[Aunt Doty]

X4, I just found this and I think it's great. Just what a visual learner like myself needs! I had already downloaded Audacity but have not tried it yet. This should help me feel more confident. Thanks a mil lion. I'm impressed with your computer skills!

[Stratrat]

Great job, Kenny - it was good of you to take the time to make those vids, I'm sure that will get a lot of people nicely underway with Audacity!

[X4StringDrive]

Doty, hope it helps, waiting for you to post some of your stuff.
not much computer skills here Doty, just learning to use the applications is all. Thanks....

Stratrat..Thanks, I hope so.

[Kirk Lorange]

Excellent stuff, X4SD ... thanks so much for taking the time to put it all together. I love it!

[carol m]

Hi Kenny, I've just found this Sticky, don't know how I missed it before. I did a site 'Search' for Audacity a few weeks ago when I was starting to connect with my computer for recording but this thread didn't come up. If I had just looked at the index I would have seen it straight off.

Its late now but tomorrow I'm going to 'study' this in detail. Thanks in advance, I know its going to be a big help

[hb]

I've had audacity for quite some time now and have played with it a little, but not much. Uploaded a song or two to this site with it. Can someone tell me that if one wanted a chord progression to play in the background while I play the melody, would I just have to find a backing track that fits the song, or is there something I can do with Audacity to make a chord progression?
thanks in advance,
hb

[X4StringDrive]

Hi hb, best to make one yourself to get what you want. Or as you mentioned, find something you can use. Audacity to best of my knowledge has no engine for building its or your own progressions.

Just record the progression you would like and have at it, or you could ask someone here to make you one that you could use.

Also there are some programs on the net that will allow you to make your own....heres one that I just found and is simple,sounds good and has a variety of bass, drums, guitar and piano...you choose what you want, set the tempo and play along, or use a recording app to save it.
JamStudio.com - The online music factory - Jam, remix, arrange chords and loops - free guitar
Hope this helps...........................Kenny



Note: Hope to hear something from you soon Carol......you too hb

[chammon]

Great tutorial X4. Wish I could find something this good for my Garage Band for MAC software. I'm more of a "visual learner" too.

[hb]

Originally Posted by hb

I've had audacity for quite some time now and have played with it a little, but not much. Uploaded a song or two to this site with it. Can someone tell me that if one wanted a chord progression to play in the background while I play the melody, would I just have to find a backing track that fits the song, or is there something I can do with Audacity to make a chord progression?
thanks in advance,
hb

Thanks! This looks like something I've been looking for! Will take a little time to digest it all, but looks like it can fill the void I've been searching for. It just goes to show that if one searches these forums, you'll find something that Google just can't find!
hb

[kdkoadd]

Good info. Nice presentation. Thanks.

[eddiez152]

chammon,
I use Garage band all the time. Maybe I could help ?
Since it is already on your computer you will have no need for any download information.
You will find a great tutorial built right in the Garage Band software also.
I will start putting something together for the basics and getting started.

[carol m]

Just a quick question - when you record more than one track, do you play the first track and then record the second track along/over the first one and synchronise the timing by ear? I found that that was quite difficult to do! I tried to use the 'Align Tracks' option and that completely failed, I just couldn't get it to 'do' anything.

Also I tried using a click track and then remove it and that failed miserably as well.

Now I just try to synch it by ear with varying success. One success I have had is that the wah-wah can hide a multitude of phlubs and fumbles! It even makes it sound vaguely like music

Unfortunately you can get very tired of wah-wah in a very short space of time (and the family even more so).

[Tekker]

Originally Posted by carol m

Just a quick question - when you record more than one track, do you play the first track and then record the second track along/over the first one and synchronise the timing by ear?

Also I tried using a click track and then remove it and that failed miserably as well.

How does it sound while you're playing? If it sounds in time while playing then there's a possibility you could be experiencing latency (a delay caused by computer processing) which is causing your additional tracks to lag behind the original tracks. If it's latency, that is most likely a fairly simple problem to fix.

If it's not latency, then you may need to work on playing more steady with a click track. It's definitely not an easy thing to do and takes lots and LOTS of practice. Have you tried playing/practicing with a metronome before? Do you have one that you can use away from your computer? I have a cheap QwikTime metronome that I use for away from 'puter practicing and it works great.

-tkr

[carol m]

Hi Tekker, I think I understand about click tracks now, they are just a metronome track and you record 'over' it but its really a second track and then you just delete the click track? I thought you could use it to synchronise 2 tracks together, but I see now that you can't.

I would still like to know how you 'professionals' record you second and third tracks in synch with the first. I am doing it by recording one track. Fixing the program so you can hear that track while you record a second track and synch it by ear.

I thought (hoped) that you could use the Quick Mix effect or the Align Tracks effect to 'fudge' them together and even out any slightly missed timing? I haven't really got either of those effects to work yet, and am not sure what they will actually do.

Otherwise I am making great progress! I can do fade-in and fade-out (easy peasy!) and can compress OK, although I don't really understand why compressing a track causes the wave-form to widen and not 'compress' although I can hear that it is compressed.

My recordings improved amazingly when I noticed that my guitar has a thing called an 'exciter' that had been on Max until just now. Now I am much more mellow.

[Lcjones]

**

Well, not being a pro, but I'll try to set this up for you Carol.

When I start a recording the very first thing I do it find the rhythm or beat I want for a tune. I have used click tracks in the past, but I much prefer using a drum track.

Pseudo Rule #1
The first thing recorded is the beat. Drums or click track. Audacity has a Change Tempo feature where if you know the bpm (beat per minute) of an existing drum loop or sample, you can change it to be faster or slower.

In the last tune I wrote I used a (free by the way) Beta Monkey sample of brush-stick on a drum kit. The downloaded sample was about 1.1K (mp3) and roughly 4.175 seconds long. The sample was a straight forward 1,2,3,4 beat, no frills. The downloaded sample had a bpm of 115. I wanted 120 bpm, so using the "Change Tempo" tool in Audacity, I changed the 4.175 second loop from 115 to 120 bpm.

CAUTION - When changing the tempo on a short loop there is the ever-so-slight chance the sample will be truncated with a moment of silence.

Once I have the tempo I want, I'll use the Audacity REPEAT feature to replicate the loop for as long as I want. Usually, I'll make my drum track at least 60 - 90 seconds longer than I know I need. WIGGLE ROOM!

Of course, as each new track is laid down, each successive track is played back while recording the new track.

I will always leave 1 or 2 measures of lead time of the drum track before starting a song. That's my count in to the song. That sets me up to play in beat.

So regardless what track I am recording, I have my 1 - 2 measures of count in and that keeps me on time.

Hmmm....I really hope I said that clearly! Others more wise may have a better way.

**
LC