Simple set up for recording song writing at home (teen edition)

October 10, 2023 9:00 PM

My 13-year-old daughter has begun writing songs. She plays piano and a little drums but is wanting to expand. I grew up using analog four-track recorders. What are the practical options for home recording in 2023?

Likely inspired by T Swift, she's begun to write complete songs -- lyrics, chords, proper structures -- and I want to foster this. There is no way of knowing whether this is a brief fad or my retirement plan. Certainly her interest in piano had waned until she saw Taylor live.

I assume we should be using a laptop and some software. I've used Audacity years ago. (And before then ProTools and analog gear.) I've heard of GarageBand and her music teacher had her using MusicLab a little. I'm not averse to spending money but don't want to waste money. I'm not looking to record demos; just want her to be able to construct and record the layers of a song.

Equipment:
* Digital piano << old Yamaha, supports midi
* Low-endish Roland TD4 electronic drumkit << supports midi
* Bass guitar (Mustang)
* Acoustic guitar << she doesn't play it yet; I may get an electric though
* Low-end mics
* Ukelele
* Laptops / iPads / Chromebooks
* A USB / midi cable

posted by NailsTheCat to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

On PC, it's probably MusicMaker or ACID Music studio, both are owned by Magix nowadays.

Maybe start with the free version of MusicMaker I linked above. You can upgrade to full version(s) later.
posted by kschang at 9:22 PM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

My 16-year old son is very into composing music with pretty complex layers. He uses FL Studio and says it's better than GarageBand. He does not do vocals all that much, but I know it's possible and easy with that program.
posted by virve at 9:22 PM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

Waveform is a great, intuitive program available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The free version has all you need for recording and mixing music. I've been using it (mostly under its former name, Tracktion) for 20 years.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:01 AM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've recommended Dan Baker's videos on Garageband before. A former EMI recording engineer, multi instrumentalist and teacher. Here he is recording Together in Electric Dreams on just an iPad with Garageband, and here is how he did it. He has a larg number of more detailed videos - but in summary: consider using the iPad with Garageband because your costs start at zero and you have a great deal of power - a basic ipad Garagband tutorial.
posted by rongorongo at 12:49 AM on October 11, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Software-wise, she should be able to get a lot done with just GarageBand. When I last used it (over five years ago), the only major limitation I saw was the inability to change tempo in the middle of a project. You can record audio from a mic and edit it. You can record MIDI input, then have a virtual instrument play the recorded MIDI.

If you have mics that are not self-powered, you may need a small USB pre-amp or mixer that you plug the mic into. (Then, you plug the pre-amp into the computer.) Look up the mics you have, and you should be able to find what they need. I like the Behringer Q502USB as a cheap but good-enough mixer.

But if you want to skip preamps or mixers entirely, you can record audio with a phone, then email it to yourself to arrange in GarageBand. Modern phones have surprisingly good mics, at least good enough for demos.
posted by ignignokt at 5:53 AM on October 11, 2023 [5 favorites]

Best answer: Yeah, echoing ignignokt, one thing I'm not seeing on the list of equipment is an audio interface, a thing that converts the analog signals from microphones or the bass guitar or the acoustic (if it has a built-in pickup) or the eventual electric guitar into the digital information that's stored on the computer.

There's a pretty wide variety of interfaces available for $100 or less - link to Sweetwater that should only show units under $100 - and also as ignignokt says there are several inexpensive desktop analog mixers that include a converter and USB output built in.

A lot of interfaces will come bundled with a code that lets you download DAW software free, although the free version might be somewhat limited. So that's one possibility for getting recording & mixing software.

But GarageBand is perfectly fine for stuff like you're describing, and IMO pretty beginner-comprehensible. One thing to note, though, is that apparently transferring unfinished GarageBand projects between the iPad IOS and the desktop/laptop versions of GarageBand can be a little tricky. (I haven't had to work through this myself, but everything I've seen suggests that the best way to do this is to set up an iCloud account and use that to transfer back and forth.)
posted by soundguy99 at 6:42 AM on October 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the quick and very helpful answers. I've ordered a Behringer U-Phoria UMC22 USB Audio Interface, from Sweetwater, since that seems to be an easy way to record bass -- And probably the acoustic which has a Fishman pickup I'd forgotten about -- and it has preamp.
posted by NailsTheCat at 9:32 AM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

I’ve got the UMC202HD which is only a slight step up from the one you got (with an additional input) but that whole range is great, low noise for a low price.

Garageband is great as everyone says; it’s not just for starting out, loads of pro musicians, especially in the pop world, use it all the time. Audacity is also very useful (it’s what I use to produce my Mixcloud show) though it looks and feels more techy so maybe not as fun to use (especially as it doesn’t come with the loops and effects that Garageband has).
posted by macdara at 10:01 AM on October 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

Hat tip to rongorongo, those are very useful.
posted by Windopaene at 3:06 PM on October 11, 2023

EDIT: if you want to play three chord songs. Can't figure out how to play, for example a Dm7 chord. But I will watch more...
posted by Windopaene at 5:44 PM on October 11, 2023

Best answer: I've been using GarageBand for years, and nthing that it's great. I just started using Logic Pro after getting a little help with the setup from an expert, and it's very similar, so that's always something she could graduate to eventually if need be. But also, I was recently introduced to BandLab and I've really been enjoying it. It's free and online, so it's possible to collaborate remotely in the same file. It doesn't have as many filters and effects as some other software, but it's been great so far.
posted by limeonaire at 9:25 PM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

In terms of interfaces, the two I've been using a lot lately are Fender's Mustang Micro for guitar and bass and the Shure MVX2U for mics. The Shure interface is kind of annoying, because it pushes firmware updates all the time that have in some cases required OS updates to match, with requisite troubleshooting. It's meant to do that, though, to keep up with changes and not require buying a new interface because of software updates. So there are just some tradeoffs.

Some people apparently also swear by the Rocksmith cable as an interface.
posted by limeonaire at 9:34 PM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]