Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This DVD is for somebody first considering the plunge into digital recording, or somebody who's already bought multitrack software and found it daunting. (That's me.) Don't buy this DVD if you're Jeff Lynne, or if you think you are.
After a snappy and promising introduction, McGuinn fires up the Cool Edit Pro program, picks up his signature Martin 12-string, and lays down a rhythm track. It takes three minutes and change, and we watch the whole thing, with extended close-ups of his picking hand, his chording hand, and Cool Edit Pro counting milliseconds one by one. A thousand things McGuinn can play warrant this sort of inspection, but not the simple guitar part to the lovely "May the Road Rise to Meet You", and one wonders what the editor was thinking. Happily this is the only substantial misstep.
The training session regains its rhythm as McGuinn layers vocal tracks, and what is more interesting, makes a mistake. He expertly chops a few words of a flubbed lyric out of one track and creates a new track segment with the right words, all in a matter of seconds. The result is seamless.
All with speed that will surprise those who haven't seen this sort of thing before, McGuinn records tracks, adds reverb, deletes noise, creates fades, and mixes the song down to stereo.
Along the way we get an excellent tour of his hardware and software, all available off the shelf with the exception Cool Edit Pro, which became Adobe Audition a couple of years ago. However, everything he says about Cool Edit Pro seems to apply to the current Audition.
While we do not again sit through the playing of a full track after that first one, I would've been happy to hear the finished multitrack song polished to McGuinn's satisfaction.
A promotional piece for Dell included as a bonus covers much of the same ground, and serves to show what the DVD could have been with more able and assertive editing and direction.
But any quibbles about the production are outweighed by the quantity of information it conveys. The second time you watch this, you'll want to take notes.
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Product Description:
A few years ago, Roger McGuinn made a CD called "Treasures from the Folk Den." He traveled the country, recording classic songs on location with folk legends such as Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Pete Seeger, Josh White, Jr. and Odetta, among others. The resulting CD, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2001 for Best Traditional Folk Album, was made entirely on his laptop!
Roger has since become a major advocate of multi-track recording on a basic home computer set-up. On this DVD, he shares what he has learned about making CDs with beginners who would like to make their own home recordings this way. Using his compelling song "May the Road Rise" (co-written with his wife, Camilla McGuinn) as an example, he replicates the process by which he records a song from conception to final product. He demonstrates, step-by-step, how he lays down the basic tracks, overdubs his vocals, adds harmonies and guitar riffs, doubles the parts and comes up with a complete recording with his trademark vocal and guitar sound. Finally, you1ll see how Roger mixes the result to a two-track stereo file and burns it to a CD.
Roger's equipment set-up, ideas about mic placement, advice on how to back up your project, and other tips will get you started recording your own songs on your computer.BONUS: An interview with Roger, made for Dell Computers, in which he talks about his background, musical ideas and enthusiasm for the possibilities inherent in home computer recording.
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