Lesson 1 – Hardware

Every instrument and microphone, except the drums, which are programmed, I plugged into a PreSonus Audiobox USB audio interface box. On the other end, the interface box is plugged, you guessed it, into the USB port of your computer.

At the time I bought the Audiobox USB, it came with Presounus Studio One software, and cost $100.

I used a Peavey Bass Guitar, plugged directly into the Audiobox. I used a guitar pick when I played bass.

I used a Breedlove Acoustic Guitar, I plugged it directly into the Audiobox, no microphones. The mike is already inside the guitar.

I used a 1970s model Gibson SG, plugged it into a Boss Distortion (DS-1), which is probably the most common distortion pedal, it only costs $50 brand new. I plugged it into the Audiobox. This distortion sounds horrible without an amp simulator, which is part of the software.

Click the above sound file. First you hear the unaltered sound, then you hear the altered sound.

The drums where programmed with MIDI software. I used Tabledit software to produce tablature sheet music for the guitar and bass. I programmed every note for the drums. I exported the drums as a MIDI file. I used Piston software to convert the MIDI files into WAV files. This is the standard format for most of the tracks in most of the DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations).