Every author or performer of songs will sooner or later want to record his musical work. But then the question arises: how to make high-quality audio recording?
Of course, if you composed one or two songs, it is better to use the already finished studio. Many recording studios offer their services. But there are authors who have already written a dozen songs and they have plans to continue their work. In this case, it is better to equip a recording studio at home. But how to do that? There are two ways.
First way plain. It includes the minimum of what is needed for a fairly high-quality recording:
- sound card with microphone and line inputs;
- a computer that meets the sound card system requirements;
- a recording and information program installed on a computer;
- headphones;
- microphone cord;
- microphone.
Every musician who understands computer technology can easily assemble such a system by himself. But there are second, more complicated way. He assumes those components of the studio that were indicated in the first method, and also additional equipment for better audio recording. Namely:
- mixing console with two subgroups;
- audio compressor;
- voice processor (reverb);
- acoustic system;
- patch cords to connect it all;
- room isolated from extraneous noise.
Now let's take a closer look at the main components for a home recording studio.
In which room should the recording take place?
The room (announcer) in which the audio recording is planned, ideally, should be separate from the room in which the equipment will be located. Noises from device fans, buttons, faders, can foul the recording.
Interior trim should minimize the reverberation inside the room. This can be achieved by hanging thick carpets on the walls. It is also necessary to take into account that a small room, in contrast to a large one, has a lower level of reverberation.
What to do with a mixing console?
In order to tie together all the devices and send a signal to the sound card, you need a mixing console with two subgroups.
Switching the console is as follows. A microphone is connected to the microphone line. From this line a message is made to the subgroups (the message is not made to the general output). Subgroups are connected to the audio card line input. Also with the subgroups a signal is sent to the common output. The line output of the sound card is connected to the line input of the console. From this line, a message is sent to the common output to which the speaker system is connected.
If there is a compressor, then it is connected through the “insert” of the microphone line. If there is a reverb, then it receives a raw signal from the Aux output of the microphone line, and the processed signal returns to the console at the linear input and is sent from this line to the subgroups (no general message is sent). Headphones are fed from the microphone's aux output, computer line, and reverb line.
The following happens. In the speaker system you can hear such a sound picture: a phonogram from a computer, a voice from a microphone and processing from a reverb. In headphones, the same sounds, only separately adjusted at the aux-out of all these lines. Only the signal from the microphone line and from the line to which the reverb is connected is sent to the sound card.
Microphone and microphone cable
A key element of the sound studio is a microphone. It depends on the quality of the microphone whether a high-quality audio recording will be made. Should choose the microphones of firms that make professional equipment. If possible, the microphone should be a studio, as it is he who has a more “transparent” frequency response. The microphone cord should be made in a symmetrical wiring. Simply put, he should have not two, but three contacts.
Sound card, computer and software
As mentioned earlier, for a simple studio you need a sound card with a microphone input. This is necessary in order to connect a microphone without a mixing console to a computer. But if you have a remote microphone input in the sound card is not required. The main thing is to have a linear input (In) and an output (Out).
System requirements "sound" computer is not high. The main thing is to have a processor with a clock speed of at least 1 GHz and a working memory of at least 512 MB.
The program for recording and mixing sound should be with multi-track recording. A phonogram is played from one track, and a voice is recorded on another. The program settings must be such that the track with the phonogram is defined to the output of the sound card, and the track to be recorded is to the input.
Compressor and reverb
Many semi-professional mixing consoles already have a built-in compressor (Comp) and reverb (Rev). But using them for high-quality audio recording is not recommended. In the absence of a separate compressor and reverb, you should use the software analogues of these devices that are available in a multitrack recording program.
All this will be enough to create a recording studio at home. With such equipment there will be no question how to make high-quality audio recording.
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