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the ability to record more tracks.

      Live studio

      Thirty years ago, when a band wanted to record, the members all went into a studio together, set up their gear in one large room (with maybe a few dividers between them), and played as if they were at a concert. Then they would overdub a guitar solo, backup vocals, and maybe a few percussion instruments.

      The beauty of this type of recording for a band is that you have a better chance of capturing the magic of a live performance. The disadvantage is that it takes a little more recording skill to get a good sound. (Of course, you discover many of these skills in this book.)

      For the live studio, you need a recorder with at least as many available simultaneous tracks as you think you need for your band. Eight tracks are usually enough for most bands. The tracks would break down as follows:

       Rhythm guitar: One track

       Bass guitar: One track

       Piano, organ, or synthesizer: One or two tracks

       Rough vocals: One trackYou generally record this track over again after the rest are done to get a cleaner track.

       Drums: Two to four tracksThe number of tracks varies depending on the type of sound that you want. You may need a separate mixer to create a submix of the drums if you’re only using two tracks.

      Aside from the simultaneous track count, you probably want extra tracks available to record a guitar solo, background vocals, and maybe percussion instruments. In this case, a 16-track recorder is a great solution. If you want more flexibility in getting your band’s sound, you could get a recorder that can record as many as 16 simultaneous tracks.

If you’re one of those many people who like to record one or two tracks at a time but still want to play all the instruments live (with no MIDI sequencing), your need for lots of simultaneous tracks is reduced. A computer-based system with a couple of analog inputs is probably your best solution because it costs less and takes up less space.

      You can also use a computer-based system to record all the instruments live. Just make sure that you have both the inputs and available tracks that you need.

      

If you record all the instruments live (all at once or one at a time), you also need to have enough microphones and mic stands. And you must contend with making your room conducive to recording live instruments. (I discuss this more in Chapter 3.)

      With the many ways to configure a home recording system, you’ll probably lean more toward one type of system than another (computer-based, SIAB, or stand-alone). Then it’s just a matter of weeding through the options until you find one that resonates with you (and your budget).

      Podcasting studio

      A studio for podcasting can be as simple as your phone and a free audio recording app or as complex as what you use for live and MIDI recording. How sophisticated you decide to go depends on how much you want to add to your voice, such as intro, outro, or background music, sound effects, and the number of people you want to record at the same time.

If you are podcasting by simply recording yourself and not adding intro and outro music or interviewing guests, your phone with a free audio recording app will get you started. Add an external mic and you can get professional-quality sound (see Figure 2-8). If you want to be able to mix music, sound effects, or other vocals, you will need the ability to do multitrack mixing. In either case, I recommend you prepare for the following track counts:

       Voice: One mic and one input and audio track for each person.

       Music you play while doing your podcast: At least one track and microphone if you are recording acoustic instruments such as a guitar. Possibly more if you want to record in stereo or with more than one instrument at a time.

      FIGURE 2-8: A basic podcasting studio.

If you are using music, sounds effects, or multiple voices, you also need software that lets you mix all the parts together.

      Audio-for-video studio

      Video cameras can record sound at a quality high enough for most videos where you are talking directly to the camera, especially if you plug in a shotgun or lavalier mic to your camera. The limitation with this is that it is more difficult to optimize the sound of your voice. Professional video production always uses separate video and audio recording processes. Doing this is not difficult. I recommend (and use) a setup with the following capabilities:

       Voice: One track and lavalier mic for each person talking, or one shotgun mic and one audio track for all voices.

       Ambient: An optional stereo mic or a matched pair of mics and two audio tracks for ambient sounds.

      Aside from these tracks, you probably want extra tracks available to record background music or sound effects. Of course, you also need the software that will allow you to mix multiple tracks.

      Mobile on-location studio

      Mobile on-location recording can be as simple as a stereo mic plugged into a two-track field recorder or as complex as the live recording setup I describe earlier in this section.

      

When I record live on location, I like use a four-track Zoom recorder and two sets of mics, either stereo or matched pairs. This allows me to capture the same performance twice and gives me a backup in case something goes wrong with one set of tracks. It also gives me the opportunity to place each set of mics in a slightly different location to give me options when I mix the performance.

Chapter 3

      Getting Connected: Setting Up Your Studio

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      

Getting to know the various types of connectors

      

Plugging in your equipment

      

Creating an efficient workstation

      

Making your room sound great (or at least decent)

      Okay, so you’re ready to turn that spare bedroom or basement into a recording studio. You need to unpack all your shiny new gear and get it plugged in properly, and your room needs to work for you. This involves creating an efficient place to work, but above all, it means following tips in this chapter to make your room sound good. This can be tricky — after all, pro studios spend tons of time and money so that their studios sound great. You may not need to spend a ton of money (as if you could), but you do need to spend some time.

      After you decide on a space for your home recording system, the next steps involve setting up the system and preparing your space to work for you. In this chapter, I help you make sense of all those

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