I finally got a goddamn 4-track!!!!!

A really good one for $150. It's 4-track, but you can dub over tracks till the cows come home, and it's got a built in mixer. I can plug in 12 different instruments. But I'm still having a bit of trouble with it. If anybody has any helpful info that they wouldn't mind sharing, I would be much obliged. The recorder is a Tascam Portastudio 464. If anybody else has the same model or one in the same family (ie. the 424, 484, etc.), and has some helpful tips, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

I don't suggest trying to record anything meaningful on it. Those things are great for recording drums live if you don't have enough channels on your regular recording set-up.

If you got it to make a demo or something then your best bet is to do live recordings from your rehersal room but to be honest, it's much easier to just use a PC.

Much Love
Sebbi

 

i agree with sebbi.
With a PC you can reach professional standards.

 

oke my next question is How do i do that on a PC then.
i really hope to do that one day... soon!..

 

you will need a decent sound card and some software like synthesizer programs, audio processing programs, programs for audio mixing etc...

if you want to learn something more specific, i'm available.
i'm not an expert, but i can give you my two cents...

 

Sure I'll take those 2 cents, any info is welcome and helpful , i have a reasonable sound card, i just need some good software, and a little know-how. i've been playing around with fruityloops a bit, but although i dig that too, it's not really what i wanna do.

 

so, what do you wanna do?
i mean, i don't know where to start here....
but i'll try anyway...

I use FruityLoops for making rythm loops, and i think it's the best for that work.
But you could also use loops that are available in loop collections (there are different collections for different genres of music) that you can buy them, or make a little search on the net for free loops.

OK, you got your rythm loops. now you need to process them (change the tempo, maybe change the tonality, combine 2 or more loops into one, etc).
For this work i use ACID.

OK, the above was a brief description of how I use rythm (drums/percussion) loops.
Ofcourse, you can use loops for all the instruments, but that would limit your creativity and the originality of your project.

Coming Soon: Part 2 - "Enough with the Loops, tell me how to write MIDI and audio (wave) tracks"

Neo-Hippie, I'm expecting some feedback here.
Is this close to what you wanna know?
do you have any questions?
do you want me to be more specific about a certain subject?

 

I sepose I want to sample stuff, from pots and pans to keyboard and guitar riffs, so i'd need a good mic and and nice program to cut and paste it all together