Buy Beats – Worldwide Collaboration Era Has Now Begun

My Beats365 Test: I’ve been having a ball messing around with the over 100,000 beats over at Beats365 created by top hip hop producer Nebula 3. We took a straight up beat and blended it with a Sex Pistols type guitar riff and added a vocal by a young Reggae Dancehall singer.

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Test Recording #1
(Using loops, beats and sounds we edited a selection together for you. Using a beat and sound collection as big as this is bound to get your ideas flowing and expand the styles of song you can do)

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You see, when I buy beats like the massive choice of bed tracks, beats and sounds in this catalog, it instantly gets me going and trying different directions with my songwriting and recording. With access to thousands of grooves, beats and sounds, the possibilities are mind boggling and impossible to predict. How cool is that? Like the hybrid of styles we created above.

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Test Recording #2 Using BEATS365 – “Wall of Vocals Over House Style Beat”

Having A Good Collection of Beats and Sounds at Your Fingertips Busts You Right Out of Your Rut

Home recording artists have suddenly become a powerful creative force and are driving what is rapidly becoming a golden age for independent and so-called unsigned artists. Why? Never before have independent artists had access to many of the world’s top producers.

Understand this: when you buy beats, riffs, grooves or full bed tracks created and pre-recorded by a top producer, you are literally and actually co-producing your indie project with them. No asking and begging them to get involved with your career because now you can “work” with them at will. Any time you want.

I Often Will Buy Beats From Top Producer Collections. Can You Recognize the Beat After the Song is Done?  Of Course Not… It is Now Simply a Part of My Original Music or Film Score.

By the time you lay your unique song and added tracks on top of these studio quality beats, do your edits and mixing, make no mistake, you will have a created a truly original work.

100,000 beats, sounds and grooves of Beats365

The 100,000 Strong BEATS365 Collection:
Click CODE for instant access – EHR-BEATS365-1

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It was just a matter of time before someone put it all together and created true high quality web-based beat making programs. The issues and limitations that were apparent with other, earlier online beat software have been solved. This means that another piece of what we call  “the Home Recording Revolution,” is now in place.

New to Beat Making Programs? Just Want to Get Your Song Done Fast? Over 100,000 Finished Beats Ready for Download Now

Many of our members use a single source for over 100,000 pre-made, ready to use Beats. The beats (and full groove tracks) are available at what is now the internet’s largest beat, bed-track and groove database.

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Just add vocals and your record is ready for mix and release. Read more…

DubTurbo has solved the problems with earlier online beat making programs

• Small sound libraries.
  Current status? SOLVED

• Files saved only as relatively low quality mp3 format.
  Current status? SOLVED

• Not much choice in pre-made, original downloadable beats.
  Current status? SOLVED

• Ease of use and ability to use any operating system (i.e. PC or Mac).
  Current status? SOLVED

• Remote access to beat projects from any computer, any time, anywhere in the world.
  Current status? SOLVED

The Future of Online Beat Making Programs (Want to have a look? Click Here)

Why This is Going to Be Important

Just to put this into perspective and illustrate why you should shift at least some of your focus to online based music production, let’s take a look at exactly how it will affect those who grab this opportunity with both hands:

• Imagine your computer NOT carrying the weight of memory gobbling beat making software.

• Imagine simply accessing a simple web site that is doing the job of hosting and storing powerful music production software.

• Imagine NOT being anchored to your desk at home and instead, being able to work on your project anywhere. In a restaurant, a hotel, friend’s house, the library, airport, coffee shop… anywhere.

• Imagine collaborating with anyone, anywhere in the world, at any time, as you and your collaborator or team share access to the same online beat making software and your music projects. Changes, edits and re-mixes will occur real time and files are stored remotely on the host’s internet server. (Your computer gets destroyed or stolen? No problem. Your precious groove, bed tracks and beats are safe on the host’s online private servers.)

How to Make Beats Online – It’s Easier Than You Think

Pretty much every groove you hear in all styles of popular music is based on one version or another of what is called the “4 beat bar.” This simply means that when you count to “4″, that is the end of a single bar and then you return to “1″ right after the 4th beat to begin a new “bar.”.

Try this… and tap it out with your hand on your leg as you’re counting.

Ok, here we go….

” One-Two-Three-Four-One-Two-Three-Four-One-Two-Three-Four “

Great. That represents 3 full “bars” and each one of those “bars” has 4 “beats.”

In this case those beats are called “quarter notes.” They are called this because each of those beats represents one quarter of the whole bar.

Think of the 4 beats in a “bar” of music just like a pizza that you have cut into 4 pieces. Each piece is one “quarter” of the whole pizza.

But, you know as well as I do, that we can cut that pizza into 8 pieces if we want, right? It’s the same with our “bars” above. What happens when we cut the pizza into 8th’s? The pieces are smaller, right?

It’s the same with our “bars,” because when we slice the bar into 8th’s the notes are shorter and we have to double their speed to fit them all into the bar.

Tap on your leg again and this time count to “8″ in the same amount of time it took you to count to “4″

” One-Two-Three-Four-Five-Six-Seven-Eight-One-Two-Three-Four-Five-Six-Seven-Eight-One-Two-Three-Four-Five-Six-Seven-Eight ”

“If you can count to 4, 8 and 16 you can easily use online beat making programs even if you never have before.”

You see, the online beat making software I’m going to show you here works by literally just tapping your keyboard or dragging and dropping beats and sounds to wherever you want in any “bar” of your groove.

Actually… it’s a lot easier to just watch the step by step videos

Studio quality sound files on an online beat making program

DubTurbo Beats is making quite a splash with the broadcast quality of their users’ groove and beat files. (as opposed to the compressed mp3’s of most other online beat software)

I mentioned that our visitors can use a special coded link to get 75% off DubTurbo Beats today.

Click the following Discount Code to get DubTurbo online beat making software  now:

Pro-Beat-Making-RHS-1

Cell ring tone? New opportunities? What am I on about?

For indie musicians, something interesting is happening on your way to a career in music. Instead of heading down that age old road with the single goal of getting signed to a record label, (whose role in the new music business has decreased to say the least,) musicians now have a thousand paths they can travel to a career in music.

In the uncharted territory that is today’s music industry, the good news is the same as the bad news. And this good news/bad news is?

You’re on your own and you will have to do it yourself.

Plucking one example from the new environment, we don’t have to look any further than the cell ring tone. Who would have thought even 5 years ago that a downloadable ring tone would represent a way for a musician to earn a living from his or her music?

And yet, with the rapid rise of Myxer, now the most popular ring tone vendor, this is exactly what has happened. Hundreds of thousands of music fans now show their love of their favorite songs by flocking to Myxer to download cell ring tone versions of them. With Myxer’s rapidly expanding partnerships with recording artists big and small, and large entertainment corporations, the opportunity this represents for indie musicians can’t be ignored.

Why is this so significant?

Multiple entertainment devices = multiple sales of the same song to the same listener

Read that again… “multiple sales of the same song to the same listener.” In the past and right up to relatively recently, a listener had 2 methods of listening to music: hear the song on the radio and then buy the song for their cd player. Therefore, for the recording artist, the relationship with the listener was complete. i.e. hear song, sell song… transaction complete. Now, however, that same listener may want that same song to be available on the many listening devices they own. And many of these devices use different audio file formats for playback. So… “multiple sales of the same song to the same listener.”

You see, we tend to take the extraordinary for granted, but by doing that, indie musicians have to be careful not to miss the opportunities all around them.

My cell ring tone experiment with MYXER -

Proof that the ring tone can be serious business for the indie musician

A few short months ago, I joined Myxer the downloadable ring tone provider, and I uploaded a song of mine to see if this was a realistic income opportunity for the aspiring recording artists who are using my Easy Home Recording Blueprint (now the bestselling home recording method in the vendor’s catalog.)

As part of the experiment I didn’t do a thing to promote the song I uploaded to Myxer. I assumed it would become buried under the thousands of other ringtones available at Myxer.

I went back to check on the progress of my little 30 second ring tone snippet as I was preparing this article. I was more than a little shocked and amazed to see that the song currently has been downloaded almost 5000 times… woah.

Have a look:

Cell ring tone - an experiment in music promotion

Now, multiply each of these downloads by however much the price you set for the cell ring tone, and you can see that this becomes a very useful part of an indie musician’s earning opportunities.

An account at Myxer also allows a personal text message from the artist to accompany each ring tone download. This allows further promotional opportunities as you direct your new ring tone listener to your website or to your online music, merchandise and/or live show ticket store. or you can simply direct your ring tone listener to sign up to your fan list.

For more on how musicians can earn in the new music business, I’m giving away the “Musician’s Blueprint to Getting Heard By Thousands” free with the…. Read more here

Recording Multitrack Audio – Part 1

(For part 2,  go to Home Recording Tips)

3 goals you should be setting before you record

1. Professional quality sound
2. Simple to use recording tools and software
3. Affordability

Although, everyone successfully guesses the first of the goals listed above, they often are misguided as they attempt to define the next two goals of an aspiring recording artist: simplicity and affordability.

This is because musicians start with the assumption that recording high quality sound requires complex and expensive studio equipment. In other words, they invest money first instead of investing in gaining an understanding what sound actually needs to be recorded well.

If we realized that sound actually has very simple needs to be recorded effectively, the number one goal of professional quality home recording suddenly becomes very achievable.

Recording Multitrack at Home – How to be big, bold and in control

Multitrack audio recording is of course, the process of separating the elements of our music so we may individually manipulate each part’s sound, volume and placement in a finished mix. What used to be achieved with two inch tape divided into 16 or 24 “tracks” is now achieved in the digital environment of recording software.

So, we use multitrack recording to give us increased control of our music. However,  the irony is that we are actually less in control if we use recording equipment we don’t know how to use.

The solution for taking control of the recording process and making sure it serves our needs as music creators, is obvious, but mostly overlooked. The answer is, we must find an effective way of using very little and very simple to use multitrack digital recording equipment if we have any hope of consistently producing competitive recordings. Otherwise, the aspiring recording artist will financially cripple himself or herself, and ultimately fail in the first goal of the home recording artist. i.e. achieving high quality recordings.

Recording Multitrack Sound at Home Professionally, Simply and Cheaply

It sounds like the quest for the Holy Grail, but recording professional quality records at home is not only possible, it should be expected. The truth is, absolutely any multitrack recording software that is available can more than adequately handle the task of release-quality recording.

All we have to do is give the multitrack software what it most needs:

• High quality sound

• High quality “capture”

• High quality input

• High quality output

The items above are the 4 pillars of a great multitrack recording. The good news, each item is achievable with minimal financial outlay and minimal technical knowledge.

Let’s look at each item and define how we will achieve it.

High quality sound:

High quality sound broadly refers to supplying either a good performance, on a good quality acoustic or electric instrument, or good quality electronic instrument and/or device, or some combination of the above. In other words, well played with no buzzing and hissing.

Achievable affordably and simply? Yes.

High quality capture

High quality “capture” refers to using a good quality microphone for voice and acoustic instruments and good quality cables for connecting electric and electronic instruments and devices. In other words, avoiding immediate loss of quality and injury to the original sound due to poor quality mics and insecure cables.

Achievable affordably and simply? Yes.

High quality input

High quality input when multitrack digital recording, refers to using a high quality in/out device, also known as a digital audio interface. The first step to having high quality input is to avoid using your computer’s built in sound card for recording purposes.

Simple pro quality external audio devices are available whose sole purpose is to funnel your sounds from the outside of your computer to the inside of your computer without degrading the sound’s quality.

Achievable affordably and simply? Yes.

High quality output

Although our in/out device is also supplying the output signal, our ability to complete a professional sounding mix is dependent the final stage of output which is our speakers (monitors.) There are excellent and reasonably priced home recording studio monitors available, but this is one area where we will have to make a moderate investment to achieve professional recordings at home.

Powered studio monitors (with built in power amps) are a good choice and save the expense of separate power amps and also make good use of limited space in most home studios.

Conclusion of part one

Easy Home Recording Blueprint is the bestselling step by step guide to producing pro-quality recordings at home using free recording software and very little equipment.

If copying the exact method I use to record music for movies, tv, cd release and licensing, sounds like a great way to kick start your music career, you will love the Easy Home Recording Blueprint.
Read more…..

You’d like to learn to produce music. Before you start, it’s important that you understand that good producers do not start their careers by learning how to use a ton of studio equipment. They do not even start by learning all the studio tricks. Instead, a good producer is someone who builds a relationship with how different types of sound work together to create a mood and an emotional response from their listeners. Understand this, and you are well on your way on the correct path for producing music with meaning and staying power.

Learn to Produce Music – Approaching Music Production Like the Greats

What is a music producer really? Judging from the typical discussion out there, you would think that he or she is primarily a technical professional. Like a NASA flight engineer or an electrical contractor.

The truth is that great producers don’t dream at night of circuit boards and the latest studio equipment. Great music producers spend their time building and nurturing an intimate relationship with sound and the almost mystical way that different combinations of sound stimulate and play on our emotions in ways that words alone cannot.

That said, the sounds we use as accompaniment for a song, should be chosen to serve the words and meaning of a song. The sounds, instrumentation, tempo, rhythm etc serve as inflection and expression.

Think of it this way: Imagine that someone is telling you something very meaningful. First picture them telling you this important thing in the voice of The Terminator or an automated telephone operator. Then picture them telling you this important thing with a tremble in their voice and a tear on their cheek. You see, it’s the inflection and accompaniment with the words that make the words either profound or empty.

So, to learn to produce music like the great producers, you first have to learn to truly understand the mood, meaning and emotion of a song or piece of music. In other words, make sure you understand what you are going to say before you say it.

When you do understand the meaning and intent of a song that you are going to produce, the actual production of the piece becomes a much simpler, more enjoyable and much more rewarding task. Why?

Learn to Produce Music – A Producer’s Practical Examples

The reason producing a song gets easier if you take the time to understand the intent and meaning of a song or piece of music, is because certain choices of instrumentation become obvious. So, instead of facing infinite choices of sounds to support the song’s emotional flow and meaning, you instead are able to narrow down the choices to a few logical possibilities.

For example, let’s imagine a hypothetical song. Let’s say this song has a quiet section and the lyric is telling you that a character in the song is about to make a huge and perhaps dramatic decision. Let’s say the main instrumentation is a piano or acoustic guitar during this section.

Instead of facing a thousand instrumentation choices in this scenario, because you understand the drama and importance of the lyric, you might settle on a single low bell sound to support the piano or guitar, as if it is being struck with a felt covered mallet.

Suddenly the drama and profound emotion of this section’s lyric is made apparent to the listener and the all important “emotional response” from him or her is achieved.

Let’s look at an entirely different kind of song. This song is an upbeat house style and the lyric is simply about the joy of getting off work to go party the night away. Instead of a wall of sound from start to finish, you reserve an effective and memorable set of sounds for crucial moments in the groove.

So, in this case instead of typical back up vocals for the big chorus, you might decide to have the sound of a chanting soccer crowd accompany the lead vocal. This drives home the joy and excitement of the moment and sweeps the listener up in the chaos and electricity as the song describes the night that is unfolding.

Imagination first, recording second

Always keep your creative imagination as your first priority as you learn to produce music. You see, anyone can learn to record music effectively and use the tools of the trade, but those who go on to be great producers are the ones who use sound to tell a story. Learn the language and emotional power of sound and the whole world will listen.

I will continue this series of articles about becoming a music producer. Next time we will look at the actual recording process. We will look at surprisingly simple ways to record audio clearly and beautifully, using very little recording equipment, so the meaning and mood of our songs and music remains intact.

Ready to Really Get Started?

If you would like to learn to produce music that “stands up and stands out” you’ll love the methods in the EASY HOME RECORDING BLUEPRINT. Start with 6 free lessons or really dive in and get this bestselling home recording guide. The Easy Home Recording Blueprint, created by major label recording artist and producer….. Read more

by Owen Critchley
Warner/LoudThud recording artist

Song: “Before The Waves Come”

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I didn’t set out to write emo songs that make you cry, but apparently, judging by the reaction to the character of Melanie in Billboard Song award winning song, “Before The Waves Come,”  it has definitely become one of those songs.

Frame from upcoming video of Before The Waves Come

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Download “Before The Waves Come”

“Who Is Melanie?”

This is definitely the #1 question I receive from people after they hear Before The Waves Come.

Now that I’ve lived with this song for a while, I guess Melanie is a combined personality or symbol of many of the women that are, or have been part of my life. The song may well fall into the category of Emo Songs That Make You Cry, and that’s cool with me… but I think I’m more likely to put it in the Songs About Loneliness category.

All the women I’ve ever met seem to have a shared air of loneliness that always accompanies each of their differing personalities. In other words, I guess the character of “Melanie” is like an icon who represents all women that I’ve known.

*Still 2 from the Before The Waves Come video storyboard

How emo songs that make you cry, got me Punk’d by my own crew

Here’s a funny story that goes with the recording of these songs, that I’ll share with you. Like I said, even though I didn’t set out to write so called emo songs that make you cry, according to the crew around me, that’s exactly what I have done with a couple of my new songs.

You see, my crew and I always look for clever ways to rip on each other. So, when we all got together to rehearse these songs, they had obviously met beforehand, without me, and decided to make sure I got “punk’d” for these emo songs that I had written..

The crew decided to break into a chorus of absolutely hilarious sobbing and wailing as I began earnestly playing the song to show them the chords and arrangement.

I tried not to laugh, but when I made the mistake of glancing up at them and saw that two of them were holding each other and another was under the table weeping and sucking his thumb… that was the end of me. I collapsed in a fit of laughter until I had to pretty much beg them to stop.

Actually I just like to think I write songs about life…

Frame 3 from upcoming video for Before The Waves Come

Like I said, I never set out to try to write in a particular style. If I like the song, I’ll release it no matter what genre. I listen and appreciate too many artists to think much about genres and styles.

Frame 4 from upcoming video for Before The Waves Come

“Who is Daniel?”

I guess the character of Daniel in “Before The Waves Come” represents every guy who is ultimately helpless in understanding what goes on in the depths of a woman’s heart. He stands ready to help, to be sure, but her world is her own.

Frame 5 from upcoming video for Before The Waves Come

Songs about relationships, emo songs that make you cry or just songs about life… they will be written by songwriters forever, I guess.

Scene From “Before The Waves Come” -  Download mp3 now

How to Make Demo Recordings That Stand Up and Stand Out

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1. The “Message and the Melody.” Before making a demo cd, we must accept that the song itself must provoke some kind of emotional response from the listener, either in its message, its melody, or both. We must have the confidence and wisdom to judge our songs honestly. In other words, the song is either working or not and we have to take responsibility for either possibility.

2. The Performance. The performance is the breath that gives the message and melody of the song life. The performance must always be the servant of the message and/or the melody.

3. The Recording. The responsibility of capturing message, melody and performance falls to the effective recording of all three. If we have ensured that message, melody and performance are intact, then recording simply becomes a matter of capturing and “bottling” an emotional response to be served on demand to listeners thirsty for same.

Where most aspiring recording artists go wrong when making a demo, is by perverting the process listed above by hoping to salvage or rescue a song’s message, melody and performance, during the recording phase. If a song isn’t making a connection to you or those around you during its creation, then the record button probably shouldn’t have been pushed. Certainly, trying to find the life inside a song during the mixing and editing phase of making a demo, is a fools errand.

Making a demo recording becomes easy when the song is already speaking to you

Sound actually requires very little to be recorded effectively. If we make sure a song is alive with color and purpose before we start recording a demo, then the need for expensive studio toys and equipment falls away. We are then left with the simple, and what should always be enjoyable, process of recording and “capturing” our song. When we have reached this level of confidence in our song, effective and powerful recording can and should be done at home. A good song simply won’t require that we mortgage our futures in an expensive professional studio or tons of home music studio equipment.

For those of you who are already Easy Home Recording Blueprint artists, the following is a very familiar set of recording guide lines that form the backbone of the “Blueprint” method of recording.

“Change the way you think about home recording.”

• Instead of complicated, believe that it can be simple.

• Instead of expensive, believe that it can be done cheaply.

• Instead of slow, believe that it can be fast and fun.

For those of you who are ready to read more about the Blueprint’s step by step method, click here: Easy Home Recording Blueprint

In another article I’ll continue this topic with more info and tips for making a demo that will help your music stand out from the crowd.

Until then… all the best,

Owen Critchley
Recording artist/producer

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Let’s define the title of this article, The How to Home Recording Studio, and how you can realistically achieve the commonly shared dream of all aspiring recording artists: Affordable, professional recording at home and in a way that does not require an engineering degree. In other words, how to record songs simply, cheaply and sound great.

With that in mind, bare with me because it is very important you read and understand the simple, but vital Golden Rules of recording professional quality sound at home. Then, this article’s goal of being part of the solution and not the problem, can be successful. Ready?

The How to Home Recording Studio: Top 2 Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is it even possible to make professional sounding recordings at home?

The answer is most definitely, “Yes,” and most experts would agree with that, at least in theory. But, ask these same experts whether it’s possible to make great sounding records at home without mortgaging your home to do it! This is where the controversy starts and the usefulness of most expert opinion ends. The unfortunate thing is that the variety of opinion and the volume that these opinions are offered, saps the budding dreams and confidence of songwriters and aspiring recording artists.

Q: Ok, then how can I record professional sound at home without spending a fortune?

If you remember nothing else, remember this: Sound actually requires just a few basic ingredients to be in place, and then recording professional sound simply and affordibly, becomes a very real possibility for everyone.That goes for beginners too. But how?

You see, sound requires a simple pathway to follow, free of obstructions, on its journey to our recording software. Without this pathway in place, sound is extremely prone to injury, and therefore, sudden loss of quality and fidelity.

Most home recording studio enthusiasts, by not understanding sound’s simple needs, create a pathway that mortally injures their source sound. It is already thin, distorted and amateurish, before it even arrives to the recording software.

The How to Home Recording Studio – Top 3 ingredients for successful home recording

• Choosing the correct, simple, affordable and effective external input device (i/o box.) Do NOT use a built-in computer sound card. Do not give in to the temptation to make your source sound travel through multiple effects units before reaching your recording software.

NOTE: Simple to do, incredible textures can be created within the recording software. I’ll talk about this more in subsequent articles. For now, keep the sound clean going in. Trust me, the gains in sound quality will reward your patience regarding laying on the effects too soon in the process.

• Know the “sweet spot” when setting your input volume to capture and retain healthy sound. Too quiet and the sound is thin and without body. Too loud and digital distortion rears its ugly head.

• Easy to use recording software. Do not sabotage your ambitions and creativity by creating a home recording set up with a steep learning curve. Simply put, it just isn’t necessary.

The How to Home Recording Studio – Now that we’ve stripped down the process, we’re absolutely golden going forward

The simple pieces we discussed above are the backbone and perfect foundation of all great recordings. As is so often true, less is more. Recording professional quality sound in the home recording studio, the power, clarity and beauty you dream of lies in a simple, perfect method.

In the next article, we’ll talk about some specific home recording tips.

If you would like to not only learn Garageband, but also learn how to use it (or any recording software) to easily make hit-quality recordings, I invite you to read on, explore the site, but most of all, get yourself signed up for my free home recording lessons. Do it right now, right here. And then keep reading.

My free home recording lessons and my Easy Home Recording Blueprint are easy to follow and will show you exactly how to get started using the exact same simple methods I use to record songs and music for movies, tv, cd release, etc etc. And yes… I record everything I do on Garageband right at home. So, if you need a good reason to learn Garageband and how to use it properly, all the proof you could ask for is right here.

First of all… hi. My name is Owen Critchley and I have recorded, and continue to record for major labels, indie labels, have written and recorded songs for other major label artists, for almost 20 years.

However, 3 years ago, I made a change. I simplified my home recording studio drastically. I didn’t have to do it. I did it because my studio was getting to the point that it had a life of its own. I was spending more and more time looking after its problems and its needs. So I decided enough was enough. I thought to myself, there must be a simpler way… a more enjoyable way for me to record my work.

The Key to the Hidden Power of Garageband

As I began stripping down the studio, I decided I would learn Garageband and see how far I could take it. I must say it was love at first sight. But, the tools in Garageband at first glance, seemed almost too simple and I began to wonder if I would miss the bells and whistles of my big box recording software I had been using.

It turned out I needn’t have worried. The simplicity of Garageband is deceiving, because it’s actually a very powerful tool that will reward you with astonishing sound quality. However, even though it is very simple to learn Garageband and record something, I have created a step by step method for exactly how to record on Garageband, that puts Garageband’s recording quality into overdrive.

Easy to follow free home recording lessons

You see, the keys to the kingdom are in the details. You will learn Garageband here, yes… but more importantly you will learn which details to focus on and the right sequence of steps to record truly impressive pro-quality recordings.

None of it is difficult, but it’s important you know the blueprint to learn Garageband properly.

What you can expect in your free home recording lessons and the Easy Home Recording Blueprint

• How to record in Garageband – how to create the perfect (and simple) signal path in order to allow Garageband to record monster sized sound

• How to edit in Garageband and how to remix Garageband tracks – blow your socks off editing tricks and that will shine a light on Garageband’s hidden power

• Step by step home studio recording tips – puts you in control of the sound you want no matter what recording software you use

You see, my home recording methods are the blueprint to build hit-quality recordings at home. I have used Garageband to illustrate a very important truth:

It’s not the power of the software that will get you your great record, it’s the power of the method. And simplicity is at its core.

So, in effect, when you learn Garageband here, what you are really learning is how to re-think the very way you think about home recording. You are learning a recording process that dramatically shortens the time and distance between your moment of inspiration and your moment of capture (i.e. recording.)

All great records depend on this ability and it’s time for us to get this ability back, before any more great music gets poorly recorded by artists who are lost in a sea of cables and complicated equipment.

Sign up now for much much more… you’ll see.

“because… recording a great record doesn’t have to be rocket science…”

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In this edition:

1. Recording acoustic guitar using “direct in” method

2. Recording acoustic guitar using mike

3. Recording electric guitar using “direct in” method

4. Recording electric guitar – miking an amp

Introduction

Before we begin to talk about specific methods about how to record guitar on computer, let’s agree to a line in the sand that we won’t cross. This will be the dividing line that separates good and bad practices so we don’t waste time chasing methods that will not help us achieve pro quality recording in the home studio. In other words, let’s stick to the stuff that works.

With that in mind, let’s assume that our minimum level of acceptable practices starts with bypassing our computer’s built-in sound card. Instead, as we discuss how to record guitar to pc, let’s agree that we will be sending sound in, and out, of our computer using a decent i/o (in/out) device.

In my case, I recorded the tracks for my most current song releases using the very modest, very affordable, but very effective,
M-Audio Fast Track MKII USB Audio Interface

So, it’s not like I’m suggesting anything fancy here. But let’s just avoid consumer sound cards for this article. Fair enough?

I hope you do feel that’s fair, but in any case, this site’s goal is to promote simple, affordable and high quality audio recording practices at home, and I just don’t believe plugging a mic or instrument directly into a generic computer sound card can further that goal.

1. How to Record Guitar on Computer – Acoustic Guitar “Direct In” Method

The “direct in” recording method is a convenient option for those of you who have an acoustic guitar with a pickup and an output.

Let’s make things simple here, and say that we will record guitar on Garageband recording software. Or an alternative, sometimes called Garageband for PC, the very similar Mixcraft 5 recording software. (Download and try Mixcraft 5 free here)

• Plug in the FastTrack i/o (in/out) box, or whatever external i/o you will be using, into the computer. Set the audio preferences on the computer to use the FastTrack as the default device for “sound in” and “sound out.”

• Plug your 1/4″ guitar cable into the guitar’s output and plug the other end into the 1/4″ input of the FastTrack (the i/o box)

• Open your recording software (Garageband for our purposes here) and create a new track. Choose a channel for the new track to receive the guitar signal. (Using the FastTrack’s quarter inch port as in this scenario, you would set your Garageband track’s channel to channel 2)

• Play the guitar and make sure the track is receiving the signal. Assuming it is, make sure the track is receiving a healthy volume from your guitar. Adjust your track volume, the FastTrack’s volume and your acoustic guitar volume so that the track receives a level that never spikes above the “zero” point of the track meter. Our goal is to send Garageband a full bodied signal. Not too loud (risks distortion) and not too quiet (risks a thin sound.)

• At this point, all that’s left for how to record guitar on computer using the “direct in” method, is to press the record button and lay down a track.

POINT OF INTEREST: When we record guitar to pc using the “direct in” method, we can monitor (listen) using either our speakers OR our headphones. The signal is enclosed so there are no issues regarding “leakage” or “crosstalk” (in other words a quiet or controlled environment is not strictly necessary because our sound is traveling direct within the cable)

2. How to Record Guitar on Computer – Acoustic guitar using microphone

The recording guitar microphone method, the process is similar except…

• We will plugging a microphone into the XLR input of the FastTrack (i/o device)

• Create new track as described above

• For the FastTrack, open channel 1 (Garageband) to receive sound to the new track

• Try starting by placing the microphone 6 – 10 inches from the 13th fret of the acoustic guitar. (Miking the soundhole of the acoustic guitar can be a bit boomy and give too much pick or strumming noise.)

• Set your input level as above

• When using a mic to record acoustic guitar, we must control external noises and we MUST use headphones for monitoring.

POINT OF INTEREST: We cannot have our speaker playback leaking into our mic and onto our track. This also goes for every squeak of your chair, or throat clearing, dog barking, doors opening and closing etc. A quiet, controlled environment as we are recording is a must every time we use a mic.

3. How to Record Guitar on Computer – Electric guitar “direct in”

The process for recording electric guitar on Garageband or any recording software is the same basic method we detailed above. In other words we can use the “direct in” method or the mic method for recording guitar to pc.

However, with an electric guitar going “direct in,” you may choose to introduce effects pedals to the signal. In that case the path the sound will take is:

Electric Guitar >> into effects pedal >> into FastTrack 1/4″ input

Repeat steps listed above.

4. How to Record Guitar on Computer – Miking an electric guitar amp

Plug in the mic as we described in the steps above. At that point, placing and positioning the mic is all that’s left. Here’s where we can experiment to get the type of sound we’re looking for.

Decide if you would like to “take the room” out of the sound. In other words, the closer the mic is placed to the guitar amp, the less the ambience or natural reverb of your room will influence the sound.

For close mic placement try 6″ – 12″ in front of the amp’s speaker and turn the mic slightly to the left or right (ie: “off axis”)

For a live club sound, try moving the mic back from the guitar amp. The further you move it away from the amp, the more the ambience of the room will color the sound.

A useful trick is to record one track with a close mic position, and then record another identically played track with a different microphone placement. Then, blend and mix the two tracks during Garageband playback to create your desired sound.

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