I have been saying for ages (years?) that I should record the songs I have written. I have done Youtube videos, but the quality of those is lacking. I have all the equipment I need to make decent audio recordings. I have a Linux PC running Ubuntu Studio and that includes the Ardour DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). For capturing sound I have an M-Audio Fasttrack Pro interface (thanks to 
My 'studio' is my home study. It is lacking in proper audio treatment, but I hope it is good enough for my needs. The first song I have attempted is a simple one that I do on ukulele. I wanted to add some percussion to this. I first recorded the vocals and a uke track with it plugged into the interface. I was trying to use a click track to get a constant beat, but I had trouble playing with that. I found I did speed up a bit, but that makes it a more natural performance. Having a fixed speed makes it easier to work in other tracks that may be automated, but that does not apply to this.
The recorded ukulele sound was a bit thin, so I did a second one using the microphone. For percussion I have a wooden frog where run a stick down his back to get a 'croak' sound. Then I had to search out my djembe that I have not played in years. I did a bass drum with a microphone on the floor and then a snare recorded from above. Those used a cheap dynamic microphone.
I will not post the audio here yet as I am having a couple of friends listen to give me suggestions. I have adjusted the levels and used compression and reverb on the vocals. I really do not know too much about how best to tweak the sound for a professional result. That can take years to learn. This is only for a bit of fun and perhaps to make CDs for the family. When I have what may count as an album I may put it on Bandcamp, but I do not expect people to pay money for it.
I have some time this week to experiment with recording and learn a little more about it.
Something unexpected I discovered was that I could get VLC to play back audio through my Google Home Mini. I did not realise it could do that.
I will document other steps in the recording process. Stay tuned!
The geeky guitarist and facilitator of the 10K Minnows Project.
