JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Suggested free recording program

Hi all,

It's been a few years since last I was here and in the meantime I lost all my recordings, notes, etc.
I'm looking to get back into it again and was wondering what you all suggest to use for recordings. I have a Windows PC and would prefer to use a free program (at least to start with).
I used Audacity before. Is it still a good one?

Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Thanks in advance for your replies. Take care out there.

Peace,

Dave

You'd think there would be a simple answer to that lol...

1) You realize that you get what you pay for, right?
2) What do you want to accomplish?
3) What kind of gear do you have already?

1) You realize that you get what you pay for, right? - Yes. I also understand this applies to posting questions on this forum. LOL!

2) What do you want to accomplish? - World peace is a bit of a stretch so I'll just say I'd like to try my hand again at creating music that some people may find entertaining or enjoyable to listen to. (and world peace, if there's time)

3) What kind of gear do you have already? - I have a HP, Windows 11 Home all-in-one PC and an acoustic guitar in desperate need of tuning. (I was gonna say "3 chords and a story" but that's already taken)

I think that it is reasonable to say that all of the well known DAWS get the job done.
Particularly at a songwriter level of usage.
Some of them have free, stripped down (Basic) versions.

I use STUDIO ONE and like it a lot.
FENDER purchased it.
I use their most loaded version, but I believe that they still offer a free version and I suspect that it would do an adequate job of providing you with a usable guitar/vocal recording.
I don't know what plug-ins come with it, (reverb et) but there are a lot of adequate free ones from various sources available to you.
If you ever wanted to upgrade to one of the pay versions with more features, that would be available also.

Hope that helps,

Martin

Interface? Mic?

Interface, several
I bought a Scarlett. Works fine.

MIc
$150 - $400 Lots of choices.

I have a $150 SHURE and a $400 Rode.
Rode seems a little warmer, but once a mix is done, they sound the same.

Like one STUDIO ONE instructor said..."I can record with a $150 mic and then a $1500 mic and it still sounds like me."

Thanks, Martin. I appreciate your suggestions.

JAPOV, I had completely overlooked the mic and interface. For some reason I was thinking I could use the mic that comes with this PC, but that's a terrible idea, right? LOL!
I'll have to ask my son if he still has his recording equipment from his podcast days. Maybe he has a mic I could use.

Thanks again for your input!!

Peace,

Dave

Years ago, I recorded a GV with a $10 mic and took it to a recording studio as a session guide. The sound engineer was very surprised and little distressed that the recording sounded as good as it did.

So you can get a GV with computer mic.
Then you could output an mp3 or wav and load that into a free program and add some efx.
But that approach would have a lot of limitations.

There are used equipment sites where you can get mics and interfaces that work for a discount.