BR800 I got one

[64Guitars]

I don't  like messing about with computers, putting drum tracks together in the machine is taxing enough without the hassle of doing stuff on computers. Most people just wanna get on with playing and putting down tracks rather than going back and forth from standalone to computer back to standalone then back to the computer. It's time consuming and can be frustrating.

The way that I use the computer in my recording projects, there's no need to go back and forth between the computer and the BR. I only transfer the tracks from the BR to the computer once using the BR Wave Converter.

Here's what I do:

• This step may not be necessary if you record original songs. But I mostly do covers, so I usually start a song on the computer and transfer a few WAV files to the BR using BR Wave Converter. For example, I usually get an MP3 of the original song, convert it to a WAV file, and copy it to the BR so I can learn all the parts. I also create my drum tracks on the computer using Hydrogen or, more recently, a software sequencer. Once I've got a basic drum track created, I'll export it to a WAV file and copy it to the BR. And since I bought my Akai MIDI keyboard controller six months ago, I usually start a song by creating some keyboard tracks on the computer. I then make a stereo mix of those tracks as a WAV file and copy it to the BR.
  
  But, like I said, all of these things may be unnecessary, depending on what you want to record. If you're doing an original song, or a cover of a song that you already know how to play, then you obviously don't need a copy of the original song on your BR. If you want to create your drum track on the BR, then you won't have any drum tracks to copy from the computer to the BR. And if you don't have a keyboard controller on your computer, you won't have any keyboard tracks to copy.
  
  
• Now that I've got everything I need on the BR, I start recording my guitar and bass tracks on the BR. Sometimes, I might also record some keyboard tracks on the BR from my Yamaha keyboard. But lately, I've mostly been using my Akai MIDI keyboard controller to do the keyboard tracks on the computer instead. Occasionally, I might do both if there's a particular sound I want from the Yamaha and other sounds I want from softsynths on the computer. But usually, it's one or the other.
  
  If I need to record more than 8 tracks on the BR, I'll make a temporary mix in bounce mode so that I can monitor it while recording more tracks. I don't fuss with this mix because it won't be used for the final production. I use it only for monitoring purposes, so the quality isn't important.
  
  
• When I've finished recording all of my tracks on the BR, I turn it off, remove the CompactFlash card, and take it upstairs to my computer room. I insert the memory card into a USB Card Reader and connect it to my computer. I then use BR Wave Converter to transfer all of the individual tracks (but not the mixes) to my computer as WAV files.
  
  At this point, I'm finished with the BR. From here on, everything will be done on the computer. There's no need to transfer anything back to the BR.
  
  
• I import all of the individual WAV files from the BR into Audacity, along with the drum tracks and any WAV files I might have created on the computer. Now that I have all my tracks in Audacity, I can edit them, process them, and mix them right in Audacity. Mixing in Audacity has many advantages over mixing in the BR, especially if you have lots of tracks. Audacity lets you work with all of your tracks at once instead of being limited to just 8 at a time on the BR. So you have complete control of the mix. No tracks are locked into a pre-mixed bounce. You can control the levels of all of your tracks individually. It's also much easier to edit your tracks because it's so much more visual. And there are a wide variety of effects you can apply to your tracks, if desired.
  
  
• Once I have a mix that I'm happy with, I export it from Audacity as a stereo WAV file.
  
  
• Now I bring the exported WAV file back into a new project in Audacity for final trimming, normalization, etc. As I've said several times before, I'm not a big fan of mastering effects, so I seldom use them. But, if I feel that the final mix needs some compression or EQ, I can do that right in Audacity. Once the song is trimmed, processed, and normalized, I export it as a stereo WAV file. This becomes my final master recording. I also export it again, but this time as an MP3 for posting to Songcrafters. Before exporting the MP3, I make sure I edit the tag data to include the song title, my name, and any other information I want in the tags.

That's it. The song is finished. The description above may seem complicated because I've gone into a fair bit of detail. But it's really pretty simple and boils down to this:

• Create and prepare a new song project on the BR.
• Record tracks on the BR and export them to WAV files using BR Wave Converter.
• Load WAV files into Audacity for editing, processing, and mixing.
• Export final mix to a stereo WAV file.
• Trim, process, and normalize the final mix and export it in both WAV and MP3 formats.

Compare this to the procedure for doing everything on the BR:

• Create and prepare a new song project on the BR.
• Record tracks on the BR.
• Mix tracks on the BR and bounce to a stereo pair.
• Optionally, master the final mix.
• Export final mix to a stereo WAV file using BR Wave Converter.
• Trim, process, and normalize the final mix in Audacity and export it in both WAV and MP3 formats.

As you can see, the procedures aren't all that different. In both cases, you have to use BR Wave Converter once to transfer tracks from the BR to the computer. The difference is in whether you're transferring a finished stereo mix or the individual tracks. But it's a one-way, one-time transfer regardless of which procedure you use. And you should always use Audacity (or some similar audio editor) to trim and normalize your finished song before posting it to Songcrafters. Since you're going to be using Audacity anyway, why not do your mixing there? It offers a lot of advantages compared with mixing on the BR.

I understand that some people have tried SONAR (mostly because it came with their BR) and found it overwhelming. It's a complex and powerful program that takes a lot of time and effort to learn how to use it effectively. But Audacity is a much simpler program. Most people here at Songcrafters already use Audacity, even if it's only for trimming their song and normalizing the levels before posting. So you already have a bit of familiarity with it, and learning to mix with it isn't a huge leap.

If you've never tried mixing in Audacity before, give it a try. You might like it.

Mixing in Audacity is especially useful for users of the original Micro BR or the BR-532 because those recorders can only mix 4 tracks at a time. You're constantly working with previous mixes on those recorders, so you have little control over the relative levels of individual tracks as they're already locked into a previous mix. But, if you export all of your individual tracks and mix them in Audacity instead, you'll have full control over every track individually. And you won't have to fuss as much with your bounces because you'll only use them for monitoring. They won't be included in the final mix, so it doesn't matter what they sound like. In fact, you can use mono bounces instead of stereo. That way, you'll have 3 empty tracks available for further recording instead of just 2. For monitoring purposes, mono is perfectly adequate. When you mix the individual tracks in Audacity, you can pan them wherever you want for full stereo.

It's also very easy to duplicate tracks in Audacity. For example, you could record a single guitar track on the BR. Then, after you've brought all the individual tracks from the BR into Audacity, you can duplicate that guitar track, shift the copy 20 to 30 milliseconds for a slight delay, and pan one track to the left and the other to the right for a nice, rich stereo doubling effect. You can do the same thing on the BR but it's much easier to do it in Audacity.

[chip]

Wow. Very comprehensive. Ive been in the makeshift studio which is under construction and am having very good ( in my opinion) results with the BR80 mic-ing guitars up. I seemed to have hit a sweet spot  and the levels are just dandy, It sort of spurned me on a bit. I must have spent 6 hours over the last two days just messing with levels, positions and sounds trying to figure out the best way to record the guitars. trouble is I haven't got round to the song in great detail. I must say the guitars sound very natural using the cheap Behringer mic with the Vox mini, close mic-d, facing the wall corner with pillows and cushions surrounding the amp and mic holding the sound in. I really must spend more time at all this stuff. I will try and follow 64's recommendations but some of the mastering effects sound very good on the BR80. My next step may be some active monitors. Cheers.

[Hilary]

My 2p worth on the BR80 - out of all the things I have purchased (apart from my guitar) it is the thing that I get most use out of. It's real easy to use, which is why I went for the 80, and is fantastic value IMO. However, the main drawback for me is that you can't record vocals and guitar to separate tracks simultaneously as it only has one input (not sure if that's the right term). Also the presets for the vocals suck real bad.

Apologies if these points have already been made.

(Tommy I hope you found your jumper honey!)

[fenderbender]

64 as I said in another post you are a mine of great tips and info.
I love the way you set out everything in clear detail
thank you for your time and great info
If you ever get to my local pub I will buy you a beer or two
regards

Tommy

[fenderbender]

(Tommy I hope you found your jumper honey!)
 

no I didn't Haylie
I think it must be down in one of the local charity shops
If I see it it I will have to buy it back for a couple of euros /quid/dollars