Recording Guitar & Vocals Simutaniously

[karateguy29]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forums, so I apologize if this is a dumb question. After a long time Audacity user, I began to grow aggravated due to the fact that it was impossible to record myself playing guitar and also myself singing at the same time.

Is it possible to do this using RiffWorks? When I play live I obviously play and sing at the same time, and I want to capture the same live energy I have during live shows in my recordings. Also, I have a tough time singing right when I'm not playing at the same time...it just doesn't seem right to me.

If needed, I'm using an Ibanez acoustic-electric or my Fender Strat and a Audix OM 2 mic through a Toneport UX2 to a Fender Amp. I am also using GearBox for effects.

All I want to do is basically what I did with Audacity- all the fancy features (while fun) aren't really needed for my specific recordings. I just want to play and sing, and record the track without any looping or drums or any other effects (I can always tool around with those later.)

Thanks in advance for the help!

Jay

[Rotund]

I don't have a toneport so I can't speak for it. I can with my presonus firebox by selecting the Stereo button in the bottom left section called INPUT then selecting the mic1 + mic2 setting.

[mickeymix]

In the Podfarm you can select dual tone then, Tone 1=instrument and Tone 2 = Mic 1. then go to the mixer and and on Rec send 1 & 2 choose mix (tone 1 & 2) they'll both go to the same layer and be in mono but at least you can do it.

[EvanBerard]

Exactly as mickey said but I just want to add that RiffWorks sees both of my tones podfarm and gearbox and it records them in stereo mode. So you can set your volume and pan right in podfarm so you can give your song some space.

[karateguy29]

Thanks for the info, but I'm failing to see where I need to mix both Tone 1 and Tone 2 in the mixer. Where is this mixer you speak of? Or is that just RiffWorks? And what's the Podfarm?

Sorry for the newbie questions, but thank you!

[GuitarSlinger]

Podfarm is a replacement for Gearbox, if you want to do this in Riffworks then go and download Podfarm for free from Line 6 and use that instead of Gearbox. You need Podfarm standalone not the VST, it is free.

The reasoning, Gearbox can do dual tones, but mixes them to seperate outputs, 1&2 and 3&4. Podfarm can mix both tones to a single stereo output. So with Podfarm you could use Audacity even. Riffworks also records only a single stereo track, like audacity.

If you want your vocals and guitar on seperate tracks, then you need a multitracking program. Reaper, Acid Pro 6 and above, and others can do this.

Don't forget to give the Riffworks demo a good try out, its very original and works great as a jam along tool, idea scetch pad, or just a ton of fun. Its geared toward playing and not screwing around which is why most of us love it.

[atalwar]

If you want your vocals and guitar on seperate tracks, then you need a multitracking program. Reaper, Acid Pro 6 and above, and others can do this.

unless you need stereo recording channels,
you can do most in audacity i.e you can record vocals on left and guitar on right and once recorded split the stereo into 2 mono channels giving you full control over panning /mix etc. (all under 10 mouse clicks)

[karateguy29]

I'm having trouble finding the PodFarm stand alone. There's only two PodFarms I can find, and one costs $50 while the other costs $250, and both of those are on the Line 6 site. Am I missing the free one, since I already own the Toneport and Gearbox?

Could someone post a link to the Podfarm standalone thats free?

[cwight]

Here you go, in the boxes put in your product select Podfarm and put in your OS....If you are going to use it as a standalone you won't need to pay for the plugin license.

http://line6.com/software/

[karateguy29]

cwight that worked like a charm, I appreciate the link. I appreciate all the help from all my fellow musicians in the thread.

One more thing, (if I'm not annoying you too much already) whenever I record my vocals and guitar at the same time from Podfarm into Audacity, it crashes on me religiously. How should I go about using Riffworks to record one take of just me playing and singing? All I want is guitar and vocals.

[GuitarSlinger]

What you could do is use the songlayer. Just put the default riff in the song line and turn the drum off. Click the dotted area next to the word songlayer and record there. You'll need to put a bunch of riffs up there after to about the length of your recording.

Not ideal but it should get you going. Wonder why Audacity crashes?

[karateguy29]

GuitarSlinger, I actually just updated to the newest version of Audacity, and it doesn't seem to crash on me anymore (knock on wood). Thanks for the help while I got adjusted!

[GuitarSlinger]

Great! You can also try Reaper it is free for 30 days, unexpiring shareware. Reaper will let you arm as many tracks as you want for recording to.

[karateguy29]

Yeah, I've experimented with Reaper before, but maybe now its worth another shot since I have everything working correctly.