I thought the article below could help some of you guys out. I'm sure most of you will know what this guy is talkin about, but for those who don't I suggest you look into it.

Home Recording Studio Basics - Here's What You Need to Record
By Seth Lutnick

After I had blown quite a few thousand dollars in a recording studio, a sound engineer friend made a cool suggestion. "Why don't you buy an ADAT, and do some tracking at home?" So I purchased that venerable 8 track digital tape recorder and saved oodles of time and money putting all my synth tracks on tape. That was my start in home recording, and oh, the fun I've had since!

What are the basic pieces of equipment and software one needs to record at home?

There are so many ways to do this! Well, since you're reading this, you probably have a computer, so let's base our home studio on the computer. We'll start by understanding the different functions we will need filled in home recording. Then we'll understand what the best hardware and software products to do it are. In general, the principle I recommend is to use fewer pieces of equipment with more functions. That approach saves time and, usually, money. As you advance in your recording skills, you can go for more specialized equipment.

There are two distinct phases in recording a song. One is the "in" phase, referring to everything needed to get your music performance into a basic recorded form, with however many tracks you need. The second phase is the "out" phase, where you will take that raw music, process it and create the final stereo version.

The "in" phase -- sending the music to your computer

Music can be put into your computer either as audio or as MIDI. Audio is actual sound recordings. MIDI records no sounds, but only the digital instructions for an instrument to play. It is much like a combination of a pianist and sheet music. Without an instrument, he can make no music. With MIDI, you are saving the note and volume instructions to be played on the instruments of your choice later on.

Although some programs let you put MIDI notes into your computer through your computer keyboard, and other programs have music generation features that allow you to create an entire backing band without playing a note, the best solution is a velocity sensitive MIDI keyboard. It gives a much more realistic performance. For example, playing a key softer will record a softer note. Other features, such as aftertouch, allow you to add vibrato and other realistic effects.

Audio simply means actual sounds. Audio tracks will include vocals, acoustic instruments, and electronic instruments whose sounds you wish to use. You will do well to get at least two microphones. Some microphones are better constructed to record vocals, while others are optimized for instruments. In addition, having two mics allows you to record in stereo, or two soloists performing at the same time.

Receiving the music into your computer

All of this will get your music up to your computer's door. How do you get it inside? With an audio interface that has: a microphone jack that fits your microphone cable and preamp function (so that the signal is strong enough to be properly recorded), phantom power (if you use a condenser mic that needs it), a line input for synths and sound modules, and a MIDI interface. Remember the principle - less products that do more. Some find it simpler to run every audio sound, mics and all, through a hardware mixer (with phantom power and effects) and sending that pre-processed signal to the audio interface's line input. You'll still need the MIDI interface function for your MIDI recording, though.

Once your audio and MIDI are inside your computer, software takes over. For our recording we will use what's called an integrated audio/MIDI sequencer. Famous names include Cubase, Cakewalk and so forth. These programs record multiple tracks of audio and MIDI in perfect synchronization.

Now you have all the equipment you need for the "in" phase. What will you need to take the many tracks of audio and MIDI you have recorded and make a song out of them?

The "out" phase -- making MIDI into music

We mentioned that MIDI is simply digital instructions, it is not actual sounds. Now we will need to create actual sounds from those instructions. There are two options for this: external and internal.

External sounds come in little boxes called sound modules (or keyboards with their own great sounds). Sound modules have hundreds of high-quality patches that re-create every instrument in the orchestra, classic electronic sounds, spacey new synthesizer creations and sound effects. To use them, you send the MIDI back out from the sequencer program through the audio interface's MIDI output and into the sound module. You then take the audio output from the sound module back into your computer via the line input on your audio interface and record it on a new audio track in the sequencer. It is now a real sound and is perfectly lined up with the other tracks.

Internal sounds come in lots of different types. Instruments that you use from within your audio/MIDI sequencer include VST instruments and software synths. The latter may automatically come with your audio interface, or require installation like any other program. Option two is a full-blown sampler/synthesizer program, such as "Reason", that you connect your sequencer to through a software function called "Rewire." And there are also sound modules that come in the form of PCI cards that you physically install on your computer.

Fine tuning and effects

Most every song will use spatial effects such as reverb and echo. You may find that some tracks are slightly out of tune. On others, there may be a consistent buzz that needs to be removed. For all of these, you will want to have an audio editing program or plug-in. A plug-in is simply a function you can add to your basic sequencer program. Plug-ins exists for all kinds of functions, including reverb, compression, equalization, noise reduction, pitch correction and so forth.

An audio editing program is a standalone program that does all of these things. With most audio/MIDI sequencers, you can configure your software to call up the audio editing program and fix the track without leaving the sequencer.

Mixing down

Once you have all of your tracks and sounds recorded, you will need to mix them down to stereo. Again, this can be done in an external or internal fashion. To do it externally, you would need a hardware mixer. This method limits you to the number of tracks you can send independently through your audio interface and the number of tracks your mixer can handle. Nonetheless, mixers give you a real surface to work on, and often include quality studio effects, reverbs and such.

Internal mixing means using your audio/MIDI sequencer to mix down the entire song to two tracks. The advantage of doing it internally is the expanded number of tracks you can use. The disadvantage is the difficulty of mixing with a mouse on a computer screen. There are, however, hardware mixing surfaces which simply control your software program.

Mastering and burning

Once you have your stereo mix, you want to put the finishing touches on it. These touches include overall compression, equalization, noise reduction, fading in and out and bringing the recording up to a normalized level of volume. Your audio editing program should be able to handle these adequately, although there are specialized mastering programs which offer higher quality and many more enhancement features.

Then you're ready to burn your song to CD. Odds are that your CD writing drive came with a program that does just that and you won't need anything more. I did mention that you'll need a CD writing drive, didn't I? Well, now I did! And if it's MP3 you're after, most audio programs encode MP3s as well.

And that's it! Now you have everything you need to make your musical magic at home. Have fun, but I don't need to tell you that, because it just is.

Seth Lutnick is a singer and songwriter who has been bitten by the bug of home music recording. His web site, offers detailed step-by-step plans for creating a home recording studio, song arranging and professional album recording.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Seth_Lutnick

How to Use Your Computer as a Recording Studio
By Hans Dekker

A few years ago there was a revolution in recording technology. As computers became more powerful, they started to replace traditional tape recorders that were the heart of most recording studios. Today, computers designed for home use are powerful enough to emulate an entire recording studio, and can be used for everything from multitrack recording to audio editing and scoring music for videos.

This “democratizing” of recording techniques has opened up the entire recording industry to anyone with the proper software and hardware. With software packages costing a few hundred dollars and professional-quality audio interfaces costing less than $100, anybody can have a virtual recording studio in their home.

Some of the big names in the audio recording field are Cubase, ProTools, Sonar and Sound Forge. Each of these Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) can be used for multi-track recording and editing and have the ability to combine recordings with “virtual instruments”.

Virtual instruments are computer-generated sounds that can be played via MIDI. Traditionally, MIDI was used to send music data to hardware devices like keyboards and sound modules, but computers are now powerful enough to emulate sound modules. Instead of hooking up cables to an external device to play MIDI tracks, virtual instruments can be loaded into the computer’s memory to play any type of sound.

MIDI tracks can be combined with audio tracks and all of it played back in perfect synchronization. All tracks can be processed with effects like reverb and chorus, and the entire mix can be compressed for a professional sounding result.

Although professional sound recording packages can be fairly expensive, you can get your feet wet by trying out one of the shareware programs that are available. They will allow you to see the capabilities of digital recording, and if you want to develop your interests further you can later buy one of the professional programs.

Hans is editor of the Audio Howto Section of
the http://www.selected-audio-reviews.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hans_Dekker

Home Recording Studio Tips, Part One
By Gene Smith

I hope that you read my first article on setting up a home recording studio. Perhaps, now you have some of the equipment and are eager to get started. Maybe you already have layed a few tracks and mixed-down you effort.

These tips are from experience and are not all inclusive. In fact, with a little effort, you may become more profecient than me next week, next month, next year.

Let's look at the recording scene today. I'm older than dirt so I won't bug you with what I like and don't like. I'll try to be objective in presenting to you tips on recording. Whether you're into Rap, R&B, Punk, Rock and Roll, Country, Gospel, or Folk. I won't cover classical since I don't know much about the genre.

If you listen to a lot of music, you've probably noticed that some is engineered well and some of it is junk. In my opinion, the best recorded music is Rap, R&B and Country. But music is like flavors of ice cream: not everyone likes the same taste.

Let's get started.

Placement of the microphone:

-For vocals, have the mic about 6-10" from the singer directly in front. A sound-pop device is a good idea. These can be purchased at your local music store.

-For guitars, acoustic-place the mic stand about 4 inches below and 6 inches from the guitar. On playback, if you hear a "click", it probably means that you are occasionally striking the pick guard with the pick. I had this nasty habit for years. Try not to do that. With a little practice, you can overcome this obstacle if you have it.

-For woodwind, horns, sax, flute, recorder-Place the mic slightly above and about 6 inches from the end of the instrument. Experiment, you might even find a better way!

-Upright Bass-Have the mic on a stand and placed low about 2-3 feet and 6 inches from the instrument. Again, you might find a better way.

Piano-That's a tough one. If you have a Grand. Place the mike about one foot over the piano strings (with the lid raised). A spinet-Raise the top of the piano, have the mike about 1 foot from the casing. If you have two mics, place one above the treble and , on the other side, place one above the bass strings. Experiment with the spacing. With the two mic system, you have two tracks of piano, bass and treble. Mix them down to a pleasing sound for you at mix down.

Now let's talk about vocals.

Vocals should be the last tracks layed on your machine. Put the rhythm down first, then rhythm guitar, piano, etc. then lead and bass.

Duets-For the life of me, I can't understand why live TV has such bad engineering on duets. Most of the work would get a C- from a 10th grade teacher! I guess the engineer is following the levels indicated on his mixer. Wrong. Except for the most expensive mixers, the treble is much higher than the bass. I heard that these machines take a middle tone as the standard for volume. But you'll have to talk to someone more edumakateed than me for that!Try this- Run main vocal on the meter at 95% and run the higher alto or soprano at about 40%. Listen! Listen at the playback-make the two singers blend appropriately. Don't let that higher voice drown out the lead. Set your pans like you like it. After all, it's your recording!

Something to think about. Don't hotwire your amp directly into your recording machine without checking to see that it won't mess up your machine. It's best to put the plug from your guitar directly into your recording machine and use the built-in effects to get your sound. Today, there are many effects to choose from-grunge, rock, blues sound, echo, reverb, delay, raving maniac, octave changers, etc. I'm sure you'll find one right for you and your song.

Housekeeping-The following will help you take care of your masters and keep things in order.
Track Log-This is a form. Keep it in one of those 50 cent paper term paper things that you get at the department store. I you don't know what it is, you can puchase them on the web. If you have an 8-track, get an 8-track log, etc. If you don't want to buy them, you can make one out of a sheet of paper. Just take a ruler and make 8 columns and some horizontal lines. Fill in at the top, 1,2,3,etc. The first box you have created below the number one, put the type of thing that's on track one-vocal, bass, drums, etc. and so on.

You can add notes in the boxes below on each track indicating start time-stop time of the track information. Play around with this, keep the info that you need, to recreate a mix if you want to do it later. The instruction book that came with your machine might even have more extensive tips for you on the track log. Read it through. It can be a great help.

If your master is on a zip-drive or some other removable media, make sure to lable it correctly and thoroughly. You might even want to document the date. Who knows? You might want to use your walker to get to the closet in 2066 to play your stuff to your bored grandchildren!

Have fun and if I'm still on Planet Earth next month, I'll have more stuff for you.

Happy recording!

Gene Smith has his own recording studio in a room in his home. He has made several spoken word CDs and music albums. He lives in West Virginia

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