Total newbie

Hi all.. right, I’m a total newbie. I’ve been learning to play harmonica for a few years and I have made some progress. At home I’ve a 15w amp and a Valeton indie pedal and a shure mic. I play long to backing tracks on my own and I’ve learned a few songs. I’ve played at two open mic sessions but the thought of playing live is terrifying.

Anyway, I’ve stumbled onto this site whilst looking for ideas.

So, not knowing really where to start, I’ve chosen here and I guess the first issue to address is what I would need (software and hardware wise) to record to my ancient Mac or maybe my iPad before I get to the point of sharing any of my ‘creative’ work.

Looking forward to some help. Thanks all.

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Welcome TootToot (great name) I'm not technical but many members here are. All I can do is remind you to check out the "How to" part of wikiloops https://www.wikiloops.com/music-collaboration.php

Have fun :)

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Thai you!

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Hey TootToot,
you don`t really need that much to get started. Assuming that you have the mic and the harmonica, what you need is an audio interface which serves as the go between from instrument/mic to your computer and some sort of recording software (DAW). There are (free) test versions available from cubase, presonus etc. To make it easy on yourself, start with a product that is well integrated into the apple world. It`s all fairly easy and quick to set up (we`re talking minutes or hours but certainly not days).

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Thanks for the comments. I’ll have a look at cubase and presonas and see how I get on!

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Hey Toot and welcome. I’ve never used Audacity for collaboration but I’m pretty sure some people do. It’s free and the process is simple. You open up the downloaded WL template then add a new track. Arm the added track then record your harp as the template plays unmolested. Eventually you render and export the entire project as an mp3 or wav.

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[youtube]yzJ2VyYkmaA[/youtube]

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Welcome to Wikiloops TootToot.

Two links that maybe assist you:

https://www.audacityteam.org/

https://us.focusrite.com/articles/whats-the-best-interface-for-mac/

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I have posted direct from my iPad before but only because I was away from my desktop. It’s totally doable.

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Hey TootToot, and welcome to the loops!

You might have Garageband already, so look for an audio interface and start from there. I don't know much about Macs and iPads, but the already mentioned Focusrite ones are good - I have one myself (on a Linux machine). But as I said, others might know more about Macs & stuff...

... and once you're ready, let's hear you - looking forward to that :)

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Hi all.. thanks very much for your input! Once I’m sorted an have had a play, then I’m looking forward to adding something to the mix!

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Welcome Toot, great name :W I see that you have received a lot of advice already, so go and do some reading, and whatever happens, don't worry if it does not work to start with, we will help you get going :)

You mentioned Cubase, this is what I use, however I started with Audacity and after I was familiar with that, and found that I have fun doing it, bought Cubase. I can tell you that sometimes when I just need a quick track put down without any editing, mastering, EQ, I still use Audacity, it's so simple and easy to set up...

Anyways, good to have you, we are waiting for your first track upload :)

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Hey guys… I’ve been ill for over a week, nasty dose of flu, but much better now! Some progress made.. managed to download a track from here but GarageBand won’t open it.. but I have got it in BandLab…

So I’m going to have a bash at that…

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Cool. Playing harp when you're sick isn't the best of times.

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Right.. well that didn’t go well.. there’s a Bluetooth delay to the recording.. so yep it did record something, it wasn’t any use at all.. disappointed

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Bluetooth is rough for real-time recording synchronization. Does your mic also have a wired option?

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On the other hand, you can 'slide' the recorded track to the left (back in time) to sync up with the template. You'll probably need to first slide the template to the right.

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I've never tried this however. Perhaps the bluetooth delay isn't uniform. What mic you using?

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I’m using a Shure mic

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What model Shure mic? Does is have a cable option?

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