Make a recording of my daughter singing and playng

[Guest]

I would like to make a recording of my daughter singing and playing her
guitar. It would be great if we could record on the same tract more than
once then she could sing harmony with herself. I have looked at several
recoding studio applications on the internet and have downloaded one from
Sony. Problem is they are too complicated for our simple task. Can anyone
recommend an easy to use sound recorder and mixer. We are using a Toshiba
Satelite laptop.

 

[Guest]

Try downloading a freeware program called "Audacity". You'll have to Google
"Audacity since I don't know the web address off-hand.

Audacity is a basic multitrack digital recorder. This is how it works: You
open up Audacity. Plug a microphone into your computer and sing a song.
That's track 1. Then rewind and play guitar or whatever along with track 1.
Now you have voice on track 1 and instrument on track 2. When you play both
both tracks together... voila... you got yourself a recording. You can also
record over other tracks if your daughter wants to harmonize with herself.
Add other instruments and voices, too.

I use Audacity as a practive tool. I plug my keyboards and microphone into
my mixer. My mixer output goes into the microphone input of my laptop which
happens to be a Toshiba Satellite and I record using Audacity.

Like I said, you'll have to Google "Audacity" to find the website to
download it. Be sure to read the help menus. It's the simplest multi-track
digital recorder that I know of... and it's free.

If you want to buy a studio software, Sony's Acid is pretty good if you want
to work with loop tracks. Good for hip hop and techno music. BUt for singing
and playing an instrument like a normal song, Audacity is a good start.

Hope this helps.

oscar