I wanted to start off briefly with a quite short history on audio recording to express the incredible journey we have already taken, and explain how we can move forward significantly.

As numerous of you know, around the 80′s, if you wanted to record audio to your computer, or even tape, you necessary a microphone, or two, (still do), and they in turn, had to be connected to a mixing console, which in turn needed tape machines generally of the open reel sort, if you had been serious. The reason for the open reel machines was that for any editing to take place right after the reality, you had to in fact move, or jog the tape across the heads of the reel to reel recorder, and know how to precisely mark the point on the tape that necessary to be cut, as well as then putting the machine into play mode, while the unwanted tape segment spooled off the reel, and onto the floor, till you then discovered the out point, to cut the tape once again.

Some of you may be thinking back to those glorious days of audio editing with some fondness, but think me, it was time consuming, and certainly not for the every day person. The machines cost a substantial amount, and you required to really be into the whole thought of editing, and what can be carried out in a matter of minutes nowadays, by a seasoned operator, could take a good couple of hours back then.

I felt it essential to raise this issue of history, to appreciate the tremendous strides that have taken location in audio recording right now. I recognize that for a new individual to the recording scene, it might all still seem a small complex, but it is relative. Unlike back then, which required the best component of a excellent few thousand dollars, and then some, you can be set up today for under 1 thousand dollars, and often, significantly less, depending on what you already have.

So, that begs the question- what do you in fact require to set off on this journey?

I would like to say at this point, that there are any number of combinations of equipment that you could use. Apart from the essentials, (once again, open to variation) of a personal computer, microphone, mic stand and USB cable, there rest are truly options, for the much more severe minded. Audio is, and often will be a feasible region for sinking large amounts of money, if you want to usually be obtaining the next very best thing. Even so, please remember I am talking about setting up a standard studio here, and will discuss the optional extras in future articles, as I know that some of you are interested in processing equipment, like sound finalizers, reverberation equipment, compressors, and let’s face it, the list can be endless, or at least as lengthy as your spending budget!

Having addressed that caveat, I would like to advise that as I realize that for numerous individuals, the budget is a large factor, a lot of home recording enthusiasts, or artists wanting to record their function, for that matter, can commence off little, and add a lot more equipment as their success grows. Nonetheless, please do not fall for the sales line that you absolutely must have item x or y, or your recording will be terrible. It just is not true.

In reality, the audio purist line goes in favour of the least probable quantity of electronics in the line, for maximum fidelity. Just a thought there for every person.

Having said this, laptops can be bought reasonably cheaply these days, and whilst disk size is nice to have, an average laptop will really do rather nicely. If you require to splurge on your laptop, the finest location is on greater amounts of RAM, or memory, as this will improve the performance of your machine. In addition, there are two software packages that I suggest, 1 is free of charge, being Audacity, as nicely as the Sony Audio Studio, that I still really reasonably priced, but if funds are tight, Audacity is fine for a start.

I mentioned the use of a mic stand, as this will make it simpler to suspend over the centre of the piano, or to place with resect to any other instrument you might be playing. Please guarantee that your mic is a big diaphragm kind, so that you can capture the rich bass of the natural sound. The primary distinction between a consumer mic and a professional or ‘pro-sumer’ (the mic that is above a consumer, but on the spending budget end of expert), is the size of the diaphragm, or part that captures the sound waves, and converts them to the digital signal. This si where the USB mic comes in, in as a lot as it is a plug and play arrangement, where your laptop, if running windows, or Mac software, will normally recognise and self install the drivers for the microphone to work in a matter of a minute or two.

If you were not interested in anything else, this point will get you going, albeit with much less than you can truly do. I mean that the software is really powerful, but if this is the limit of your technical interest, this a lot will get you started. All you want to do now is experiment with your microphone placement, for the finest sound good quality. Regardless of the software you are employing, you want to ensure you set the recording levels to a little below the peak location on the metering.

In digital audio, unlike with analogue, you can record at very high levels, but if you go just a little bit greater, where you over load the input, you will get a terrible distortion, as the sound wave is actually cut off in this case, whereas with analogue, the distortion is gradual, and not so immediate. Hence, look after your levels, where you are about ten decibels below total overload peak. Nevertheless, please play around to test this for your self. The technical term for the above is leaving some head room, or ‘safe level’ area just before you clip the sound, and distort it. Digital systems enable a high recording level, but do not clip it.

Audio Recording Equipment