Starting a home audio recoding

[bendgarcia]

Hello everyone! Happy new year to all...

I love to sing and recently thought of recording either on my PC/laptop or a recording device. I do not know any instrument, so I would be recording my voice with karaoke (minus 1). I am moving to a new house soon and was thinking of setting a start-up home recording. I do not know where to start really. I thought some of you might be able to help me start. I most likely will buy a how to book in the immediate future, but thought I could fast track my project with your help.

Thanks a lot in advance.
Ben

[jake-owa]

If you love to sing make the most of it and take piano lessons. Skip the recording stuff until you have something worth recording. Believe me, there's nothing more satisfying that hearing your voice singing your creation to your own music.

If you don't like my advice you could always go buy a cheap interface/preamp from the likes of Maudio and a good all around mic like a sure 58. That's all you really need to buy and you already have a computer so you're good to go. Just rip the karaoke (shudder) CDs or record the music tracks into your multitrack and you are ready to sing away to your little heart's content.

That's simplifying, but the basic idea. You will have to learn to set levels, use a mic properly and not least of all your software will have quite a learning curve if it's your first crack. Try Cool Edit Pro for an easy program. You will probably be limited to whatever comes with your interface you choose to begin with.

Have fun.

[Chibi Nappa]

Originally Posted by jake-owa

If you love to sing make the most of it and take piano lessons. Skip the recording stuff until you have something worth recording. Believe me, there's nothing more satisfying that hearing your voice singing your creation to your own music.

If you don't like my advice you could always go buy a cheap interface/preamp from the likes of Maudio and a good all around mic like a sure 58. That's all you really need to buy and you already have a computer so you're good to go. Just rip the karaoke (shudder) CDs or record the music tracks into your multitrack and you are ready to sing away to your little heart's content.

That's simplifying, but the basic idea. You will have to learn to set levels, use a mic properly and not least of all your software will have quite a learning curve if it's your first crack. Try Cool Edit Pro for an easy program. You will probably be limited to whatever comes with your interface you choose to begin with.

Have fun.

The above is good if you want to sing and be able to hear it later, but if you really want to record, the first thing you have to learn is how to listen.

You need to be able to tell with a listen if the sound you are recording is correct, if the arrangement is fighting with itself, if the instrument is even in tune, if the mic you are using is the correct mic. In short, you have to train your ears. Recording is a bit of technical know-how, and a whole bunch of "artistic" decison making. Learn to listen.

In order to listen, you will need a monitoring system. Buy monitors and listen to pro CDs on them. For hours. For days. Whenever you can. Listen to your own singing on them. Listen to your midi sequences on them. Try to learn the differences between what you are doing and what the pros are doing. Take any microphone you have and really listen to how it records. Listen to how it picks up sound straight on, from the side, from behind, from near, from far, and everything in between. Learn your monitoring system inside and out.

Thats a good starting point for learing to record. There's plenty of on-line tutorials for all the technical stuff.

[Dani Pace]

You might want to download some recording software, many companies have trial or limited versions for free, that way you can try before you buy. Some are simple and some are pretty complicated, you might try Audacity (Sound Force) its free and simple to use and good for learning the basics of pc recording. I have to agree with the others, a large part of recording is listening, a good ear is critical, if it sounds bad to you it will sound worse to others.