Computers And Home Recording

So you want to just pick up your guitar on a whim and record the latest idea that's passing by? Do you intend to record an album in its entirety at home and release it? Do you want to make podcasts to broadcast on the web? Do you want to 'flesh out' your musical ideas to get an idea of how the final product might sound. All are valid reasons for having your own home recording setup. Each one also suggests a particular amount of money you will need to spend to get the result you desire, and the amount of effort you need to expend making it happen.


What you will need.


From a basic standpoint you will need some way to record your performance or ideas - this could be into a Personal Computer[PC] or mac or onto a stand alone recorder. You'll also need some way of getting the performance into the recording medium - whether that be via microphone or a piano keyboard. You will also need to find some way to 'deliver' your product - via mp3 mix/cd or podcast. All factors to consider as you set up you home recording studio.


What is best; Computer recording or stand alone?

I will confess that in my opinion and experience, the simplest and most effective way to record anything at home is with a stand alone recorder. In 1998 I purchased a home recording unit and recorded a few songs on it ....which never saw the light of day until 2007....using a Boss BR8; 8 tracks to do the lot- including backing vocals guitars and eveything. To those of you unfamiliar with what I mean by stand alone recorder then have a look at units from Fostex, Yamaha, Roland and others. In general they have a built in hard drive or media card which records data that you produce as a result of recording yourself. This can be as simple as engaging a 'record' button and playing or singing. There's no fuss involved with this. Some of them also allow you to burn a CD at the end of the process so you can amaze your friends! There can be disadvantages as I will discuss later, but depending on your final aims as discussed earlier, you will make allowances for any shortcomings.


Recording onto a pc or Mac takes us into a more complex world, so if you're not computer savvy, or prepared to engage in a long and sometimes frustrating journey I'd go with the stand alone unit. My Boss BR8 can still make me sound like a half-decent pub band in 1972....which is the particular sound that I'm after. Different strokes for different folks and all that.


Why is it more difficult to record into a PC?


Recording into a PC has a minimum of 3 steps:


Input device-microphone/keyboard/turntable
Sound card-converts your 'real world' sound into computer language.
Recording software-does the job of 'capturing' your performance.


Once you have got your recording chain set up then it 'can' be as easy as using a stand alone unit, but to get to that point you have to deal with a number of factors-the #1 bugbear of most home computer recording nuts is a friendly tike called 'latency' .


Latency: ' something that is revealed later'.


For those not in the know, latency can be compared to hearing your voice echoing back from a canyon, heloooo-hellllllloooo. There is a gap between when you yell and when you hear your voice returned. If you plug in a microphone and set up your recording software and say the ubiquitous 'hello' you will get a similar effect!


Unless you invest in a super high end recording system such as 'Pro Tools Software', then this is something you need to work with as a home computer recording aficionado.

The reason we encounter latency is that the computer needs time to convert the analogue [physical sounds via electricity] into digital data; ones and naughts. With a good sound card this can take between 7 and 15 milliseconds [ yep that's 15 thousandths of a second] and then about the same number of milliseconds to convert it from a digital signal back into an electrical analogue system that we can usefully use to hear the sound coming out of the computer. Bare in mind that our ear 'notices' a sound as an echo at around the 50 millisecond mark [ more on this later] - so if we have a sound card with 25millisecond [ms] input delay and 25 ms output delay then our ear will perceive it as an echo- not much good to play along with as we will be out of time.


That's pretty useless you might shriek, so how do people manage to do all this computer recording stuff at home? A-ha. Those clever people who make sound cards m-audio, Presonus, Yamaha etc have done something very clever, they instigated a process called 'direct monitoring'.


Direct monitoring allows us to hear the incoming sound at its source- straight after you have plugged it in- instead of through the computer where you will pick up a substantive delay. You can still listen 'though the computer' if you choose, but in my experience it's pretty distracting especially with large latency times. The other thing that your clever software program/soundcard combo will do is to record your new track in time with the others by making allowances for the current latency times.


In summary; For ease of use and less technology hassles get a stand alone hard disk recorder. For more complex productions consider getting a computer/soundcard/software combo, but be prepared for a sharp learning curve.



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First Things First

Image by nzgabriel via Flickr

For the purpose of this discussion I shall be drawing on my own personal and professional experience using a Boss BR-8 recording unit. Rock music is my genre' but the Boss BR-8 is adaptable for all genres of music.  

The unit is an 8-track digital recorder aimed primarilay at the solo independent musicians who wishes to record on their own. Where you decide to go from here will be addressed in further articles as time presents. I purchased my device in the late 1990s and it offers more versatility than my needs require. You, I suspect, will be different.  


Prior to recording I am assuming that you have the equipment other than the recording device at your disposal. Absolute essentials are your guitar (or guitars), two guitar leads and numerous sets of strings as these are things that tend to malfunction at 2am. A bass guitar can be used but the BR-8 does have a built-in bass 'synthesiser' making it possible to play bass on the lower strings of your standard electric guitar. It's a bit 'touchy' and doesn't allow the total freedom of your standard bass guitar.  









For vocals I use a Shure SM-58. Any multi-directional microphone will do. The better the quality of microphone, the better the results. Nothing is cheap or free these days and everything is being superceeded by the minute. I'm a techno-luddite (as much as one can be these days) and prefer to stick with what I know. If you intend to use a normal drum-kit I highly recommend a Shure SM57 uni-directional microphone.  

Studio quality headphones are imperative. Using inferior quality headphones to record will over-ride all of the hard work that you have put into your recording once you've heard it played back, be it on CD or decent quality computer speakers. Your potential followers will notice this too.  

Finally, before recording commences, an isolated and sound-proof room is ideal. This is primarily for vocals. It is also necessary if you opt, as I do, to use a drum-kit. Now you are ready to record.  

You have the song in your mind crystal clear.

Prior to plugging in and letting loose it is well worth spending time on what tempo and what pattern suits your song best. Play parts of your song through, experimenting with tempos' and patterns. Quite often what you have in mind will vary. This is a good thing as your ability to adapt is growing. Once you have this area to your satisfaction, depending on what instrument (vocals excluded) that you are most proficient with, I suggest recording what I call a 'ghost track.' A ghost track is a basic track, be it rythm guitar or bass, that will later be deleted and recorded over. I generally start on track 8 with a 'straight' bass line. The synthesised bass has a few options. As previously mentioned they can be somewhat restrictive but the synthesised bass line certainly can move along more than sufficiently. The synthesised bass does not allow for individual track mixing but the option of 'loose,' heavy,' tight and 'upright phased' are available from the offing. This is perhaps a good time to decide on what option will suit your song best.  

The next track that I record is another ghost track, this time in the form of a rythm guitar. This gives my first 'real' rhythm guitar something to mesh with.' This is my style and may not suit yours. After the ghost rhythm guitar has been recorded the fun really starts. I record my first 'real' rhythm guitar.










There are a multitude of pre-set guitar effects, inside which are a multitude of individual effects with a multitude of options. I cannot emphasise enough that it is worth spending a few days going through each option jotting down notes. Even though a combination of effects may not suit your style, who's to say that they may not suit another song later on. Keep your notes in a safe place for future reference.  

Once you have found the sound that you are after it's time to begin recording for real. You may find that because this is the real thing, nerves may come into play. This soon dissipates. I'd suggest having your pre-set rhythm track set pretty high volume-wise. Setting the straight ghost bass is also a good idea. Set your original ghost rhythm to a lower volume but high enough in volume in order to play off it. Now that you have done this you may well have a nervous breakdown as, going by the "time remaining" which constantly shows up on your screen, you only have 6mins of recording time left. Fear not.

Another great aspect off the Boss BR-8 is the "Optomise" button. Again, go to the "Utilities" button to the top right of the unit and press it. Using the 'arrow' button scroll to the right until "Optomise" shows. It's the last option. Press "Enter" and you will be asked "Optomise Song?" Again, press "Yes." After a few seconds the screen will display "Song Optomised." What this means is that any tracks which have been recorded over, thus taking up recording time, are discarded. Depending on your choice you can now record over your ghost rhythm or bass line. 

Personally I a straight bass line first as I prefer to have my rhythm guitars weaving around each other, meeting up at relevant points. If you choose to use a standard drum-kit, as I do, it does have its' drawbacks but I still prefer it. I record it on two tracks. 






Prior to recording I have the click-track as low as possible, purely to count myself into the track. Firstly I record the hi-hat and snare. I use a SM-57 microphone pointed directly at the snare. I record it at a very low level as I'm a hard hitter. This is sufficient to also pick up the hi-hat. I have a taped cymbal (to avoid 'spill') placed slightly above where a normal floor-tom would be placed. This also avoids spill as my body absorbs a lot of it. During the recording of the snare track, I place a pillow between the kick-drum pedal and the skin. When I record the kick-drum the aforementioned pillow is placed inside the kick, where it should be.  

Vocals are usually the last track(s) that I record. I have them written down but have found myself scrawling on them as instrument recording progresses for reasons of phrasing and possible re-wording some parts. The multitude of vocal effects are overwhelming. As is also the case with guitar effects it is well worth spending time finding what's best for you. Each individual effect has yet another multitude of customisable effects within. From my experience, find the one that suits you best initially and stick with it until you feel that you wish to diversify.  

The Boss-BR-8 has almost limitless possibilities for diversification and I have only scraped the surface in this article and hope that you have found something of use.  

I intend to delve deeper into the multitude of possibilities of, not only the Boss BR-8, but  recording in general.