Home Recording For Dummies - Jeff Strong

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first and foremost, as a digital file. MP3 and AAC are the most popular formats. Depending on where your music goes, such as Spotify, Apple Music, or any of a myriad of other Internet music sites, you need to encode your music to meet the site’s requirements. It’s a pretty simple process, but one that’s closely tied to an area most musicians would rather not have to deal with: promotion. I cover this topic in Chapter 25.

      Creating CD copies

      For CD copying, you can either duplicate or replicate your CDs to make copies to give or sell to your fans. Here’s a quick rundown on the differences between these two approaches (Chapter 23 explains them in detail):

       Duplication: Duplication consists of burning multiple CD-Rs from an audio file. Duplication requires very little setup, so it doesn’t cost much to make smaller quantities, such as 50 to 500 CDs.

       Replication: The replication process starts with producing a glass master from your finished CD-R. This master CD is then used to create CDs using special CD presses, just like the major-label releases. Replication costs a bit more for setup, but the cost to create larger quantities of CDs is lower than that for duplication. This is a good choice for quantities of 500 or more.

      Embracing vinyl

      Many indie musicians are also embracing vinyl as a medium for their music. There are several reasons, many of which relate to creating a more compelling product. It’s also worth mentioning that vinyl is much harder to pirate than a downloadable digital file. This is adding to appeal of vinyl records as a cost worth considering. I cover the details of making vinyl records in Chapter 23.

      Promoting your music

      The final and most grueling step of recording and putting out a CD is the promotion process. This is where you either make it or break it as an independent artist. To help you along, I offer ideas and insights in Chapter 25.

      Getting the Right Gear

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      

Understanding your home recording needs

      

Taking a look at digital recorders

      

Understanding analog studio equipment

      

Exploring a few different recording systems

      For many people, building a home studio is a gradual thing. You may start out with a synthesizer and a two-track recorder and add a microphone. Then you may decide to buy a multitrack recorder. Then you trade in your stereo speakers for real studio monitors. And before you know it, you’ve invested thousands of dollars in a first-rate home studio.

      When setting up your home studio, you can go a couple of routes. You can walk into your local musical instrument store or pro audio shop without any forethought, buy the pieces of gear that catch your eye, and then figure out where you may use them in your studio. (Hey, don’t laugh — I’ve done this.) Or, you can determine your goals ahead of time and research each piece of equipment before you buy it to make sure it’s the best possible solution for you at the best price point. I recommend the latter approach because you end up with only the equipment you need and not a bunch of useless gear that may only ever look good sitting in your studio.

      The process of choosing the right equipment doesn’t have to be difficult. All it takes is a little self-assessment and some basic knowledge about the different equipment options. This chapter helps you discover these things. Here you explore a few different system configurations and begin to understand what can work for your situation. You also become familiar with some of the many analog extras that so many people who favor digital recording want today.

Digital recording technology is evolving at an incredible rate. As soon as the ink dries on this paper, the next best thing in recording gear may surpass much of the technology that I write about in this chapter. It’s tempting to always look to the next great innovation before you decide on a recording system, but I caution you against this wait-and-see attitude. Digital recording technology is now at the point that what you can record in your meager home studio can sound as fat, as clean, or as (insert your favorite recording adjective here) as the best recordings that have been released in the last 40 years.

      Don’t be afraid to just jump in and start recording. The way to great-sounding recordings is through hours of recording experience (not to mention having great songs with which to work).

      

Some of the equipment I describe in this chapter isn’t on the top of the list for most home recordists. I discuss this equipment, though, because you’ll likely be taken over by a disease that runs rampant in the audio recording world. Yes, I’m sorry to inform you that you’re almost assuredly going to get a chronic case of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome). Don’t worry; it’s not terminal (unless, of course, you don’t run your future purchases by your family first), but it can be uncomfortable. Nothing much is worse than having your eye on a piece of gear you just can’t afford. “Let’s see, food for a month or that new compressor I’ve just gotta have? … Oh well, I needed to go on a diet anyway.”

      The good news is that you’ll never run out of new equipment to drool over and you’ll never be alone in your suffering — everyone who owns a recording studio (private or commercial) suffers from GAS to some extent. The best way to keep GAS at bay is to decide on a system and buy it. Then stop looking at gear and get to work making music. After all, that’s why you bought the stuff in the first place.

      Home studios can vary tremendously. A home studio can be simple, like a handheld digital recorder with a built-in microphone set up in the corner of your bedroom. Or you can opt for something elaborate, like a multitrack digital recorder with thousands of dollars in outboard gear and expensive instruments residing in an acoustically treated addition to your house (whew!).

      

For most home recordists, the weakest link in their recording system is their engineering know-how. A $4,000 mic is useless until you gain an understanding of the subtleties of mic placement, for instance. (Check out Chapters 7 and 8 for more on such subtleties.) I recommend you wait to buy that next

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