Essentials for Home Recording

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ZenShin

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Hi Friends !

I am new to recording & stuff.. Please tell me the Basic requirements & a list of essential things required to record voice for tutorial purpose.
I googled it for some info, but little confused with too many information & suggesstions. My requirement is good quality Home Audio recording only, with out any white noise or any other disturbances at the background.


Thanks in Advance !
 
Read the Stickie threads at the top of this section of the forum, then come back with more exact questions, please! Welcome! There's a lot to learn.
 
My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $16
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recordin...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273169612&sr=1-1

PC Recording Studios for Dummies - $16
Amazon.com: PC Recording Studios For Dummies (9780764577079): Jeff Strong: Books
(Wish I'd had those when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
Amazon.com: Recording Guitar and Bass: Getting a Great Sound Every Time You Record (9780879307301): Huw Price: Books
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

Home Recording for Beginners by Geoffrey Francis
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recording-Beginners-Geoffrey-Francis/dp/1598638815

When you get a bit into it, I highly recomend The Art of Mixing by David Gibson
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Mixing-Recording-Engineering-Production/dp/1931140456

A MUST READ: Kim Lajoie's "Lifesigns from studio" - FREE - http://www.errepici.it/web/download/KLBD.asp

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at Tape Op Magazine

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics and have good tips:
Tweak's Guide to the Home and Project Studio
Free beginner PDFs | Computer Music | MusicRadar.com
The #1 online community for musicians | Harmony Central
Tips & Techniques - Gearslutz.com

Guitar Amp Recording: Guitar Amp Recording

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig: How to Configure a Recording Studio Rig

Other recording books: Music Books Plus - Missing Page - 404 Errors

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops
and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) and NOT quality music production.
The poor hardware and software drivers will lead to high latency; delays in processing the audio.
Even a cheap $50 recording card with real ASIO drivers will be much better.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and user-tested suggestions that work: The Best Audio Interfaces for your Home Studio by TweakHeadz Lab
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)

Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:
Sony ACID Xpress 10-track sequencer: ACIDplanet.com: Free Downloads: ACID Xpress
Audacity: Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: Wavosaur free audio editor with VST and ASIO support (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: KRISTAL Audio Engine
Other freebies and shareware: Music Software - Computer Music Resources (Hitsquad Music Software)

Another great option is REAPER at REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits
(It's $50 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages...
Myriad: Music Notation Software and much more... / Myriad : logiciels de musique, et bien plus...
Demo you can try on the website.

Great booklet on mic'ing techniques from Shure:
http://www.shure.com/idc/groups/public/documents/webcontent/us_pro_micsmusicstudio_ea.pdf

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE, December 2010 they gave away Samplitude11LE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.'
 
ZenShin said:
Hi Friends !

I am new to recording & stuff.. Please tell me the Basic requirements & a list of essential things required to record voice for tutorial purpose.
I googled it for some info, but little confused with too many information & suggesstions. My requirement is good quality Home Audio recording only, with out any white noise or any other disturbances at the background.


Thanks in Advance !
Click to expand...

You're gonna need....

mic--xlr cable--preamp--interface (sometimes contains the preamp)--computer--DAW (such as Reaper or Audacity)

So just voice, yeah? What's your budget?
 
just wanted to add...
don`t forget a LAVA lamp!!..it`s pretty much considered an absolute essential..

:D
 
Reply ! Thanks !

Hi Guys
thanks for your replies .

- I have a shure vocal microphone with podium desk stand.

- A regular (core2duo,4gb ram) Desktop Computer with a Creative 5.1 Sound Blaster Sound Card. creative 5.1 speakers,etc..

- Audacity free software. ( know only this one & not really know how to use it well though)

Need Suggesstions from u guys ! are ...

- A Preamp/Audio Interface ( 50 - 100 $ ) ( i have no idea about these?)

- A exclusive microphone for recoding Voice ? ( btw 50 - 100 $ )

- well ! additions if there is any?


* I pluged in the microphone to blue socket of sound card & tried to record it using audacity, & the recorded file has very low volume & a low some kind of white noise at the background.
even if i record without speaking anything over mic it just records a (sshe ee... kind a white noise at the background)
- i want to record voice with absolutly good quality.

Thanks !
 
ZenShin said:
Hi Guys
thanks for your replies .

- I have a shure vocal microphone with podium desk stand.

- A regular (core2duo,4gb ram) Desktop Computer with a Creative 5.1 Sound Blaster Sound Card. creative 5.1 speakers,etc..

- Audacity free software. ( know only this one & not really know how to use it well though)

Need Suggesstions from u guys ! are ...

- A Preamp/Audio Interface ( 50 - 100 $ ) ( i have no idea about these?)

- A exclusive microphone for recoding Voice ? ( btw 50 - 100 $ )

- well ! additions if there is any?


* I pluged in the microphone to blue socket of sound card & tried to record it using audacity, & the recorded file has very low volume & a low some kind of white noise at the background.
even if i record without speaking anything over mic it just records a (sshe ee... kind a white noise at the background)
- i want to record voice with absolutly good quality.

Thanks !
Click to expand...
And that is why you need the preamp.
Tascam us800 is 100. It makes me wanna throw up. In a good way though.
 
Yup to all of the above.

Since you only need a single mic, you might look at interfaces like the M Audio Mobile Pre or M Audio Fast Track (though that discount price on the Tascam US800 is going to be hard to beat). You've already found out how bad built in/Soundblaster gamer cards are...

Whether you need a new mic or the one you have will be suitable will depend on the model you currently use--frankly, it might be worth trying and seeing if you can accept the results.

One thing that nobody has mentioned is "a quiet place with decent acoustics to record". Voice can be less forgiving than music because you simply want an acoustic as dead as possible. If you want to spend money (ha!) the SE REFLEXION FILTERS work remarkably well. However, a good many people get away with just surrounding the recording area with soft things like moving blankets or duvets--if you knew how many reporter voice overs have been recording in hotel closets by a journalist with bedding over his head, you'd be amazed!.
 
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