Welcome to recording for beginners.
I have 10 years of recording experience but the one thing I remember is
how hard it was to get it right when I started out. I have set this
site up to enable all beginners the chance to get some basic advise
that isn't too complicated to understand. All techniques you will learn
here are the basic techniques, but once you have learnt these you can
experiment with them. I have added links to wikipedia to explain
certain phrases used throughout this site.
To record anything at home you will need a computer with recording software like Logic, Cubase or Pro Tools. Connected to this you will need an audio interface. Companies like Thomann and Gear4music can supply everything you need. (See links at the sides of this page) A decent USB audio interface doesn't have to cost a lot of money. If you are recording a single vocal or a single instrument you will only need a one input audio interface, if you are recording a full drum kit you will need at least an eight input audio interface which will cost a bit more money. I personally prefer the MOTU interfaces as they have decent pre-amps.
In
the history of sound recording engineers of the past have taken
recording equipment to various locations around the world to enable
them to capture the perfect room reverb for there recording. Today we
have the technology to create the perfect reverb within the studio
environment or home studio environment using software or outboard
reverb units, this means that capturing the instrument as cleanly as
possible is the most important thing when recording an instrument or
vocal.
The
first thing to get right for a basic recording is the microphone you
are going to use. Make sure you pick a microphone that has the right
frequency response for the instrument you are recording, for example an
AKG D112 dynamic microphone is perfect for recording low frequency
instruments and drums (bass amps or kick drums )  The best way to find out what frequency response
each microphone has is to Google the technical specifications for the
microphone you are interested in. I would love to give you all the
specs of all the microphones but there are far too many on the market
to do so. I can however say that for instruments and drum kits the Sure
microphone collection will have something sufficient.
 Vocal
recordings however are a different story there are many large diaphragm
microphones on the market that are brilliant for vocal recordings. The
best are in the Neumann range but they cost a lot of money, for good
cheaper microphones try looking at the Rode range of large diaphragm
mics these are much cheaper but still sound good. I also would
reccomend the liquid channel by Focusrite, this gives you a great pre-amp and channel strip that will enhance your vocal recording.
If
you have any questions send me an email and I'll try and answer as soon
as possible.
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