sound recording

so i have to make a sound recording, something i approach with dread. it used to be i used audacity but now i've got garageband which is widely reputed to be idiot proof. the proof then is in the pudding and, of course, garageband is far from this idiot proof.

problems, as with audacity, start as soon as i put the mic in. of course i can't hear it. it's a posh all singing all dancing mic but in either system it'll only work in mono. not only that but the levels i can achieve are such that i need to peer to see if there's any up and down at all. i check with one of those online tutorial things. do the stuff. doesn't work, because it never works. and there's that curious thing that when i listen to these guys their voices all sound something like normal. mine's, despite the levels being set so low as to be practically unable to see them, makes me sound like i'm recording in a bell, with all the low tones taken out.

i remember in the old days, although tape was expensive, you plugged the mic in, set some basic recording levels, pressed record and you were off. it was finicky but something like enjoyable. this digital recording malarkey tho seems just an exercise in stress esp when everyone and their cat tell me just how 'easy' it is. i wonder if it;s something i'm missing or if there's some quality in the technology that's just passing me by. recording sound used to be time consuming but satisfying. now it's just time consuming!