Long distance recording

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 13 Oct 2014 5:26 pm

A friend is sending me a CD and I'm going to add steel to it. I have a fairly good idea of how to go about this. I'm either going to download it to my Tascam MR-8 and add it from there or use Power Tracks on the desktop and add it from there. Any other suggestions from people who have done this would be greatly appreciated.

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 13 Oct 2014 9:34 pm

I have done this many times...
1. It is important to have a count off (4 beat or 8 beat click) at the start.

2. You record your parts on a separate track.

3. Then you send them back your solo tracks with that same click intro... then it is easy to line it up in protools or any other soft ware multi-track program.

Dom

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 14 Oct 2014 2:00 am

It's important to know what type of file is being sent..waves are very large, MP3's are much smaller... If it's a CD, (CD AUDIO) you may have to convert each track to one of the above before dropping into your recording system... seeing that the CD tracks are only for your listening, MP3 conversion would be very appropriate...

Have your friend send you MP3's of each song , you don't really need a CD plus they will already be in a common format. When you record, you will be on a separate track, convert to wav format when finished.

do not edit the length of the tracks and as Dom so properly states, some sort of lead in or count in will be required if the Steel is going to be the intro instrument...

does he want MONO or STEREO tracks ?

When you finish playing on each track, returning your tracks to the CD OWNER is also a consideration...someone somewhere will take your recorded tracks ( STEEL ONLY ) and re-mix the songs on the CD, unless they are expecting you to do it...Again the consideration is wav files or MP3 format for the return trip...The other end needs to have tracks they can use... You only have to send back the tracks that you recorded, it would be a real plus if they were the exact same length.

It's a fun process..good luck !

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 14 Oct 2014 2:51 pm

Thanks for the replies. Here's how I'm going to do it. Copy the CD (wav) to the computer. Load it to a program, and wondering if Audacity would work for this, then add my steel track, then I'll mix it down and burn to a CD to send back to him. This is how he wants to do it, so I'm going to go for it. If I load it to Audacity, will it load as 2 mono tracks so I can add another and then mix down?

Les Cargill · Post by **Les Cargill** » 14 Oct 2014 3:39 pm

I believe ( but could easily be wrong ) that Audacity is 2-track only.

REAPER can be used for free. It'll nag you to pay for it. It's easily worth the $60.

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 14 Oct 2014 3:42 pm

I still have a working version of the old Power Tracks made by the BIAB people. I'm thinking that may work for this application. I'm also hoping that along with the mixdown of the song I can send him my mono steel guitar track so he could possibly mix it himself.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 15 Oct 2014 2:43 am

Two audio tracks are all that is really needed. One track for the song (mono) and one track for your steel part. Send them the steel track only.

I've done this several times (its called "tracking")including once for a studio in New Zealand.

When I track, I usually play through the entire song and let the producer/engineer at the other end select what they want.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 17 Oct 2014 10:10 am

It helps if each of the participants in the project uses the same recording medium. For instance, I've recorded on 8-channel minidisks and sent them to a friend who's added his own tracks and sent them back.
We used to do the same thing with multi-channel open reel tapes. That's the method that professional recording studios used for years. In fact Paul McCartney was in a movie a few years back about tracing down some studio masters that had been lost in transit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFrVmp41mbI
You can watch it on YouTube (above).

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 17 Oct 2014 11:27 am

Most recordings, now, are done with a computer based recording program ("DAW") and not a mini-disc, tape recorder, etc. Its a digital world now. Years ago it was tape (and there are still some uses for tape) but primarily its ProTools, Sonar, etc.

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 17 Oct 2014 2:14 pm

Thanks for the replies. I have a plan that I think will work. The Fostex MR-8 is a really nifty, user-friendly little machine. I was able to turn the original wav into 2 mono wav tracks via Audacity. I downloaded them to the MR-8 CF card on tracks 1 and 2. I will record on 3 and see how it comes out.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 17 Oct 2014 4:20 pm

Jack Stoner wrote:Most recordings, now, are done with a computer based recording program ("DAW")... Its a digital world now...

Yes, I know Jack.

I have a Tascam 2488 24-channel Hard Disk Recorder, but it comes with a 2hr. DVD instruction video and a manual that rivals the King James Bible for length.

You need a PH.D. to operate it. I've only had it for 5 yrs. and I haven't figured out how to use it yet.

...now how do I stop that 00:00 blinking on my microwave? $:\$ $:\$ $:\$

Rick Schacter · Post by **Rick Schacter** » 20 Oct 2014 12:09 pm

Alan Brookes wrote:
Jack Stoner wrote:Most recordings, now, are done with a computer based recording program ("DAW")... Its a digital world now...
Yes, I know Jack.
I have a Tascam 2488 24-channel Hard Disk Recorder, but it comes with a 2hr. DVD instruction video and a manual that rivals the King James Bible for length.
You need a PH.D. to operate it. I've only had it for 5 yrs. and I haven't figured out how to use it yet.
...now how do I stop that 00:00 blinking on my microwave? $:\$ $:\$ $:\$

You could spend the rest of your life learning everything that your recorder could do.

My advice, FWIW, just learn the functions that you're going to use often and leave the rest of the stuff alone.

It's a recorder.
Arm the track that you'd like to record on, hit the record button and go.
It's really not much different than using a tape deck.
I'll bet that most of the reason the manual is thick, is because it's also written in different languages.

So, unless you'd like to learn how to use your recorder while learning how to read Japanese, don't worry about it. Lol!

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 20 Oct 2014 7:00 pm

Finished up this weekend and it went quite well. The learning curve on that MR-8 is quite shallow. And I think it came out sounding quite nice. Went through my Pod XT into the recorder. If my friend had a computer I could have just emailed the tracks back to him but he wanted me to just mix it and burn to a CD. Did so, mailed it today. Hope he likes it

Bruce Repka · Post by **Bruce Repka** » 4 Nov 2014 7:45 pm

Alan Brookes wrote:
Jack Stoner wrote: ...now how do I stop that 00:00 blinking on my microwave? $:\$ $:\$ $:\$

black electrical tape usually works pretty good!

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 5 Nov 2014 3:06 am

Bruce Repka wrote:
Alan Brookes wrote:
Jack Stoner wrote: ...now how do I stop that 00:00 blinking on my microwave? $:\$ $:\$ $:\$

black electrical tape usually works pretty good!

Ha! works well on CHECK ENGINE lights too !

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 5 Nov 2014 3:08 am

Gentlemen, REAPER is not free, the download is free...

It's well worth the price if you plan to keep it and use it...but it is not free and not advertised as such...

Pay the man...

Les Cargill · Post by **Les Cargill** » 5 Nov 2014 10:27 am

Tony Prior wrote:Gentlemen, REAPER is not free, the download is free...

It's well worth the price if you plan to keep it and use it...but it is not free and not advertised as such...

Pay the man...

What he said.

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 5 Nov 2014 5:00 pm

Yes, my daughter has used Reaper and likes it. My experiments with DAW's have mostly ended bad and I don't do enough recording to deal with the headaches. That MR-8 is perfect for me. I can transfer all to the PC, do what I need with Audacity, and a cloud of dust and I'm done.

Daniel Policarpo · Post by **Daniel Policarpo** » 7 Nov 2014 6:18 am

I've successfully used Audacity to make old 4 and 8 track stuff sound better than the day they were recorded. stuff that is 20 years old and the information it pulls from the tape can be remixed and yield a professional sounding project. And we know how old tape deteriorates. Even 4-track cassette recordings can provide really surprising results. It's a good program for all sorts of stuff, but long-distance recording/dubbing has been one of the great things about it since even a drummer can figure it out pretty quickly.

Charlie Thompson · Post by **Charlie Thompson** » 5 Jan 2015 6:28 am

Like Tony said..

Here's a tip..

Request to hear the mix before its printed to make sure you sound ok. ..overuse/underuse of efx is a primary culprit.
I actually had someone place the steel solo in the wrong spot on the timeline ie: I'm playing a I and the song is at the V. I didn't know till I got the CD!
Yikes!
Artist thought its sounded cool.. I thought it sounded awful..

Chris Harvey · Post by **Chris Harvey** » 23 Feb 2015 12:01 pm

What I did with my DAW (I use logic) is to have the user send me an MP3 version of the song. I then drag the MP3 into a track. I can then easily create separate tracks with my steel. I then delete the MP3 track and export the track/s at highest quality. They tracks will drop directly into the other users computer. The only thing you need to ask is what bit rate they're using.

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Long distance recording

Long distance recording

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