Part of a regular Adorama Learning Center series, Sara Landeau’s ‘InSound’ explores the best in audio gear, how-to’s and interviews with other musicians. Read previous installments here.
So you’ve never used real recording software before. You’ve been tracking ideas for songs on your iPhone’s voice-memo app. And hey, the quality is surprisingly good! When I first started “taping” guitar ideas, as we called it back then, we’d drag a cassette recorder into the rehearsal room, or if that wasn’t available, we’d just sing melodies into our answering machines, which we’d listen to when we got home. This embarrassing and not too practical solution wasn’t even that long ago (1999?) Yikes. Anyway, now you’re ready to take your ideas and make a demo for real, maybe even add a drum loop, second guitar, or a vocal line. But first, let’s get your guitar and the audio software hooked up.
If you have a Mac, you probably have GarageBand. This program is just fine. Hell, Grimes self-recorded her entire album Visions in GarageBand. You can also use this in conjunction with Pro Tools or other audio software programs, it’s done all the time – for example, Haim and Rihanna’s biggest hits had drum loops and effects created and sent over from GarageBand. But today we’re going to try recording directly into today’s industry standard music maker, which is Pro Tools.
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Pro Tools now comes as a monthly subscription to use as often as you’d like. If you can get a student rate, the deal is huge at $9.99 per month (infinitely cheaper than purchasing the software). You can also try the free Pro Tools First, the pared-down version of the original program. All of these are fine for the beginner.
Next, you’ll need an audio interface and or a cable adaptor. Without getting overly nerdy-wordy, let me just explain that this is the physical segue between your guitar and the computer, the necessary device that changes the language of guitar to binary information the computer can read. These devices range in prices like a sick roller coaster ride, all over the spectrum. But you can always start small, like I did, and upgrade as you learn more.
So your guitar cable is plugged into your audio interface, which goes into the USB (most likely) of your computer and you launch Pro Tools. Go ahead and be ready to look up troubleshooting issues or just plan an extra half hour for tweaking. Or longer. Error messages pop up for me all the time which I promptly google to research a solution. Or maybe you’ll be lucky and the setup is seamless.
Now you’re in. Enter CREATE > NAME (let’s call this song “Knives”) > Location (desktop or wherever you want it). For now, stay with the default AIFF or WAV. file, Bit Depth: 24 (this has to do with dynamics), and Sample Rate: 48kHz (relates to frequency). Then click OK! Once on the main page, start a new audio track to put your guitar in. Find TRACK from the top and click NEW. Make sure your audio track has a moving waveform on the left side when you strum your guitar. This is how you know it is reading the signal.
Give your Audio 1 track a name (“KnivesGtr,” or be more creative) by double-clicking on the white track name space. Now let’s record… Did the metronome click start going? You can turn off this maddening default by going into Set Up > Click/Countoff. Once you get comfortable recording, go back and set your tempo and try again. I highly recommend using a click track for specific genres, or just to practice being solid on guitar. It’s also a handy replacement for a drummer.
Once you’re familiar with the software enough that it helps you write and practice, and does not bog you down with tediousness, you can really get creative. Think of it as merely a tool for constructing all those song ideas, chords, and riffs. Try playing with the guitar amp plug-ins or simulators (there’s so many, this can take awhile). Create a sound pallet you love. I recommend putting one idea down per track until you have a dozen or so. You do not need to delete anything.
Ok so now I have 6 rough ideas on different tracks called “Knives” 2, 3, 4, and 5. There’s a staccato texture (of course), butter knife slides, circus sounds, and then progressions that have absolutely nothing to do with sharp tools. I like them more as I go along. I want to delete the first 4 now…and so on. I play two tracks back at the same time and it sounds horrible! So let’s lay down a real harmony and have fun.
For the last The Julie Ruin album, I’d play a bass line on a simple mono audio track using a metronome to keep it on a grid. Usually, I’d just play this track with a guitar (because it was already plugged in) and EQ it to have more low end, or a “bassy” sound. I’d then copy and paste the 8 or 16 bar loop so it would keep repeating. Underneath that, I would record several lead guitar ideas, each on their own track.Sometimes I’d take a break and come back to it with fresh ears. These turned into several songs that we’d flesh out in rehearsal.
In the end, “Knives” became a brand new idea that turned into something else. I renamed the new song and saved to Desktop. Be sure to label and save everything you do. Pro Tools is a large application so I recommend working from your hard drive and, if you’re like me, saving obsessively. This program can be intimidating – there are many layers to peel like an onion – but remember, it was created to be user-friendly for amateurs and professionals alike, so anyone can learn to be great with it.
