Posted on : 06-12-2009 | By : Chris
There’s a room in the back of the house which has been through I couple of changes. At first I had my computer in there and it was setup for recording. Back then my computer was a PIII 600 running Windows 98 and then Windows ME. My recording interface was a SeaSound Soloist.
Seasound Soloist
The recording software I used at first was Acid by Sony, although it was by Sonic Foundry back then. My wife and I painted the room purple and the sealing silver. I hung up a few neon lights, a black light and set up a couple of lava lamps. It was my night club looking home studio.
When I loaded Windows XP on my computer I couldn’t use my SeaSound Soloist anymore because the company went out of business and didn’t release XP drivers for it. Because of that and because I was doing computer work on my own, I rearranged it again and added a long work bench, a network hub, and some more power strips. It was now my computer repair room.
Then I started working at the radio and TV station. I pretty much quit doing computer work on the side and the room started to acquire all kinds of old computer parts and boxes. I took out my main computer but set up a server in there. Before I knew it, the room was full of stuff. So full that I only had a path to the chair at my computer desk. At this point it became my club looking storage room. And it remained this way for a couple years.
Last weekend I decided I wanted to a place to make and record my music in again. So I actually got the room cleaned up. Then I set it up so I could record at anytime I wanted to. The idea was to make it so I would have to do as little setup as possible before I could record. So I setup my stereo amp and speakers and wired it up to my laptop. On the top shelf of my computer desk, I hooked up an old 17″ Sony Trinitron monitor so I could use it and the latop’s screen at the same time. It’s nice to have at least 2 monitors when you’re working with recording software. After that I hooked up my Line 6 UX2 Toneport,which is what I use for an audio interface these days. Plugged in my guitar cord and ran the other end to my main guitar, an Ibanez RS 470 and set it on the guitar stand. Next, I got out my keyboard stand and placed one of my Roland MIDI keyboard controllers on it, and wired it up.
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Now it’s starting to look like a home studio. With the speakers, amp, computer, Line 6 UX 2, and monitors on the desk at the center against the wall, my MIDI keyboard on a stand to the left and my guitar on its stand on the right, I was just about ready to record. But I still had one piece of essential hardware to hookup. My control surface. Working with a mouse and computer keyboard isn’t the easiest or most efficient way to operate audio recording software. So my wife got me a PreSonus Faderport which is a motorized fader, that moves with track automation, and all the buttons you need for recording like play, fast fwd, rewind, record, stop, solo, mute, etc. After that I setup a boom stand and run an XLR cable to one of my microphones on said boom stand and I’m almost there.
Finally I launch Reaper and play around with screen arrangements and I decide to use the external Trinitron monitor for Pod Farm so I can adjust and change my guitar amp sounds without leaving my main Reaper screen. I create a new track and hit the record button on my Faderport and to my pleasant surprise, the button lights up and the track in Reaper has the arm/record button turn on. I slide back in my chair with just the Faderport in my hand. I press the write automation button and it turns red, then I move my fader up and down, press the stop button, press the read automation button and then play. The fader slides up and down by itself mimicking the movements I made just a moment ago when I had it in write mode. The Faderport works perfect without any configuration at all. I just plugged it in to the USB port and that’s it. Gotta love it when I don’t have to hunt it down in the preferences at all and everything just works!
Now I just walk in, create a track in Reaper and hit the record button and play my guitar, or my keyboard, or sing and I’m recording. No more time or inspiration or just forgetting what I was hearing in my head, while I set everything up. I’ve already got 2 new songs going. One is a pretty spacey track with quite a few keyboard parts and near done. I’ve recorded all the instruments and made a nice drum track. and I’m editing it now. Then I will finish mixing it. The other song I started today while I was in there just jamming. Like usual I had an idea for a song. This time I was able to get that idea recorded because I was all setup to record. It’s a hard rocking tune that I have laid down 4 or 5 guitar tracks for and a basic drum track.
Feels good to be making music again. I apologize to my World of Warcraft guild for not being on at all this past week, but when the muse visits, I gotta do what I gotta do.
