recording query

[Anonymous]

Hi Johnny,
still looking more at buying a zoom r24 (i can use it for recording me on keyboards via midi,me on acoustic guitar,me on sax,daughter 1 on flute, daughter 2 on clarinet, and possibly use the drum loops, record someone singing as well, and record my mate on electric guitar, and another friend playing on soprano sax, and some friends on recorders… the list goes on)

my question is to do with backing tracks – if i was to do a simple recording of just one of your backing tracks, and me playing my sax, what is the best thing to do with a multi track recorder?

Would you copy the backing track to the multitrack recorder and save it on one of the tracks, and then record the sax on track 2, or would you play the backing track in the room on a hifi unit and play along with the sax and record both onto 1 track.

How would i get the backing track onto the multitrack – would i have to record onto one of the tracks with a mic?

[Kevin]

James, I like to download the backing tracks to my smart phone, then using an 1/8″ to 1/4″ cord I plug the 1/8″ end into the headphone jack of the phone and the 1/4″ cable end into one of the inputs on my multi-track recorder and record the backing track onto track #1 (or any track you choose).
You can do the same thing from your laptop(or ipad) headphone jack.
This gives good results with regards to keeping the original audio quality of the backing track. There may be a better way using a higher end solution- I hope someone comments accordingly.
Recording the backing track from a sound systems speaker into a mic might give OK results, but there will be loss in quality of the original.

Hope this helps…

[Anonymous]

Hi James

It may be better to record the sax alone on a single track? You can use headphones to listen to the backing track and later the two tracks could be mixed using software (Audacity?). This will give you the freedom to adjust the two track volume levels as you want them, and you will still have your original backing track quality.

[john]

Yes totally correct Jeff
Recording the backing track direct will give best results if you record it thru a speaker system it’ll give you more o a live sound if that’s what you want but that’s not the way I do it
Always have the sax on its own track for total control with level eq and other effects if desired

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the confirmation feed back Johnny!
Next week a pro i know, might let me record one of my songs in his
recording room, so i’ll probably end up changing my mind, now i’ve got
access to a more professional recording setup (only thing i have to pay
for it, but it’s a reasonable price, and i don’t have to set it all up etcc..)
but at the end of the day i still want my own mini set up for checking practice runs etc..

[Anonymous]

thanks Kev & Jeff for your comments, had a chat with my teacher today, and he wants me to try out garage band first, using the mic on the laptop to record my sax – first of all to see if that is sufficient for my needs before going down the multitrack route etc..

At my current level of playing, i need the recordings more for my own feed back from practice runs, not quite at the stage to produce proper demo’s, which will give me more time to look into do i really need this stuff etc..

[Anonymous]

Hi James, when I was trying to record a decent version of my tune the other day it took me all morning. Each time I would make a silly mistake in a different place. A few times I would play a bar or two really well and that would distract me so much I would make a mistake a few bars later. The thing I’ve found about recordings is that the less you have to control the greater the chance of a successful recording. I used to make mixed tapes from my LP’s years ago, and I could bet that an unusually noisy vehicle would clatter past the house sometime whilst I was recording! That’s just the way the cookie crumbles!

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jeff – i don’t have problems with background noise (touch wood – unless someone starts digging up the road outside), and i record when the house is empty (dont want flushing toilets in the background – lol).

When i practice i always make one or two mistakes, and make a mental knote of where they are, to iron them out.

Before i did my first grade exam, i was being to over critical of my playing for the exam – i wanted everything sounding perfect, it got to a point in one of the mock exams at the teachers house – i made a mistake and stopped playing half way (disaster in a real exsm).

The teacher got me to change my approach, be less over critical, and carry on playing to the end which was more important. He explained the various marks i would get for playing – so based on that – i realised i could allow myself a certain number of mistakes, and how serious the mistakes would be in terms of marks.

So armed with that knowledge, i try not to let mistskes worry me anymore – and have accepted the fact i will almost certainly make the odd mistake here and there. If its a case of making a mistake in the same place evertime, then i know i haven’t mastered that part properly & need to iron that one out.

But like JF says, if you practice it over and over (some conductors say if you can play a piece 5 times in a row without a mistake – then consider that you have learnt it) – you should be ready for a performance.

I agree distractions like setting up machines, the neighbours cat takes a dump in your garden, postman rings the bell – do throw off concentration – in that case i just put the mistakes down to that.

The only thing that irritates me is when someone plays something & then blames their mistakes on their equipment when in fact its a lack of practice/feed back – ie they haven’t got to the stage where the piece they are playing is ready for performance. Most listeners can judge for themselves if their is a problem with the equipment.

For me i can play mary had a little lamb – without a mistake (hopefully, but you see what im getting at) – without worrying
about making a mistake because its so easy to play. The same thing applies to any piece you learn, at some stage of playing it over and over – when it begins to get like mary had a little time – then thats performance time/demo recording.

[Anonymous]

One man’s mistake is another’s improvisation 😉 If I can play a piece of music 5x without mistakes I had better rush out and buy a LOTTO ticket!

When I was a lad and had to play my piano exams my mother would feed me barley sugar sweets to calm the jitters. I did quite a few both theory and practical back in the 70’s, but now I’m afraid my memory is measured in nanometers – I just have to play from sheet music.

Last Thursday I practised sooo long the middle of my lower lip actually bled. It wasn’t a good idea, but on Monday my tone was much improved. Playing the sax is just like cycling, you have to spend plenty of time in the saddle.

Don’t forget to check out Audacity 2.1.1 (free, open source, cross-platform software for recording and editing sounds)
it has plenty of functions for editing multiple audio tracks. Audacity software

[Anonymous]

cheers Jeff – will check out audicity & garage band when the spple mac turns up! Next week my teacher will show me how to use garage band on his mac – so i’ll listen to the quality of that recorded through the mac’s microphones as opposed to through a mic via a audio interface.

Thats funny i was playing a piece where i was honking on the sax by flicking my tongue from the roof of my mouth, onto the top of the mouthpiece in a downward vertical motion, and hitting the tip of the reed with underside tip of my tongue and stopping the reed – sort of slapping the top tip of the mouthpiece with my tongue – after a while i could taste blood in my mouth – i nicked the underside tip if my tongue with the reed – the reed turned pink! lol

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