When I first started out I ______________

[johnb757]

My first attempts at multitrack recording involved an old GE tape recorder and a little handheld tape recorder. I'd record myself playing (a Lotus Strat copy through a Crate G-10) into the first tape recorder, then I'd play that back and play along while recording on the second tape recorder.

That was pretty lo-fi. By the time I was done, it sounded like a 13th generation cassette copy of a Venom album.

Wow!! Someone else who owned owned an old crate amp. I do not remember what model it was but I do remember the Crate amp I had was built when St. Louis Music Co. still owned them. No gain on the amp whatsoever. Had a Memphis Les Paul copy guitar that ran through a DOD distortion pedal and recorded my favorite Black Flag and Minor Threat tunez with a Radio Shack portable tape recorder with the built in mic...

Edit: I found the model of the amp. It was a CR-110 and it did have an OD channel with a gain and a volume. It did suck really bad and got the DOD so I could have the "punk rock" sound.

 

[-J-]

When I first started out I: looped a Public Enemy drum beat and used two cassette decks to "multitrack" guitar riffs over it. Can't say I've improved much over the course of 20 years or so, but I do still play that riff every so often (and still have the recording).

 

[LeSedna]

When I first started out, I put a ton of plugin on every track, overcompressing, putting an harmonic enhancer, cutting and boosting frequencies epically.

I thought it was all about science, I realized with this forum that shit in = shit out and, obviously, good in = certainly good out with little effort

 

[Charlie E.]

Mike here, got this baby in '97.

I remember wanting this soooo bad!

I started out with one of those interview style handheld tape recorders (1 track baby!)
Moved up to a 4 track cassette recorder which I think was a borrowed Tascam machine.
Talked about investing in ADAT machines with a friend but never did.
Eventually got a Mackie 16 channel mixer and a delta 1010 when going the comp route. First with Cakewalk/Sonar and now Logic.

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

When I first started I used my SoundBlaster Live! card to record with Fruity Loops and when I found out ezdrummer on the intrawebz I thought it had the best sound I've heard from drums in my life! (lol)

 

[abigor731]

when i first started out i used to play incredibly sloppy through a marshall mg30 on distorted channel (around 60%-70% gain) with a digitech death metal pedal in front of it (maximum gain), of course i also scooped the shit out of it

 

[ahjteam]

When I first started audio engineering, I didn't play any instruments. I started playing music 4 years later.

Oh right, and how could I forget my first distortion pedal

my first distortion pedal was actually a good buy, I still have it:

 

[Jind]

Hehe - telling the story of my first guitar, a Takamine Electric, made me look for an image of one. This is a picture of the exact same guitar as my very first guitar back in the early to mid 80's. A Takamine GX-200 - I loved that thing.

 

[musickey]

my first recording setup was a 2 casset deck kareoke machine, I would run a Digitech RP-1, into the guitar input on a Boss DM-5 and then into the Kareoke machine. I would record the drums, and guitar on one casset and then plug in a mic and do my vox as i was dubing down to the 2nd casset deck lol

 

[Rob Logic]

When I first started out, I had no knowledge of what a tube screamer did for tube amps. From 1997 up until 4 years ago I went from a Peavey Ultra 120 plus, to a Rocktron Voodu Valve, back to a Peavey Triple XXX, then to a peavey 5150, back to a Triple XXX, then to a Mesa Triple, and finally back to a Triple XXX. At this point I got a Maxon OD808 and the rest is history. I bought each amp with a goal to make it sound like a famous recording that used a Tube Screamer in front of it. No clue at how much I lost in buying and selling amps. I actually made money on the Triple Rec but, what a hassle!

 

[Metaltastic]

Hehe - telling the story of my first guitar, a Takamine Electric, made me look for an image of one. This is a picture of the exact same guitar as my very first guitar back in the early to mid 80's. A Takamine GX-200 - I loved that thing.

That actually looks pretty cool dude!

 

[Jind]

That actually looks pretty cool dude!

Yah, sort of a cross between a strat and an SG. The pickups had a very DiMarzio type tone (at least thinking back now thats what they sounded like). The neck felt great - not as great as my Gunslinger, but pretty damned good.

 

[spioraid]

Technically I started out using my iMacs onboard mic to record demos for my punk rock band (throw tomatoes and lettuce here), but I didn't get "serious" until I bought a Zoom G9 and a Peavey ValveKing combo amp. All into a Behringer mixer using iMic, yadda yadda yadda.

Oh, I was recording bass direct from the 1/4" line to the mixer. I was the drummer who got stuck doing bass and recording

 

[Chris_P_Critter]

I used a metalzone into a crate amp. Oi.

Same here bro.

Then I graduated to what I thought was the apex of live sound.

Boss GT5 into Crate Blue Voodoo.

:zombie:

WTF WAS I THINKING!

 

[SocialNumb]

This was my first "studio" lol (notice the awesome room treatment)

My first electric guitar. (I started on a classical)Which I played through some tiny peavey tube amp combo.(can't remember the name)

I still have most of that stuff.

 

[Norris-wf]

Thats an awesome first studio. Really loving the room treatment too, did it make a huge improvement? Were you running the two macs?

 

[SocialNumb]

Thats an awesome first studio. Really loving the room treatment too, did it make a huge improvement? Were you running the two macs?

No, that stuff is worthless. It did tame the reflections. (the hand clap test, this was my understanding of acoustics at the time) Still have that crap in a garage somewhere. I used the iMac to surf the web and chop up audio. Not that I couldn't do it on the G4. I basically bought all that shit at the same time. (for the most part) I had no fucking clue how to use most of it.

 

[Sweetnothing]

Oh god a juno 106!
Mine ended up with a broken voice
Sold it when william orbit started saying he used it ( yes, with the voice still broken)

 

[SocialNumb]

^Dude, I'll never sell that thing. Unfortunately I've lost the power cable during a move. I'm pretty sure the internal battery is dead by now too. There went my custom presets . . .

 

[smy1]

This thread is great!!

When I first started I played my Amiga Noisetracker drumbeats through a Philips Compact HiFi Stereo.

I then recorded those beats with a cheap 5 Euro mic into one of the L/R mic-ins of a cheap Akai tapedeck.

I then used my Boss-ME 5 multi-effects pedal to record terrible DI guitars with chorus/flanger/overdrive FX into the other mic-in. I then had a nice L/R recording of drums and guitars.

I played that on my Philip's hifi and recorded that with a "room mic" while I was singing along and recorded it again with a mono-in ...

It went on and on ... I should really look for these tapes. That was 1989 btw ...