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Thread New to digital; need to make demo to start

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Sujet de la discussion New to digital; need to make demo to start
BASIC INFORMATION THAT WILL HELP US HELP YOU:

A. WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU WANT TO DO?
I do blues and am a solo (one-man-band). Have done all kinds of music in the past (a variety act) but have decided to do an act based solely on classic electric blues from what I call the middle period, (late 40s to the 70s). I am a lead guitarist, lead vocalist and am a keyboard player capable of lead work (blues, rock, country & honky tonk). I also write original material and can crank songs out when I have to.

B. DO YOU WANT TO RECORD INDIVIDUAL TRACKS AT A TIME OR A WHOLE BAND AT ONCE?
At the moment I just need to make a demo tape to secure jobs in clubs, but will want to get to doing dubbing of leads etc. In the immediate future I will be doing them in one take.

C. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH YOUR RECORDINGS? DEMOS? FUN FOR FRIENDS? GET GIGS? MAKE A MILLION AND GET A RECORD DEAL?
Demos is what I’ll be doing now.

D. WHAT KIND OF INSTRUMENTS WILL YOU BE RECORDING? LIVE DRUMS? VOCALS?
I have a Korg i2, which most of you will know is an arranger keybaord, quite sufficient for what I do. Do mostly piano solos on it, with an occasional organ solo. I play an early 70s Gibson L6S thru a Peavey Bandit 100 with Transtube technology, which I imagine I’ll just run thru the PA, which is a newer Carvin PA620.

E. WHAT KIND OF COMPUTER DO YOU HAVE (OR WANT)? DESKTOP? LAPTOP? INCLUDE: OPERATING SYSTEM, PROCESSOR SPEED, RAM, HARD DRIVE SPACE, SOUND CARD TYPE. USB? FIREWIRE? CD BURNER?
Here is the conundrum. I don’t know whether or not to get an inexpensive tape deck and then put it on my wife’s new computer (A HP Pavilion a250n). Here is a quote from PC magazine explaining what the computer is configured.
“The A250n comes equipped with Intel's 2.6-GHz Pentium 4 processor, notable for its hyperthreading technology and 800-MHz frontside bus, previously available only on Intel's 3.0-GHz Pentium 4 and higher CPUs. Paired with 512MB of dual-channel DDR333 SDRAM, our review model earned a score of 116 on PC WorldBench 4 tests--good but not exceptional. Other value systems on the chart handily beat that score, by at least 6 points.
The A250n we received was equipped with an NVidia GeForce4 MX 440 AGP graphics board with 64MB of DDR graphics memory--not state of the art for gaming, but more than adequate for viewing Web graphics or working with digital still photography. The Realtek AC'97 integrated audio can support up to six channels of sound.”

How will it work running cables out of the Carvin, which has two RCA plugs called tape out, staight into the computer. I have downloaded the Audacity program and I plan to use it to begin with.

A bit more information. I am behind in using music technology and am quite anxious to get up to speed on it. I have been on Macs for 14 years and on PCs for almost as long. I have used database programs as well as MS office programs and am also proficient on about every DTP on the planet, so I am certain I will learn it. I only say this to let those who will be kind enough to give suggestions to know my capapblities. I will want to get my feet wet and then I am sure I will start to swim for the horizon. Any suggestions will of course have my heartfelt thanks.

dannyjo, Naples Florida.
2
Without spending a great deal of money, your best bet may be to purchase an SM57 and mic the guitar amp, going directly into the computer. For the keyboard, you should be able to get a good sound going direct. I would avoid using an inexpensive tape recorder, as it introduces a poor quality analog sound (and possibly tape hiss) into the recording. If you are looking for an analog sound, your better off transferring the final mix to tape afterwards.