How to Build an Efficient Home Recording Studio

Choosing the right place in your home to build a recording studio:

If you are married and have children, forget it! (I'm just kidding babe). No, really, if you can afford it get a wood or metal shed and put it in your backyard! Finding the right spot should not be that hard to do; you already have one in mind. It might be as simple as an unused closet (if there is such an animal), or a spare bedroom. It should be quiet and away from the outside air conditioning unit. The electrical wiring needs to be properly grounded to prevent that 60 Hz hum. Your chosen area should be large enough that after installing sound dampening materials it is still large enough to comfortably accommodate all the equipment, musicians, engineer, and instruments you plan on recording.

An important factor to consider before building your studio is finances. Finances will determine the options available to you, not the quality of your product. Take into account equipment you don't currently own, but will need. Cables, USB sound cards, microphones, external hard drives, or extra RAM are a few items often overlooked.

Things you won't need, but thought you couldn't live without are a mixing board, external hardware such as equalizers, compressors, gates, limiters, and effects, MIDI synths, and giant speakers. Everything in the modern recording environment can be done using software; with the exception of inputs. That's the reason for the external sound card.

The most simple set up for recording is a laptop using its built-in mic and DAW (digital audio workstation) software. If this is your situation, great. You can record anywhere in the world for as long as your battery will last.

Some Materials You Will Need:

The most easy and cost-effective way to get good recordings is to make your room dead. You should be recording everything dry to begin with anyway and placing effects and processing on your tracks afterwards. Making a room dead means that the room has no sound of its own. There is no ambient sound being reflected off the walls, ceiling, or floors. To do this go to Wal-Mart and get the king-size egg crate foam pads for beds and hang them on the walls and ceiling. It does not have to be perfect. In fact, the less perfect and the more bumps, the better.

Required Equipment:

If you are going to be recording electric instruments you will need an external USB sound card with a pre-amp. This will give you low latency with the ability to listen back in real-time. It's a good idea to have plenty of good quality cables and connectors. If you're a do-it-yourself kind of a person cables are simple to make. Get some 1/4" to 1/8" (3.5 mm) headphone connections also. They are cheap and come in handy.

If you are just recording vocals and composing the rest of the instruments in the virtual environment, then you don't really need anything else. If your built-in mic just does not do it for you, then I would suggest buying a quality USB condenser mic.

Software Suggestions:

Selecting a DAW is a very personal decision. You will be spending a great deal of time in front of it, so you need to be satisfied with its performance and the companies support. Most have a demo version, or a trial version available for download. Send out emails to find out how quickly they respond and the depth of the response. Personally I use Sonar X1 Producer from Cakewalk. They are the pioneers of digital audio workstations and I have used them for close to 17 years. But I suggest going to Amazon and searching for DAWs. Read all the customer reviews with filters on. Keep a list of those which impress you, then go to their websites and download demos or trials and put them to a test. There's a big selection of them. I would also recommend doing the same when seeking out plugins.

Rockoetry Inc. is my pseudonym when I'm recording music. You can find out more about me at: http://www.rockoetry.info/

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Recording Your Band - 10 Steps to Prepare for a Recording Session at the Studio

The best way to have great sounding recordings at the studio is to be prepared as a band. Lots of bands show up at the recording studio without even knowing which songs to record and they take a lot of time at the studio figuring out the parts of a song, what are the lyrics and many other little things that start adding up. If you as a band prepare before the recording sessions will notice a big difference in the quality of your recordings. Here is some great advice on how to prepare your band for a recording session.

Set Goals: The first thing to do should be setting your goals as a band. What are the band goals for this year? What is the purpose of recording your songs? Are you recording a demo to get more gigs? Are you recording a CD to promote to your fans and friends? What do you want to accomplish after the recording? Be sure that everyone involved in the project is on the same page including the manager, producer, engineer, and specially all of the band members. Knowing your goals will give you an idea of what do you need to prepare before the sessions.

Plan sessions: Plan how many and which songs you want to record. Plan the session so that you are giving enough time for each song to be recorded properly. It is better to have three well recorded songs that ten rushed songs. Be sure to record all your favorite songs first and then, if you still have some time, record any extra songs you need. Prepare a list of the songs you are recording and which ones you will be doing first.

Practice: This is an obvious but under estimated step. Practice all songs as a whole and in parts. Practice any hard part of a song and make sure that everyone in the band is following the drummer's tempo. Practice with a click metronome. If you are not used to play with a metronome you will have to learn it at the recording studio. Take your time and learn how to play with a metronome in your rehearsals so that when you are at the studio you spend that time in other productive things.

Record you Rehearsals: When you record your rehearsals and then listen to them you are aware of many details that you don't notice while you are practicing. Listening to a recording of your rehearsals is a great way of refining your playing and finding which parts need to be considered for improvements. Listen the recording as a band and individually, and share everyone's thoughts about the songs. Have your fans and friends listen to the songs and have their opinions about the songs.

Finish Arrangements:Make sure that all parts and songs are finished. If you recorded your rehearsals listen if all parts blend well together and they are not competing with each other. Give each instrument its room to breathe. It doesn't matter how well you record your songs, if the arrangement it's done poorly the parts won't mix well together.

Know all Parts of the Song:Everyone in the band should know their parts perfectly. The singer should know the lyrics and background vocals should be known by anyone singing them. I you prepare your background vocals before the recording sessions you will save a lot of time at the studio. Guitar and keyboard players should know which effects and patches to use in each of the songs.

Decide the Sound of Each Song: Have an idea of how you want the songs to sound like. Do you want a similar sound on all of the songs or do you have different ideas for each of the songs. Will a particular drum sound fit better in a particular song? Try different guitars and effects on each song to see which one fits the song better. Be sure to let the engineer at the recording studio know of your ideas for each of the songs so he can better choose how to mic, mix and edit your band.

Document Sessions: Have a photo and video camera ready to take to the recording studio. Having a video and photos of the sessions is a great way of integrating your friends and fans into the recording experience. You may have somebody filming and taking pictures at the recording studio, but make sure that he is not distracting everyone at the studio.

Set Up Instruments: Have your gear sounding at its best. Guitar and bass players should put new strings to their instruments. Make sure you do it at least one day before showing at the recording studio so strings can stretch well. Drums should be tuned properly and any noise and rattle should be resolved before the recording session. Keyboardist should know where to find specific sound in their keyboards.

Relax: Sleep well the night before going to the studio. You want to be relaxed and enjoy the recording process. If you are too tired you won't pay attention to the minor details and have a hard time focusing on getting the best results.

Pedro Vazquez, Engineer at La Roccella Recording Studio. Visit Our Studio Website http://www.laroccella.com/

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Led Zeppelin Complete Studio Recordings

Make sure that you tell fellow rockers where can I get Led Zeppelin Complete Studio Recordings at an attractive price. But before I do, I think you should join me in bit nostalgia Zep.

These Studio recordings are only possible by the fact that Zeppelin had a musical career and successes, significantly the demand for such a product would be enormous. For this reason, made me think as follows.

Have you ever seen the movie The Time Machine with Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux? This guy built a time machine that could transport him back to the past or a transfer in the future. Now I have no particular desire to see what is happening in the world at the time of fifty years, but I'm carry a yearning to return to some of the specific events that have already taken place. You know where I would go? It would be the first route Led Zeppelin States in January 1969.

Yes, I know some of the younger generation of rock fans are probably laughing their socks on sight of all these flower power album experiment with free love and they do not resemble their hair combed for six months. But it was the fashion, which we can observe and often have long hair could make return (not that I can increase the mine already).

Anyway, back to 1969, Zep was conceived several months earlier and performed concerts in Scandinavia. This still makes laugh when I see a movie of one of those Scandinavian giga-where the audience sat on the floor, cross-legged, politely applauding when the team finished one of their songs. How different it must have been assimilated into the gig Fillmore West in San Francisco in January of ' 69. I was not there myself, but I sure'd love enough to travel back to my time machine with Yvette Mimieux-my girlfriend chicks rock to catch a glimpse, which would ultimately become, the birth of rock music.

According to Jimmy Page concert in San Francisco he knew that Led Zeppelin "arrived".  The boy, who must have been some of the Show. I wonder how many readers of this article actually attended Fillmore West that night? I bet you have some Great memories!

My, or rather our (almost forgot Yvette) trip in time machine would then continue the tour in the U.S., taking in San Diego, Boston, New York, Chicago and Miami.

Overall, almost two months travelling through time to witness the dawning of an epic journey, made by (and nobody knows it then), the world's largest and most influential rock band ever.

Thank you for companionship Weena! (Watch a video).

Check out a Complete Studio Recordings for fruitful online

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