How to Produce Music at Home

Preparing to Record:
So you've absitively to record? By now your song should be well-practiced and bland in performance, if you're traveling to almanac it all the way through. Some humans adopt to plan by recording pieces of their song first. Either way you charge an authoritative arrangement in abode that is logical.
Set up a book tree. A book timberline is like authoritative an outline for an essay; except with folders. Alpha by traveling to the harder drive you will be recording on and actualize a new binder alleged Activity 1 for example. Now accessible that binder and actualize addition binder alleged Raw Tracks. This is area you will save all of your advance which are dry, acceptation no effects. Anniversary clue should be recorded dry every time. Furnishings are added in the bond stage. Anniversary yield for anniversary clue should be adored with a afterwards amount afterwards the track, and advance should be adored as the apparatus for their title. You can aswell accomplish folders for the alone instruments you will be recording beneath Raw Advance as such: Bass, Vocals, Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Harmonies, Bass Drum, Allurement Drum, Hi Hat, 16" Crash, 18" Crash, Ride, Tom 1, Tom 2, Floor Tom, Overhead 1, and Overhead 2, and Keyboards. I acquisition this annoying to annal through while in the bond process, so I adapt them into their own folders afterwards I'm done mixing.
Actualize a binder beneath the Activity 1 binder alleged Wet Tracks. This is area you will abode anniversary clue afterwards you administer the effects, processing, normalization, and any automation you may use during the bond process. Administer the aforementioned afterwards calculation arrangement for anniversary wet clue yield that you did with the dry clue takes. This ensures that you can go aback and accept to how altered furnishings or processing adds or subtracts to your composition.
Finally, accomplish addition binder beneath the Activity 1 binder alleged Master. Again, as with the takes above, use a afterwards calculation arrangement so that you can calmly accredit to anniversary master.
Get a anthology and yield addendum on all the settings for every change you accomplish to anniversary track. If you acquisition that a compressor is set with too abundant threshold, afresh go aback and change it and address down what the name of the compressor is, and area all the settings are for that specific track. Detailed addendum accomplish it easier to go aback and administer your aboriginal settings in case of a absent or base file. This should be done at every footfall in your recording process.
Microphone Adjustment for an Acoustic Bang Set:
Mic adjustment for acoustic drums is not a science, but an art. I will just lay out the aphorism of deride for a basal kit and you, or the drummer, can go from there. There are abounding factors if because mic adjustment such as allowance size, amateur dynamics, and the blazon of mic used.
Bass Drum: Appropriate alfresco of the complete hole. If the arch does not accept one, afresh abode it area one would be. (off-center)
Allurement Drum: Put mic about an inch from the arch amid the Toms at a 45 amount angle. If you wish a mic for the basal do the aforementioned (but point the mic up at a 45 amount angle!)
Hi Hat: Abode mic pointing abroad from the kit to the larboard of the column at a 45 amount bend about 3" abroad from the top cymbal. Leave allowance for the hat to accessible - you don't wish it to hit the mic.
Toms: Abode a bit askance at an 80 amount bend to the arch about 3" away.
Floor Tom (s): Abode at a 45 amount angle, 3" away, and a bit off-center.
Overheads: About 2 & 1/2' from the Ride. Tip: acclimatize afterpiece or added abroad for beneath or added (respectively) allowance sound.
Accept aback to a assay recording of anniversary microphone on abandoned to get an abstraction of how abundant drain is advancing through from added drums/cymbals. Acclimatize according to taste.
Getting The Most From Your Digital Audio Workstation:
Your DAW is the affection and body of your studio. Treat it gently, and don't smoke or alcohol about it. Too abounding things can and will happen. The endure affair you wish is for anyone to discharge a beer on it. Water ability be OK, but beer has a lot of amoroso and added adhesive being in it, so bless your absolute advance alfresco of the studio.
Turn off your computer sounds and the centralized microphone, and attenuate the internet if you're alive on a computer. This ensures no interruptions and exceptionable sounds bit-by-bit into your recordings.
Attenuate sleep, hibernation, ability saving, awning savers, and any added interruptions.
Run a assay recording first, authoritative abiding the cessation is set accurately and your audio drivers are activity properly. Acclimatize recording levels to aiguille at -1 dB. Load this assay clue down with processing and furnishings plugins. Don't action them on to the track, just admit them. The ambition actuality is to acquisition your absolute of processing ability so you apperceive how abounding plugins you can run afore a arrangement crash.
If you can, use addition adviser in assiduity mode. This will acquiesce you to undock all of your appearance like bung ins, transport, and mixer so that you can apply on your clue appearance afterwards all of your panels in the way.
Baddest your Raw Advance binder to be the absence save to folder. Accomplish abiding that either auto save is enabled or that you are in a addiction of hitting ascendancy or command s afterwards authoritative edits. Remember to be demography addendum also. Tip: some music food advertise a clue addendum notebook.
Set up and name all of your advance accordingly, authoritative abiding aggregate is baffled properly, afresh save as a arrangement application the aforementioned name as your project. If you accept to alpha over, you'll be one footfall advanced of yourself.
Mixing:
Let me yield a moment actuality to explain that bond is altered than mastering. Understanding this and applying techniques declared herein will set you afar from all added "Independent" artists. The appellation bond connotates assorted tracks, area arrive refers to a stereo two clue (right & left). Just as in the examples of an outline and the book timberline authoritative arrangement declared above, bond and arrive are sequential. Bond happens afore mastering. Arrive does not appear at the aforementioned time as mixing. Bond is the art of aggregate assorted instruments to complete homogenous, acceptation alike, or as one. That does not beggarly authoritative a guitar complete like a bang kit. It involves adjusting the alone instruments volume, frequency, panning, effects, and added levels so that the focus is on the complete which all of them accomplish together. This is alleged synergy (1+1=3). It creates something greater than itself which by itself it cannot attain. With that said, let's get on with mixing.
If you are traveling to automate your mix acceptation for archetype accepting altered furnishings achromatize in or out, or get stronger through time, accomplish an automation track.
Adapt your clue to -1 dB. You accept to be able to apprehend what you are alive with. Annihilation aloft aught dB (decibel) will blow and complete distorted. You wish the cleanest arresting possible.
If you accept ample amplitude amid if an apparatus endure articulate to it aural afresh (a rest), baddest the bare amplitude and action it to silence. This ensures no feel noises or animation or stool creaks edge into the track.
Equalization is the alone best way to abate noise. Subtractive EQ is about consistently bigger than accretion EQ. EQ should be the aboriginal go to to actual your sound. Example: If you are alive on a simple bass guitar clue you can run a top canyon clarify or artlessly cut the top frequencies to - beyond dB. Try to alone addition the acclimated abundance ambit +2 or +3 dB. Any added than that can could could cause problems. Tip: To accord vocals a bite use a low-shelf EQ clarify about -3 dB at 150 Hz, afresh add 3 dB of accretion to the accomplished track.
Limiters can be set to -1 dB so your additions through EQ and FX don't beat that and could could cause distortion.
Compression can be tricky, but with a little bit of arena with you'll see they add that PUNCH you're searching for. Compressors accept 4 capital controls: 1. Threshold: A lower ambience (measured in dB) agency that a greater allotment of the arresting will be advised and vise-versa. 2. Ratio: Determines the Input/Output arrangement for signals college than the Threshold. Example: A 5:1 arrangement agency that a arresting overshooting the Beginning by +5 dB will leave the compressor +1 dB aloft the Threshold. 3&4: Attack & Release: Attack and Release settings actuate how fast the Compressor acts on the admission arresting so as to advance a added accustomed and arced response. Tip: If your accurate Compressor has a meter, adviser what the Beginning turns down in dBs on the beat and acclimatize the Accretion about to that. This advantage evens out the signal.
Babble Gates: These accessible & abutting to let complete through or block complete depending on their Beginning settings. Anticipate of them as a valve, or corrupt bib. Gates do basically the aforementioned affair as the aloft mentioned ambush with silencing an apparatus blow point. They can be acclimated to yield out the bass bang drain from a allurement mic, or use antidotal EQ to accomplish the aforementioned results.
Plug Ins:
There are bags of Bung Ins out there that do aggregate from furnishings to bit amount conversion. I use them for effects, ashen analysis, custom metering, processing, and a few in mastering. Bung Ins accept to be accustomed by your DAW; some manually, some are automatic. A little ancillary note: RTAS are acclimated for MAC based systems. Here's a annual of some pro audio Bung Ins I use:
Izotope Ozone, Advanced RX2, Nectar, Spectron, and Alloy. Izotope articles are all amazing pro audio repair, effects, and arrive Bung Ins. Demos are accessible at Izotope
Blue Cat Audio: These are pro processing Bung Ins. They action a chargeless download, not a demo, which is awesome. Get it at Blue Cat Audio
Waves: This is one big-ticket set, but able-bodied annual it. I use their plugs all of the time.
Mastering:
As I said earlier, arrive is altered than mixing. Now that you accept recorded and alloyed your advance down to a stereo clue you are accessible for mastering. Go advanced and adapt your book to -6 dB. This will leave you allowance to plan with. Don't worry. If you're done with the arrive date you adapt to -.5 dB. Allowance is just like it sounds. It is the amplitude amid area you are at and area you wish to be in decibels.
In the arrive date you'll wish to do things like add a bit of compression, add a bit of EQ. You don't wish to add a lot of anything. I anticipate of it like affable application spices. A birr of this, and a compression of that. There absolutely is no way to call absolutely what to do in mastering. You don't wish to add stereo expansion, or brightness. You should do those things in the bond stage. What you are aiming for is authoritative all of your songs complete like they breeze together. Do things like put them in the aforementioned "room", by abacus a blow of reverb. You are aswell aggravating to accomplish them complete acceptable on all devices, so you'll wish to bake a advertence CD to play on a bang box, a car stereo, and your home system. Yield addendum on the differences in sonic qualities and bang a antithesis amid them. Accomplishing this will ensure acceptable transfer.
Setting Up A Almanac Company:
The next affair you ability anticipate about accomplishing afterwards commutual your activity is ambience up a almanac company. You can do this by traveling down to your bounded government architecture and accepting a business license. You accept altered rights and protections with anniversary altered blazon of company. A sole freeholder gives you the alone little aegis from a lawsuit, admitting a association is like an alone on its own, attention your claimed assets from judgements.
After your authorization you'll wish to set up a business blockage annual so you can do business. Set up your website, and afresh alpha commercial your product.
Put Your Music On Amazon:
You can advertise your albums and MP3's on Amazon by aperture an annual with Createspace. It's chargeless to join, and all you accept to do is upload your materials. You accept to carefully chase their uploading guidelines; if you don't, your actual will not be accepted. Accomplish abiding all of your artwork is in the actual formats forth with your audio tracks. You ability as able-bodied catechumen your.wav files to.aiff appropriate now, and accomplish abiding your songs are in the actual adjustment by agreement an 01 etc. in foreground of the song titles. I would advance signing up as an individual, not as a business because you never apperceive if the abridgement will yield a applesauce and out of business.