What is your method?

[irpacynot]

Just curious. I feel like, though I'm still making stupid mistakes (and discovery through those mistakes), I'm making progress with this workstation. There are things I haven't mastered yet (effects sends and returns comes immediately to mind), mainly because of my phobia of diving into it.

But I'm curious about other folks' approach when they begin working on a new project (and what type of music/sound design they generally work on) in Tracktion. I'm still using an old DAW (Roland VS-880EX) to record my acoustic tracks (vocals, guitars, etc.), and then bring them over to my PC to edit in Tracktion, adding instrument plugins and/or samples if I feel compelled or inspired to do so.

So, in that case, I've already got WAV stems to import into Tracktion (typically after normalizing each track individually in Audacity). I'm pretty much just using Tracktion for editing and adding digital instrumentation.

How about you? What's your typical approach or method?

[Stuttaton]

I record vocals, guitar and wind controller directly into Tracktion (Waveform 12.5), using Tracktion's metromome click. Works very well. When you make a mistake, you just hit Abort and the cursor goes back to the startingpoint, so you can try again. Very convenient.

[Watchful]

People who grew up using DAWs use Waveform different from me; people who spent tons of years in studios using hardware also use Waveform differently from me. Waveform does a good job of adapting to either of these approaches so that we can all find a spot in the middle we're happy with.

In short, no right answer to this.

In fact, I have no specific methodology--it's all dependent on the needs of the project. Sometimes, bass and drums are done first, sometimes vocals are done early. Sometimes I'm mixing as I'm arranging, sometimes pre-mastering as I'm setting up tracks. It also depends heavily on whether I'm trying to capture a moment of inspiration or working with existing MIDI and audio.

None of these steps come in this exact order, for that reason. But I use Waveform almost exclusively:

1. Record, comp, and edit vocal tracks
2. Create effects buses with sends and returns (it's super-easy! If you want more info, let me know, as it will change your approach forever. You shouldn't have a phobia about it, as if you do hardware-in-a-studio work, you already have it mastered)
3. Record, edit instrument tracks--both audio and MIDI
4. Capture creative ideas either on MIDI, audio, or both for later editing.
5. Mixing and arranging parts
6. Mastering and demoing

What don't I do with Waveform?

1. Converting formats from .WAV to .FLAC for distribution, as Waveform doesn't do it. Audacity does a nice job of this.
2. Converting formats from .WAV to .MPG, as Audacity (again) does a great job with tags and metadata.
3. A fair amount of sound synthesis in the software synths' native apps if they have them. For example, I'll edit sounds in Pigments' own application rather than do this within Waveform to save on overhead and maximize screen space. A quick tweak here or there and for sure I'll just spin it open in Waveform, but serious work I'll work within the synth engine itself. If the synth doesn't have a dedicated application, then I'll use Waveform to do editing.
4. I used to do sound metering outside of Waveform out of an old habit, but I've switched to doing all that within Waveform in the last couple of years.

[irpacynot]

I record vocals, guitar and wind controller directly into Tracktion (Waveform 12.5), using Tracktion's metromome click. Works very well. When you make a mistake, you just hit Abort and the cursor goes back to the startingpoint, so you can try again. Very convenient.

How do you mitigate noise from your computer?

[nowgad]

(Waveform 12.5)

Very interesting! What's new?))

[Stuttaton]

(Waveform 12.5)

Very interesting! What's new?))

Sorry, I mixed it up. I had 11.5 before. I now have 12.1.8.

[Stuttaton]

I record vocals, guitar and wind controller directly into Tracktion (Waveform 12.5), using Tracktion's metromome click. Works very well. When you make a mistake, you just hit Abort and the cursor goes back to the startingpoint, so you can try again. Very convenient.

How do you mitigate noise from your computer?

I use an SM58 for vocals. The laptop isnt't very noisy and this mic doesn't pick up sounds that are further away than approx. 20 cm. I have never noticed any fan noise on my recordings. My acoustic guitar has a built in mic and audio out. Of course I monitor through headphones – a pair of AKG K240.
You can hear for yourself:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/bergfotron/tjillen

[Watchful]

A good performing cardioid mic should not be picking sound up from anything behind it, so Stuttaton's technique will work very well in most cases, I think.

[Peter Widdicombe]

One of the problems with microphone recording is picking up the background that you're singing along with (or playing with, for accoustic guitar with a microphone) - you really don't want anything other than voice (or what you're recording) on the voice track. Pretty much need to use headphones for that.

[Watchful]

With a good enough mic and cranked up headphones, you can sometimes even pickup bleed from the headphones! To build on what Peter says, keep your playback volumes low.

A vocal reference track can help, so that a vocalist can concentrate on the actual melody: a temporary track with just the melody line turned up a bit higher than the music can allow the vocalist to focus on the sung part, so that the rest of the piece can be turned way down.

Some vocalists like to hear themselves with reverb, which can help or cause worse problems. But I think I'm getting away from the original question.

[Stuttaton]

A vocal reference track can help, so that a vocalist can concentrate on the actual melody: a temporary track with just the melody line turned up a bit higher than the music can allow the vocalist to focus on the sung part, so that the rest of the piece can be turned way down.

I compose my vocal parts, using the piano roll in Tracktion. Then I transfer it to EasyABC for making a lead sheet. From that I sing, whith help of the click and the midi part in the headphones.

[irpacynot]

I use an SM58 for vocals. The laptop isnt't very noisy and this mic doesn't pick up sounds that are further away than approx. 20 cm. I have never noticed any fan noise on my recordings. My acoustic guitar has a built in mic and audio out. Of course I monitor through headphones – a pair of AKG K240.
You can hear for yourself:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/bergfotron/tjillen

Yeah, I use an SM58 for both vocals and my acoustic (it's all I've got). I do have a very good, in my opinion the best, pick-up installed into the acoustic, which I do use for certain types of tracks. But by and large, I still greatly prefer the sound of the acoustic through a mic.

All that being said, I still find myself using the Bertrom denoiser classic -- it's a godsend -- for most audio tracks. But my older brother says I have particularly sensitive ears. He can't seem to discern a lot of the noises I'm hearing. But those are seemingly house noises (AC/heat generator outside, the fridge, etc.)

And I'm using an old PC, so the idea of using an audio interface to go directly into my PC to record with Tracktion is not too attractive. The Roland at least is pretty quiet.

[Stuttaton]

It of course depends on what kind of music you're making. If it's just vocals and acoustic guitar, background noise will naturally be more audible.