Back to the digi-studio…
As a reward to myself for finishing a paper and studying hard for my Financial Management final, I decided to fire up my M-audio Black Box and Logic and record something!
The song: Man in Black, an old tune of mine that has (like some others recently) undergone a few changes and is, in my opinion, more interesting and has a better hook.
The Black Box required new drivers for my updated operating system but eventually it worked fine, except for four perfectly spaced pops that occurred during the recording. I think they were due to a build up of static or something, so I’m going to try a surge protector, different mic, and different cable and see if that does it.
But man – the quality was really nice; I’ve been lazy lately and using the internal mic and Garage Band to record quick sketches of songs. It was a great way to get an idea down, but the quality is severely lacking. So what I got with a real mic and Logic was a welcome reminder of why I spent the money in the first place.
I’m going to go to the upcoming UNR surplus sale and see if I can’t get myself a second monitor – because it would be really nice to have more room to show the different control panels within Logic. However, in general the new Logic is much simpler to use than Logic Pro (what I used to have).
Ultimately, I need to keep my recording area and set up clean and ready to go, so that I can quickly sit down and record an idea. I’ve written a number of songs from licks and concepts I’ve found on recordings I’d made years previously. It’s fun, because they can sound so familiar and yet new – and you get excited because yes, you wrote them and now they’re yours again!
What’s your recording setup? Do you often go back and listen to older sketches? I’d like to hear your thoughts – leave a comment!
I’m Chuck McCumber. I live and work in Reno, NV, where I’m finishing my MBA at UNR and where I play at open mics (and an occasional paid ::gasp:: gig) around town. Cecil’s Refrain is my long time music project and this site is a place where I talk about my experiences playing and the fellow musicians, artists, and fans that I meet along the way. I’d love your feedback. And if you’re ever looking to jam, hit me up.
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