Music Recording & Production: Beginner’s guide. Here’s how to get started with creating your own music, recording it in a professional manner, and how to set up your own recording studio for cheap.
How Music Recording & Production Has Changed Over the Years
Musicians Love to Create
Almost every music enthusiast, hobbyist, serious music student, music instrumentalist, feel the urge to make and produce music at some point in time.
Then there are some experienced musicians, who hate to pay someone else to produce and arrange their music.
The other set of people include those who want to build their own studio, or into producing audio for video, film, or podcasts.
If you fit in one of these categories, or just feel the urge to create something from scratch, then you are at the right place and in the company of good people.
The good thing is that today, the only thing that stands between you and the masters is simply knowledge and experience!
Evolution of Music Recording & Production Techniques
Many years ago, leave aside the cost part, it was even difficult to find the right set of people who knew how to produce music from scratch.
The equipment used were many, and very few knew how to use them.
No wonder that recording songs was such a costly affair; almost to the tune of around 10 to 50 thousand dollars.
And the only way you could get your songs recorded was if you could cut a deal with some major recording company. That meant, you would need to visit the major studios and try to get one of the top executives to hear your demo.
Things have definitely changed for the better, and with computers becoming faster and affordable, you can easily create top quality recordings at a fraction of the cost – probably for even less than a couple of thousand bucks.
In addition to the computer, you need a few more recording equipment and software, and once you have those in place, the only thing that will stop you from making top quality songs is “lack of practice”.
Just buying those studio equipment doesn’t guarantee great results; you need to learn how to use them, and how to get the best out of them.
Don Multiple Hats
Space, and even budget, is not a constraint nowadays when it comes to setting up your own home music recording studio. You can choose the equipment based on the constraints you may have, and still build a fully functional studio.
The best part about setting up your own music studio is that you get to wear different hats.
You play the roles of:
- Musician / performer / creator and performer
- Audio / Sound Engineer
- Music producer
You have complete control over the creative process, and can influence how the end-result would sound.
But in order to be successful and to make a career in this line of work, you need to have patience and keep working at honing your skills.
- You will need lots of hard work and commitment
- You need to be patient and give enough time to yourself
- You need to have some areas of strengths and have some uniqueness (helps to get known)
Beginners as well as experienced audio professionals will find something useful to take away from our free lessons.
Music/Live Recording & Production: Categories
Whether you are a novice or an experienced musician, deciding on the right studio equipment gear for your recording setup can be time-consuming, and also confusing. With countless brands and options available, it can be difficult to figure out what equipment is right for you. Spending time searching online for advice and reviews can be mentally tiring. This is where keytarhq.com comes in. Whether you are looking for an audio interface, recording mic, mixer, recording software, studio monitors, and other music accessories, we have all the information you need to make an informed decision. All in one place!
Popular Computer Music & Recording Articles
We will help you build your own recording studio, for a reasonable budget, where you can give shape to all your music ideas. You will find all the information / techniques that you need to put together a home studio that produces sound that can rival almost any professional studio sound; and that too at a fraction of the cost.
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Music Recording & Production: Guide
Computer Music Production & Recording: Read how music enthusiasts are using the PC/Mac for music production. Advancements in digital technology has made it affordable and ease to set up a home studio. And musicians and producers all over the world are only happy about it, as it gives them the opportunity to produce something, which until a few years back, required the services of big studios.
Music Production Guide: Equipment & Recording Techniques.
Great Time for Computer Music Production
There has never been a good time to start recording your own music. Music recording using the digital medium makes it possible to record things at the fraction of a cost that it would take several years back.
Before powerful computers became widespread, most musicians would just dream of getting their music professionally recorded, as you had to get it done in a big studio, which meant the charges were exorbitant. In fact, most of the time, the only option was if some top boss at a recording label liked your music and agreed to get it recorded.
But now, things are totally different; music recording using a computer has made the project cost much more affordable, and home recording studios are a common sight.
Today, the Computer is the heart of most studios nowadays. Affordable pricing and more processing power makes them capable of doing a lot more.
Easy to Scale up with a Computer
The best thing about using a computer for your studio is that it is easily upgrade-able.
So not only are they powerful, you can further expand them and even install sound cards and other expansion cards as and when the need arises.
So it is very easy to scale up your studio.
Besides, recording, mixing, & editing, even mastering can be done using a computer at the heart of your production studio.
Setting Up a Computer Recording/Production System
A recording system dedicated to working with audio is known as a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). It can be computer based or it could be stand-alone equipment on its own, but they all have the ability to record audio digitally, and mix it down to a hard disk system.
We will take a look at the various hardware and software you need to do Music Production using computer. Here is how you can turn your Windows PC or Mac from an average computer to a music production and performance machine.
In addition to computer, you will need a few more things to get the most out of your studio. In fact you can always start with a basic setup and scale all the way up to a much more advanced studio.
At the basic level you will need the following to get started:
Of course there are several more things that you could consider such as more loops, effects software, DSP cards and so on…but then this is a good beginning.
You can read here for reviews on these recording equipment but in general make it a rule to read various user reviews and as far as possible get a first-hand experience of the gear by visiting a music store.
Read more on controller, set of speakers and other recording equipment here.
Practice and Develop a Process
Another thing to remember is that just by buying an expensive piece of instrument will not guarantee you the best possible sound. You need to learn how to use that equipment correctly; which means you have to be judicious with your expenses, go for the basic things first and then gradually increase the number of equipment in your studio.
As you get better, and as you start getting more work, you will have to follow some approach or process to get the maximum done, in whatever limited time you have.
Following a process also helps you to come up with a good final mix. Most musicians usually follow the below mentioned steps as part of music production.
Though one may not follow all of them in the beginning, with more experience you would realize the importance of following a structure in order to get better results.
Here are the steps:
- Writing the Song, including the various parts
- Recording a Demo to get a feel of the song
- Rehearsals, so that you can get the best out of all those involved
- Creating the Basic Tracks
- Editing Music, including Overdubbing
- Mixing the Music
- Mastering
As mentioned, some of you may not follow all the steps, especially the ones at the beginning, but following a process will always help you create better, and deliver more in the long run.
Closing Thoughts
Many recording studios, AKA Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), nowadays have the Computer at the heart of its processing and recording activities. This comes as no surprise to me considering that computers are becoming more and more powerful and at the same time cheaper. With some basic hardware, midi keyboard, and a software sequencer, you can create professional tracks using just your computer. The best thing about recording studios nowadays is that the number of equipment that you have to deal with has gone down drastically. And if you use computer recording, your studio can easily sit in the corner of your room.
One way to get better at music recording is to learn from the masters. Most of us may not even get an opportunity to enter the recording studio of the top artistes/bands, but you can definitely read their interviews where they share their experience of setting up a recording studio (basic hardware and software) at home. So if you really wanted to record some music, you can learn about recording, mixing, and mastering your tunes, without having to spend much. Instead, use that money to set up your own recording studio at home.
Even after you get all the recording equipment, you will need to learn to use them together to create a great sounding mix; the more you practice the better you get at producing a great mix. Even recording is like making art, and you need to be patient.
Top music producers use a mix of equipment – analog and digital multitrack mixers, monitor speakers, and vintage hardware audio interfaces for their production needs. One thing they all agree upon is that you need to start with a good computer for working with Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software.
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KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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