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Recording and Mastering a Demo at home:basics

Recording and Mastering a Demo at home:basics
This is just a basic idea oh how I record and master music. In the song demonstrating, there are two guitar parts and a drum track only, but I will mention what to do with bass and vocals, and what I do with different styles of music.
 
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Step 1Equipment

Equipment
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Of course, you don't have to have exactly what I list here, but they are things you will need to get a good quality recording for cheaper than a pro studio.

Microphone (I used an audio technica AT202. 100$, and is a very good quality mic)
Mic stand (I prefer a boom stand because it allows you to mic different angles)
Windscreen for vocals (if you're going to be recording many vocals and with different people, I recommend getting the metal mesh windscreen. It's 50$, but you can clean it, and it lasts longer.)
Interface (something to connect the mic to the computer. Lexicon's LAMBDA works well and is low-priced at 130$ also comes with CUBASE LE4)
Computer (as long as it has the power to run a recording software, use it.)
Headphones
Speakers
Cables (if you're only using one microphone, you're going to need a special adapter to get a stereo recording. one female->two male)
I also used a second monitor because all the windows kind of clogs up one screen. However, that is entirely a preference.
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16 comments
Jul 9, 2009. 12:48 PMadmin says:
This is a great Instructable, but you need to add a main image of the final project to the intro step. Please do that and leave me a message when you have so that we can publish your work. Thanks!
Nov 7, 2011. 5:20 AMakshay7394 says:
Just a word of advice, even though you may already know this. - You could replace your pictures of the screen with actual screenshots :P (By pressing the PrntScr button on your keyboard and saving the picture to a file) = )
Jan 30, 2011. 8:27 PMbricabracwizard says:
I really enjoyed this instructable - at last a no nonsense approach to recording which explains everything succinctly without once relating it to some software! Thank you this has really cleared up some grey areas on how to produce quality sounds - especially the duplication of tracks - thanks again!
Jun 24, 2010. 8:29 AMmrobey614 says:
This is great advise and thank you for putting this together!! I have all the equipment to record and write the music, but the mastering is another beast all together, that I am quite unfamiliar with. This is a nice guideline to start with.
Apr 2, 2010. 12:34 PMilikebonesyay says:
 you are a legend!  just what i needed :) steps 3 4 5 and 6 helped a lot, but for some reason i couldn't hear your demo song (?) anyway thanks :D
Nov 30, 2009. 11:59 AMbustedit says:
very nice. i think i will benefit from steps 4, 5, & 6, especially.
i dont have a PC for recording (or sequencing anymore either) but use a Boss BR8 with outboard equipment (synths n samplers). i think these tips on panning and EQing will be very helpful this winter.
thanks.
Sep 26, 2009. 12:01 PMThe Jamalam says:
Nice, I see that you're playing mafia wars on facebook ;)
Aug 30, 2009. 6:22 AMrabidpoobear says:
you don't need a splitter to connect the mic to stereo. Just connect it as mono and pan it to center in your audio application. Same result, possibly slightly better sound quality (doesn't go through a splitter), and it leaves a mono channel open on your interface for another mic.
Sep 3, 2009. 1:25 PMrabidpoobear says:
well I use Reaper for my audio productions and it handles mono recordings fine. In fact when I go to record the mic I just choose that it's Mono and it auto-pans it to both channels unless I tell it not to. Good instructable, though. Sorry, I forgot to say thanks earlier.
Aug 17, 2009. 2:21 PMDjFluorescent says:
This helped me GREATLY! I love you! lol
Aug 9, 2009. 11:51 AMrokkerkid says:
i see mafia wars in the background ahaha
Jul 21, 2009. 3:49 PMLargePaperCup says:
wow youre really good

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