ALANDAVIDSONGS.COM

Recording in a home studio
Here is the room in my home where I recorded this album, wonder why we called it

"the Cave"??

Technical stuff- Recorded on a Apple Mac G-4 and later a G-5 Powermac dual processor using a simple firewire audio interface; M-Audio's M Box, a Sennheiser Mic, along with vintage Takamine 6 and 12 string electric acoustic guitars, a fabulous Carvin AE185 electric/acoustic 6 string ( what a great instrument!), a Gibson ES-Artist electric 6 string, and my 180 bass Accordion. We also used a Korg keyboard, and Roland V-drums (thanks to my pal Dave Solomon for his gear)
Mix down and mastering was done on the G-5. I used Garageband 3 for all recordings.
This did the job for me, and I hope to get a Mac Powerbook to use in the future, as it would enable me to go off site and record...literally get out of the "Cave" a bit more often. Being an Airstream Trailer fan (and owner), it would be very cool to use that as a rolling studio!!

* the project started five years ago, when I first began recording these songs. I rented some studio time, it didn't work out for me. I tried recording through a live mix at the synagogue, It never quite got to where I wanted it to for sound quality.
I found the Mac to be very user friendly, and recording at home gave me all the time I needed, which was a LOT. I don't like being bogged down in the recording process, trying to figure out how to use the software for hours and hours. I want to RECORD! Play, sing, write, and get it on tape ( or in this case - cd disc).
I started on the Mac G4 using Garageband 1, which ran out of "steam", so I then progressed to the G-5 and Garageband 3. Many hours spent tracking the guitar parts, using a drum track for tempo, and then singing scratch and later 'real' vocals, adding bass, drums and keyboards when my friends were able to squeeze the time in to do it. Then, lastly adding background vocals.
After all that came a few dozen hours or more per song, mixing and trying to turn it into something that sounds the way I was hoping it could. Not Nashville studio quality by any means, but truly home made music! There is something to be said for the quality of a non-studio sound..the relaxed atmosphere in recording, and the value of using time as you will.
This has been a blessing to me, I have learned so much about recording and mixing and how to take a creation from a sheet of paper with an idea on it, to a cd with music on it. I also learned to really understand how hard it all is. I have also improved my ability to be patient and use all the time it takes to get something accomplished. I hope the music will touch people and the lack of true high end sound quality will not detract.