Record guitar and vocals on separate tracks?

[Noobhurl]

I've been running Logic Pro 8 for a while. Messing about, and recording some tunes through exploring/experimentation. I'm very new and dumb with this software.

 

I'm basically running it on my old Power Mac. I desperately need to find how, or what I need, to be able to record my guitar & vocals simultaneously, but each to their own designated tracks. I.e. Guitar on it's/Vocals on it's own. I only have 1 physical Mic input on my Mac, and I'm currently using my Boss BR600 Multi track recorder as a pre-amp mixer ( Basically meaning I use it for it's multiple input's)

 

Now my question again, I can't understand how the software will be able to detect them as separate, and record them into two different tracks. Is the solution to have a sound card that has two input jacks?

 

I don't want to have industry standard recordings, I basically just want to be able to record half decent demos with nice clean vocals (with their own reverb etc.) and clean guitar (with it's own reverb, chorus whatever) without having to record only the guitar on clicker and then recording vocals with the guitar.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Jope]

So you are going to play the guitar and sing at once? So the guitar will be about 2ft. away from your voice and you won't be able to record them really separated. Of course you can place two or more mics appropriately to get most of your guitar and of your voice and record their signals to separate tracks for mixing, but every track will contain sound of the other sources, too.

If you use just two mics, you can feed their signals into the two channels of the stereo input.

[moondogs]

Hi Noobhurl,

 

With one mic I think you're going to struggle to record to two different tracks - Logic won't be able to 'split' the recording and separate it into the two component parts i.e. guitar and voice.

 

If you'd like to record both at the same time to separate tracks you will need an audio interface with 2 microphone inputs. Have a look on Google as there are many interfaces that contain 2 mic inputs, and some are very reasonably priced. All will provide enough audio quality for you to record the kind of demo you've mentioned above.

 

Might be worth looking into a new-ish audio interface - the Boss looks more like a standalone recorder. Personally I'd bypass the Boss, get a new interface with two mic in's and then you can record your guitar and vocals straight into Logic as two separate tracks, but your own workflow may vary and you might be emotionally attached to the Boss 8)

 

Good luck!

[David Nahmani]

Electric or acoustic guitar? If the latter, then Jope is correct, no matter which interface and how many mics you use, you won't be able to record the two sources completely separated, since your vocal mic will contain a lot of guitar and your guitar mic will contain a lot of vocal. You would have to record them in separate rooms (if there were 2 people, one singing, one playing guitar) or one after the other.

[shivermetimbers]

Simply record everything as a 'scratch track' and then record each part individually using the scratch track as your guide.

[David Nahmani]

Simply record everything as a 'scratch track' and then record each part individually using the scratch track as your guide.

+1, I very often do that myself. This allows me to get the right feel and tempo in the scratch track, and later the right sound for each individual part.

[Noobhurl]

 

Might be worth looking into a new-ish audio interface - the Boss looks more like a standalone recorder. Personally I'd bypass the Boss, get a new interface with two mic in's and then you can record your guitar and vocals straight into Logic as two separate tracks, but your own workflow may vary and you might be emotionally attached to the Boss 8)

 

Good luck!

 

Thanks! I'm not so attached to it, rather than "being creative with what you have" kind of thing. But definitely need to get a correct interface for the job.

 

Where's the days gone when you were happy with just pressing record on your old tape dec?

[Noobhurl]

Simply record everything as a 'scratch track' and then record each part individually using the scratch track as your guide.

+1, I very often do that myself. This allows me to get the right feel and tempo in the scratch track, and later the right sound for each individual part.

 

Thanks guys. I'll definitely read up on how to improve on your 'scratch track' takes. (recording 101).

 

A dark and strange world this is for me, but then again, so are forums.

 

Thanks for the help, much appreciated

[David Nahmani]

You're welcome, anytime.

[blackyodacat]

hi.. im a newb on here and have very small experience in recording.. i realise this is an old post but then im on an old system..lol..  Anyway, ive had logic 8 since 08 and have always just recorded 1 track at a time with my own projects but ive always had the issue of not being able to do multiple tracks at once.. i can record multiple tracks simultaneously but they all dump onto 1 track.. also if i have say, a drum track done and want to put guitar with it, i have to do it wearing phones otherwise the playback of the drum track is there twice.. the original on its own and the playback mixed with the guitar.. 

 i know what the immediate conclusion most are already jumping to is that i need more than 1 mic and an interface with multiple or atleast two inputs.. im not completely stupid...lol.. just a little... i do run through a mixer which i "thought" would act as the interface but it doesnt.. or atleast as far as i can figure out anyway.

with drum tracks i generally sample each drum and build the drums beat by beat and just play in fills but,  for the sake of clarity, the setup i currently employ for say guitar for example is: guitar into pedal board, out into behringer pmp1000 8 channel powered mixing desk into behringer UCA202 USB control into imac with logic pro 8..

  if i plug in 2 guitars a bass all in separate tracks they still dump onto logic on 1 track.. would it solve this problem  if i got simply got another interface like say an M-AUDIO Mtrack 8 or the like ??  from what ive read i could run out of the outputs on that into the desk for playback if i want or just use the headphones..  i could only do 1 though.. logic wont recognise to usb devices at once so that i could have the Mtrack going in and the out going to the desk as the desk is connected via the UCA202.. 

 so i guess my question after all that is do i there something simple in logic i dont know about that i need to do such assign tracks in some special way other than plugging into a channel on the desk.. or do i need an dedicated interface?  i can record as many tracks as i need i just have to do it separately and i would like to start doing recordings for my band so more tha one track at a time would be nice.. i wouldve looked into this along time ago but its never really been an issue till now..  many thanks in advance for any help..cheers..

[triplets]

If you record more than 1 mic at the same time, you need a dedicated audio interface with 2 or more inputs.

 

Check out the Focusrite options. I'm not too keen on M-Audio interfaces with a Mac.

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/c682--Focusrite--Audio_Interfaces

[blackyodacat]

cheers triplets.. yeah thats pretty much what i was thinking.. ill check out the focusrite stuff.. thanks for the help and appologies for the late reply, i was sick as a dog the last week.. cheers