The thing I’m struggling with is Justin’s suggestion to record things. I’ve only done this on my phone and it’s pretty hopeless. Now he’s talking about things like “the click track on the recording software” but hasn’t explained what that is and I haven't a clue what he’s talking about! Do I need to buy a recording studio? (I know I don’t) but I think he’s suddenly assuming I as a student/viewer know all about this. Presumably he knows Tammy understands and has recorded stuff. I also realise I am a ‘fly on the wall’ watching a lesson tailored for a particular student.....but still.
Yeah, from what he was saying in the lesson, his comments on recording are directed more to Tammy than to you, the viewer. He mentioned Logic (audio recording/workstation software on Mac) to her, in passing, in a way that suggests he already knows that she uses Logic to record. So his comments to her assume some familiarity with recording and using Logic, in particular. He also mentioned "Transcribe!" which is software (for Windows, Mac, and Linux) that can play back recorded audio at different speeds (without changing the pitch), as well as do some basic recording.
The "click track" is referring to a metronome click within Logic (or similar DAWs -- digital audio workstations).
For basic "record myself and listen back," there's no reason you can't just record using your phone. The audio quality may or may not be very good, but it should work for the purpose (i.e., listen to yourself to identify problems you should work on).
Record yourself with a metronome going to best identify issues with your timing.A step up from using the phone would be to use a microphone connected to a computer (e.g., a USB mic or an XLR mic connected through a hardware audio interface) combined with some audio recording software. For basic recording, The
Transcribe! software should work fine. Another option would be an application like
Audacity, which records/edits/plays audio, and allows you to record multiple tracks (among other things).
The most full-featured option would be a DAW like
Logic,
REAPER,
Ardour,
Bitwig,
Ableton, et cetera. Those are more advanced, or even professional, tools with a lot of features and a higher learning curve.
They're overkill for "just record myself and listen back," but they're great if you're actually recording and producing mixes with multiple audio tracks (e.g., 2 guitars, bass, drums, vocals) for distribution.