How did you get started in audio engineering?

[MR.BYTCH KILLA]

It was always my dream to be a rap atrist but just coulnt afford the equipment when i was young,Right now im 33 yrs old but feel like 22.i still got freestyle and rapping skills.I just need to get my beat making more advanced.but music making is just one of the things I just love to do.When I was young the internet did not exsist.but its here now and so im I.

This is what I have at the time,
Dell windows xp 256 ram 2.7 ghz proceessor(I got more ram coming I know)
Ejayhiphop 6 the new edition(reccommended to beginners like myself).
A old school Boss br-8 that I bought off the street for $20 bucks What a steal I thought huh?
O yea my phillips stereo!!!

I got an audio wire coming from the back of my pci factory soundcard running into the audio in of the br-8 and then the audio out of the Br-8 goes into the audio inputs of my phillips.I know all this is going to change real soon.Thats why I am here and how i got started.

[briefcasemanx]

I started by recording a band I was in with some shitty software I got when I bought my comp, it was about 3 years ago. The recordings I did were worse than 99% of the stuff I see people posting online. I bought 10-15 books on engineering, and I read recording forums probably 2 hours a day, and I am now managing to get okay results(for only being at it 3 years, and recording at home in a bad room). I figure that in about 3 more years I'll have some pretty pro sounding stuff.

[Butch Lova]

Hi, i'm new here. Thought this was a good thread to say hi on.

I started with borrowed four-tracks around 13 or 14 years ago, moved on to a digital eight-track around ten years ago, then a G3 (which was old even then) around six years ago. Went through an indecisive period of trying out a PC then getting and selling a G4 (in the space of a few weeks) and now i'm on an intel mac. I did a sound engineering diploma around four or five years ago to fill in gaps in my knowledge then made my living as a freelance sound engineer for a while. i stopped that a couple of years ago but still record myself and bands i'm really into because that's always a joy.

So that's me ..and hi!

[Fiasco]

When I was 17 I heard someone play a guitar in their room and realised I wanted to make that noise. Then I tried to use the .wav player in windows 95 to double track my guitar. Pretty soon I became interested in the software and how to use it to make my guitar tracks into songs from there I wanted more 'realistic' sounding drum machines as backup and also bought a bass to flesh out my sound. Pretty soon I spiraled out of control and now I spend hours EQing bass drums and thinking about mics. I got so excited when I bought my sm57 recently that I snuck out of work early to go and buy it. I can't stop... my room looks more like a recording studio every day and I was seriously considering sleeping on the floor so I could have the layout perfect so I can record whenever I want.

Gawd help us all...

[mbuster]

Well, I got to the point where I wasn't in a band anymore (schedules, life, etc) and still wanted to make music. My first buy was a a little fostex 4 track cassette recorder and a Boss DR5 drum machine. This was pretty fun, and I actually thought it sounded pretty good for a while. Looking back, it didn't.
I later moved up to a Boss BR8 (just like Mr. Bytch Killa, though it was a lot more than $20 back then..) and that allowed me a lot more flexibility. Then I got a computer, and started poking around on the internet, looking for home recording stuff. I found a couple of sites, and it was a huge eye opener. You mean you can do this with a computer!?!?
I got Sonar 2XL, and it's been all downhill since then. I stuck with Sonar, upgrading about every other release or so, up until 6PE. Then I found Reaper, and it KILLS. Look it up. Read the forums. TRY IT.
Anyway, I don't seem to have much time for working on my own music these days, as I'm in the middle of tracking an 11 song cd for a local band. I'd never done a project like this, and volunteered to it for the experience. It's taught me a lot, and has been a lot of fun, as well as a lot of work. I think it's going to turn out well, though my editing skills have been called into play quite a bit more than I'd hoped. Most of the performances have been consistently inconsistent. But it's still cool.

[Jroye82]

Chicks like guys who make records, right?

[Gitarted]

Hello

Well, I opened up Pandora’s box in the late eighties. I started with a Tascam Porta one, and eventually replaced it with a Tascam 8 track (238) and a tascam M308 mixer.
Then I saved up till I could buy an Alesis ADAT xt20, ...and then bought another one (xt20) and a Mackie 8 bus.

Then all of the wonderful hard disk recorders started popping up...(and I was tired of waiting for the ADAT’s to lock up) so, since I already had the BRC (remote for the adats) I decided to stick with Alesis and bought the HD24. which I’m very happy with,.
I’m glad I didn’t purchase the Mackie or the tascam hard disk recorders because the Alesis HD24 allows you to use as large of a drive as you want (and there hot swappable)

Then about five yrs ago I got rid of the Mackie, and bought a Soundcraft Ghost 32 channel console...which I totally LOVE.

...as you can see I hadn’t moved into the DAW setup.
I like mixing on a console, I was actually avoiding the whole “computer” thing.

Then, I reluctantly gave in and built a computer for mixing down.
well, it didn’t take long to realize I needed more than 24 tracks ...(the drummer I’ve been working with lately uses 12-16 tracks just for his drums)...so...

at this time I am still using the Ghost/ HD24 for tracking. Then, when I run out of tracks on the HD24, I transfer my tracks to my ‘puter and I mix in Sonar PE 4.

I like tracking to the HD24, because ya never know when that ‘puter might pull some funny shit. And I always have a backup of the original tracks.

That’s about it!

D

[jdaug]

well im not an audio engineer, im an amateur guitar player and songwriter without a band who cant afford studio musicians, studio time, or studio quality equipment, but still wants to record music.

thats how I got started trying to record my own stuff. it started with a tascam 4 track tape recorder and a boss DR660, then about ten years got one of the first 8 track hard disk recorders and was cool with that until about 4 months ago, when i got tired of not being able to see my tracks or sequence MIDI. I got Cubase LE which came with my interface. It was way cool compared to my roland VS880. my first project with LE I went overboard and ended up running out of tracks and VST instruments, so I upgraded to cubase 4 studio. i still have my boss dr 660, but am going to retire it in favor of good software drums.

[siski]

Hi,

Like alot of the people here my primary goal was to record the music I had written. Playing music on stage is such a buzz but at some point you want to capture your sound for the prosprity of future generations

The keyboard player in one of the bands I was in had a 4 track and an Atari ST and we put down some demos that always fell short of the mark due to the technolagy avaliable at the time (late 80's).

As teenagers we didn't have much cash and so going to a proper studio was not within our buget.

For the last 10 years or so I haven't played live that often but have been busy writing music. I had always wanted to buy a decent PC and start recording but always lived in shared accomodation and didn't have the space. Within the last 2 years I have bought my own flat and at the start of this year I spent my bonus on a PC, Audio interface, monitors, USB keyboard and Cubase 4. Now I've just gotta learn how to use it. This is where recording review comes in.

[Penniesfromheaven]

Believe it or not, when I was 6 I got a toy acoustic guitar and a cheap cassette tape recorder. I figured out how to use the recorder as an amplifier by putting the mic under the strings, setting it to record without a tape in it, and turning up the volume. Later I figured out how to turn it into a multitrack recorder. That was the mid 60's. I guess I've gone thru 15 or 20 multitrack systems since then, both homebuilt and storebought. Went to collage for electronics eng., landed a few freelance rec eng gigs, played in a few bad-hair-day bands, and here I am.