Recording

[surferjay]

Im looking to start recording some music I’ve written so I can upload to YouTube.

I normally just record on my iPhone.

Im after something affordable ideally something I can sit in a nice setting and jam away. I would like to keep it as simple as possible.

I’ve seen peoples setup with an audio interface connected to a laptop just wondered if there is a cheap option for a camera (to cut out the need for audio interface/laptop..

Thanks

[Andrew]

This is the closest to that that I’ve seen. But I think you still need a DAW.

[surferjay]

That is awesome 🙂 Looks perfect!

[sir_anzalot]

The Mic option Andrew shared sure seems interesting, but I’d say its value depends on what (and where) you want to record. You recently posted the ‘In the End’ Looping Cover so you seem to already be equipped with at least an AMP. I know that would still mean using an Interface, but should that one have an output you could record the outgoing signal from there and not use a Mic altogether. Should you not just want to record instrumentals but vocals too that wouldn’t work though.

I upped my Audio recording game a bit over the last few months and have tested some and read and watched tons of stuff. If you’re interested I am happy to share my insights regarding (mostly) entry level gear and software so far 🙂

[surferjay]

That sounds really interesting! I have a fishman amp which Andrew recommended. The tone is beautiful (my phone recording does not do it justice).

I don’t mind buying an interface they seem cheap enough.. any insights would be appreciated!

[sir_anzalot]

Hey man I already left a pretty extensive reply yesterday but it still doesn’t show up. I’ve contacted Andrew about it. Just wanted to let you know I have not forgotten about this =)

[sir_anzalot]

Hey @surferjay 🙂

The loudbox mini is the Amp I want to upgrade to in time as well. When I got my initial setup together I couldn’t afford anything in that league and I settled for a more affordable option with similar features but a bit less quality. I did get a fishman Platinum Pro EQ Pre-Amp in the meantime though and that already really did something for the quality of my sound. I still have multiple steps planned out to level up my gear over the next 6 to 10 months though. But let me get back to the point.
For quality home recordings there are multiple things to consider. The first big category is the necessary gear and the second one would be a software (DAW or Digital Audio Workstation) to record and post-process the audio you record. This takes care of the audio portion of it all but you’ll also likely need a video editor to wrap up your audio & video into one neat package. I’ll go through everything necessary step by step.

1. The Audio Interface
As you already got a Uke you can hookup to an Amp (and quite a good one for home recordings for that matter), you don’t have much more to worry about in the gear department than the interface. As of now I am still using the Behringer U-Phoria UM2 (about 45$) which does the job and is inexpensive. If you have just a bit more monetary flexibility I do recommend to go another way on that one and that is the Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen (about 120$). This not only is built sturdier and has a much better sample rate than the Behringer, but also comes bundled with Ableton Lite (I’ll get to that in a minute) and a ton of Audio Editing Software Plugins for you to use. The Scarlett is a very popular interface (gold standard for home recording musicians from what I gathered) and also the one I’m going to upgrade to. Both Interfaces give you the same connection options for two channels and support Phantom Power supply, which is needed for many professional mics. Might not seem necessary to you now but at least I am already toying with the idea of simultaneously recording my Amp signal and the acoustic signal of the Uke over a mic at the same time for stereo options and thicker tracks 😉

2. The Audio Software
This is the much bigger part of the equation and something that cannot be avoided if you truly want to surpass phone recording audio quality. Please note that everything I say in this part is purely from a standpoint of Windows user by the way. Apple also has their stuff in the software department like Garage Band, but I don’t have any experience with that nor have I looked into it too much so I cannot really offer any assistance there. Anyway let’s go.

As already mentioned by Andrew and by me earlier in this post you’ll need a DAW. Up until now everything I did after leaving my phone behind for audio recording purposes was done in Audacity. Audacity isn’t technically a full fledged DAW but more of a very useful and relatively easy to grasp Audio Editor equipped with everything you need to start out with home recordings. It is also open source and thus free, which ist he main reason I started working with it. Your DAW will not only enable you to record your signal in an uncompressed or otherwise altered form, it will also hand you the tools you need for post-processing / mixing.

A much better alternative for post production would be Ableton Lite. This is the one which also comes bundled with previously mentioned Focusrite Interface. I have no firsthand experience with it yet but have already seen it do great things (or rather being done with it) and this is what I’m going to use as soon as I upgrade my interface as well. Ableton is a very powerful tool with a supposedly steep learning curve at the beginning but very much worth it. The Lite version that comes bundled with the interface is limited to four tracks per mix, but since we’re talking mostly mono (or stereo if that) recordings, that shouldn’t be much of a problem.

3. Video Editor
I can’t really offer much of an array of alternatives here but that’s only because I am very happy with the tool I’ve been using pretty much all along, and that is the VSDC Free Video Editor. Gives you a lot of professional options, is pretty self explanatory if you’re not going for anything too wild effect or transition wise and has a very handy function of splitting Video files from your phone into distinct video and audio. This is very useful because at least I am still recording video with my phone, so I have to get rid of the original audio to replace it with the much better one I recorded and post-processed in Audicity. You just have to record with your phone and your laptop at the same time with this, so you won’t get any dicrepancies between video and audio and align the two signals at the end. If you should want to use some neat editing techniques for titles,fades or whatever, VSDC themselves has tons of short and compact tutorials on YouTube to fix you up.

Finishing Up…
This might all seem like a lot but apart from getting the hang oft he whole post-processing recordings thing it really isn’t. I didn’t get into that on purpose yet because you’ll have to decide if you want to go that way and, if so, get your gear together first. Should you want to I am again more than happy to help with getting you started. Just let me know and happy playing until then! =)

[surferjay]

Thanks so much for the detailed advice it really helps clarify everything.

Fishman Amp – This is the only thing that I’ve spent any real money on to date. The tone is really unreal. I 1000% recommend it. I brought a cheap amp before this.. it was ok just not in the same league.

I’ll check out the Scarlett sounds great if it comes bundled with software. My wife has a mac so I’ll check out garage band also.

I get all the parts needed I’m just confused how it all connects..

I’m guessing the the Uke plugs into the audio interface as does the amp? And the laptop? Does act like a hub?

I’m also confused in regards to the video as this just separate and then you remove the sound from the phone video and replace with the sound sample from the DAW..

This is how I’m filming currently so it’s very bare bones haha

[sir_anzalot]

Don’t worry about it 🙂

If anything, the interface is what you should consider “a hub” in your signal chain. It’s the device which transaltes the analog audio signal you produce with your Uke and additional gear and translates it to a digital one a computer can understand and work with.

I threw together a little Flowchart for you which I attached to this reply. This will hopefully clear out any confusion. You are free to feel amused by my highly professional work on this by the way =D

Please note that you can skip the amp part of this entirley should you want to and plug yourself directly into the interface. I don’t do it that way though because I like to use the amp as my first instance for EQ shaping and stuff and also like to hear what the signal I’m going to end up recording will sound like without wearing headphones. Pro tip in regards to Reverb at this point: Some is okay but less is always almost more here.

If you need further instruction or help on anything (especially when you start recording that way) don’t hesitate to ask.

[surferjay]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write in such detail! That really helped. I just checked my amp and had no idea at the back it had audio out/in.. Makes sense. I literally have everything but the audio interface so will get on with reviewing your recommendations for that!

Thank You 🙂

[sir_anzalot]

Sure, happy to help!

As it seems you’re pretty eager to get started with this so I thought I’d leave some more Info here. This time more in the form of video and some additional notes from my side. The videos are both guitar centric but that’s only because for now it’s pretty much the closest thing you’ll get when you search for how to handle your recordings in a DAW.

The following is made by Paul Davids and shows an Ableton approach. He’s an awesome Guitarist with a lot of top notch YouTube content. I learned a thing or two from him which I could apply to the Ukulele as well. Great guy!

The first three and a half minutes are pretty much just him talking about mic placement and recording the samples he’s going to work with afterwards. Not too important for you right now but who knows, maybe one day. The interesting part comes afterwards: Here he goes over some of the most important post processing steps after you’re done recording. Those would be:

(- Adding a High Pass Filter; optional and depending on recording situation)
– Adjusting the EQ Curve
– Applying the compressor
– adding Reverb (much better to do it here than in your initial recording)

I want to highlight that what he does in this video is on a very professional level but he’s been in this for decades so don’t worry if what he does seems a bit much. You also don’t need to concern yourself with the whole stereo panning part for now. It’s just a good overview of the process and you can generalize from there =)

I’d additionally like to add this one as an honorable mention and an Audacity reference.

Far less professional but he also gives a good rundown of pretty much the same process which is easy to follow. He also touches on normalization which Paul Davids does not.

I’m anxious to hear what you’ll come up with once you start with all this!

[surferjay]

Thats some great stuff you shared! I’m away most of this summer so will setup a home studio when I’m back. Been doing lots of reading and just wanted to add something for a looper solution (affordable).

In Abelton Live there is a decent looper built in with the same functionality as Boss/Ditto loopers. You can add as many loopers as you want so I’m going to buy a USB triple foot pedal and map a single looper to each one. This way you have all the functionality of an expensive looper but for about $20.

Hope this is useful 🙏🏻

[Author]

Posts