How many times have you
come up with a great idea
for a lick, riff, or song and said,
“I’ve got to remember that,”
but then promptly forgot it?
If you’re like me, it’s happened
more often than you
care to remember. For a long
time, I subscribed to the theory
that if something was good, I’d
remember it. And if I lost it, it
wasn’t worth keeping. But after
losing a number of ideas that I
thought were great, I debunked
my theory, and began a quest
for a good way to instantly
capture inspiration—some
method or technology that
would allow me to quickly and
easily save an idea before it
vanished into the ether.
First, I simply tried using
notation and tab to write
down my ideas. This works,
as long as you’re fairly fast at
transcribing, and always have
paper and a writing utensil
at hand. But in the heat of a
jam session or noodling on
the couch, who wants to stop
everything to find paper and a
pencil or interrupt the flow to
do a transcription?
A better solution is to have
some sort of recorder so you can
quickly grab your ideas before
they disappear. If you have
a studio, then you obviously
have the technology. But the
problem with studios is that, in
most cases, it takes time to fire
everything up. I’ve definitely
had the experience of coming
up with an idea while noodling,
and then stopped to boot the
computer, get a mic set up, turn
on the interfaces, preamps, and
monitors, launch Pro Tools, and
sit down to record. Voilà—the
inspiration is now gone. I’ve
streamlined my recording rig
so I can get it up and ready to
record in just a few minutes
(we’ll cover this in an upcoming
column), but it still takes time.
So my search continued.
Capture Captured
I’ve ended up with a three-pronged
capture solution. It
actually has four components if
you count my full studio rig—
but I reserve that mainly for
“serious” work, not for quickly
capturing ideas. Maybe it’s
overkill to have multiple solutions
and just one will cover
it for you. But I like having a
few options that let me swiftly
adapt to the situation at hand.
You could use one of those
little dictation recorders, but
those don’t have an input for a
guitar and the sound quality is
pretty dismal.
Line 6 BackTrack
This little box was released by
Line 6 awhile back without
much fanfare, and it has flown
under the radar ever since. It’s
a little recorder that’s dedicated
to exactly what we’re talking
about here—easily capturing
ideas played on a guitar or
bass. You simply plug your guitar
into one side and plug the
other side into your amp. Turn
it on, and it’s always recording.
Play an idea you like, hit
a button, and it’s marked for
later. When you’re done, and
if you’ve got an idea or two
you want to keep, it’s an easy
matter to transfer them to your
computer via USB. Brilliantly
simple, affordable, and it really
works! There’s also a BackTrack
model with a built-in mic for
those acoustic guitar ideas you
want to save.
Roland R-05
There are a number of little
handheld digital stereo recorders
on the market. I use mine
all the time for recording
rehearsals and gigs, recording
lessons, and for songwriting
sessions—especially if there’s
more than one musician playing.
Just set it up, hit record,
and the built-in stereo mics
capture whatever gets played.
Some of this recorders even
have guitar inputs and built-in
amp simulation for better tone
while recording. It’s easy to
transfer the recordings to your
computer later for further work
or archiving. I happen to use
the Roland R-05, which sounds
excellent for live recording, but
there are great models from
Zoom, Yamaha, Tascam, Sony,
and more.
Zoom R24
Even though I have a well-equipped
studio, there are
times when you just want
to make a quick multitrack
recording to preserve ideas.
Maybe it’s because I came up
in the era of cassette 4-tracks,
but I find the new generation
of digital all-in-one multitrack
recorders to be perfect for this.
They boot up instantly, you
can plug in directly, and you
can quickly lay down a rhythm
part and a melody. Some even
have amp simulation. I use the
Zoom R24, which even has a
little onboard drum machine,
as well as two built-in mics
for those times when you have
a vocal line you want to lay
down or you’re playing acoustically.
You can plug the R24
into your computer to use as a
control surface, it works as an
audio interface, and you can
directly transfer files via USB.
In other words, it does everything.
But what I really like is
that it’s ready to use as soon
as you power it on, it sounds
good, and it makes it easy to
lay down a couple of quick
tracks. Roland/BOSS, Tascam,
and others make similar devices
that work equally well.
These three particular devices
work for me. You might
find similar (or not so similar)
units that do a better job for
you and the way you work.
It doesn’t matter what you
use—what matters is that you
capture those ideas quickly and
easily before the muse decides
to take flight.
Mitch Gallagher is
the former editor in chief of
EQ magazine. He’s written
more than 1000 articles
and six books on recording
and music technology, and
has released an instructional
DVD on mastering. His upcoming book is
entitled
Guitar Tone: Pursuing the Ultimate
Electric Guitar Sound. To learn more, visit
mitchgallagher.com.