Myth: It is Expensive to Learn to Use Your PC for Recording Sound That Sounds Good

Before we talk about recording sound, let me ask you a question.  Have you ever avoided doing something because you believed there to be some sort of barrier or consequence you didn’t want to deal with (like “recording sound at professional quality is expensive)?  Then have you ever found out….perhaps years later…that your belief was incorrect, and you could have done that something after all?  That feeling really sucks.  I found out at a high-school reunion that I was WAAAY more popular than I would ever have imagined while I was going through it.  My belief about myself was that I was a scrawny, funny-looking geek that was too embarrassed and shy to ask girls out on dates.  Then 10 years later I find out that I could have gone out with almost anyone!  To hear people talk about how popular I was, and how my self-image was completely wrong, was at once wonderful and hugely frustrating.
So what does that little story have to do with recording sound from home?  I have heard time and time again from many people that they are going to someday learn how to do home recording, but they don’t have the time or money right now.  But guess what?  Getting good quality audio is more about learning a few tips and techniques than it is about buying expensive gear and/or going to recording classes.  Knowledge trumps gear!  And that knowledge isn’t hard or expensive for a vast majority of the folks who let this myth stop them.
Let’s say you’re a singer/songwriter with the barest of computer skills.  You need demo recordings constantly and you’d really like to record a CD of your own.  But everything you’ve read says you can’t do this yourself.  You need a commercial recording studio where you can rent time (for anywhere between $40-80 an hour!).  So you either put it off, or try to save money for a day in the future when you’ll have 5 or 10 grand to record a CD.  Then 10 years later, you find out that you could have set up a home studio on your PC and learned the techniques for using it to create professional audio for under $100 bucks.  That’s right.
Well don’t wait 10 years!  The knowledge you can gain for how to do JUST the minimum required to record your music and release your own CD is a fraction of what you need to know to become a professional recording engineer.  Since you just want to record YOUR music, there’s no need to learn a huge majority of what a pro audio engineer needs to know.
So how can you acquire this knowledge?  One great source on the web for tutorial videos, articles and other resources focused on recording sound from your PC is Home Brew Audio.  It won’t take long.  It will be fun.  And in 10 years, you’ll have one less regret.  So when you get a chance, check out Home Brew Audio and other great sources on the web.  Good luck!