Reference
Professional studio recording will be out of reach for most beginners,
but you can get great results by recording at homeRecording
Digital acoustic recording
I love playing my upright piano, and I want to
record some tracks with it. However, I want to
edit them using a computer and obviously I can’t
plug the piano into my machine directly because
there are no inputs. How can I record acoustically
on the computer?It really depends on your budget. The cheapest
option would be to buy a USB desktop mic and
plug it into your computer. Make sure you stick
the mic near to the piano (but not so close that
you get a horrible bassy sound) and record what
the mic hears into your favourite digital audio
workstation, like GarageBand, Logic or Audacity. A
decent desktop mic can be picked up for around
£ 2 5/$39, or your computer may have one built in
(but keep in mind you won’t have much flexibility of
movement in this case).
Another option is to use a USB audio interface
with a built-in mic. If you use a Mac, the Apogee
ONE can be bought for around £1 2 0/$180 second
hand and comes recommended. The method ofrecording your upright or grand piano is the same,
but you will notice a great difference in the quality.Mix it up
What is mixing, and is it important?After you’ve finished recording all your piano and
backing tracks, you will need to mix them together
to make it sound good, usually into a two-channel
stereo. The bad news is that entire books have been
written on this topic, so it’s not an easy matter to
get to grips with. To start with, you should edit the
volume of each individual track until you’re happy
with the sound they all make. Once you’ve got that,
you can start to pan your tracks to the left or right
speaker if you feel it adds to the mix.Ta b l e t r e co r d i n g
Is recording using an iPad really a viable option
for a decent result?It certainly is, but you will need your fair share of
apps and accessories for it to work, like the iRig MIDIthat we covered earlier in this book. Many popular
artists are using iOS’s diverse range of music apps
to create great sounds for their albums, but few are
recording their entire record on the tablet.
The iPad does have a few things going in its
favour, though. One is its portability, which means
it can be taken anywhere with your music still on
it. If you want to lay down a track on the move
then there’s no better way of doing so, and iCloud
support means you can carry on where you left off
when you get home.Backing tracks
My playing is improving, and I feel I’m ready
to join a band and record for a bigger sound.
However, I’m struggling to join one, and I’m
living in a small apartment (even smaller with
my digital piano), so I have no room for other
instruments. Can I make a backing track for my
piano using a computer?Most definitely! In fact, these days, it’s far easier and
cheaper to record synthesised instruments on a“A decent desktop mic
can be picked up for
around £25/$39, or your
computer may even have
one built in”
On-screen keyboards
are useful features!