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How to Record Music at Home

Adam Hartwick www.SuperStrainMusic.com

Technology, specifically home recording, has progressed in leaps and bounds in the past few years.  Thousands of dollars of equipment and years of schooling were once required to produce professional sounding recordings, but no more!  There are many examples of powerful, easy to use software, which make it easy and convenient to multi-track record in the comfort of home.  The software has become relatively cheap and in some cases free, however this is only one piece of the puzzle when building a home studio.  The computer is the most important part of this puzzle and by far the most expensive, but who doesn’t already own a computer in this “point and click” world?  Computers are as common as television sets and telephones in most American homes so I am going to assume that you at least know someone with a computer and have basic computer skills.  So with this in mind lets look at a few essential pieces of the home recording puzzle.

Computer (or access to one) Microphones Audio Interface Recording software (Pro Tools, Sonar, Garage Band, Audacity, etc.)

Now lets look at the individual pieces in more detail.

Computer- If you don’t have at least a general understanding of computers then you must have been hiding under a rock for the past 10 years.  I recommend picking up a book on basic computing or finding a 6 year old to teach you. Microphones- There are literally hundreds, maybe even thousands of different types of microphones available at every price imaginable, which can be intimidating to some people when recording at home.  Trying to explain the difference between these microphones would be impossible within the realm of this article so we will just briefly explain them.  I highly recommend, however to do some research on the different types and find someone with experience in recording to help you decide what microphones are best in each application.  All microphones, generally speaking, do the same job.  They take audio information (noise) and convert it into a signal, which can be moved through a cable to another location (amplifier, computer, etc.) where it is then converted back into noise.  All microphones do this job well, but some are better than others for certain applications.  Since this is a basic article and I want to help set up a studio without spending an arm and a leg, I will simply recommend finding microphones within your budget and experimenting with them to find which work best for you.  I also recommend that if you only buy one microphone, it should be a SM 57, which is in my humble opinion the most well rounded microphone available and can be purchased for around $100. Audio Interface- This is a piece of hardware, which takes the audio information from your microphone and converts it to information that can be used by your computer and recording software.  It is the link between the music and your computer.  There are many different brands available at many different price ranges but all do the same job.  The difference between them is basic quality of components and construction but also in amount or numbers of input/ output channels.  An interface with a single stereo input allows you to take one microphone and record onto one single track.  This is great for vocals or guitars or any other instrument in which only one microphone and one track is needed.  This however limits you greatly if you want to put multiple microphones on a single instrument or when recording drums, which have many pieces and need many microphones and tracks.  This can be fixed in two different ways.  Either buy an audio interface with multiple inputs (this is where the interface gets extremely expensive) or buy a small mixing board and mix all of the microphones together before they are put into the interface.  This is a very cost effective way to record but it does have its limitations.  Once the drums (for example) are mixed through the mixing board, then put into a single input interface, they will be recorded onto a single track within your recording software.  This means that you have no way to separate the different drums once the track is recorded.  If you can’t here the snare drum, you can’t just turn up that track because they have already been mixed together and cannot be separated.  The drums have to be perfectly mixed at perfect volumes in the mixing board before the recording happens.  This can still produce quality sounding drum tracks but can be quite frustrating when you start adding all the other instruments and realize that one of the drums is too loud or not loud enough.  You will have to decide what types of instruments you will be recording and how many inputs you will need and at what budget.  Most audio interfaces also come with recording software, which means that you can simply buy an interface and start recording immediately. Recording Software- Most of the popular softwares are similar in many ways.  The very basic procedures when setting up your recording software (and studios in general) is to understand where your audio is coming from and where it is going.  What is the path the audio is going to take to get from the instrument, through your hardware and software, then to your ears?  Some recording software will automatically set up and recognize the input and output drivers but in many cases you will have to find the driver settings somewhere in your software and set the appropriate drivers for your inputs and outputs.  Input drivers- How is the audio getting into your computer?  When you buy an audio interface, it usually comes with a disk to upload the appropriate software and drivers.  When you open your recording program and find the driver settings, you must select the drivers that coincide with the audio interface that you are using.  Some programs also have buttons labeled I/O, which are your input/output settings.  This tells the computer where the noise is coming from and where it is going.  Once your software knows where the music is coming from and where it should send it so that you can here it (computer speakers, mixing board, headphone amplifier, etc.), then the actual recording can take place.  All software comes with some form of equalization and effects, which can take the dry music and add/subtract things to make it work best in the overall song.  Again, this is an extreme over-generalization of what EQ and effects can do to a track or an overall recording, but for this article I will simply tell you that there is no substitution for finding someone with knowledge and asking them to share.  There are also hundreds of tutorials available online and other articles and forums specifically dedicated to explaining and sharing recording knowledge.  If you are reading this article, then you must be interested and excited by recording your own music so I think the best and most fun way to understand these concepts is by experimenting. 

Now with a little trial and error, you will soon be proficient at multi-track-recording and will no longer need to spend $60+ an hour at a studio to share quality recordings of yourself or of your band.  It has been an extremely fun and rewarding hobby for me not to mention somewhat lucrative.  Once you become proficient at recording, you can charge others bands to record at your home studio.  You can also run your software with a laptop, which allows you to create a mobile studio.  Start asking bands in your area if they would like you to record their next demo album or record their live show for a small fee.  With a small investment in hardware, software and time, you can begin to earn money for doing something that you love in your free time!

Now that you have the equipment and knowledge, you can also begin to collaborate with other musicians from around the world at www.SuperStrainMusic.com.  Record your own tracks and let others add their talents to your music or help others finish their songs by adding your newly found talents… Experiment, contribute, collaborate, and make music with the world!

Learn more tips on how to record the keyboard track for a song withApple Logic Pro music software in this free video for artists, bands, and songwriters. Expert: Bill Macpherson Bio: Bill Macpherson has been playing guitar professionally for more than 20 years. In addition to his guitar playing, he runs a recording studio. Filmmaker: Paul Ferguson

Recording a music demo is the most vital step in pursuing a record deal. If you want a record deal, you need to really impress the record label and give them something professional, polished, unique and exciting. Finding the right record producer can be a painstaking process, but it’s absolutely necessary if you want to have a shot at a successful music career. The following are ten pitfalls you must avoid when recording your music demo.

1. Be careful of music producers with no real music industry experience or credits.

Anyone can call themselves a music producer. Calling yourself a music producer requires no experience, no degree, no credits and no skill. Do you want to trust your career with this person? Look for a music producer that has actually worked on records with signed artists and record labels. Valuable and necessary music production skills are acquired only through years of hard work on professional recording sessions.

2. Beware of producers who want to record your music demo in their “home studio”.

Although home recording equipment has gotten better through the years, there is still a vast difference between a home studio and a professional recording studio. Due to space constraints and budget concerns, a home studio will often make many compromises in sound quality and flexibility that will undoubtedly affect the final product. It’s difficult to get a clean sound from someone’s basement. A real full service recording studio has certain professional standards that they must adhere to and cannot make such compromises if they expect to stay in business.

3. Watch out for producers who want you to sing in their closet or bathroom.

When you’re paying hard earned money for your music demo you shouldn’t be shoved into some guys cramped, unventilated closet. How safe would you feel? You need a studio with space to move around and you need to be comfortable when you sing if you really expect to perform your best. In addition, the poor acoustics of a closet will give you a very undesirable vocal sound.

4. Be skeptical of music producers who claim to specialize in 7 or 8 styles of music.

Specialize means to ‘devote oneself to a specific area of study.’ An experienced music producer may do a few related styles well, but beware when they claim to ’specialize’ in Rap, Country, R&B, Folk, Rock, Club music, Blues, Polka, etc. This is like casting a net out to see who bites. Chances are they have no real specialty and will miss the subtle elements of each style. The result is a music demo that sounds stale, stereotypical and boring at best. If you want a producer that will make fantastic music for your specific style, find one who actually specializes in that certain sound.

5. Use a professional engineer to record and mix your music demo, not an amateur.

Engineering is a skill and a talent that takes many years of hard work, study and long grueling hours to acquire. Professional engineers have worked with hundreds of artists and music producers and have learned individual techniques from each of them. They are paid hundreds and thousands of dollars for their technical and creative skill. Engineers are the ones responsible for the sonic quality of a recording. You can have the best producer in the best studio in the world, but with a bad engineer the music will end up sounding like garbage.

6. Be careful with producers who want to charge you by the hour.

While occasionally an hourly rate can be appropriate, it is NEVER done in the real music industry (where we make records, not demos). The music producer is paid a flat fee by the record label to give them a fully produced song for their artist. When a producer charges by the hour, you become the one producing your own track and the producer is reduced to the role of a keyboard player. They count on you making common mistakes and running up the clock because of your lack of experience producing.

7. Watch out for producers who claim they will shop your demo.

Find out exactly what this means. Will they send it to their cousin in Georgia who has a wedding band? Did they meet a guy in the music store who has a cousin at some label in France? If they have any genuine music industry contacts that are really worthwhile, they could not possibly have them very long if they promise to shop every artist they produce before even hearing them. This will ruin their credibility. Do not fall for this one.

8. Be cautious of producers who emphasize equipment over credentials.

All too often people think that by just acquiring some gear they’ll get a great production. Don’t believe it. Buying a paintbrush doesn’t make you an artist. Buying a violin doesn’t make you a musician. Why do people think that buying a mixing board makes them an engineer or a music producer? It doesn’t. That only comes with hard work and experience. As an artist your only concern should be how your music sounds, not whether producers are using class A mic pre-amps, a tube compressor or Apogee A/D converters.

9. Listen to the music.

Listen to examples of their work and see what moves you and which music producer you connect with. Does the music producer listen to you and share your vision? Do you feel comfortable with them? Do you enjoy being in their studio? Do you trust them? If you do, that’s the right music producer for you.

10. You get what you pay for.

Music Demos are NOT like McDonalds hamburgers. They are not massed produced and they are certainly not all alike. While cost is a concern when doing a music demo, you must realize that a bad demo is worse than no demo at all. A bad demo will close doors for you that you may never be able to open again. Like anything in life, garbage is cheap and you pay extra for superior quality. For an experienced music professional, you may end up paying more than that with a bargain basement dirt cheap producer. But if you’re really serious about pursuing a record deal you must present yourself in a professional light if you have any hopes of being signed.

You won’t get any substitution for a good recording being done in a professional recording studio. With the rise in popularity of digital PC recording and the low cost of recording software, many people are thinking again for the idea of home recording. The ease of MP3 distribution and the sites that offer free web hosting and the ability to upload and download free music, the difficulty of promoting and distributing your MP3 band has become very easy.

You need to think that what is needed to begin such recording at home, how these recordings can be turned into MP3’s and what to do with these MP3 ‘s once they are created. Home recording on a PC requires some necessary things such as a computer, recording software and a digital soundcard. If you are recording multiple tracks from multiple sources at the same time you might want to invest in a mixer as well. This will allow you input more than one instrument or microphone to your computer at the same time. You need to install your recording software and sound card drivers. Plug your mixer into your sound card, plug your instruments into your mixer and there you are ready for recording. The recording process may be a little different depending upon what software you are using. Most decent software comes with a good instruction manual that you can consult if you have any problems. After recording, you can also mix all tracks down to stereo audio .wav file.

Now that the recording is completed and you have the .wav file in hand you can convert it into MP3 file. IF you burn your tracks to CD, you won’t need to convert it to a MP3 file but for distributing music downloads on the web, the most universally accepted method will be an Mp3 file. You can take your .wav file and export it as an MP3 with the help of any audio recording program. Most of the recording software provides this option but you should keep in mind that you might need to mess with the output settings to get the best quality MP3 program. Another option is to use a stand alone .wav to MP3 converter.

Once you have your MP3 files, you can set up your own website and offer free music downloads. You can visit many websites that offer free web hosting for musicians so that the musicians will have a place to offer downloadable music Mp3, music videos and music lyrics.

For more information, visit our recommended website freedownloadmp3song.info

If you have been dreaming of recording your own music but have feared doing so because of the lack of simple guidelines, look no further. With the tips this article provides you, you will definitely be on your way to a good independent record, may be even stardom! So what should you do to avoid a trip to a recording studio?

One of the most important things to remember while recording music is that it requires a certain amount of patience and time. If you are short on either, you will have to give up your dreams of audio mastering and concentrate on finding a good label to launch you. For those who intend to persevere with the task of recording music, the first step is to make sure that the music sounds good on the microphone. Before recording any music, make sure all your musical instruments are working at their best so that there may not be too much editing later on. Of course, it also means that your microphones must be of top quality and placed properly in front of the source

A common mistake of many music recorders who are just starting out is that they do not save their work frequently enough. Can you imagine the heartache of the person who has given his all to record that wonderful piece of music only to realize that it was lost due to a minor oversight? You definitely do not want to loose a great recording that you have worked hours on. You should not only save your work between takes, but also copy every recording on a back up tape. This is standard advice to most programmers in software companies and it holds true for home recording as well.

Many sound recorders make the music very complicated by overdoing the engineering. A good music recorder is one who wants to preserve the actual beauty of the music and does not impose unnecessary external effects on it.

After you have finished recording the music, you must do some non-technical work. You will now have to duplicate your record, distribute it as much as possible and promote it extensively to make monetary profits. You can do this by getting a good CD duplication service. You can look up on the web and find the ones that offer the best deals to save money. After you have finished making multiple copies you will have to worry about distributing them.

Since your label is not a known one, distribution might become a problem without adequate marketing. For this, you will have to do a lot of research and find record stores that keep independent labels. They may have to pay small fees to distribution companies before your CDs make it to the music stores. Another option is to sell your records on line.

The last step of this journey is the actual promotion of your album. This is not a very tough job as with the help of the Internet you can promote your music endlessly. You could go to any of the free websites that allow upload of music and do so in order to attract probable listeners. You could, alternatively, pay certain music publications to promote your album.

Thus, not only do you get to record music with your own studio equipment, you also manage to promote your album with the help of the tips above. Now throw away the fear in your heart and launch your own album. You can thank me later for the fame that follows! The cash would be yours to keep.

How to record YouTube videos

YouTube is one of the biggest and best video files sharing website which has giant collection of videos library. I, like many others, spend a good amount of time on YouTube while surfing through my favorite videos. The only problem with YouTube is that you are unable to find a way to get YouTube videos so that you can enjoy them in future or when not connected to internet.

I think many people have encountered the same problem, having difficulty to record videos from YouTube to their PC. So I’m here want to give you a solution on how to record YouTube videos.

You need a record YouTube videos program to help you do that, I recommend you use this YouTube video recorder – Streaming Video Recorder. It is an easy yet powerful video recorder for YouTube program that lets you record YouTube streaming video and allows you to convert the recorded YouTube videos to your specific preference video formats like iPod MP4, AVI, and WMV formats.

Once you start playing the video on the web, Streaming Video Recorder will capture the video automatically and immediately record videos from YouTube for you, even if you close your browser while watching (provided internet connection remains active for the duration of the recording).

Now, let’s record YouTube videos together with this YouTube video recorder software!

Below is how to record video on YouTube:
Record YouTube videos step 1: Download, install then launch the video recorder for YouTube .
Tips: Click “Add URL” button, you can add a video URL to download.

Record YouTube videos step 2: Click “settings” to set the download folder and the output format of the downloaded YouTube videos.

Record YouTube videos step 3: Open YouTube, search your favorite video and play, the YouTube video recorder will immediately capture your video and start to record it. You can stop the progress at any time.

Record YouTube videos step 4: Click “My Downloads” button to view your recorded YouTube videos.

Done! So easy record videos from YouTube with this YouTube video recorder software!

Imagine how nice it would be if you could record YouTube videos and put the enormous number of your favorite videos into iPod. The reality is that you can now actually record all YouTube videos with the YouTube video recorder.

  Download YouTube Video Recorder

About Streaming Video Recorder:
Streaming Video Recorder is an online video downloader that saves video to your computer as soon as you start watching. Streaming Video Recorder captures web video automatically and downloads it while you continue surfing the web. It allows you download your preferred videos, movies, tv shows, and much more from other popular video sharing sites, like MetaCafe, Fox, YouTube, Veoh, MySpace Video, and so on. Streaming Video Recorder downloads high definition video data and saves the original data exactly 1:1 on your hard drive. No quality loss in audio or video.

It is your best choose to use this YouTube video recorder software to download free YouTube videos and save YouTube videos to your PC for enjoying them in future. Using this way, you can record YouTube hot videos, record YouTube naruto videos, record YouTube sex videos, and record YouTube funny videos and many more.

Article From: How to record YouTube videos

Learn how to record a software instrument GarageBand, Apple’s music recording software in this free online video tutorial.

First of all, let’s have a brief introduction of how sound recorder vista works. Sound Recorder software is a very simple application that allows you to record sound to your local disk. Recording is very easy: all you need is a sound card and a microphone that is plugged into it. By default, the recorded sounds will be saved as a WMA file. vista audio recorder can record microphones, portable devices, online music, and any sound.

Where to find Sound Recorder?

The Sound Recorder shortcut can be found in Start -> Accessories.

How to use sound recorder vista?

Once you have started Sound Recorder, don’t forget to check the sound level in the Volume Mixer. You won’t be able to record anything if it is on mute. When you are ready, please click on the Start Recording button.

To stop or pause the recording, click on the Stop Recording button.

A window will pop-up asking you to fill the file name and the location where the recording will be saved. In this window you can also specify information such as the artist and the album. If you want to save the recording in another folder other than the default one, click on the Browse Folders arrow.

Go to the desired location and click on the Save button. That’s done.

That’s how sound recorder vista will help you to record sound. However, thanks to the RIAA, Microsoft Sound Recorder vista will only record up to 60 seconds of sound. Because of completely legal reasons, audio card companies had to remove the feature of recording Stereo Mix. Even you can record microphone with sound recorder vista, you cannot capture sound coming from other applications, such as Media Player, etc. which also means you cannot record online music. What if you want to record online music? Wondershare Audio Recorder is designed for you to record microphones, portable devices, online music, and any sound from your PC. This Audio Recorder is independent of sound card. And it’s the best sound recorder vista out there. With a virtual sound card attached, it enables you to record any sound from your PC. This means even your sound card don’t support recording Stereo Mix, Audio Recorder will record online music.

www.Free-Sound-Recorder.net Freecorder Toolbar is a FREEWARE SOUND RECORDER (audio recording) software for Windows XP and Vista. Download Free Sound Recorder It is 100% FREE!

BBC Online radio is a large network of websites uses RealAudio streamed through RTSP and PNM protocols for their on demand video/radio and live streams. Have you ever wanted to download BBC radio, and save BBC radio to iPod, so you can share those interesting news with your friends? Want to know is the choice to download BBC radio?

Streaming Audio Recorder makes it easy to rip BBC radio. It supports record BBC Radio as MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG or AAC files with high quality.

Streaming Audio Recorder is a real streaming audio recorder software utility. It can record streaming audio (music, radio shows) from any social music websites like YouTube Music, Deezer, MySpace, eSnips Music, Imeem or any online radio stations including BBC radio, Pandora, AOL, etc.

How to record BBC radio?

The following steps will show how to record BBC radio and save BBC radio to either an iPod or mp3 player.

1. Download and Run Streaming Audio Recorder first.

Before you record BBC radio, click “settings” bottom to select the target output format, path, and sound volume, you can change the output format as MP3, WMA, WAV, AC3, M4A, AAC, etc.

2. Open BBC Radio webpage.

3. Open the BBC Radio Player, choose the radio station you want record, and hit the Play button.

4. As the radio player starts to buffer audio content, switch to Streaming Audio Recorder and hit click the “record” to start recording BBC radio.

6. Click “Browse” to check the recorded BBC radio.

 That’s it. You just rip BBC radio to your local disk. After downloading BBC radio, you can add the downloaded music, radio shows to iTunes, Windows Media Player, or Winamp. Then you can enjoy the music, radio shows downloaded from the BBC Online in your iPod or any other portable player offline.

So I had an plan that download BBC radio every week so that I could listen to the BBC music, radio shows later, even if ‘later’ was several weeks or months afterwards when the actual recording was no longer downloadable from the BBC Online. With this BBC Radio Recorder, I can now easily get any sound melody, live shows from BBC radio.