Who says you can’t have a home audio recording studio for free? I definitely don’t, primarily because it isn’t correct! In bygone days, when tape recorders were the only way to record audio, yeah-it was undoable to have anything like a home recording studio for less than hundreds of dollars, if not thousands. But in this digital age, all that has changed.
When I say you can have a home recording studio free of charge, I am not exaggerating. It’s called PC audio recording. Since most of you very likely have a computer with a sound card, an internet connection, an mp3 player (for the headphones) and some kind of microphone (yeah, even those crappy plastic pc mics will do!), all you need to do is download the open-source program called “Audacity” (with whom I am not affiliated in any way…just a happy customer here!). If you didn’t already know, “open-source” means that you are allowed to utilize the software without paying any money at all, ever. It isn’t shareware and it isn’t a free trial. It’s just….well….free.
If you want to do multi-track recording (that means being able to mix multiple audio sources together to make one finished audio file…which is THE COOL kind of recording!) on a computer, you typically need two programs, one that lets you record the audio on several tracks (sometimes called a digital audio workstation or DAW), and an audio editor program. The editor is what you use to treat, fix, sweeten, master, or otherwise manipulate a single audio file. Well guess which Audacity is. It’s BOTH! Oh yeah!!!
Audacity comes with a complete range of editing tools, enabling you to apply EQ, cut/copy/paste, treat noise, and tons of other stuff. But then you can also just keep adding tracks and recording onto them while listening (in headphones of course) to the earlier track(s) playing back. Audacity is an all-in-one deal. So what’s the catch? There isn’t one! I’m serious. This may be the one exception to the “no free lunch” rule I’ve ever seen.
Why should it matter to you? Well, if you need to improve the sound quality on your podcasts, videos and websites; or you want to record interviews, your own radio program, audio book, write and record your own songs, put out a CD, sing harmony with yourself, or anything involving audio in your personal or business life, you should care. If you’re already an audio expert with high-end gear and software, it may not be as big a deal. But if you are strapped for cash, or otherwise on a tight budget, and you always wished to get into home recording but didn’t have the tools, this should be great news. All you have to do is find some of the many tutorials on-line showing you how to utilize Audacity, and you’re on your way. Home Brew Audio is one such font of tutorials that will also show you how to record and produce excellent audio with Audacity and no new gear (as long as you have the things I recommended previously).
So what are you waiting for? PC audio recording will cost you not a thing to get started, and you can do this in the next 30 minutes! Enjoy your new career.
Home Recording Equipment
Home Recording Equipment for Your Starter Studio
I’m going to suggest a few pieces of home recording equipment for you to start a studio at home. But unlike a lot of other articles out there doing the same thing, I’m going to get you going (more than 90 percent of you any way) for well under $10. I’m taking it as a given if you’re reading this (that’s the 90 percent part) that you have a computer with a sound card and an internet connection. The only thing I’ll assume you need is a microphone of some kind. But you might be surprised at my recommendations on that score.
The first thing you’re going to need to do with a new home recording studio is learn how to use it. And guess what? You can learn to do all audio recording basics with a $5.00 PC microphone. In fact, depending on what you will be using your studio for (voiceover only, for example), the audio quality you get from your “training” studio may be sufficient. It’s mostly about technique than gear, and by using the right techniques, even with the cheapest gear, can yield some very surprising audio quality.
Your actual recorder will be a piece of software that is amazingly powerful for the price….which is “free.” That’s right. A program called “Audacity” is available for download from the web. It’s open-source and well-nigh ubiquitous now. So there is lots of support and information for it.
If your plan is to record music, you probably won’t be satisfied with the quality of a PC mic into a factory sound card. So does that mean you have to move immediately to an expensive mic costing hundreds of dollars? Absolutely not. In fact, there is a massive quality improvement in sound quality just by springing for a USB microphone like the Samson Q1U USB mic for just around $49. I’d bet that a vast majority of folks starting their first home recording studio would need nothing more than this to create and produce professional quality audio.
So did you think you could get all the home recording equipment needed for a studio for only $30.00? It’s true. Combined with the video tutorials at Home Brew Audio, you have no more excuses for not creating and producing your own pro audio from home.
Click here if you’d like to get started right away.
You Probably Already Have a Home Music Studio
“What?” I hear you ask. Yeah, you probably already have a home music studio. Do you have a computer made in the last 10 years? Does it have a sound card? Do you have access to the internet? If you answered “yes” to all those questions, then yup…you possess a home music studio in your home.
Most people have some form of microphone these days, whether for VOIP chat, on-line gaming, making quick videos on your computer of yourself singing European pop songs;), video blogging, etc. However, if you don’t have a mic yet, I recommend you pick up a $30 USB micropohone, like this:Nady USB-24M USB microphone Standard and you’ll definitely be on your way.
The next question becomes: “What kind of music do you plan to record?” That will determine much about how you approach things. For example, if you play electronic music and plan to use lots of midi, there will be more gear and software needed than someone who simply plans to record themselves playing a guitar and singing. I’m going to briefly describe that latter scenario.
If you have always wanted to record your music, but just didn’t know where to start and didn’t want to spend the money on a professional recording studio, what I’m about to say should please you. In this day and age, it is possible for a total newbie to start doing multi-track recording (“layering” tracks, like guitar on one track, then singing along with that to put your voice on another track, etc. ad nauseum) with the tools I described above. Simply download the open-source home recording software called “Audacity,” plug your mic into your computer, and you are ready to rock. I poo you not.
Yeah, you’ll have to learn to use Audacity, but the web is filled with free tutorials for that. Home Brew Audio has some of the best ones (if I do say so myself;)). But the point is that it doesn’t take long to learn the basics in Audacity. Once you do that, you can do things like record a song with you (and or your band/buddies) playing rhythm guitar on one track, lead guitar on another track, piano on a 3rd track, flute on a 4th track, lead vocal on a 5th track, harmony vocals on tracks 6-15, etc. And you can do it a track at a time, which is awesome. That means you can all the above yourself if you are so inclined. The magic of multi-track recording is amazing for a musician.
Anyway, now you know. You almost certainly already have a home music studio in your possession. Cool huh?
Learn more at www.homebrewaudio.com
How to Use Your Home Recording Software
I know so many musicians that own home recording software, but don’t know how to use it. Most of these folks got the software with every intention of recording and selling their own CD, but became intimidated by the software’s seeming complexity and either gave up or put the project “on hold” until they get the time or inclination to learn the program. Shyaa.
So why in the world is home recording software so hard to learn? I don’t think it’s a plot or anything, but the fact is that many of the folks I refer to are really smart folks. But when they think about trying to learn complex software to do something they’ve never done before…well, that would intimidate anybody. How can you learn the software if you don’t know much about WHAT you want the software to do?
Imagine if someone told you that you had to design a sky-scraper using some specific CAD software if you had never done any design of any kind. It wouldn’t just be a matter of learning how to use the software. You don’t even know how to do what the software is designed to help you do! I think THAT is what would-be home recording enthusiasts are up against. It isn’t the software so much as it is the knowledge of how to record in the first place.
So what is the solution? I think the answer is to somehow teach the basics of audio recording without bothering with complicated (and sometimes quite expensive) software. This knowledge would have to be such that it didn’t matter what tool (program, tape machine, etc.) you were using, the concepts would be the same. For example, if you knew you needed to get some nails through two pieces of wood, it wouldn’t take long before someone could easily teach you that you needed to pound on the nail to make it happen. It doesn’t HAVE to be a hammer, really, does it? Any heavy hand-held object could do the trick. It just so happens that a hammer is usually the best tool for the job; but that’s actually secondary.
OK, so I lost some folks with that metaphor didn’t I? Sorry about that. I am just trying to highlight the critical concept that if you basically know what needs to happen and how, it doesn’t matter that much what tool you use to make it happen. If you can find some lessons or tutorials out there to teach you the concepts of home recording irrespective of the software you can use to do it, THAT would be worth something.
With that in mind, Home Brew Audio set out to teach the basic concepts and skills of audio recording from home in such a way that the focus is on the skills and concepts, NOT on the software. The early lessons are taught using the free open-source software called Audacity, not because it is fabulous software, but because it is available to just about everyone. But lessons are taught with other home recording software programs as well, so the task of learning any given program later will be much easier.
So if you really want to learn to use your home recording software, find some lessons that teach you home recording concepts first. Home Brew Audio is one such website. But however you do it, your learning curve for any recording software will be greatly flattened afterward.
How to Turn Your PC into a Recording Studio with Free Home Recording Software
If you’ve ever dreamed of having a recording studio, but you still think it’s either too expensive or too hard to learn, then today may bring you a dream-come-true. If you say “home recording software” to anyone someone, the response you’re likely to get back (if any) is Pro Tools, which is probably the industry standard in home recording software. But it won’t run on your computer without some sort of hardware companion in the form of a special sound card or another audio interface of some kind. You’re going to be spending over $100 for any kind of Pro Tools set-up.
But what if I told you that there was software out there free of charge? It can do more than you need it to for learning all the basics of audio recording for the cost of….nothing! It’s not shareware, and it’s not a 30-day trial. It’s open-source software called Audacity, and you can download it right now. Audacity is both a multi-track and audio editing program.
So let’s take inventory to see if you already have a home recording studio. Do you have a computer built in the last 10 years? Do you have an internet connection? Do you have any sort of microphone? If you answered “yes” to all those questions, congratulations. You have a pc home recording studio. If you don’t have the microphone, don’t worry. For starting out all you need (in fact I highly recommend it) is a plastic pc mic that can be had from any store that sells electronics (Best Buy, Office Depot, Staples, Target, Walmart…you get the idea) for around $5.00. So at the most, a majority of you will be able to set up a home recording studio for $5.00 or less. Sweet, huh?
But now you may be wondering about how hard it will be to learn how to put stuff together and how to use it. You may think it’ll be hard to learn. But it turns out it isn’t…not if it’s done right. Many websites have tutorials on how to use Audacity. At Home Brew Audio, you’ll find step-by-step instruction videos that take you from absolute beginner to making your first recording all in about 30 minutes. That recording will be your voice, with music behind it, introducing a podcast. Follow-on video lessons teach you how to do some basic editing, multitrack recording, and basic audio effects, all with Audacity.
So what are you waiting for? It isn’t every day you get to make a dream come true for $5.00 and 30 minutes of your time:).