Before you arrive at the studio, there are a couple of things to look out for which will help your recording session go smoother. Our studios connect to the mics using a RØDECaster Pro interface, which you use to control all volumes, trigger sounds and especially record.
You have two recording options:
A. Record with your laptop
B. Record directly onto your microSD
A. Recording with your laptop:
To record this way, you will need to bring with you:
- your laptop
- a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) installed. We like Ableton, Logic Pro X and Garageband, but it’s up to your individual knowledge and preference.
- a USB C cable - the Rodecaster has got a USB C port, so you will need a cable that suits your laptop ports too.
- Windows users - IMPORTANT: PC users will need to download (here) and install the third-party audio driver ASIO4All for it to work correctly with your DAW. Once downloaded:
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- Go to the Windows Start Menu and open ASIO4ALL Offline Settings.
- Select your interface by clicking the button next to it. It will light up blue when selected.
- Open the input/playback settings menu of your DAW and select ASIO4ALL as the input/playback device. See below for your DAW settings menu.
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Once at the studio, make sure to set up your laptop and the Rodecaster just like this video shows:
To recap, this is the whole process in short:
- Connect the USB C cable from the back of the Rodecaster to your laptop
- Set your laptop's Input/Output device as "Rodecaster Multichannel" for up to 4 separate track recordings or "Rodecaster Stereo" for left and right recording in a single stereo track
- Open your recording software (eg. Logic), choose the same audio Input/Output settings under Preferences
- Set up as many tracks as needed [up to 4 mono tracks for "Multichannel" mode or 1 stereo track for "Stereo" mode] then arm them ready for recording
- Hit record and speak into each mic to test if audio is coming through.
Please visit this page for more info: https://www.rode.com/user-guides/rodecasterpro/recording-to-a-computer-via-usb
If you're using Garageband, here's a step by step tutorial to setting up multichannel recording: Garageband Multichannel Set Up Tutorial
B. Recording directly onto your microSD card:
IMPORTANT! Always remember to save your recording and eject your microSD card successfully before your session ends. If you let the power in your room go out, your recordings will likely be lost and we will not be able to recover them for you nor compensate for any damage or loss. Please remember to save on time - simply hit the REC button on time, to allow the Rodecaster save the recording without issues.
You can also choose to record directly from the RØDECaster onto a microSD card, and import the audio to a DAW for editing later. Please bring a microSD card to your session as they’re not supplied. Here are the recommended brands. To record onto your microSD card:
- Towards the left of the back of the device, there will be a slot to fit your microSD card.
- Simply push the micro SD (logo facing up) into the slot until it stays in; you will feel a click when it's set.
- On the touchscreen, you will see a microSD symbol when your card is recognised.
- Using the hardware menu you can check the capacity of your microSD card and erase/format it if needed. It will erase ALL microSD card data, so proceed with extreme caution.
- Push the microSD card to eject it. Do not pull the card out or as this will damage both the card and the Rodecaster Pro port.
If you chose to record on a SD card in multi track mode, the session will be recorded as a single PolyWAV file.
Don't worry! You only need to open the file with a DAW that accepts it (eg. Reaper, and it's free!) and it will then be transformed automatically in 14 separate tracks, the first 2 being the full stereo mix and all the other separate tracks. All information about this process can be found here.
Read more information at RØDECaster.
Do you need to connect your phone to accept calls and/or play music?
You’ll either need to bring your own AUX cable to connect your phone to the AUX input at the back of the RØDECaster interface or simply connect via Bluetooth, here's a video showing how to do this.