How Do You Record?

I don't use a lot of midi. Mostly AD2 and it's where I do 99% of my midi recordings. The rest are basically performances from start to finish. I almost always have the written figured out and/or learned before I push any record buttons. It's do bass rhythm guitars keys leads all the way thru and go with that. This is apparent after listening to what I have posted but I'm not selling anything or impressing anyone. Just having fun! I'm thinking about doing some midi stuff but I figure I'll get a few comments before my next project. 

Hi Bill. I hope you are well.
I use mostly midi as I play keyboards.

Like most who use Hardware and Software synths a lot is MIDI, though any guitars, including Bass, I record either DI'd into amp sims or I record one of my small combo amps with one or two of the microphones I have on hand.  Some percussion also gets recorded that way.

As to how I achieve it depends on what sound or objective I am trying to arrive at. Block pad sounds sometimes it is quicker to place the notes with a mouse, sometimes to record.  Lead and melody lines are usually played and then tidied because the fur gets caught in the keys.

bayoubill
but I'm not selling anything or impressing anyone.

Omg me either!

I try not to work on projects more than necessary. I don't like becoming tempo locked. By this, I am talking about always practicing a piece at a single machined tempo. So, I record pieces I'm practicing freshly every couple of weeks to get fresh attacks and I always shift the tempo by a few.

I love midi drum tracks for stretching my rhythmic chops. That said, once I have a rhythm audio track, the likelihood if me dropping the original drum track leaps.

I try not to practice hard on a take where I drop a beat, but I'm not overly strict here.

http://stabilitynetwork.b...g-tunes/BlueBossa4.mp3

bayoubill
but I'm not selling anything or impressing anyone.

Thanks everyone! This is so very interesting. I listen to more music on the forums than I do the radio and I have to tell you I like forum music much better. To me it's the fun of the process and just enjoying it.
 
Geoff - Great tune! I recorded my version of a  Miles Davis a while back. It was Autumn Leaves and I love the way he arranged the song. The tempo used fits  the song feel better to me
 AUTMN Leaves
 
 

I tend to get a rhythm, bass line, and melody lines in my head more or less all at once. Elapsed time= two minutes.
 
When I can get to the computer, I will plink up a working version of the parts, just slam things in, not too careful about editing or perfection. Then I'll make an mp3 of that. Time elapsed = about 45 minutes.
 
Then I will listen to that mp3 about 1,000 times. Not an exaggeration. I will add other parts in my head, and probably here come the lyrics as well. Time elapsed = 6 months.
 
Finally, I redo the computer tracks, make several iterations with improvements. "Improvements."  I'll take version 1.0 up to version 17.0 or so. Time elapsed = several years.
 
At this rate I can put up maybe two songs a year on the Songs forum! Yea!!! But hey life happens and that's why there are those burners on the back.
 
I've got a killer song about George W Bush that is only 12 years old at the moment. Boy, wait until that one drops! Most likely, I will first.
 
cheers,
-Tom
 
 

@bayoubill
 
I was totally expecting that recording to be you (your youtube link). I listened to it to the end though. I love Miles too.
 
Another thing I do sometimes is video record myself doing a take, like this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMd0zif9RFE
 
It gives the solo at home thing a performance like feel when you're doing it. I'm really only doing this to submit my takes to a class I take through http://ArtistWorks.com, but that's cool. It's still kinda helpful.
 
Interestingly, this video has the audio a little ahead of the video. I think I faded the the clip before exporting. That's the only reason I can think of... Maybe Sonar just cut the faded part, shortening the audio and moving it earlier? Idk. I've seen stuff like this with video exports from Sonar before. 

Super cool take on the tune. Thanks for sharing!