home songwriting on a budget

smallzoo2

I have some acoustic guitars, electric guitars and a midi keyboard and I am looking for the best way to record my songs on a budget. I dont mind buying used. I have a laptop and an old apple mac but happy to consider just a manual multi track method

so many choices so any advice from home songwriters would be great

Neil_Jones

Pretty sure the keyboard and the guitars will have some sort of output connectort, they have to connect to something for a true source (though on TV you quite often see a microphone plonked in front of a guitar which might be good for that environment but probably isn't what you want)

This might be of interest:

https://www.maplin.co.uk/blogs/expert-advice/a-guide-to-jack-cables-and-plugs

You can probably get converters to and from anything you like depending on what the computers and the instruments have, though most  laptops only have output (headphone 3.5" most likely) and very little else besides USB.

I'd worry first about getting some audio into a computer from the instruments before you start worrying about multi tracks, because if you can't get any music in you've nothing to track with!

DullGreyGuy

In principle you can stick a mic infront of all of them and use that to capture but you are likely to get a better result if you use an Audio Interface and for things like the electric guitar use that as the ADC. 

With an old computer or budget convertors there can be an issue of lag making it difficult to synch the different tracks. It can also depend on if you want to capture everything as individual tracks or happy to capture things simultaneously... a reasonable condenser mic can be ok to capture an acoustic guitar & singing simultaneously. 

You can also ignore the computer and use a 4/8 track recorder but haven't used one of them for 25 years 

RumRat

Best to also ask somewhere other like minded people might be able to help....
The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat - Index

Vitor

What does 'on a budget' mean - £10 or £1,000?

RHemmings

Depending on what budget means ... the Behringer USB interfaces with Midas pre-amps function well, in my opinion. 

E.g. the 'Behringer UMC202HD Audiophile 2x2, 24-Bit/192 kHz USB Audio Interface with Midas Mic Preamplifiers | For Recording Microphones and Instruments'. I would always recommend a two-input interface even if you think you'll only record mono vocals and guitar. You never know when you will suddenly decide that you want to record in stereo. E.g. one mic half-way between the soundhole and the end of the guitar, and one mic pointed at the 12th fret for recording a 'wide' acoustic guitar. Or, if your MIDI keyboard has a stereo out, you may wish to record both channels. In hindsight I wish I had bought the UMC204HD for four channel output, but most people don't use that. I think the UMC202HD is about £70. There are cheaper versions without the Midas pre-amps, but I would recommend the better pre-amps. Much more future-proof. 

The Shure SM57 microphone is an all-time classic. It doesn't match large-diaphragm studio mics, but it just has so many uses. They cost about £90. There are a lot of knock-offs such as: https://www.thomann.co.uk/the_tbone_mb75.htm  A genuine SM57 is a potentially good second hand purchase as they are robust. But, beware of fakes. I don't have the tbone MB75, but I have another tbone mic, the MB78. It cost me £57 for a bundle containing the mic, a usable but clearly not high quality stand, and a cable. That was some years ago now.  EDIT: The bundle is now £66. The mic is fine. It's more of a stage mic, but arguably so is the SM57. People say that 'no-one ever regretted buying an SM57', and I agree with that. I bought mine in the early 1990s and it is as good as new. Note that some audio interfaces don't provide enough boost for the SM57, but the UMC202HD as before does. 

If you want a better mic for vocals, the Audio Technica AT2020 mic is fabulous value. I borrowed one to experiment with and I was very impressed indeed. I believe that Billie Eilish (spelling?) recorded her first album with this mic. You don't mention vocals in your OP. Again, the AT2020 is about £90. 

Note that probably your biggest restriction will be recording at home. I have Waves plugins for AI-based noise reduction of vocals, and reverb removal. Because I bought them in sales with multiple plugins for discounts, and averaged out they probably cost me about £15 each. They can make a big difference if you are recording in less than ideal environments. Here is an infomercial for noise reduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVSqNvxQ4_M  and here is de-reverb. https://youtu.be/pRW8KGjVOsk    There are other companies providing similar plugins, but Waves are the ones I know. 

For cheap recording at home, the Reaper DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software is a good choice in my opinion. It isn't the easiest software to use, but is extremely powerful the further you get into it. You can watch lots of videos on YouTube, and I recommend those by Kenny Gioia. Look for his most recent videos as he has been producing them for a long time. Some people call Reaper 'Freeper' because you can use it for free. Just keep hitting the 'still evaluating' button on the popup box at the beginning, and the demo never runs out. However, a licence is quite cheap at, I think, about £60. Way, way, less than similar software such as ProTools, Logic Pro X, etc. A lot of people use Reaper free for some time, and then buy a licence later on. 

If you're learning to record at home, you may want to start with whatever headphones and/or speakers you have, and upgrade later on. 

smallzoo2

RHemmings said:

Depending on what budget means ... the Behringer USB interfaces with Midas pre-amps function well, in my opinion. 

E.g. the 'Behringer UMC202HD Audiophile 2x2, 24-Bit/192 kHz USB Audio Interface with Midas Mic Preamplifiers | For Recording Microphones and Instruments'. I would always recommend a two-input interface even if you think you'll only record mono vocals and guitar. You never know when you will suddenly decide that you want to record in stereo. E.g. one mic half-way between the soundhole and the end of the guitar, and one mic pointed at the 12th fret for recording a 'wide' acoustic guitar. Or, if your MIDI keyboard has a stereo out, you may wish to record both channels. In hindsight I wish I had bought the UMC204HD for four channel output, but most people don't use that. I think the UMC202HD is about £70. There are cheaper versions without the Midas pre-amps, but I would recommend the better pre-amps. Much more future-proof. 

The Shure SM57 microphone is an all-time classic. It doesn't match large-diaphragm studio mics, but it just has so many uses. They cost about £90. There are a lot of knock-offs such as: https://www.thomann.co.uk/the_tbone_mb75.htm  A genuine SM57 is a potentially good second hand purchase as they are robust. But, beware of fakes. I don't have the tbone MB75, but I have another tbone mic, the MB78. It cost me £57 for a bundle containing the mic, a usable but clearly not high quality stand, and a cable. That was some years ago now.  EDIT: The bundle is now £66. The mic is fine. It's more of a stage mic, but arguably so is the SM57. People say that 'no-one ever regretted buying an SM57', and I agree with that. I bought mine in the early 1990s and it is as good as new. Note that some audio interfaces don't provide enough boost for the SM57, but the UMC202HD as before does. 

If you want a better mic for vocals, the Audio Technica AT2020 mic is fabulous value. I borrowed one to experiment with and I was very impressed indeed. I believe that Billie Eilish (spelling?) recorded her first album with this mic. You don't mention vocals in your OP. Again, the AT2020 is about £90. 

Note that probably your biggest restriction will be recording at home. I have Waves plugins for AI-based noise reduction of vocals, and reverb removal. Because I bought them in sales with multiple plugins for discounts, and averaged out they probably cost me about £15 each. They can make a big difference if you are recording in less than ideal environments. Here is an infomercial for noise reduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVSqNvxQ4_M  and here is de-reverb. https://youtu.be/pRW8KGjVOsk    There are other companies providing similar plugins, but Waves are the ones I know. 

For cheap recording at home, the Reaper DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software is a good choice in my opinion. It isn't the easiest software to use, but is extremely powerful the further you get into it. You can watch lots of videos on YouTube, and I recommend those by Kenny Gioia. Look for his most recent videos as he has been producing them for a long time. Some people call Reaper 'Freeper' because you can use it for free. Just keep hitting the 'still evaluating' button on the popup box at the beginning, and the demo never runs out. However, a licence is quite cheap at, I think, about £60. Way, way, less than similar software such as ProTools, Logic Pro X, etc. A lot of people use Reaper free for some time, and then buy a licence later on. 

If you're learning to record at home, you may want to start with whatever headphones and/or speakers you have, and upgrade later on. 

Wow.. thanks for all the detail...I'll read through it tonight.. thanks again

Andyb01

Try eBay for a used Focusrite audio interface - there are always loads for sale. For a mic try a LDC - the T-Bone SC450 from Thomann is a great entry level recording mic (I have one) and also consider the Behringer C2 pencil mics - great for recording acoustic guitar.

Shame Cakewalk by Bandlab is no longer free - that's a great entry-level DAW. Good advice already provided above regarding Reaper 

Hope that's helpful

smallzoo2

Andyb01 said:

Try eBay for a used Focusrite audio interface - there are always loads for sale. For a mic try a LDC - the T-Bone SC450 from Thomann is a great entry level recording mic (I have one) and also consider the Behringer C2 pencil mics - great for recording acoustic guitar.

Shame Cakewalk by Bandlab is no longer free - that's a great entry-level DAW. Good advice already provided above regarding Reaper 

Hope that's helpful

I see a new Behringer UMC202HD Audiophile 2x2, 24-Bit is £69 on amazon whereas a used Focusrite is anything between £60 and £300 on ebay. Are they way better than the Behringer to warrant the cost difference