DAW opinions/advice

[McCreed]

Thanks Dave. I'll check out the EQ & Comp. The more I'm playing with Reaper tonight, the more I think I've made the right choice.

Probably won't need any amp/cab sims as I have some really nice amps that I run direct (Fender Tonemaster Deluxe Reverb and Roland Blues Cube Artist). If I can't get the sounds I need out out those I should just quit now!
I also have a Joyo American Sound amp sim pedal (Tech 21 Blonde clone) . That also sounds great and hard to beat for $59AU.

[dave.king1]

When recording and then post recording processing please remember part of the Hippocratic Oath.

First do no harm.

Given that some of us are of a certain vintage some pitch correction is inevitable and also because many are skilled in belting straight into a SM57 onstage and have no mic technique a bit of volume automation should be applied before Comp and EQ so that minimal amounts of both are required so you don't lose the vibe of the performance.

When recording any part always record every pass, preferably if the performer doesn't know because the first pass is often the best and many takes lose the passion.

Red light fright is a very real thing so best they don't know but it's a bit hard to lie when recording yourself.

I have just done a very simple finger picked thing that I have been playing for nearly 50 years and stuffed it every time the red light came on and had to stitch multiple takes together because I just flubbed in a different place every time, live no dramas.

I have a splitter cable for the cans so I can listen to what the band and performer are doing in the same live sense as the performer does.

Finding the sweet spot for volume in the cans is a challenge, too soft and the singer won't go for it and too loud just gets ugly.

I'll think of more later on, it's late here and a medicinal red or two may have been consumed

[blinddrew]

The amp/cab modeller that comes with Reaper is actually pretty useful I've found - but I'm no stickler for guitar tone.
And on the multiple headphones front, a Behringer HA400 is cheap as chips and does a great job.

[jugglindan]

I love my ATH-m50x monitors. Not cheap but not outrageous either.

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

[McCreed]

The amp/cab modeller that comes with Reaper is actually pretty useful I've found - but I'm no stickler for guitar tone.

Good to know, Drew, thanks. A "just in case" option is always good to have.

@Dave, all good advice.
It's not like I do a perfect take every time, but I've been around the block a few times so red light fright is not really a thing for me.
As for pitch correction, I'm fortunate to be a pretty strong singer (when at match fitness) so I've never needed it and have had engineers comment on that in the past. If only my axe wielding skills were the same, and my engineering skills fall even further behind that .

[DrNomis_44]

I just recently bought myself a full copy of Ableton Live 10 standard, it was actually an upgrade for Live 10 lite, so I got it at a cheaper price of Au$160.00, seems to run great on both my desktop pc and laptop, also working great with my Ableton Push 1 controller too.


Ultimately, which Daw you end up using is going to be one that works for you, it also doesn't matter which hardware platform it runs on, be it a pc or mac, as long as it is delivering a stable performance during your recording/mixing sessions, and that your audio interface is working as it's supposed to, I've got multiple Daws installed on both my laptop and desktop pc, some are used for specific things.

[McCreed]

Well I paid for my Reaper license today. I still had 58 days of free evaluation, but I feel pretty confident that the compatibility is good with my existing system. I'm sure a hardware upgrade will inevitably be necessary one day, but all good for now.
I can't believe how light it is compared to some of the other DAW programs out there.

With the crappy exchange rate and GST, it turned $60US into $105AU. Oh well. It's a one time fee and things could get worse before they get better with the global market.

Now, I just need to make that hit record!

[blinddrew]

Have fun. It's a good bit of kit. I wouldn't say i'm an expert by any means but I have been using it for a while now so feel free to ping me if you have any questions.

[Simon Barden]

Not forgetting the various Reaper articles in Sound On Sound magazine.

https://www.soundonsound.com/daws/reaper

[dave.king1]

Have a look at Reaper Mania on Youtube for more tutorials than you will ever need

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq2...98HlB5mVFHGSsQ

You $60.00 USD buys you 2 full releases so you get R6.x & R7.x before being asked to pay for an upgrade to R8, of course you can simply stop at R7 and not continue updating