primary language for computers/electronics etc and it must be extremely difficult for non English speakers. In retrospect Martin, I think you've done very well up to now. Hopefully you'll get it sorted soon.
The annoying thing is, what could take just a minute in conversation can take 4 or 5 pages of typed text. :)
@Martin and others who are looking at easing in to home recording. I just found this neat little website which details the basics of setting up the minimum you need for a little home studio. It does so in plain english, and breaks things down very simply. Hopefully you'll find it of some help!
Thanks tookatooka. Written English is normally not a problem for me (I´ve been reading it for more than 40 years by now, so it really shouldn´t be) but sometimes I´m sloppy when it comes to writing. The main problem is the manuals. The give me the exact same problems in Swedish as in English, mostly due to the sudden introduction of non-defined terms or general lack of clarity. THE ENGINEERS SHALL NOT WRITE THE MANUALS. Never, ´cause they already got the hang of things. Right now, this very Friday evening I´ve been spending more than an hour trying to understand/find solutions to a basic problem in Windows XP, and it´s not there. This is a multi-mega-billion-$ company and they can´t spend a couple of thou on a decent manual? Isn´t that deeply disturbing?
It may seem like I´m a retard, but in reality I´m not, I assure you, I just sometimes put on the dunce cap as a way of attracting sympathy. I´m reasonably proficient in certain things, and I´ve had no problem in neither understanding nor teaching, for instance, St Anselm´s proof for the existence of God and most of it´s implications in my philosphy classes over the years. But I can´t manage basic things with my computer.
@isaacullah: Ooops, just saw your post. That looks like a really interesting web page, and I´ll certainly give it my utmost attention ... tomorrow. Thanks a lot for all your input here, you´re very kind.
Martin, you will find that not only does the harmonica become addictive but it leads to very serious highly contagious condition called GAS. Simply put it is Gear Acquisition Syndrome! You are toying around the edges but soon you will be in deep and loving it. Sharp learning curve - mics, amps, pedals, recording gear & software. Won't take long and you will be a highly efficient computer geek & you will understand & be talking the necessary lingo. Learning the harp - well that's a whole lot lot harder.
@Aussiesucker: You have me scared here! But luckily my financial situation keeps me very on a tight leash when it comes to gear. (Even when my circumstances very somewhat merrier did I find it quite easy not to overindulge in stuff I didn´t need -- but who knows, things may change?)
Anyway, I´m actually looking forward to at least a minor GAS affliction (although I´d sincerely prefer it to mean what is implied in your acronym and not serious indiestion ...) and I will report the results in forms of soundfiles/videos.
