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:).
Recording Software
What is Multitrack Recording Software?
Multitrack recording is one of the coolest things EVER. In the 80s when I first started recording music (okay, you can stop counting now…;)), multi track recording was not something a 15-year-old could afford to do without a major record deal or a family member who owned a studio. But in 2010, anyone can do it, and as long as you have a computer with an internet connection, it doesn’t have to cost you anything at all. Man, I love this century.
So what is it? We’re in the 2nd paragraph and you haven’t defined it yet? Okay, I know. But as cool as it is, it requires a bit of care in explanation. First let’s define what a “track” is. The reason why “regular people” didn’t have easy access to multitrack recording back in the day was that we used tape to record. Try to picture a 1-foot length of that brown tape from inside those cassettes we used to listen to music on. If you could see tracks, you’d see two parallel stripes on the tape. When the tape was pulled over the consumer player head, each track would be played separately by the a sensor on the head. One played on the left speaker and one played on the right (the head had two of these, in case that wasn’t clear;)). Still with me? OK, moving on.
Consumer tape recorders/players had enough tape for those two tracks, so we could have stereo (another article on its own). For 4 tracks, or 8 tracks, or 16 tracks, the tape had to be wider and wider and wider. The standard 24-track pro studio tape reels were 2 inches thick, a huge pancake of magnetic ribbon. So the tape recorders required to play and record these monsters were very specialized, very large, and very expensive. But If you COULD get one you could do amazing things, like record something, and record along with it, then record a third along with those two tracks, and so on, and so on.
For example, you could play a song on guitar on one track. Then while you were listening to that play back, you could sing along and record your voice on another track. So now you have only guitar on track 1, and only your voice on track 2. Then you can add bass guitar, a piano part, more vocal parts to sing harmonies, etc. Then you can rewind to the start, hit “play,” and ALL of those tracks play at the same time! How cool is that?
Next you would mix the volumes of all those tracks individually on a mixing board so all the parts can be heard and play together like a real band would.
When I was just starting to record as a teenager, the only way I could make “multitrack” type recordings was to get two tape recorders and two tapes. I’d sing onto one tape and rewind it. Then I play that back and sing along with it while recording on the second tape recorder. Then I would play THAT back (2 versions of my voice) and record a 3rd part onto fresh tape back on the first recorder. The hiss was horrendous and I couldn’t mix the volumes after I was done. But it was still cool.
All a teenager (or any –“ager”) in 2010 has to do is have a computer and download free multitrack recording software and they can do REAL multitrack recording, right now. I recommend a program called Audacity, which is open source software you don’t have to pay for. Then go to the web and watch any of the numerous tutorials on how to use Audacity to do multitrack recording. Home Brew Audio is one such site where you can find articles and video tutorials on all things audio recording. See you there!
What Software Should I Use to Start My PC Recording Studio?
Home recording software (we’re talking audio recording here;)) is widely available these days, and ranges in price from $0.00 up to thousands of bucks. There is always the question of what you want your home recording software to do for you. Capability and features are numerous, so it’s best to know what your recording needs are. If you aren’t sure what you’re needs are yet, but you know you want to start recording audio from home, the answer is simple. Get the free kind! One such program, called Audacity, comes immediately to mind.
Audacity is open-source software and will cost you no money! The crazy thing is that it’s a pretty amazing and capable program. For example, folks usually need two different kinds of audio program (at least!); a multi-track recording program whose main function is to record, import, and mix many audio sources; and an audio editor, which works on one audio file at a time, but allows you to make lots of changes to the audio and make them permanent. Audacity can do both! You can learn the basics or audio recording, mixing and editing with Audacity.
Another good reason for choosing it over other free recording software is that so many people have done tutorials on line that you can learn a lot very quickly about Audacity. By the way, I have no affiliation with them at all;). I just think they have a killer product.
Eventually though, you’ll want a bit more capability than Audacity has, such as midi and more audio features. Do you have to jump from free to hundreds of dollars to make this upgrade? Nope. For $39 you can have yourself a very capable midi and audio program that I used for years for all my midi needs. It’s called PG Music Power Tracks Pro, which you can snatch up from Guitar Center here: PG Music PowerTracks Pro Audio 2010 Software Standard. But for the most amazing deal of all, you should get thee to the internet and download a program called Reaper, by Cockos (again, no affiliation;)).
Not only can this program do just about anything and everything and audio editor like Audacity can’t (features list is too long to go into in one article!), but their “honest business model” and “fair pricing” schemes are unheard of. Their 30-day trial is fully functional and never expires. You are required to purchase a license after 30 days of trying it out, but if you need more time for any reason, Reaper will keep on working, just with a reminder when it starts that it isn’t “free,” and that you need to buy a license. They actually rely on the honesty of their customers!
Their fair pricing model offers two separate prices for the exact same product, depending on whether you use Reaper for mainly personal reasons ($60), or for commercial purposes ($225). And get this, YOU get to decide which category you’re in. They even help you out by defining commercial use as “using Reaper for commercial use, and the yearly gross revenue exceeds $20,000.” So basically, until you make 20-grand in a year with audio you produced with Reaper, you can use it legally for $60.
There are obviously many other choices for a starter studio. I tried to focus on not breaking the bank for this post. I’ll write more posts in the coming days on a wide range of other home recording software choices. This ought to do ya until then. Learn more about how to get the best from your PC recording studio at Home Brew Audio. Ciao!
Your Own Music Production Studio at Home – No More Excuses
Indie musicians! How much did you pay at the local music production studio the last time you visited? Or maybe you haven’t gone yet. Do you have a CD? Have you been wanting to record one, but just didn’t have the time or money? Wish you had your own music production studio at home, where you could take your time and not worry about racking up fees at a commercial studio? Well, what’s stopping you?
Before you answer, let me guess. You know that “audio engineering” is a massive and complex body of knowledge that people go to expensive schools for. So you believe you have to obtain that entire body of knowledge if you want to record. Why not let the pros do what they were trained to do?
How did I do? Was I close? If it wasn’t the assumption that you have to learn too much to be able to set up and record on you own home studio, it may have been another mistaken belief that you’d have to spend loads of money to get the stuff you need just to set your home recording studio up. Well if one or both of those beliefs are reasons you don’t act on recording from home, I have doubly good news for you.
Let’s start with the good news, and then I’ll tell you the other good news;). First – You don’t need to obtain the entire audio engineering body of knowledge in order to record your music. In fact, I estimate you don’t even need to know 1/100th of that material! Why? Because you aren’t trying to be a professional audio recording engineer. You’re trying to be a professional musician! Let me put it this way. Do you need to understand how to build a computer in order to use one? All you need to know are some basics, and away you go! The same is true for audio recording!
Now for the other good news. Not only do you not need to spend boat-loads of money to get the stuff you need to start your music production studio, odd are you already have it! Yup. If you have a computer with a sound card, you already have the main components. All you need is recording software (which you can get for free!) and a microphone.
The software I refer to is called Audacity. It’s open source and amazingly powerful, especially for the price;). You can learn all the basics you need with this software, including multi-track recording and audio editing.
As for the microphone (or “mic” for short), this may be considered quite controversial by some purists, but I say start out with a humble plastic PC mic, which you can get for about $5.00. Once you learn to wring the best possible audio quality from that thing, you’ll be able to get the most from any mic you buy thereafter. It won’t sound fabulous, but you will be amazed at how good you can make it sound with the right techniques. Then your next mic should be a USB mic like the Samson Q1U (not the headset kind!), which you can get for about $49. Your audio quality will be loads better than the PC mic.
So basically, if you’re a musician and have wanted to record from home, but haven’t acted due to belief in bad information, excuses are over! If you’d like step-by-step video tutorials on setting up and using your studio, come visit Home Brew Audio and find a site that wants to teach you only what you need to know to record and produce audio from home. HBA aims to use language and terms anyone can understand to make it fun and fast to learn professional quality music production.
See you there!
Ken Theriot
Things You Can't Do With the $5 Home PC Recording Studio
I’ve been really pushing the advantages of starting out in home recording by “using the pc recording studio you already have.” By that I mean that it is now possible to produce multi-track audio with just a normal PC, its on-board sound card, and even the cheapest of plastic PC microphones. All you have to do is download the open source (read: “free”) audio program called Audacity and you’ve got what you need to get started. Most folks won’t have to spend a dime to get to this level. Those who don’t have a microphone can get one for about $5.00 anywhere they sell computer stuff (office supply stores, Tar-jay, Wall-Market, etc.). to learn how to do all this step-by-step, and make your first recording in the next hour, see our tutorials (the 1st 8 videos are free) at Home Brew Audio.
Lots of folks will, with a little knowledge, be able to produce what they need with JUST the stuff I mentioned. Maybe you’re just looking to put together a video tutorial or record a podcast, voice-over, etc. There are obviously some limitations to production capability with the $5.00 (or less) home recording studio, however. Here are some of the biggies.
Audacity cannot record MIDI. You can open MIDI files in Audacity’s current BETA version. But you can’t record it. If you work with MIDI, that will be a serious limitation.
Audacity does not support VSTi. Virtual instruments are wonderful, and can allow you to play trumpet, drums, piano, violin, etc. from a keyboard. Many of them sound indistinguishable from the real thing! But alas, the most common instrument plugin formats, VSTi and DXi are not supported.
You won’t be able to record multiple tracks at one time. This is mostly a limitation of the sound card in the $5.00 studio, which is your basic single channel card. Even if you have a multi-channel piece of hardware, the only way it will work with Audacity is for it to have a single Windows (no support for ASIO) “WDM” drive for multi-channel. Good luck finding one of those. Otherwise, you just have to over-dub each track.
There are, of course, more limitations at this level. But I think those are the biggest. If you want to do any of the above things, you’ll have to venture into the world of “software you gotta pay for.” The good news there are numerous programs out there for under $100, or even under $50, that will do nicely. Details on those in another article.
Lots of folks will, with a little knowledge, be able to produce what they need with JUST the stuff I mentioned. Maybe you’re just looking to put together a video tutorial or record a podcast, voice-over, etc. There are obviously some limitations to production capability with the $5.00 (or less) home recording studio, however. Here are some of the biggies.
Audacity cannot record MIDI. You can open MIDI files in Audacity’s current BETA version. But you can’t record it. If you work with MIDI, that will be a serious limitation.
Audacity does not support VSTi. Virtual instruments are wonderful, and can allow you to play trumpet, drums, piano, violin, etc. from a keyboard. Many of them sound indistinguishable from the real thing! But alas, the most common instrument plugin formats, VSTi and DXi are not supported.
You won’t be able to record multiple tracks at one time. This is mostly a limitation of the sound card in the $5.00 studio, which is your basic single channel card. Even if you have a multi-channel piece of hardware, the only way it will work with Audacity is for it to have a single Windows (no support for ASIO) “WDM” drive for multi-channel. Good luck finding one of those. Otherwise, you just have to over-dub each track.
There are, of course, more limitations at this level. But I think those are the biggest. If you want to do any of the above things, you’ll have to venture into the world of “software you gotta pay for.” The good news there are numerous programs out there for under $100, or even under $50, that will do nicely. Details on those in another article.