Make a recording and publish it on the web

[duggyk]

Hiya,

here's the beginnings of a thread all about how to go about recording and publishing your recording on the web...

...there are a lot of ways to do both. So, please do 'chip in' with your hints, tips, top sites, questions etc etc.

Recording

To make a digital (audio only) recording using your pc you will need:

• A software program to create, and edit the recording. There's lots to choose from. Audacity is a free popular recording / editing program and can be found at audacity.sourceforge.net/. If you haven't used a program like this before, be prepared for a bit of a learning curve. Please post your questions here, i'm sure our community can help answer them.
  
  
• A microphone. Some pc's have a built in microphone, however I would recommend getting hold of a separate microphone. You plug the microphone into the microphone port on your pc. Most pc's are capable of having a mic plugged into them, and if they are not, then you might have to buy a soundcard!
  
  
• An idea of what you want to record .
  

The desired 'end result' is a file of your recording (a .mp3 file).


Publishing

So you have your recording (cripplecreek.mp3), but now want the world to hear it (well, this forum).

Again... there are many ways to go about this, essentially you want to store your file somewhere on the web, and have some way of reaching that file (a link).

Following Pete's example I used a free service called esnips.com to do this for the first time this evening... it involved:

• Signing up for the service at www.esnips.com/ - following the instructions they provide, agreeing to their terms, activating via email etc.
  
• Signing in to the service.
  
• Clicking on the 'Upload files' link, and uploading an mp3 file to my folder (of which you can create many).
  
• Making my folder 'public' (so the world can reach it).
  
• At this point I was given a link which I could paste into a forum post.
  

I hope this helps! and maybe starts the ball rolling with other members recommendations etc.... I haven't touched on how to go about recording a video clip and publishing this... (on YouTube or wherever).

btw, on a related note.......

I've started playing with an awesome live streaming service called www.ustream.tv/. It's possible to broadcast live (and record) using this service, and even share streams - anyone up for an online open mic night sometime?

(I think the delay of the internet might make online jamming a thing of the future...but we could take it in turns to broadcast within a single 'show').

[bilbo]

Excellent, this is a thread that will come in handy, I've downloaded and installed audacity, it looks complicated at first but when you read into the specs the things you can do with it are very handy indeed.

For instance it would be possible for a guitarist to post an MP3 of him playing a accompaniment track on the site, then for a banjo player to input this mp3 into audacity and play along with it, record it and reissue the track on the site as a guitar/ banjo duet, then for a singer to input........... you get the drift---------------I dont know how it would turn out quality wise but with a little effort it could be a massive teaching aid plus the chance to interact musically, ------now I need to buy a mic. good luck

[Danny]

Bilbo, Wolfgang out in Germany has done exactly that, cool aint it?

Danny

[bilbo]

Yeah its cool, surely we have a guitarist and a banjo player who would be prepared to do the '' Duelling Banjos '' routine, we should also encourage an attitude of '' Well Done '' to any recordings, if we get things going then we mustnt fall into the trap of turning it into a '' show off '' type thread, like they have on the jukebox section of Banjo Hangout ( those guys are just showoffs) lets use it as a encouragement for beginners and the shy and retiring to participate ( as well as more experienced players ), lets contribute to this thread with our efforts, good or bad, and see if we can add a new dimension to this site. good luck

[Danny]

Excellent ideas all round Bilbo. Maybe the more experienced/talented could give advice/lessons. Can't hurt right?

Also it's worth mentionign archive.org i've posted stuff their before, I think Patrick uses it a lot for the audio stuff he does.

[duggyk]

I discovered two things tonight...

1) Audacity needs something called lame_enc.dll loaded onto your p.c. before you can export your recorded .wav file as a .mp3 file (.mp3 is a compressed format, .wav is not. .mp3 files are more suitable for the web as they are generally smaller / faster to download).

2) my timing sucks! well, i tried to record against a click track, and eventaully gave up favouring my 'internal metronome'


Anyway, here's a link to 2 times thro' of 'Mama Don't 'Low' - a straight-forward bluegrassy tune...

www.esnips.com/web/chrissStuff1244750560060


I'm playing with a capo on the 2nd fret - key of A. So if you have a capo the chord shapes are:

G , , , / G , , , / G , , , / D , , , / G , G7 , / C , C7 , / G , D , / G , , , //

if you don't have a capo, or want to play open, that's...

A , , , / A , , , / A , , , / E , , , / A , A7 , / D , D7 , / A , E , / A , , , //

i've cut the mp3 so that it can be looped in time over and over - if you fancy playing along...over and over again:)

(to loop a track in Audacity press shift + click on the play button).


"Ma-ma don't 'low no guit-ar pickin' 'round here,
Ma-ma don't 'low no guit-ar pickin' 'round here,
I don't care what mama don't 'low,
Gonna pick my guit-ar an-y how!
Mama don't 'low no guit-ar pickin' 'round here."

(There are lots more verses for this tune out there....)

[bilbo]

Excellent pickin duggy, enjoyed that one

I managed to get started too although not with audacity, I'll post tomorrow and give details, heres a link to me piddling around on the banjo with the old Scottish tune Flowers Of Edinburgh

www.esnips.com/web/Bilbo2UsStuff

lets see if this works

[duggyk]

nice one Bilbo! and do you suffer from insomnia ?!

I'm interested in hearing what you used to make the recording, and also what the chords are!

lovely little runs of notes in that tune

[bilbo]

TY Duggy--Ha, My sleeping habits are all over the place the last few years, I worked standby in the Power Company where I work and was used to working at all hours of the day and night, now I dont do that any more but who knows when I fall asleep , might be 9pm might be 4 am, no rhyme or reason to it.

Anyway, I tried Audacity but found that when I tried to save the file, an annoying voice kept breaking in to the recording saying, '' this is a trial version, to make full use of this program , you must pay something like £50'' or thereabouts, well being a Scot that was a non starter.

So I came across a free program called WAVEPAD which is pretty simple to use, its maybe not as good as audacity for the mixing side of things, but it does a decent enough job of recording your stuff, I found out that my laptop has a built in mic so thats what was used.

Heres a link to a site where you can download WAVEPAD wavepad.en.softonic.com/

Quite simple you just load up WAVEPAD, press '' record '' and set about doing your stuff, after the recording has fininished press '' stop '' and then you can do a '' trim '' job on the recording, which means you get rid of the bit where you are fiddling around before you get started, when you are happy with the end result you just click '' save as '' give your file a name and a destination folder and of it goes---you have an mp3 in '' my music '' or wherever.

Maybe I'll find a better recording set up in the future, but this is simple and will do for now.

I also opened an account ( again free ) with esnips and shared it in this forum so everything is as it should be ( except my banjo playing ) you dont half notice all the little timing faults much more when you sit back and listen to yourself ( never mind the odd blatant bum note ). The tune I played there I just cobbled it together without any tab so Its really just a mess about to see if I could record.

ps oh yeah the chords of '' Flowers Of Edinburgh '' --common tune you can get the tab any amount of sites with a google search but heres a link to one for now folkguitar.us/chords/Flowers-Edinburgh.htm

ps again, heres a youtube rendering of the '' Flowers Of edinburgh '' by some scots guy, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv33ssElpHk, check out some of this guys other videos, he likes to make banjos out of biscuit tins and other unlikely household objects, pretty fun concept.

[duggyk]

Evenin.

Another little play at home recording...

Here's what I used / did...

(I've been lucky enough to accumulate a few bits of recording kit over the last couple of years...still learning how to use it mind)!

1) Recorded using my Fostex MR-8HD Harddisk Recorder & Sony ECM-MS907 Mic.
2) Exported the recording onto my pc.
3) Opened the .wav file in a program called CoolEdit Pro...
4) Trimmed the .wav down to the best take.
5) 'Normalised' the section - which brought up the volume of the recording but also the hiss - I need to make louder recordings!
6) Applied a filter (graphic equaliser) to get rid of some nasty hiss at around 8khz.
7) Saved the .wav to disk.
8) Converted the .wav into a .mp3 using a handy little free program called scmpx (download.cnet.com/SCMPX/3000-2141_4-10021690.html)
9) Uploaded the file to my esnips.com folder

It's called LilBlueRagBlagToo

www.esnips.com/doc/8b37b7bc-9a52-450e-bf7d-71145d0b04cb/LilBlueRagBlagToo

... i'm not sure if its a cover or an original... the progression got stuck in my head so i've kept playing it

The chord progression is something like this:

C, G7, / C, C C7
F, Fm, / C, A7,
D7, G, / C, G , (last time end on C)

...with a capo on the 4th (so its actually in E)!

[MaxPowerAssib]

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