Old School Guitarist with a New Found Love

Old School Guitarist with a New Found Love

Buddy: "Hey man check out this picture of me when I was younger."

Me: "Umm, every picture of you is from when you were younger."

The moral of that short joke is that we're never going to be younger than we are today, time moves

forward and technology changes. If you are like the guy in the video below (Jeff Payne), you might be a seasoned musician who once upon a time, recorded on a 4-track tape machine, or even an 8-track or 16-track reel to reel. Back when it was necessary to either pay out the wazoo for professional studio time, or buy loads of expensive equipment and try recording at home. How much would that cost you in equalizers, compression units, effects, mixer, A.D.A.T. machine, reel to reel... Ugg, I cannot bear to remember the home equity loan I took out for that crap in the 90's.

So what's my point with all this painful home equity loan talk? My point is that if you're like Jeff, you might be hesitant to try recording using your PC and a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), aka recording software, for fear of it being too complex or the notorious ID10T error (you might mess up your computer).

I'm here to tell you that it's much easier than you think and even you can produce some awesome tracks with minimal learning curves.

"Jeff is definitely more comfortable with a guitar than he is with a mouse". One of the quotes from the video that holds absolutely true, even to this day as he uses Mixcraft regularly. The good news that he's trying to tell you is that you can keep being terrible with a computer, but produce great mixes with Mixcraft at the same time!

Jeff Payne, starring in "Mixcraft For Guitarists - Reluctant Guitarist Changes Tune"

When I chose Jeff as the subject of that video, I knew he'd be a challenge but I also knew that if I could convert him, I could convert anybody. That means you, you old shredder ;-)

What you need

• Windows computer which uses Windows XP or higher. Preferable Windows 7 or Windows 10 (I never did like the number 8)
• Mixcraft Home, Studio, Reocrding Studio or Pro Studio 8 or higher.
• An audio interface.
• Miscellaneous cables, a microphone and your instrument.

Step-By-Step

Assuming you've already got the instruments, cabling and a decent PC.

1. Head over to Acoustica.com and grab either the free trial or a licensed copy of Mixcraft.
2. Get a decent audio interface. If you only plan to record your vocal and a guitar simultaneously, then any 2-4 channel interface will do. If you are going to record a drum set, get a bigger one.
3. Install both Mixcraft and the interface onto your computer. (Tip: Use the ASIO driver that comes with your interface)
4. Connect your microphones, guitar, keyboard, etc. to the interface
5. Arm as many tracks as you need within Mixcraft, using the various input options for your interface.
6. Hit record, and rock!

Bonus Video

Jeff is in a band these days called "The 99". Check out their video for a song called "Loud & Clear" off their full length studio album, done entirely in Mixcraft 8.