Setup a Recording Studio on Your Computer

How to be a Hard Drive Star

It all started with the four-track cassette recorder, really. That gave budding bedroom musicians the chance to make their own music (it was also the start of the lo-fi movement, as if people had forgotten that much of the great music of the ‘60s was made on four-track machines, with very good sound, but that’s another story).

That was just the first herald of the recording revolution, however. These days, anyone with a halfway decent computer can record, mix, and put their own music on CD. And, thanks to technology, you don’t even need to play an instrument to do it.

Obviously, the better your computer, the faster the speed and CPU capacity, which you’ll need to make music. Have Windows 98 or higher. A hard drive of at least 15GB is good, and at least 128 MB RAM. Most importantly, make sure you have a good soundcard, otherwise whatever software you use either won’t operate, or won’t work properly and to its full potential.

Think about what type of music you want to make. Are you a singer-songwriter? Are you a guitar-heavy band? Or do you aim to make electronic music, be it anywhere from dance to ambient? Music is wide-ranging, and so are the needs of a musician. But for the purposes of this piece, let’s assume you’ll be working on a relatively basic level, using real, physical instruments and voices, rather than getting into the additional complexities of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). And consider your audience. Are you planning on releasing these recordings commercially, or are they for your own pleasure?

If you’re using vocals or acoustic instruments – or a drummer whose kit needs several microphones – buy a decent, powered mixer, like a Peavey, costing around $150 – $200. Powered in this case means it has a built-in pre-amplifier, a necessity for a good level on acoustic instruments and vocals. It doesn’t need to be a huge mixing desk, just six or eight channels, something easily manageable.

If vocals are important, definitely don’t skimp on a microphone. Buy the very best you can afford. It’s one case where the quality of your equipment can definitely affect the final sound. Go for a directional (or cardioid), low-impedence condenser microphone. How much should you expect to pay? If you’re serious, a minimum of $200.00. For rough work you can get by with cheaper, but you’ll notice the difference. Just because Chumbawamba recorded an album with $3 mics doesn’t mean you can!

With that all in place – and assuming you have a number of songs the world, or at least your family, is dying to hear – you need to think about what software to use to record them.

These days the options appear huge, and the price tags very from free into the thousands. That’s a daunting range, but ultimately they all do the same thing – record the sounds you make onto your hard drive.

You can record your songs live, everything at once, or build up track by track, ready to mix down, importing loops and programmed elements if you wish. And once everything’s ready, all your overdubs in place, you mix it down. Simple? Well, yes and no.

Before we start looking at the software, there’s one thought worth remembering. The music you make is only as good as your ideas and execution. That’s vital when you’re feeling frustrated with the way something turned out.

But now it’s time to look at what you can use to record yourself. The gold standard among recording pros is Pro Tools. You’ll find it in every studio, but unless you’re a hardcore professional musician, it won’t be on your desktop, since it’s extremely expensive. The good news is that there’s a more limited, free version of Pro Tools available to download for both Mac and PC (http://www.digidesign.com/ptfree/). What you get for nothing is a very good deal.  With eight audio channels and 48 MIDI channels you have almost unlimited possibilities. There are plenty of plug-in effects supplied, and more supported. The download is straightforward, although the learning curve once you have it in front of you is quite steep, possibly too much so for novices. But if you can take the time to master it, you have a very powerful tool (no pun intended) at your fingertips.

Cakewalk offers a range of home studios for the computer. Music Creator, for example, is their low end, and very reasonable. The interface is easy and intuitive, and as they claim, pretty much all you have to do is plug into the line-in jack and play, or import from any source.. It offers good effects, soft synthesizers and the ability to use loops ( a library of loops you can use is included), and a simple mixdown process, as well as the ability to burn to CD or mp3. If you’re recording just for your own pleasure, this is the perfect beginner’s software.

Cakewalk’s more professional offering, Sonar Home Studio, is aimed at more serious musicians. With 64 audio tracks and unlimited MIDI it can handle even the most serious bands and overdubs. The metronome can keep you in time (actually it’s more annoying than helpful),  Perhaps the biggest drawback is that the faders, which control the volume, aren’t very exact, and you need to get used to switching between different views (console, track, etc.). But at $149 it does a lot. The hotter version, Home Studio XL, is $80 more, and probably not worth the extra money for most people.

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A lot of musicians these days work in loops. It’s ideal for electronic music, or programming the background (beats, bass, etc.) for a song. It’s also a fun and easy way to work. Sony’s ACID is probably the best of the loop-based recording methods. The full version of ACID is excellent and easy to use, but most people recording at home can get away with ACIDXpress, which is a handy free download (http://www.acidplanet.com/). After less than five minutes you’ll be able to manipulate the loops into music. For the creation of beats and loops from scratch, a sequencer like Fruity Loops (you’ve got to love the name) is fast, easy, and actually a lot of fun. At $99 for a version with plenty of capability it’s more than just useful, it can become a hobby in itself.

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Moving more upmarket on recording you have Cubase, the choice of many musicians. For non-pros it can be quite daunting, if only for the array of features you find on something like Cubase System|2.  It comes complete with an audio and midi interface, allowing you to use proper ¼” instrument jacks, that connects via a USB. With 48 audio tracks and unlimited MIDI, Cubase can do almost anything you want, and the system includes lots of playful extras like Virtual Guitarist and Groove Agent. For those dedicated to home recording, the company produces lots of plug-ins that can add on – although there’s enough in the package that it’s hard to believe you’d need more for a long time.

Of course, if you’re a Mac user, you can make use of their Garage Band software, which is included with some models as part of the iLife Suite (which is available for $79.00). It’s a pretty nifty little package, graphically straightforward and remarkably easy to use, just as you’d expect from Apple. It’s still fairly basic, only eight tracks, so you won’t be making your next big album on it, but for messing around and recording demos, it’s very good indeed, especially the new Garage Band 2.

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Having settled on what you want in software, and recorded your song (which will inevitably take longer than you imagine), you still need to mix it so it sounds good on disc. Most software has what’s call an automated mix, where you can mix one track and the computer remembers the settings – which will probably fluctuate up and down. And, of course, you can change them later. You can mix in many different ways, obviously. There’s an old story about Tom Petty. When he was mixing his Damn the Torpedoes album, after each track was done, he’d grab the cassette and go play it in his car, to get an idea of what it would sound like on a car radio. These days things are more sophisticated, and people demand a higher fidelity. All of which means you should spend a fair chunk of your studio budget on some good speakers. Not the average set you can find for computers, even with a sub-woofer, but serious studio monitors. A very decent pair will put a dent into your credit card to the tune of around $350, but it’s worth the cost to get an accurate representation of your music.

It sounds like you need a fair amount of equipment. And if you’re going to approach it properly, you do. But, realistically, it’s not that much. Start with less and you’ll quickly realise that you need more and end up running around buying it anyway. If it comes to it, you can get by very cheaply – free software, free loop creator, the speakers from your computer, a small pre-amp for instruments and voice, and a $20 microphone. You’ll make music. And if you get a strong enough glimmering of your talent you’ll probably go out and spend the money. But at the very least you’ll have fun, and a vocation and creative outlet that can last years.