Home Recording by Marc Schonbrun

• Recording Basics
• So You Want to Cut a Record…
• Elements of a Home Studio
• Recording Equipment
• Recording on a Computer
• Computer Recording Tools
• MIDI
• Setting It All Up
• Microphones
• Mixers
• Recording Individual Instruments
• Editing
• Tweaking Your Sound
• Using Other Effects
• Mixing and Mastering
• Getting to Work with Cubase
• The Future of Home Recording
• Advanced Recording Tips and Techniques
• Recording a Demo and Putting It to Work
• Making Money from Your Investment
• Next Steps
• Recording Equipment Manufacturers and Suppliers
• Additional Home Recording Resources

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Introduction

Music is so central to our lives as human beings. If you're reading this book, then making music is an important part of your life. Furthermore, whether your music is for fun or a serious interest, if you're reading this book, you would like to get into home recording. Where do you start? Maybe you've gone to a music store and come back more confused than when you walked in. All those choices! Analog vs. digital, microphones, cables, rack gear, microphone preamplifiers, mixing boards, computer interfaces, recording software, MIDI…The list goes on and on. Even worse, you picked up a book on home recording…On page six you learned about hi passing 200Hz to eliminate some rumble from a bass-heavy cardioid microphone to battle proximity effect. Proximity…What? Maybe you closed that book and got scared. All those terms, with so little real-world instruction on where to start and what to do.

The Everything® Home Recording Book is written for someone who has little or no experience in the field of recording. The only prerequisite is having music in your soul that you wish to record — that's all. This book is designed to take you through home recording step by step. From getting the gear, to setting up your gear and recording properly, our goal here is not to skip steps. If you're somewhat familiar with recording you might want to skip around to some of the meatier chapters later in the book. Even so, you might want to look through each chapter to make sure you haven't missed anything vital.

The field of recording is rooted in math and physics, so there's no denying the academic link and why it's used. There's no way to avoid talking about hertz and kilohertz, just as there's no way around decibels and ratios. That's because we have the daunting task of explaining sound. Warm, muddy, clear, and boomy are all terms to explain characteristics of sounds; so are 20Hz and 10kHz. Don't be scared of the math side of things; it's just one way of looking at it. You'll be pleased to find that this book explains both sides of the fence: some theory and a lot of application. No one learns this in a vacuum. No matter how many books you read, or how much physics you understand, there is no substitute for getting your hands on gear and twiddling knobs to see what happens. That's really the only way to learn. We've paid special attention to the common mistakes that beginners make. Topics like which microphones to use and setting proper input levels are covered in great detail here. While these topics might not be as glamorous as getting that “Pink Floyd” sound, these are the foundation of your recordings.

This book gives you clear information on where to start and how to sharpen your skills. But your experimentation and drive to create will teach you more than any text. I hope you're ready to learn just about “everything” about recording in home studios! Let's go!