Home Recording Part 4

Let’s get to the recording software. First of all I am only going to cover what I use. I could go on and on about the subject, because there are so many good ones out there, but I’m not going to take that much time and space to do that. Besides, you do not want to go and put a whole lot of different programs on your computer. You are going to want to preserve as much space on your hard drive as you can for your recordings.

Wav files can get rather large. And the other downfall of having so many programs is: It will break you. If you are like me, you won’t have the budget to buy all the newest programs, because they are not cheap to own. I only use three programs. I’ve had plenty of friends say, “Man you need to try this program” or “a new program just came out and I think you need to really try it out.”

I fell for that for a while but soon found out that they all get the job done. True, some had a few cooler bells and whistles than others, but I found myself not using hardly any of those cooler bells. Remember, the simpler the program, the faster and more efficient the program will work for you. OK, the first program we are going to look at is Audacity. Audacity is free. You can download it here.

If you do not have the money for software, this is not a cheesy free program. It is a nice little prize for free. Read on if you want to know what it can do.

Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from cassette tapes, vinyl records, or minidiscs. With some sound cards, it can also capture streaming audio.

• Record from microphone, line input, or other sources.
• Dub over existing tracks to create multi-track recordings.
• Record up to 16 channels at once (requires multi-channel hardware).
• Level meters can monitor volume levels before, during, and after recording.

Import and Export

Import sound files, edit them, and combine them with other files or new recordings. Export your recordings in several common file formats.

• Import and export WAV, AIFF, AU, and Ogg Vorbis files.
• Import MPEG audio (including MP2 and MP3 files) with libmad.
• Export MP3s with the optional LAME encoder library.
• Create WAV or AIFF files suitable for burning to CD.
• Import and export all file formats supported by libsndfile.
• Open raw (headerless) audio files using the “Import Raw” command.
• Note: Audacity does not currently support WMA, AAC, or most other proprietary or restricted file formats.

Editing

• Easy editing with Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete.
• Use unlimited Undo (and Redo) to go back any number of steps.
• Very fast editing of large files.
• Edit and mix an unlimited number of tracks.
• Use the Drawing tool to alter individual sample points.
• Fade the volume up or down smoothly with the Envelope tool.

Effects

• Change the pitch without altering the tempo, or vice-versa.
• Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises.
• Alter frequencies with Equalization, FFT Filter, and Bass Boost effects.
• Adjust volumes with Compressor, Amplify, and Normalize effects.
• Other built-in effects include:
  • Echo
  • Phaser
  • Wahwah
  • Reverse

On the next blog I’ll give you tips on how to use this. Until then, go download the program and install it, and take a look at it.