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Digital Home Recording
An amateur's guide to making professional-sounding music.

By David MacNeill

Creating great-sounding music in a computer-equipped home studio has been possible for almost two decades, but the recent release of Apple's GarageBand application for Mac OS X has cranked up the buzz from a whisper to a scream. Windows users have access to some similarly powerful music composition and recording tools, such as Digidesign's Pro Tools Free, and Sony's Acid and Sound Forge. Regardless of your chosen personal computing platform, you can now create music with astonishing ease, even if you can't play an instrument or carry a tune in a bucket.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, my personal experience is biased heavily towards Mac-based tools, which I have been using in my home studio since late 1980s. I am a former professional pop-rock guitarist and currently a part-time acoustic singer/songwriter. I was already well into the process of upgrading my home studio recording components to 24-bit digital when GarageBand was released, so it was easy for me to incorporate this wonderful new tool to my rig. Throughout this article, I'll refer frequently to GarageBand. Except where noted, Windows users can do all of the same things using similar software on just about any PC made in the last year or two.

For the purposes of this article, I'll assume that you are not a musician but that you have an interest in creating music either for soundtracks to home video productions or just for the pure fun of doing it. I'll also assume you have a solid familiarity with your computer. If you do play an instrument or sing, all the better. I'll also give you some creative tips if you decide to try your hand at writing songs. If nothing else, GarageBand and tools like it are the greatest thing to happen to songwriters since the drum machine, allowing you to accompany yourself with an ease and quality of sound that would have cost you a million bucks not too many years ago.

Ten terms to know
Here's a crash course in digital audio recording terminology. Don't worry if it all sounds like geekspeak at this point. Enlightenment will come later, once you begin using the tools.

Digital audio interface: The component that takes audio from real instruments and voices from the analog world to the digital one in your computer. Desktop computers can have this functionality installed in the form of a PCI card, while laptop users will need to use an external box or a digital mixer with a built-in digital audio interface using USB or FireWire to communicate with your computer.

Sample rate: Audio recording, such as the sound of your voice into a microphone, is converted from analog vibrations into digital streams at a consistent sample rate. It's analogous to getting a digicam with more megapixels. The higher the rate, the more the digital version resembles the original sound. All audio CDs are recorded at 44.1 kilohertz, and GarageBand tops out at this 44.1Khz as well. Professional audio recording software, such as my personal favorite Digital Performer, currently can sample at up to 192Khz.

Bit depth: Each of those samples has a depth of accuracy it can capture. DAT recorders top out at 16-bits, as does GarageBand. Professionals now consider 24-bit to be the standard, but 16-bit is plenty good enough for home projects.

Loop: GarageBand uses prerecorded samples of professional musicians playing their instruments, called Apple Loops. These are basic building blocks of a musical composition that you can plug together like Legos to form something unique. Most of the time you'll use loops to create any repetitive pattern in your songs, such as drums, percussion, background keyboard or guitar rhythm patterns, and bass lines.

Track: Each individual part, such as a vocal performance, a guitar solo, or a drum loop sequence you assembled, that runs from the beginning to the end of the song, is a track. The number or tracks you can record is limited by your software, but you should be able to achieve 16-32 tracks on even modest equipment.

MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface. This is the protocol you'll use to play your keyboard parts into your software using a MIDI keyboard. If you have an electronic keyboard that you've purchased in the last decade, it probably has a MIDI connector or a USB port for sending MIDI data directly into your computer. If you have no keyboard, you can buy the very nice M-Audio 49e from Apple for $99. The thing to keep in mind about MIDI is that it's like a old player piano. The software will capture your performance but not the actual sound of your instrument, like holes in a piano roll. These can then be edited and altered any way you like in your software, then routed back to either the keyboard you played it on originally, or into any software instruments you have.

DAW: Digital Audio Workstation. The generic term for software you use to capture, edit, and mix your music. DAWs capture both digital audio and MIDI data, then play back the audio in sync with the MIDI in a process called sequencing. GarageBand, Logic, Digital Performer, Pro Tools, and many more on both platforms, are DAWs.

Waveform: When you record audio to your DAW, you get a file that show on your timeline as a stream of symmetrical waves. These shapes define the amplitude (volume) and pitch of the notes at any given point in the stream. You can alter these like graphics to remove bad notes, background noises, and so on. You can also use your DAW's digital effects processors to alter them, adding reverberation, doubling, echo, and much more.

Overdub: After you record some tracks, either using MIDI instruments, audio recording. or loop sequences, you can go back to the beginning and record more tracks to your heart's content. This is called overdubbing.

Punch in/punch out: The process of re-recording only a portion of an existing track, usually to improve the performance when only one tiny little section is not up to par. If you're working alone, you'll want an inexpensive footswitch to control the recording as you play.

Essential tools
Audio Monitoring System: Though your computer probably has external speakers and perhaps even a subwoofer, you will quickly find out that it lacks the volume, range, and fidelity of even the cheapest studio monitors. This is not the place for you to economize! Your speakers are where your music will ultimately be mixed and played back for all to hear, so don't skimp. If you are on a budget, here's a trick I currently use that can save you some bucks: use the power amp and speakers from an unused home stereo system. As long as the "receiver" or separate power amp has standard stereo RCA inputs and at least 100 watts of juice, you're in business. Run a 1/8 mini-stereo jack from your computer's headphone port to your amp's stereo inputs. CAUTION: Even a modest home stereo or powered monitor pair has loads of volume, so be sure you turn everything off before you hook up your computer or mixer's audio cable to it. Turn all volume controls down and mute your computer's startup sound, too. If you forget to do this, you could blow your speaker cones, your eardrums, and your lease in one titanic blast when you start up. When you get your tax return, go shopping for a nice pair of Mackie or JBL bi-amplified studio monitors. You'll never regret investing in good speakers.

Digital audio interface and/or mixer: Unless you intend to create purely instrumental music using software instruments with a MIDI keyboard, you will need to buy a digital audio interface of some kind. TASCAM offers a very popular USB-based unit called the US-122 for under $200. You plug your microphone or guitar into the unit, which then sends the digitized information to your computer at high speed.

If you want to get really fancy and you have an extra $1300 lying around, look at the excellent TASCAM FW-1884 digital mixer/control surface. It has a built-in 24-bit/96Khz digital audio interface for eight microphone and instrument channels with fully automated controls linked to your DAW software's virtual mixer.

Which begs the question: Do you need a mixing board? The answer is no if your recording projects are relatively modest and you don't do eight-hour sessions every day or so. You can use the virtual mixer interface in your DAW to do it all. Having a physical mixing board is a convenience that allows you to operate more than one fader (channel volume slider) at a time, instead of one at a time using your computer's mouse.

MIDI keyboard controller: You'll need some kind of keyboard controller or a synthesizer/electronic piano to play the software instruments in your computer. Basic controllers cost from $99 to several hundred, depending on size and the number of controls. Be sure it has velocity-sensitive keys or your performances will lack dynamics and expressiveness.

Microphones: Unless you plan to create instrumental music only, you'll need at least one good microphone. Don't cheap-out on your mic, as this is where so much of the apparent quality of your songs will begin. For the most bang for your buck, check out Rode, AKG, and Shure.

Cabling and other accessories: Of course, you'll need appropriate cables and perhaps some adapters to hook all this stuff up. Modern MIDI keyboards often have USB ports that can plug right into your computer, obviating the need to buy MIDI cables and a MIDI-to-USB interface box. Guitarists can hook their standard mono cables into the digital audio interface, but you can buy the $20 Monster Instrument Adapter (Apple Store) that lets you jack right into the audio-in port of your computer, then use the amp simulators in GarageBand (or comparable software on Windows) to sound like anyone from Johnny Ramone to Jeff Beck to George Benson.

Well, DAW!: Of course, you'll need GarageBand, Digital Performer, Ableton Live, Acid Pro, or some other software capable of manipulating loops, audio streams, and MIDI data. This is the heart of your digital studio, so choose carefully; you'll be spending a lot of time in there!

Adding virtual instruments, effects plug-ins, and loop libraries: Once you've been using your DAW for a while, you may find that you desire more variety in your choice of instruments, effects, and loops than come standard. GarageBand users can buy Apple's Jam Pack ($99) which offers dozens of new instruments and thousands of loops to your sound arsenal. There is a thriving industry providing hundreds of plug-in tools and loop libraries. Just be sure the format is compatible with your DAW. For example, GarageBand supports loops only in Apple Loop format, while software instrument and effects plug-ins must be of the Audio Unit variety.

All together now
It all works! Now what?
You've installed the software, plugged in all the hardware, and you're ready to rock. Before you write your Symphony Number 1 in C Major, let's try to head off some potential problems before they happen. The first brick wall you'll hit will be lagging performance as you add tracks. When your computer doesn't have adequate memory, hard disk space and speed, or processor performance, your recording efforts will be fraught with frustration. If you can't buy a faster machine, do the following, in order:

1. Buy more RAM, at least 512MB and preferably 1GB or more, if possible.

2. Add a second internal or external 7200RPM hard drive of at least 100MB and dedicate it to music recording.

3. When recording, run only the DAW and nothing else on your machine. Disable anti-virus scanners, IM clients, and other junk that runs in the background and eats up processor cycles needlessly.

If all else fails, buy a 2GHz dual-processor Mac G5 and never concern yourself with performance again. Did I mention that GarageBand comes preinstalled on all Macs?

Creative approaches
At this point, you're ready to make music. Obviously, I don't know anything about what kind of tunes you like, if you play an instrument, or if you already have some songs in your head that you're itching to record.

To familiarize myself with the capabilities of my rig, I made some wallpaper music, just ambient floaty stuff, layer upon layer, for hours. Then I went back and fiddled with copy and pasting the best parts, correcting MIDI mistakes, changing sounds, altering dynamics (such as they were), and just getting the lay of the land.

After a few evenings of New Age noodling, I began a tour of my loop library and software instruments - again with no real objective or song idea in mind. I just wanted to experience all the colors in my new palette.

After an evening exploring all the possibilities, I started building songs the old-fashioned way: from the bottom up. Starting with a conventional, eight to the bar verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-verse-chorus-fade structure, I pieced together an appropriate sounding drum part, made from loops, running from the start of the tune to the end. Over this, I recorded an acoustic rhythm guitar part for the full length of the song, then I added an electric bass line. I could have selected loops for these tracks or played keyboard parts, but I'm a guitarist first so I chose the path of least resistance and just started banging away until it sounded right.

The rest of my first tune was an additive process, layering on everything I could think of until the creative juices ran dry. This works for me, but you may prefer to simply record a rough sketch version of your tune into a mic, accompanying yourself on whatever instrument you can play. I like to build my foundation first, based on what I hear in my mind. This way I can go back and replace sounds, correct boo-boos, and so on, all without having to start all over from scratch. It's all synced and modular, so it's easy to modify.

Mixing and mastering
When it's time to mix it all into a coherent whole, there are a few common approaches that can make a huge difference in the success of the work.

Mix the vocals LOUD and c l e a r : People respond first to the rhythm and melody, then to the sound of the voice, then (if you're lucky) to the content of the words. A song with a mixed-back vocal performance will not grab people's attention and pull them into your world. Make the voice 25% louder than you think it should be and it'll be just about right. You should also make sure the equalization on the voice is bright and clear so it cuts through the instrument layers. Take the in-your-face edge off the track with a little reverb and/or echo.

Use effects sparingly: Unless you're a techno-music writer, go easy on the effects. Lay down your audio tracks as dry (without effects) as you can stand; you can always add them back in later, but you can't remove them from an audio track if you recorded them that way. Beginners always use way too much reverb, muddying everything up. Pick one reverb plug-in that sounds good to you, then apply various amounts of it to each track as little as possible. Individually, bring them up more as needed to create a convincing stereo space with just enough depth to be convincing. Be extra careful with echo delays, as they can muddy up a mix and compete with the drums if you don't time the repeats to the beat.

Compress the master tracks: Use a stereo compressor plug-in on the stereo master tracks. This will pull all the instruments together into a punchy whole that seems louder and more present than it really is. If you do it right, your music will jump out of the speakers, instead of ooze out as so many mixes do. Start with a low compression setting first, mix it, and take it somewhere else to listen to it. It doesn't take much compression to do the trick, but too much will flatten all the song's dynamics.

Do test mixes: Create multiple provisional mixes as you go, then try them out on every stereo system you can find: boom boxes, cars, iPods, whatever. Take notes. Never mix longer than an hour or so or your ears will tire and you'll start making mistakes. Take breaks to avoid ear fatigue.

Takin' to the streets
Music is all about sharing an experience with others, so once you get some tunes in shape, burn them onto a half-dozen CDs and give them to your friends for feedback. You can also upload MP3 versions onto a number of song-sharing websites (such as www.garageband.com) so the whole world can hear what you've been up to. However you choose to share, don't let people's negative reactions deter you from your work. Not everyone is going to dig your stuff. Everybody's got an opinion, so take it all in stride and just keep rockin'.

-David MacNeill

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